Info please

R

RodOfGod

Well-known member
Alright chaps??
I\'m getting a bit sick of sea fishing so I\'m thinking about taking up fly fishing :o
Any suggestions on rods and reels for a complete beginner? I have only tried the fly once which was at Fontburn last summer, and that resulted in my mates gear getting stuck in a tree!! :P
I don\'t want to spend big bucks just yet so what sort of names should I look out for?

Cheers
Mark
 
Whatever you buy, even if it\'s a top rated outfit, is unlikely to be what suits you later when you\'ve got a bit of experience, so keep the price down.
There\'s plenty of gear around at a reasonable price, and you\'d probably be best to buy a complete outfit as a starter. They\'re cheaper than buying everything separately, unless you can get a local dealer to give you special terms.
For stillwater fishing a 9\' or 9\'6 rod casting a 6 or 7 weight line would be a good starting point, with a floating line as first choice, and an intermediate as well if possible.
That\'s for bank fishing. You\'d probably need a selection of sinking lines if you intend to concentrate on boat fishing, but even so you\'d be better off starting with the floater and learning to cast a bit before moving onto boat fishing. The outfit you started with will still be useful from a boat anyway,
Most outfits come with everything including fly lines and leader material included, but if not, get the cheapest fly lines you can find to start with. You\'re almost guaranteed to wreck them in your first season, and its poinless spending a fortune on them.
Have a look at the Glasgow Angling Centre website for an idea of what\'s available. The Ron Thompson Arezzo outfit looks very good value for money, but I\'d always recommend going to your local tackle dealer as a starter. They can often match the price, and as well as that can give useful advice.

Cheers
Ian D
 
I bought a Shakespeare starter kit which consists of rod, reel, backing line, intermediate fly line and some leader.
On my first fly fishing session had two rainbows while other lads using top of the range Hardys and Greys gear had nowt. Second time at Hazon Burn went on the specimen pond and had one about 14lb and the last time I went had one of about two pound and also lost a few others. It\'s got me started and is fine I think just to get you up and running.(the flies I\'ve managed to blag off other people and one of the owners at Hazon Burn gave me a few the first time I went up there.
 
If you are anywhere near crook, reid fishing tackle will put an outfit together for you at a very good price, and if you ask allen he\'ll even give you some casting lessons to boot - best caster I\'ve ever seen. watched him put a full fly line out and about 10 yards of backing from a 20 quid rod a while back. they do the ron thomson outfit mentioned above for 50 or 60 quid

I wouldn\'t look to spend too much first off, get a basic reel, as its only there really to hold line, somethin 9 to 9 foot 6 and 6 or 7 weight as suggested. Your\'re guaranteed to destroy fly line fairly rapidly at first, especially if you plan to do a bit of casting practice on dry land at first.

personally I reckon you should be able to get something reasonable for 50 or 60 quid to get you started, but if you want to go a bit more, a greys grx rod n reel, line, leaders and a handful of flies should leave you decent change from 150 quid. A lot of dealers are trying to offload greys rods at the minute as there are new ones due out shortly.

I picked up a Fladen vantage (stop sniggering at the back) travel fly rod a while back for 25 quid and it is really well made and has a good action, rim fly and dragon fly reels are pretty good to start out with for 15 to 20 quid as well.
 
How much are they now then Sless?
I was looking at the Ron Thompson Superior Pro outfit for £60 from Glasgow Angling! That should be ok to start with shouldn\'t it??
I live in Gateshead so I think I\'ll see what Frasers have to offer :cool:
Where is the best places to fish for beginners? Somewhere not too crowded would be best whilst I\'m still in my infancy on the fly :red:

Mark
 
Rod I went to me local footie field and practised getting me casting right before I went to a pond. I can reccommend Hazon Burn up at Shilbottle to get started. It\'s not a vast area so you don\'t have to able to cast like a pro to be in with a chance of catching fish. It\'s usually fairly quiet but it may be worth phoning in advance to check how busy they are. I\'ll see if I can find their No for you.
 
I went up to cow green quite a bit, almost guaranteed to be no-one there to snigger at my casting, and teeming with wild brownies. granted not many big uns, but loads of em in the half pound to pound range. Only a fiver, and thats if you can be bothered to put it in the honesty box!
 
Hi Sless
Teams of black wets, like black peacook spiders and zulu\'s, small dry that match anything that is hatchig. Try klinkhamers in verying colours untill you nab one the stik to it!!!
You will love it! travel light and fish light!!
Tim..
 
anything that is black seems to work a treat. black hoppers can be deadly in late afternoon from late april onwards

bit of a hike but the bays on the south side where the tees runs into the reservoir I find are the best spot, but there are one or 2 sheltered bays you can fish on your way around.

Bit naughty, but if you want bigger fish guaranteed, get a hold of a some minnows, strung up with 2 small trebles and fish them deep with the fly rod in the bit bit where the river runs in. They go mad for them.

One thing I found about cow green when starting out is there is no subtlety about takes, its a real hit and run affair

small mepps and dexter wedges on a light spinning rod never fail either at the top end, not sure if thats allowed however, (never stopped me though)
 
I think I\'ll give Cow Green a go when I get set up :cool:
Still searching for a rod & reel though, the Ron Thompson Superior I guess won\'t be up to much considering the rod alone is £19.99 :o
What are the Diawa fly rods like?
Greys GRX looks tempting like
A lad at work told me to try Brampton, anybody been up there?

Mark

[Edited on 5/3/2005 by RodOfGod]
 
I use nothing but the Daiwa amorphous whisker osprey rods, excellent rods.
I have the but extension also with mine so can use it as a light salmon rod ;)

My rods are twinned with a Leeda LC100 reel which is also used for both salmon & trout when fishing places like the river Till.
 
Agree with Sless that Grey\'s GRX is a good starting point. I started with a 6/7 #. If he\'s right about half price greyflex at ID go for that. Don\'t skimp on the line. Something like Greys Platinum is not silly money but is much better than a cheap line that lands on the water in coils!
 
Something like Greys Platinum is not silly money but is much better than a cheap line that lands on the water in coils!
Click to expand...

Agree with the rest of what you say, but I\'m not so sure about the last bit. There\'s cheap, and there\'s low price. On of the best lines I\'ve ever used was a DT mill end from McHardys. It\'s been in use for over 8 years and is still a good \'un. Trouble is when you buy a mill end it\'s pot luck what you get. Having said that though I bought a load of them two years ago to make up some shooting heads. I got a range of them from floater to fast sinker in every weight from DT9 to DT12, and there only a couple that were a bit iffy. But as I only paid about 30 bob apiece for them I didn\'t feel too hard done by.
When you\'re learning you soon b*gger up a fly line, and it\'s betterll to b*gger up a 30 bob line than a 30 quid one.
I used to use Lee Wulff TT lines a lot, but only because of the special taper. At over £50 the line itself wasn\'t really any better than ones I\'ve used at under £20.
Bit like rods really - the \'big names\' are overpriced to b*ggery.

Just re-read this. Guess what the word-of-day is?

Cheers
Ian D
 
I also use the Greys Platinum line Colossus.
I\'ve had loads of different lines over the years and imho the platinum has been the best ;)
 

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