[swells]

Greetings all,

I am new to the forum and have never fished with a fly rod before. I have done some fishing with spinning gear. I have always wanted to try fly fishing and a trip to the eastern Sierras is the perfect opportunity. I have read many of the posts in the forum and all the FAQ's. I am still researching gear and have a very limited budget. (200-300) Any suggestions would be welcome. I will not be able to get out as often as I would like, although I have a lake near the house to practice on as my skill develops.

After reading many posts, I have a feeling that the members here have a wide base of knowledge and are very willing to spread that around. I, on the other hand have no real input so I will be soaking everything in. I look forward to my time on these boards.

Steve

[peregrines]

Steve,

Welcome to the board. Lot's of good folks here that can answer a lot of your questions. Your budget is a good one, and I think you'll find a ton of very good choices for quality gear.

Some suggestions:

You may want to ask for recommendations in the General Discussion forum for the lots of feedback. (It has the most traffic.) If 10 different people respond you'll likely get 20 different recommendations, but that's probably more a reflection of the wide variety of choices of the good stuff out there than it is a debate about the one "right" choice.

As a generality, look into the warranties offered by different mfgs. Lifetime, or replacement for nominal cost ($25 dollars) is the best way to go. In that price range, some offer them some don't. Most important for rods, reels less so. Some rods also come with metal tubes, some don't (figure an additional $25 or so for one that doesn't). If you air travel or plan to backpack, a 4 pc is the way to go.

There are intro books that are pretty good-- LL Bean, Orvis etc. Any one of them will help get your head around the lingo, gear techniques etc. Should be available in a local library, or you can buy one for short money online.

Think seriously about buying from a fly shop rather than a big box store. They'll often throw in lessons, let you try different rods with different actions and line combinations, and be a resource to answer questions down the road. The downside is that they may have a smaller selection of different brands, but prices will generally be about the same, and the budget you're working with there a lot of really good choices. They may also have rental gear that could be up for sale for a deep discount. I'm sure there are a lot of good shops out your way. Bob Marriotts in the LA area might be worth a look if you're anywhere near there.

There have also been quite a few recent threads with links to knots you'll need, casting vids on you tube and other online resources that are great for beginners.

Welcome to the board and the sport.

peregrines

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Swells,

Welcome to the forum. You have some very good trout fishing East of Bakersfield on the Kern River drainage. We have a couple of members that fish there. The upper Kern offers Golden Trout. The lower Kern has some very good Rainbow fishing.

You should post in the other sections for equipment questions. No matter which forum you post in it will be seen as a new post.

Frank

Golden Trout Wilderness

WILDERNESS: "...an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
It is important we preserve the natural condition of wilderness.

AREA DESCRIPTION

The 303,287-acre Golden Trout Wilderness (GTW) was designated by Congress in 1978. Of this total, 111,148 acres is on the Sequoia National Forest and the remainder on the Inyo National Forest.
The Golden Trout wilderness was named for the brightly colored native golden trout (California State fish). Two subspecies are recognized; South Fork Kern golden trout and the Little Kern golden trout. Both are found in the GTW.
On the Sequoia National Forest portion of the GTW, elevations range from 4,700 feet at the Forks of the Kern River to 12,432 feet on Mt. Florence, the highest peak on the Forest. Vegetation ranges from digger and piñon pine woodlands at lower elevations; extensive Jeffrey pine forests at mid elevations; and red fir, lodgepole and foxtail pine at higher elevations. Portions of the GTW occur above timberline. The entire Little Kern River drainage lies within the wilderness. The North and South Forks of the Kern Wild and Scenic Rivers bisect this Wilderness.