Fly Fishing Setup for JONG

[MassLiberal]

oooooo

Looking forward to your striper trip??

[Free Range Lobster]

Been staring out the window wondering if I should bail on work early...

But apparently its still chilly down in Newport, but I gotta go up to Arlington sometime this week to pick up a new rod. (breakaway 1266 10'6" set up for spinning)

[skifishbum]

pft if you aint casting bamboo.
You aint shit.
AKPM I would have to dissagree reguarding Sage.
Their guide hookup, warranties, and sticks are some of the best in the business. All rods break eventually usually do to operator error.
If you want to be a better caster try and spend time casting to develop good
fundamentals and a strong casting stroke.

[72Twenty]

Honestly, Scientific Anglers makes some pretty decent "starter" sets for pretty cheap. This gives you a rod, reel, line, etc. Sometimes even a few flies. These are by no means "top of the line" but will work great for you to get the hang of it and learn how to cast, etc. And as you get better and purchase new gear, this always comes in handy when teaching a friend/spouce or as a back up.

Such as:



SYSTEM™ 5-WEIGHT 2-PIECE OUTFIT
APPLICATIONS: Trout and panfish
REEL: Concept™ 2 58
ROD: 9' high-modulus graphite | two piece

LINE: Ultra 4 WF-5-F with AST
LEADER: System™ L2L Tapered | Matched to line
BACKING: 100 yd/91.4m | 20 lb.
ELEMENTS: System™ X waterproof fly box | "Fly Fishing Made Easy II" DVD | Tackle assembly booklet


Can find more here:

Scientific Anglers 3M

[cj001f]

Honestly, Scientific Anglers makes some pretty decent "starter" sets for pretty cheap.

I'm glad you had a good experience, mine sucked. The reel seat broke on day 2 - and the rod sucked to cast.

[72Twenty]

I'm glad you had a good experience, mine sucked. The reel seat broke on day 2 - and the rod sucked to cast.

Yeah, unfortunately that happens...

But I actually have a Scientific Anglers 9 ft. / 6 wt. with a S.A. reel an it isn't too bad. I don't use it all that often, though. Mostly in some of the small local lakes and ponds.

[leroy jenkins]

I have a handmade rod, made from a graphite sage blank I think. Complete with some mediocre reel. Let me know if you're interested and I'll check up on the specifics and get back to you on the price, probably somewhere around the $100 + shipping mark.

[vtdownhiller]

LL bean Quest is the best intro rod on the market. Lifetime warrenty, affordable and casts nice too.
I have a pfleuger supreme 7 wt reel with w/f line and spare spool with floating line I could hook someone up with for $50.00

[Yeti]

A week ago I just bought an LLBean Streamlight 4-piece 8'6" 6-wt, my first fly rod. I'm still working on the mechanics of casting, and haven't caught anything yet -- or at least not any fish. Catching trees, however, is easy. I can hook almost any tree, whether 80' tall or a 2" stub. Fun sport, though, and I can see it being the perfect thing to cap off an evening of hiking or paddling. You can expect AKPM-quality pictures of my first fish, even if there's not much to dick-wave.

[Free Range Lobster]

Yeti, go stand in the yard/local school field/local field, attach a small peice of yarn to the end of the tippet and practice your backcast.

You want the line and tippet to be STRAIGHT THE HELL OUT before you bring it foward otherwise you'll hear the signature CRACK and its bye bye fly.

You must master this, and the end of your backcast will be a firm snap of the wrist.

Go take an orvis class or one of the like if you're diggin it after that, fly fishing really is a ton of fun.

On the flip side... Gotta have strong arms when you're hauling 10-12 weight with big freaking tuna streamers tho. But its oh so much fun.

[KarlHungus]

got a chance to go to a couple shops this weekend and talk to a couple real helpful guys. I think i'm kinda leaning toward the combo deal... saw a 9' 5/6 wt cortland, sorry, can't remember which model so that probably makes this useless. It was a full set up (everything but flies), the guy said it was a great outfit for getting started and wouldn't be crap after a couple seasons. I like that fact that it was a 4 piece, I want to be able to take this rod backpacking as I know of some really awesome alpine lakes and streams. They want $210 for the full kit which seems fine to me.

Anyways, the Cortland brand? Input??

Thank you all for everything so far, verrry helpful.

[KarlHungus]

that last post was allll messed up... what can i say, the crack torch burned my fingers.

Here's a link to what I'm ACTUALLY looking at. It's a 6 piece, which seems like it'd be a lot better for backpacking. The shop wants $229 for it (same as this place online but w/o shipping). Lemme know if it's decent... Thanks guys.

http://www.flys-etc.com/cortland.htm

(the 9ft 5/6 wt)

[fez]

that last post was allll messed up... what can i say, the crack torch burned my fingers.

Here's a link to what I'm ACTUALLY looking at. It's a 6 piece, which seems like it'd be a lot better for backpacking. The shop wants $229 for it (same as this place online but w/o shipping). Lemme know if it's decent... Thanks guys.

http://www.flys-etc.com/cortland.htm

(the 9ft 5/6 wt)

i'm not a huge fan of the >2 piece fly rods. i really find you spend lots of time futzing with getting the ferrules lined up straight, making sure the pieces are solidly set together (but not so tight they won't come undone) and the feel of a two piece when casting is just smoother. I'm also a bit bitter because i lost the tip section of a 4 piece last fall walking in to a river and never found it again.

if i really spent lots of time backpacking to fishing (and there is plenty of really good spots in the beartooths) i would get another 4 piece. but if its just a couple trips a year, i would just carry a two piece. also, there aren't many hiking trails around here where you don't have enough head clearance for a 4.5 ft rod tube attached to the outside of your pack.

I just pulled the trigger on a LL Bean Double L Series rod/reel outfit 9 ft 6 wt.


along with a spare spool and a rapid sink tip line for streamer fishing.
I really wanted to pick up an 8 wt this summer for streamers, salmon flys, hoppers and windy days on the Yellowstone. but losing the tip of my 5 wt changed those plans.