another NewB

[dubs chops]

Hello everyone. My name is Brett Williams. I am from northeast Oklahoma. I love to fish and hunt. I am currently opening my own business making hand poured soft plastic baits. Today I purchased my first fly rod for an upcoming vacation to Montana. I have a few questions I hope you kind folks could help me out with. The rod i bought today was a 2 piece 7' rod that i believe is a 3-4 action. I am looking for a reel for it but have been overwhealmed by all the choices availible. I will mostly be fishing for trout and panfish and maybe some small bass. what I am wondering is what reel would be best for me? I am one of those that doesn't have alot to spend off the bat but if i do like this i will go all in. what kind of drag should i use and line? Thanks for the help.

[peregrines]

Originally Posted by dubs chops

Hello everyone. My name is Brett Williams. I am from northeast Oklahoma. I love to fish and hunt. I am currently opening my own business making hand poured soft plastic baits. Today I purchased my first fly rod for an upcoming vacation to Montana. I have a few questions I hope you kind folks could help me out with. The rod i bought today was a 2 piece 7' rod that i believe is a 3-4 action. I am looking for a reel for it but have been overwhealmed by all the choices availible. I will mostly be fishing for trout and panfish and maybe some small bass. what I am wondering is what reel would be best for me? I am one of those that doesn't have alot to spend off the bat but if i do like this i will go all in. what kind of drag should i use and line? Thanks for the help.

Hey Brett, welcome to the board, and to fly fishing.

What rod did you get?

It sounds like the rod you bought is labelled a "3/4 weight" designed to cast either a "double taper 3 weight" or "weight forward 4 weight" line. If that is so, it should be written on the blank above the cork. Double check to make sure. As you probably know fly rods are designed to cast the weight of the fly line, so you'd want to make sure you match up the right "weight" fly line with the rod.

Assuming it's a 3/4 weight rod, you'd want to match it up with a "4 weight, weight forward, floating line". It should be labelled something like "4 wf-f". Fly lines will range in price from 10 to 100 bucks, but I'd probably look for something by Rio or Scientific Anglers (SA) for around 35-40.

As far as reels go, there are a ton of them out there. For panfish and small trout you could go with an old standby Pfleuger Medalist for about 25 bucks. It's a simple no frills reel. I still have a few that are 30 years old. For a bit more an Okuma Sierra at about 40 is a bit better with a disc drag. Prices go up from there of course. There's the Orvis Battenkill at about 80, and the Lamson Konic at around 130ish, and on and on. You'd want a reel size designed to hold your fly line and balance your rod, and the reels will be labelled as to what lines they are designed to hold.

If you bought the rod from a shop, they should be able to match a line up to the rod for you and rig up a reel. In terms of priorities, and bang for the buck, if you want to skimp a bit on the total cost, skimp on the price of the reel and put it towards the the line.

A 3 or 4 weight rod is a little on the light side but should be a ball for panfish and small trout. It may be a little on the light side though for bigger water in Montana, and throwing larger wind resistant stuff like poppers for bass.

Keep asking questions and let us know what rod you have. We should be ble to help you out.

mark

[dubs chops]

huh that's weird there is absolutely nothing wrote on the rod. it came from American eagle rods here in Tulsa OK. I will call them tomorrow and ask what weight it is. thanks for the reply peregrines

[peregrines]

Hmm. I just took a look at their website and they just list spinning and baitcasting rods.

Hopefully they can give you some info.

Mark

[ezamora]

and ask about an exchange policy... personally, i'm guessing a rod 8'-6" or 9' in length for at least a 5 wt line would be better if you're talking about stereotypical "montana water." but even that is just a guess. there are so many different conditions and type of water.

where will you be fishing? if there's a way to connect with people familiar with those waters, they (or others here) could recommend the best rod and reel.

eric
fresno, ca.

[dubs chops]

Well Guys I just got off the phone with the chop and they said it was a 4/5.

I would exchange it but I think I will keep it for panfish and small trout around here and maybe barrow a rod when I go to montana. so for line since it is a smaller rod should i look for something like mentioned above. the "4 weight, weight forward, floating line". ?

Also as for reels I assume the ones mentioned above will work. correct? Will they also work if i go to a bigger rod in the future? I am very excited about all this thanks for the help guys.

[peregrines]

Good, the 4/5 is actually a bit more versatile than a 3/4. It will have a little more oomph for casting, but you'll still have a ball with panfish, trout and small bass.

I'd go with a 5 weight, weight forward, floating line for that rod. It should balance the rod out well, and it'll be marked something like "5 wt-WF-F". Although he rod will probably work OK with a 4 weight line with a "double taper", a 5 weight, weight forward taper line will be easier to cast, and will let you throw wind resistant stuff like panfish poppers a bit easier. (They're a blast to fish).

Yes those reels will work fine with the rod, just look to make sure the reel matches the size of the rod-- reels come in different sizes to hold different sized lines. Too small and it may not hold all your fly line, too large and it'll be too heavy for your rod. You want a reel designed to hold a 5 weight fly line, and it'll say so on the packaging somewhere like "reel capacity = 5 wt wf line plus 80 yds 20lb test backing")

If you buy the reel and line in a shop, have them rig it up for you. They'll put on the correct amount of backing, attach it to the fly line, and put on a tapered leader for you. The leader is tapered to layout and "turnover the fly" at the end of your cast so it doesn't end up in a tangled heap at the end of your cast. There are some recent threads on this on leaders and tippets and knots.

Mark

Good luck, you should have a lot of fun as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

[dubs chops]

peregrines thanks much. I am looking forward to this little exciting new venture for me. can't wait to get started.

[peregrines]

Good luck. A couple of flies like size 12 bead head black woolly buggers, some foam spiders with rubber legs and some size 10 or 12 panfish poppers and you'll be terrorizing bluegills all over OK and they'll probably pick up some bass and crappie for you too.

There are a bunch of fly casting vids on youtube. Google "tight lines fly casting" for a 3 part series and "gary borger fly casting part one" for an excellent 6 part series.

Here's a site with some links with info on OK FF, and there's a FF club in NE OK that might be good to check out if you're anywhere close to there.

Oklahoma fly fishing - TotalFlyFishing.com

Keep asking questions as they come up, I'm sure folks here can get you squared away.

Mark

[Joni]

Brett, a late welcome to the forum. Look forward to hearing from you!