New to flyfishing (sort of)

[flatsninja]

hello, im sort of new to flyfishing, i can cast ok, but i want to upgrade from my practice rod to something more decent...
i will be fishing saltwater for reef, flats and lighter bread and butter species.
(i live in AU, so fish like bream, flathead, sea salmon down south and coral reef species up north)
i hate buying bad things so i thought as a reasonable setup would be along the lines of these
sage approach 9ft, 8wt flyrod :$325
Sage 4200 series reel (4280) 8-9wt : $325
scientific angler intermedite line 8 weight....
heres a pic i put together of the combo

do you think this would be an effective mid weight saltwater combo? i am also planning on going on a trip around australia from the south al the way around so id be on coral reef for a large amount of time (shallow coral and sandflat areas for reef fish or permit for an example) and i need a good rod and reel, opinions or suggestions? btw im 14 and keen lol

 

[Pocono]

Looks to me like you've made some good choices; Sage makes nice gear in my opinion.

If you're going after Permit, I might up your rod weight to a 9 wt.; particularly if the Permit are going to be good sized. I don't think there's very much difference between an 8 wt. and a 9 wt., but the 9 wt. will give you more fighting power for the fish that you hook and is, generally, a pretty good all-purpose saltwater rod.

If you're reef fishing, don't forget to take lots of flies!

Sounds like a great adventure that you're embarking on - have fun!

Pocono

 

[flatsninja]

hi, thanks for the advice! but im not really targeting permit as i live no where near them but might get the chance soon as i might be going on a road trip later, so i think an 8wt should suffice as the fish around my area are rarely very big,
one species is Flathead ( just made a list incase u americans are interested in what southerners usually target here)
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/MyImages/Dbtw/shelly-flathead.jpg
from 30cm to 1m long, ambush feeders, not huge fighters but great table fish. live on flats or weedy sandy areas
bream
http://www.fishinginsydney.com/images/20070929/bream.jpg
up to 45cm for a monster, found everywhere
whiting
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/163436/whiting.jpg
look like mini white bonefish around 20-40cm (they basicsally are small bonefish usually taking shrimp patterns and fighting hard, usually pretty tricky and tough fighters, very common)
we also have flounder and sole occasionally around(small halibut)
the above are all estuary/ flats fish that are most commonly targeted
my fishing will be in less that 5m usually, mostly in about 1m
and speaking of flies, any reccomendations, recently got into tying them but they are awful but i blame my lack of materials as i have some masterpieces in my head to tie.

 

[wjc]

Flats,

I normally don't read or respond to anyone who doesn't at least put the area of what country and state or province they are from in their bio, unless they have a whole lot of posts and have been participating in discussions for a long time. It helps us in knowing where you are "coming from" so to speak. You might want to think about doing that and hanging around for a while.

There is a New Zealand company called CTS that makes fly rod blanks that I have tried and liked better when casting than my premium-priced Sages. I don't think they offer completed rods, but often "custom" rod makers do not charge all that much to assemble a rod. I would check with some Australian makers before buying a factory rod if I were you.

Thanks for the pics of what fish you will be going after.

 

[ditz]

I was young once and wished someone had taken me under thier wing. Most of my experience has been in sweet water but have studied the salt for many years and done a little too. There is no magic in the flies that I would recomment. Deciever in multiple sizes and colors, craft fur shrimp in 2 or 3 sizes and colors, seaducer in a couple of sizes and colors. ...I would not recomment heavy clousers for a beginning caster but some with medium beadchain eyes in smaller hook sizes and a few in larger sizes with large beadchain eyes are not that hard to cast. The large, heavy lead eyes are hard to cast and I would not attempt them yet. Some crease minnows would be good to have as well as some gurglers to cover the top water stuff. All of the above are good fish catchers everywhere. All of these fly patterns can be easily found on the net and are fairly easy to tie. feel free to PM me if you desire.

 

[grassonfly]

the polar fibre minnow is all the rage in my area. If youre spending that much on a rod get a bvk or perhaps a used z-axis.

 

[flatsninja]

thanks for the info guys and thanks for the reccomendations for flies, i tried experimenting and im a sucker for shrimp/crab style designs so tried to make some flats flies up (im very beginner and noobish) i l
The red mantis shrimp

The floating mudflat crab

would these catch fish ya reckon haah, i dont follow instructions usually i just make up something