Bob La Londe wrote:

Scott, thank you. I might just take you up on that some time. I've got
family in Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan. Actually I was checking out my gear
and trying to decide what I had that I could use and what I needed to go
after bass in the Gila from my post on "Fly Fishing For Bass." That river
doesn't look huge from the pictures I posted, and its not, but I have caught
bass upto about 5 lbs out of that river in similar conditions. I already
figured a 2x or 4 x tippet I use for stocker trout would be useless except
for donating flies. I've got some tapered leaders from 6-12 lbs coming. I
also chased down a 7 weight floating fly line that should handle those
bigger flies used for bassing. I think the one I have on my trout rod is a
4wt. I have another decent floating line coming with the leaders.

I may be misunderstanding you here, but if you are thinking about
putting a 7-wt. line on a 4-wt. rod, you should re-consider. At best it
won't cast worth a damn, at worst you'll break your rod.

A 2X tippet should be strong enough unless you are fishing in lots
of cover. I routinely use 2X or 3X down here; the only difference being
sometimes it's nice to have 2X for turning over large flies. If you
fish really bulky flies you might have to go to a 1X or 0X, but if
you're gonna throw something that large you might want to consider just
using spinning or casting gear instead. :-)

I wish I had taken the time to look at some fly reels when I was at Bass Pro
Shops a week ago. None of my inexpesnive (ok cheap) fly reels have a drag.
In fact I'm not sure how a fly reel drag would work. They all look like the
handle is on the side of the spool. Atleast in the pictures.

The handle doesn't come into play except for retrieving line. The
drag is simply an internal braking mechanism that allows the spool to
revolve and line to feed out under pressure from the fish. If your
reels don't have a drag, you can "palm" the rim to slow fish down, or
play them on the line rather than the reel. (I rarely bother to get
fish on the reel unless they are seriously large.)

For short line applications and tiny trout I've never worried about backing
either, but I've chased down a couple spools of backing. I may take what I
have and give things a try in the evening today or tomorrow just to see if I
can get a few fish to bite. If I can bit I figure I can always upgrade and
upsize to catch them.

When fishing for bass (and most trout for that matter), backing
basically serves no purpose other than to take up space on your reel.
Bass are strong fish, but they don't typically take off on long runs.

Wish me luck. I'll be chasing LMs with a 4X tippet on 4wt floating flyline
with no backing on an automatic reel. I feel like I'm taking on a dragon
with a wooden sword after reading this group. LOL.

I regularly fish for river bass here with a 5-wt., and when I
spinfish for them, I use 4 or 6 lb. line. I've landed bass up to 5 lbs.
on that rig, so it's not like you're totally overmatched. Your biggest
problem is going to be throwing wind-resistant flies with that outfit
(or chunking weighted flies).


Chuck Vance (you may want to wear a football helmet just to be safe)