"Erratic Grouse" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,

I recently purchased my first fly rod, a 5wt 4 piece. Now I need to
find a reasonably priced reel to go with it. Most of my fishing will be
for trout on small to medium sized streams in the Pacific Northwest.
There will also be the occasional lake and pond fishing for trout and
bass.

Greetings Dwayne,
I'm from the Pacific Northwest, there are some nice rivers and streams here
that will suit that 5wt very well, the Pit River, the McCloud, Hat Creek and
certain areas of the Shasta. The 5wt may be a little light to punch the big
flies used for bass, but you can use the lighter flies, just be careful not
to break the tip.


My questions a

1.) What is a good reel for a college student on very limited budget?
I'd like to keep the price of the reel under $50. I see alot of
pflueger reels priced inexpensively($30). I've also seen A redington
in my price range. I plan on upgrading at some point, so I can have a
back up rod or one for friends to use. My main concern is to be able to
some serious fishing from now until winter.

I've seen the Pflueger Medalist 1492 & 1494 under $50 on ebay. I have a
1494 and a 1594, this is what I learned my fly-fishing skills with. They
are ok reels to start with, but later on if you decided you would like to
get serious you may want to upgrade. The Galvan reels are very nice, but
more expensive.


2) Do I need a large arbor reel? Would you mind explaining what that
is?

Large arbor not really needed. The large arbor reel is larger diameter in
the center where the line wraps around. This gives you a faster retrieve
and less coil memory on line. I don't use them, but some anglers will swear
by them especially with the larger fish 8wt and above.


3) I've read that a good quality line is more important than the reel,
is this true?

I believe this is true, stick to the name brands, there are also a split of
anglers between DT (double taper line) and WF (weight forward line). You'll
have to decide for yourself on which to use. Personally I like the WF line.

What would be a good line? I can probably drop another 40-50 bucks on
this.

You'll probably get a mix reaction here, think every fly-fisherman has their
favorite. I like the Scientific Anglers (SA) GPX line, but again, it's just
my personal preference.


4) Which type of line would you reccomend? Weight Forward or a double
taper.


Thanks for reading all of this and thanks in Advance for any responses,

Dwayne


Good luck Dwayne,
If you're in the neighborhood, drop into the Upstream Fly Shop in Los Gatos,
CA and talk to Curt. He's very honest and will set you up. He knows the
Pacific Northwest very well and he can be trusted to guide you in the right
direction.
http://www.upstreamflyfish.com/pages/846917/index.htm
-tom