"Jim Laumann" wrote in message
...

This is my first post on this group.


Boy did you ever take a risk

I've never fished w/ a fly rod

Today I found a fly rod in my shed - a remnent from a
previous owner. Its a South Bend 8ft, 2 pc, med action,
7wt rod. The labeling on the blank says "graphite re-inforced" -
what ever that means. No reel. I've been a bit curious about
fishing w/ a fly rod, so I've read a few books I've picked up at
my local library.

It's one of the early model graphite rods from when the industry was
transitioning from fiberglass to graphite.

[snip]

To much for a newbie? To little? To much rod for
panfish & trout? To little for bass and pike?

Now a days, most folks don't use 7 wts for trout and panfish but a
generation ago it was not uncommon and the rod is just fine for bass and
pike.

How about a reel?

If you could find one, a Pfleuger Medalist would be appropriate to the era
and the rod. However the modern Pflueger is not near as well made as the
original Akron assembled models. There's plenty of servicable reels for it,
the line would be more important, a Scientific Anglers Mastery DT or WF
would be a good fit.

As a newbie - should I even bother w/ this rod, or
pick this up later on after I've gone thru a more
entry level rod?

Any suggestions as to getting myself equipped from
this point (assuming this rod would be useful for my
needs)?

Today most folks would not bother with that rod but it should be servicable
and like I said earlier, a generation or tow ago, that rod would have made
many anglers happy. I have a small collection of modern graphite fly rods
but love to fish an old fiberglass Shakespeare Wonder rod which is probably
older and heavier than your rod.

If you don;t have a decent fly shop or a gander mountain type store nearby,
go to www.ezflyfish.com or any other online store and grab a starter reel
and line, take your library books and give it a shot. If nothing else you
would not have much invested and could probably get $50-$75 for the rod on
ebay plus some of your reel cost if you did not like it.

As to other stuff, man the rod and reel just scratch the surface, tippet,
leaders, flies, tools.....when you order your reel and fly line, ask the
store about some basic flies and supplies for your chosen species and area.