re: The Fly Fishing Thread: Questions, pics, discussion all here

5wt it is.

5wt moderate action rod, reel, 20# dacron backing, forward weight floating line, leader (unsure) with some poppers and wooly buggers to get started?

I am eyeing the complete outfits in the $100+/- range from Cabelas and Bass Pro as an entry point to see if this newfound mental obsession is even feasible.

Unreal man

Do you even find yourself wanting to fish with conventional tackle anymore?

After my recent trip to Broken Bow I am fascinated with it and hope to turn it into something soon.

Thanks . I typically refrain from gear discussion just because it contributes to the idea that quality gear = quality photo, but this has been asked before so here's a breakdown of mine, as a very amateur photographer.

I shoot with a Canon 7d mk ii body and various lenses. A couple are Canon L, and others are third party. You can get quality glass for pretty cheap sometimes. For example, the Canon 50mm 1.8 STM is like $120, and it's a very sharp, very fast lens. It rivals some glass that costs 10x as much.

Assuming by crisp you mean sharp...if you're struggling with soft photos and it's not a focus issue, teach yourself how the exposure triangle works (plenty of info on google) and just practice. Different lighting calls for different settings.

If by crisp you mean stopping motion like water dripping off of a fish, it's important that the shutter fires as fast as possible (high shutter speed), but that lets in less light, so you have to compensate elsewhere (wider aperture or higher ISO depending). That's where glass comes in. Lenses with lower (wider) apertures, like the 50mm 1.8, will allow you to shoot with a faster shutter speed than say a 18-135 kit lens with an f/3.5 or something. A perfect example of this would be a shot of a bird flying. If you've ever seen a photo of a bird in flight with its wings sharp and in focus throughout the frame, you can tell that the photo was shot with a fast lens (wide aperture) in light sufficient to fire a fast shutter. Aperture also has an effect on depth of field, but that's another discussion. Higher ISO will also allow more light into the sensor, but increases noise. Crop sensor bodies like mine do not handle higher ISO as well as more expensive full frame bodies, so with a crop sensor body (like mine and most cheaper DSLRs), I'd avoid raising ISO past whatever your camera's sweet spot is.

That's a very basic explanation of exposure, but the point is expensive gear =/= quality photos. You can take some really quality photos with relatively cheap gear if you learn your camera well. When it comes to shooting sports or wildlife photos, fast lenses are important, because they give the sensor the potential to take in more light, which allows you to shoot with faster shutter speeds.

Sierra Trading Post recently added a bunch of new fly gear LINK

I normally get additional coupons for 20-25% additional in discount if anyone sees something and they have a need, I can forward the email.

Have not been getting out much lately but it's been good whenni have gotten out.

You will need a leader that is appropriate for the type fishing you are doing. You can then tie tippit onto that. Water clarity, etc will play a role in the size you decide to use.

If you're just pond fishing for bream or bass, I'd go with a 9' 10lb or 12lb tapered mono leader. tip it with some 8-10lb fluoro if you want. When I pond fish with my 4wt for perch and bass, I just use a 7' 12lb tapered leader tipped with about 16" of 10lb mono for poppers, or fluoro for bugs.

Do you need help finding flies? There are some great links in the OP.

millersflyshop.com and bigyflyco.com have good assortment packs for starting out


Are you familiar with how to tie your leader to your tippet? Look up proper connections from fly line to leader (even if there is a loop to loop connection to make, there is a wrong way to do this) and from leader to tippet. I use either blood knot or surgeons knot for this part. The surgeon's should be a tad stronger but both will hold up.