Line/rod weights and types of fish

By the way, if you buy a used rod on eBay etc, then even if you don't like
it you can probably sell it back for what you got it for and get a different
size/type.

"Oz" wrote in message
. net...

"George Adams" wrote in message
ups.com...


How about this suggestion. Get a decent 7 or 8 wt combo from EZflyfish
for LMB and steelhead, and an el cheapo combo from Cabela's for panfish
and small stream trout, if you go in that direction. Cabela's has a
Three Forks 3wt, (known by many here as the "KPOS"), that is actually a
decent rod for the money. If you go that route, follow Ken's
suggestion, and get a better line for the Cabela's combo.

Okay. That makes sense.

In your opinion, how do Temple Fork rods compare with St. Croix? I have a
St. Croix rod for my spinning reel and I absolutely love it.


Hi OZ:
If you haven't discovered it yet, there are as many opinions as there are
fly fishermen. And that's just in the US...if you take the other side of the
ponds into account, you'll find that things are done differently and THAT
will generate another whole set of opinions.

For example; while its correct that the size of the fly determines the
weight of the fly line, and the weight of the fly line determines the weight
of the rod, there is much more overlap than you think, and only in the US
have I encountered people using 6wts as their 'general purpose rods'. I
started with a 6/7 wt, and used it for casting #8 and #10 flies to trout, as
well as larger streamers to bass. But soon I started fishing with some folks
from Europe, and found that I was consistently overgunned; I moved down to a
4 wt, and I now cast flies down to #22 and beyond, and up to #6 streamers
for bass. My largest catch is a 5 pound bass on my 4wt, using a #8 frog
pattern. My next rod will be a #2 weight.

I never use my #6 weight for anything anymore. Its far too heavy, too stiff,
and too big for anything delicate. Its like driving a one-ton pickup truck
when I have a couple of nice 2-seater MGBs in my garage. When I rig it up, I
don't even want to cast it for very long. And when I fish alongside american
friends with their gear, they can outcast me for distance, but I can fish
the more productive closer water better as I have considerably more delicacy
and placement.

I'd say to get yourself a pre-organized #4 wt or #5 wt rod as your starter,
and expect to move down in rod weights as your skills advance.

--riverman

Oz wrote:


In your opinion, how do Temple Fork rods compare with St. Croix? I have a
St. Croix rod for my spinning reel and I absolutely love it.

Oz
I have rods both by St. Croix and Temple Fork and think you will be
happy with either. Most of the rods that I have bought for the past
several years have been Temple Forks, but that is mainly because they
are on the other side of town and I have known the guy that runs the
company and I like the way he runs it. I don't remember how the
warrenty works with St. Croix, but with Temple Fork basicly if you
figure out a way to screw it up, they sill send you another one for 25
bucks. Most of us that have been in this hobby for a while have found
some way to break a rod. The last time I broke one it was a Temple
Fork, I took it down and said "I got stupid and broke it." Then they
fitted a new tip section to the rod while I threw a ball for one of the
dogs that came to work that day.

You wil enjoy doing business with Walt Winter of EZflyfish. He is one
of the good guys. I do not have a six weight nine foot Temple Fork
Professional Series rod, but I do have rods in that series in
2,3,7,8,and 10 weight rods as well as one of their 12.5 foot 6 weight
spey rods.

I think the six weight rod would be a good one to start with, since you
will use it for largemouth as well as smallmouth and panfish. You will
probably want to stay away from some of the bulkier deer hair bugs that
are better handled with an 8 weight rod. If you are like most of us,
you will learn a lot with the six weight and eventualy you will get
both lighter and heavier rods if you stay with the sport. The six
weight will also be very useful when casting many streamers for trout
as well as being close to perfect for smallmouth in rivers.

I am not familiar with the Ann Arbor area, although I have always
wanted to see a football game in The Big House. For this winter you
might consider using google to find the closest chapters of both FFF
clubs and the local chapter of Trout Unlimited. Try visiting one of
their club meetings and meet some folks and I am sure that someone will
take you under their wing to get you started in learning more about
this sport. Most of these clubs have beginning classes on how to fly
fish or tie flies and it is a good place to start. Our local Bass Pro
here in the Dallas area has free beginning fly fishing lessons each
Saturday and Sunday to ease one onto the sport. Something like may be
available in your area.

Resist the temptation to buy an entire shelf of books about fly fishing
from your local Half Price Books store like I have done. When you have
Walt Winter on the phone ask that he reccomend one book to get you
started. I think his wife stll does the rare book deal from her Blue
Ridge Book Gallery and may have something very cool available at a nice
price.

This is a great time to enter the sport with all the information
available on the net. Most of us have some favored web sites to help
you feed your new addiction. One f my favorites is
Http://www.eflytyer.com You can learn a lot from Mike's web site.

Ken is also correct about getting a good fly fine. The only way I know
how to save any money on one is that Scientific Anglers has a series
that I think is called Headstart which is a few bucks cheaper and when
you study the tapers of the line it is very similar to a bass bug line,
so you might save a little.

Hope you enjoy your new hobby as much as we do.

Big Dale

Oz wrote:
Howdy,

I am very interested in flyfishing and I want to start purchasing the
equipment to begin in the Spring (I live in SE Michigan, near Ann Arbor, and
it is starting to become crappy outside so I figure I should start preparing
for Spring now - or at least start asking questions).

My question revolves around practicality and what I should purchase to fish
locally. We have a ton of lakes and one very good river (the Huron River) in
my neighborhood. I would be fishing primarily for large mouth and small
mouth bass and pan fish. Is there a single rod and reel that I could
purchase to fish this variety of species - maybe a 6 weight? At this point,
I am looking for lower end/beginner equipment because I am just beginning
and would like to get my 15 year old son involved too. So, quite frankly, I
am looking for something that would get us started and something that we
could use to fish for the species I indicated.

Thanks for your help and advice.

6 wt is a little much for bass. But why wait until spring? You aren't
too far from some great
steelhead fishing, are you? For that the 6 wt is just right, with a
disc drag large arbor reel.

Oz

On 4 Nov 2006 18:58:54 -0800, wrote:


Oz wrote:
Howdy,

I am very interested in flyfishing and I want to start purchasing the
equipment to begin in the Spring (I live in SE Michigan, near Ann Arbor, and
it is starting to become crappy outside so I figure I should start preparing
for Spring now - or at least start asking questions).

My question revolves around practicality and what I should purchase to fish
locally. We have a ton of lakes and one very good river (the Huron River) in
my neighborhood. I would be fishing primarily for large mouth and small
mouth bass and pan fish. Is there a single rod and reel that I could
purchase to fish this variety of species - maybe a 6 weight? At this point,
I am looking for lower end/beginner equipment because I am just beginning
and would like to get my 15 year old son involved too. So, quite frankly, I
am looking for something that would get us started and something that we
could use to fish for the species I indicated.

Thanks for your help and advice.

6 wt is a little much for bass. But why wait until spring? You aren't
too far from some great
steelhead fishing, are you? For that the 6 wt is just right, with a
disc drag large arbor reel.

Oz

Those must be some pretty small steelhead...or they're being played to
exhaustion...

/daytripper

wrote in message
oups.com...

"6 wt is a little much for bass. But why wait until spring? You aren't too
far from some great steelhead fishing, are you? For that the 6 wt is just
right, with a disc drag large arbor reel."

I really like that idea but I don't know how to fly fish right now. So, I
have some work to do before I actually make it to a stream.

Let me follow your great comment up with what may seem a silly question.
You wrote that 6 wt is a little much for bass. So, I'm guessing that you
feel that 5 wt is better for bass (asking because I really don't know - I've
always used a spinning rod and reel and have never had a problem bringing in
any fish with, say, a 20 lb test line). What is the largest, weight wise,
fish that you can land with a 5 wt line in fly fishing? I guess that was
what my original question should have stated.

Oz

"Oz" wrote in message
t...

Let me follow your great comment up with what may seem a silly question.
You wrote that 6 wt is a little much for bass. So, I'm guessing that you
feel that 5 wt is better for bass (asking because I really don't know -
I've always used a spinning rod and reel and have never had a problem
bringing in any fish with, say, a 20 lb test line). What is the largest,
weight wise, fish that you can land with a 5 wt line in fly fishing? I
guess that was what my original question should have stated.

It just doesn't work that way Oz. The line is pretty much a moot point,
since it will virtually always be stronger than your tippet. Figure out
what you want to *cast* first, then figure out the line wt from that. You
won't have a problem catching any size bass on a 5 wt rod, but you will have
a problem casting some of the larger flies you'll probably want to use. A 6
wt is by no means too big for bass. In fact, most use 6-8 wt rods for bass.

"jeffc" wrote in message
m...

"Oz" wrote in message
t...

Let me follow your great comment up with what may seem a silly question.
You wrote that 6 wt is a little much for bass. So, I'm guessing that you
feel that 5 wt is better for bass (asking because I really don't know -
I've always used a spinning rod and reel and have never had a problem
bringing in any fish with, say, a 20 lb test line). What is the largest,
weight wise, fish that you can land with a 5 wt line in fly fishing? I
guess that was what my original question should have stated.

It just doesn't work that way Oz. The line is pretty much a moot point,
since it will virtually always be stronger than your tippet. Figure out
what you want to *cast* first, then figure out the line wt from that. You
won't have a problem catching any size bass on a 5 wt rod, but you will
have a problem casting some of the larger flies you'll probably want to
use. A 6 wt is by no means too big for bass. In fact, most use 6-8 wt
rods for bass.

Okay, I think I get it now. It really has nothing to do with the size of
the fish you are trying to land and everything to do with the fly you are
presenting. And, the fly is dependant upon the fish you are trying to land.

Gotcha.

"Oz" wrote in message
...

"jeffc" wrote in message
m...

"Oz" wrote in message
t...

Let me follow your great comment up with what may seem a silly question.
You wrote that 6 wt is a little much for bass. So, I'm guessing that
you feel that 5 wt is better for bass (asking because I really don't
know - I've always used a spinning rod and reel and have never had a
problem bringing in any fish with, say, a 20 lb test line). What is the
largest, weight wise, fish that you can land with a 5 wt line in fly
fishing? I guess that was what my original question should have stated.

It just doesn't work that way Oz. The line is pretty much a moot point,
since it will virtually always be stronger than your tippet. Figure out
what you want to *cast* first, then figure out the line wt from that.
You won't have a problem catching any size bass on a 5 wt rod, but you
will have a problem casting some of the larger flies you'll probably want
to use. A 6 wt is by no means too big for bass. In fact, most use 6-8
wt rods for bass.

Okay, I think I get it now. It really has nothing to do with the size of
the fish you are trying to land and everything to do with the fly you are
presenting. And, the fly is dependant upon the fish you are trying to
land.

Gotcha.



Also looking at a new 8wt, as tip broke off mine in the tube. Lost about
10". I use the 8 wt for stripers and shad. Looking for a resonable priced
rod.

"Oz" wrote in message
...

Okay, I think I get it now. It really has nothing to do with the size of
the fish you are trying to land and everything to do with the fly you are
presenting. And, the fly is dependant upon the fish you are trying to
land.

Exactly! Um.....well, mostly. The selection of the rod actually DOES have
something to do with the size of the fish you are trying to land. Fishing
for, say steelhead, for instance, with a 2 wt. rod is not only absurd but
also irresponsible. As others have said, the tippet is the weakest link in
the chain between you and the fish. This is true not only for reasons
having to do with casting mechanics and presentation, but also as insurance
to protect more valuable elements.....which includes almost everything else
in the system. A 2 wt. fly rod is a fragile thing; light tippet helps you
prevent snapping your rod by putting too much stress on it while fighting a
fish. Now, if you want to land a five pound steelhead with terminal tackle
appropriate for a 2 wt. rod you are going to have to be very gentle, which
means taking a lot of time to tire the fish, which greatly increases the
likelihood of killing it. Of course, you may intend to kill it anyway, but
your chances of landing it successfully, however careful and gentle you are
with your equipment, are very low. So, you end up with a very good chance
of losing the fish.....and killing it anyway.

Wolfgang