# PING all fly geeks,tecks and experts



## MATT (Apr 30, 2007)

If I were to get my very first fly rod, (never used one before) To use off the LT25 or standing close to it. In the Vero Beach area of the River what size,type,brand, price range would be the best starting package.

also what type should I not get or things to look out for durring the "just looking stage"


----------



## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

I'm sorry, in advance...

Test Ride!
Test Ride!
Test Ride!

You need to go for a ride with someone who is knowledgeable,
and has an inventory, and is willing to 'splain to you, what you're
getting into. I have only 1 flyrod and I know I'm not qualified
to teach anyone. there are others here with way more knowledge
and experience. Plus, makes for a good fishing trip with the
possibility of a story of personal injury for Curtis' Boats-nuts post.


----------



## Guest (Oct 16, 2008)

Go to a local fly shop, tell them what you want to spend, and let them show you what they have that will fit you needs. I would say that you will most likely need a 9ft 8wt rod, a decent reel, like a Tioga, or Loomis Venture, some backing, and I would go with either a Scientific Angler "Headstart" line, or a Rio "Mainstream" line. A couple of leaders in the 10-12lb range and you should be good to go!
Welcome to the addiction...


----------



## MATT (Apr 30, 2007)

"Welcome to the addiction... "

This is one reson I maybe starting this so late in life. I tend to dive in with with both feet and all the credit cards...........


----------



## aaronshore (Aug 24, 2007)

Tell us your budget and you will be pointed in the right direction.


----------



## captkenroy (Jan 10, 2007)

There are a lot of good rods and combos available for no more than you'd pay for a decent spinning or baitcasting rig. The Berkley Closeout store is a great source of deals. 

Pfleuger builds some fine rods now days and their reels are fine too. 

I'd go with a 9' 8wt for Redfish, Trout, Snook, etc. Splurge a little and buy a good line to start with. A good line, cleaned often should last you 2-4 years unless it gets stepped on, cast on sand or gravel or run through the mangroves.


----------



## Guest (Oct 17, 2008)

Ya know, I bought a Scientific Angler 8wt at Wally World that was on sale for 13.00. It's one of the easier casting rods I own.
The best thing to do is cast a few and see what works best for ya!


----------



## MATT (Apr 30, 2007)

"I'd go with a 9' 8wt for Redfish, Trout, Snook, etc. Splurge a little and buy a good line to start with'

Ok, this is what most have come up with on and off this form, should it be a two or four piece?

what should I look for in a reel?


----------



## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

all good advice above.

you won't find 4pc in the really low end rods, 2 pc is pretty much it there. You'll be spending close to $200+ for 4pc rods. The 4 & 5 pc rods are excellent action wise these days too and of course for travel and stowage they can't be beat, but the 2pc rods are fine, especially if you just stick them in the rod holders on your boat and go. 

Pflueger reels are great, as are Redington CD's, Orvis Battenkill are really nice too and all of them are around $110-$120 in most places. Tom has been getting good deals with the Pfuegers on eBay, I think for less than a $100.

To get started you don't need a $100+ reel though either. Okuma makes a composite reel for something like $40-$50. I've messed with them personally I think they are more than sufficient for nearly anything a newbie fly fisherman would need. But if you have the extra money, the $100+ aluminum reels are well worth it and will serve you well for many, many years.

Like capt Ken says the bargain stores and lessor known fly rods are fine too. I have an 8.5' "finalist" 7wt that I got for Trey to start learning with. Rod and reel and line cost $39 at Sports Authority. Bought it around 3yrs ago and I still use it myself today. I upgraded the line and even had it with me and fished it some on the redfish tournament Tom and I fished last month. 

I've been on record here many times, the really cheap rods around today are far superior to what we fished with 30+ years ago and we were casting 90' and catching lots of fish back then with what anyone would consider junk today. Believe me you could catch plenty of fish on sub $100 outfit, no problem. 

However, expect to pay around $300-$350 for a nice starter setup. Something like a TFO Professional series $150 or TiCr $200 and one of the $120 reels mentioned above, plus a good line $60 and you're there.


----------



## Un-shore (Sep 27, 2007)

> "I'd go with a 9' 8wt for Redfish, Trout, Snook, etc.  Splurge a little and buy a good line to start with'
> 
> Ok, this is what most have come up with on and off this form, should it be a two or four piece?
> 
> what should I look for in a reel?


Something that will make others green with envy! ;D


----------



## Un-shore (Sep 27, 2007)

Hey deerfly, should he be looking for a large arbor reel?


----------



## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

mid or large, doesn't matter too much either way. Even the old style small arbor's are fine, like with the Loomis Venture or Pflueger Medalist's etc. With those you just need enough backing to bring the fly line up near the edge of the spool. After that though they retrieve about the same. 

And none of that matters unless you have a fish "on the reel", which isn't that often with the usual inshore suspects like snook, redfish and trout. Unless you're catching them upwards of 5lbs or so most of them can be caught by just stripping the line in with your hand like a largemouth bass.


----------



## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

> And none of that matters unless you have a fish "on the reel", which isn't that often with the usual inshore suspects like snook, redfish and trout.



Hey Matt, I've purposely avoided responding because as a novice myself, I'm really not qualified to help you much. However, I will agree with deerfly on his point about being "on the reel". I'm starting to accumlate a decent list of fish I've caught on fly, and I haven't used the reel for any of them. I went with a sub-$50 Okuma Airframe for my reel, and have to say it works great as a line holder.  ;D


----------



## MATT (Apr 30, 2007)

Well to bring you up to date.
I traded a pair of raybands to my boss (he has about 50 fly rods and keeps some at the office, ones the wife has not seen yet) for a 8 wt two piece rod(I think it is a Great Lakes) with an eva grip. it is an older rod made of willow wood and has a low end reel (southbend 1133a) with backing line and hand full of freshwater flys to learn how to cast with in the pound behinf my house.

For now this will work. he showed me a some pic's of a very large tarpon he landed on this rod and reel. Let's see if I can even get the line to the water.....Thanks for the help!


----------



## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

i'm sure that will work fine to get started with. 

One thing though, I'm not exactly sure what the EVA grip is but I think its a form of somewhat spongy foam. If so, be warned those foam grips can be a bit tiring to fly cast with because your hand is constantly squeezing the grip as you cast. They seem like a good idea, especially on bait and off-shore rods, but they really aren't well suited to fly casting. If the rod has a cork grip though then ignore everything I just said.


----------



## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

I went trolling for cheap fly rods today. Went into the local K-mart. They had a 2 piece Abu-Garcia 8 wt for $49, a 2 piece Scientific Angler 5 wt for $29, and a 8 ft 2 piece Berkley 6-7 wt for $22. I picked up the Berkley for the hell of it. I was kind of inspired by Jim's Sage Smallmouth rod and the fact that I fish a well covered small stream for bass. Heck for $22 I can trade it to someone for a pair of sunglasses  ;D

After K-mart I went to Gander. They had a couple of interesting fly related items. They had a house brand graphite flyrod that was a 4 piece for $79. The rod felt good but I was not impressed with the first two guides. They were much smaller than the other fly rods. But still $79 for a 4 piece 8 wt rod was impressive.

The other deal Gander had was, "Buy any fly rod for $69 or more and get 1/2 off a fly reel. I believe the Redington CD was listed for $120. They also had Abel Super 8 for $650. More reel than I need but still an interesting deal if you wanted one for 1/2 off.


----------



## Guest (Oct 19, 2008)

Jeez, that sounds like a deal! An Abel for around 300.00? Go for it!


----------

