[ONEmule]

Hello all, I am planning a trip with my girlfriend to the sierras just west of Lone pine, Ca. the elevation is at 6.000-8.000 that we will be fishing. We are both novices at fly fishing but really want to learn. I have 4 fly poles that were handed down to me with no markings on them. they range in length from 7' to 9'. one real has never been used but new and the other is over 30 years old. I realize both should be taken into a tackle shop and have the lines replaced but i am a little confused with all the lines in question.starter line,tippet and then the leader line. Could any of you give me a few pointers with regards to line and the best type of flies to use, wet or dry ??

I am a new member and really appreciate all the post , Thanks. ONEmule.

[yatahey]

Welcome aboard OneMule.
I'm a little confused by what you mean. "i am a little confused with all the lines in question.starter line,tippet and then the leader line. "
The correct order for setting up your rig is fly line, leader, then tippet.
I don't fish California but a good rule of thumb on new water, or any water for that matter, is turn over a few rocks and see what kind of bugs are there, watch the flying bugs (catch one if you can) and just watch the water for awhile looking for signs of what the fish are doing. Are they rising real hard, porpoising, not rising at all. That kind of thing.
It's always a good idea to stop at the closest fly shop on your way in and just ask the guys what they think. They're the experts about their area. Then you can stock up on flies that will most likely produce for you. Then when you get to the spot turn a few rocks, observe and pick a fly from the ones you got at the fly shop.
Good luck and enjoy

[ONEmule]

Thanks Yatahey for your advice. I found on the new reel that it is a pflueger medalist #1495 with a brake on it .The older reel does not have a brake.

[peregrines]

Onemule-

Going into a fly shop will be your best bet. Bring the rods and reels with you. As you've probably seen already from browsing these threads, the weight of the fly line needs to be matched to the rod for casting. The rod and line do all the work and the fly just goes along for the ride, unlike spinning where the weight of the lure is used for the cast.

So a shop will be able to figure out the right weight fly line to match up with your rods. Depending on the condition and age of your rods, you might be better off considering new ones if they're really old inexpensive ones (20+ years)--- There have been tremendous advances in technology and you can get a very good one for a fairly moderate price ($100-150) nowadays. On the other hand, you may have some great stuff that would be fine. Your reels are most likely good to use, and there are a ton of 1495's out there still going strong.

In addition to matching up your rods and lines, a shop should be able to rig everything up for you (backing, fly line, and leader) and hopefully offer some informal casting lessons for free, or more structured ones for a couple of bucks. It would be a great investment for you and your gf, and the price for 2 would probably be not much more than for one-on-one. It's the best way to get off to a good start.

I'd suggest you pick up an intro book on FF to get your head around the lingo and basic stuff. LL Bean, Orvis, and the Idiot/Dummy guides are all pretty good, and you can get one of them cheap or find one in your local library.

As far as flies go, your local shop can get you started. There's both anytime anywhere types of patterns (wooly buggers, Elk Hair Caddis, Parachute Adams etc) as well as local favorites you'd probably want for Sierra Lakes Callabaetis and midge imitations). They can sort that out for you as well, but a basic selection would include some:

large heavily weighted stuff like woolly buggers (black 8, olive 10),
a few bead head nymphs (Pheasant Tail 16, Gold Ribbed Hares Ear 14, Prince 12) to get down a bit
some wet flies (soft hackles 16 and emergent caddis pupae 14) to fish under the surface
some dries like Elk Hair Caddis 14-16, Parachute Adams 16-20, Callabaetis 16, Stimulator 8 to imitate mayflies, caddis and stoneflies in flat calm to broken/rough water
and a few terrestrial patterns like ants and grasshoppers which are often very good to fish this time of year along banks of streams and lakes.

Hope this helps,
peregrines

PS browse some of the recent threads about getting started if you haven't already. Lot's of links for free casting vids on youtube, knots etc. and basic info.

[FlyDog]

Go to Brocks in Bishop. They'll get you squared away. They're right on 395 in downtown Bishop.

Good Luck,

[ONEmule]

Thank you all for the informative advice. I went into a local fly shop today and had one of my reels re-lined with # 5 floating rocket taper and 9'. 5x Hope this works. The guy in the shop helped me with my casting in there casting pool so hopefully when i get up there i wont look like a total jerk.LoL. Thanks again. Randall