Cheap Fly Outfit Required

[MentallyUnsound]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has any knowedge on the types of fly fishiung required for a beginer.

1 rod length/weight etc...

2 reel size

3 line weight, line strengt etc..

4 leaders... do i need one, as some lines float etc..

To be honest, i know nothing, but would like to learn.

Are the starter packs ok to use, the ones in bigW and K-Mart etc... as if i get sh#tty with it, i wont get to annoyed with myself when i ditch something cheap

Dave

[Shrimpo]

I saw some beginner fly kits somewhere for about $60 or $70, I think it may have been motackle. I dont have a clue about it myself either.

[Shrimpo]

Motackle have a gillies one for $175 actually.

[fishyman]

mate it all depends on what your chasing.

for example we have 3 fly combos all with different purposes.

i have a 5 weight about 8 foot long i spose, with two different spools one with floating one with slow sinking line. i use this for trout in tassie and light saltwater work up here in brissy, i also am aiming to use it for bass.

dad has a 2 weight ultra light about 8 foot again, with 2 spools aswell. he uses this for trout and light saltwater.

and we have an 8 weight aswell which we use for clubbing wales

you will need a leader all times. most use a store bought tapered leader which gets thinner towards the end. another option is to join varying breaking strains of line to make a tapering leader. you do this because it casts better.

as for kits i dont really know sorry.

[MentallyUnsound]

Thanks Fishyman, I would like to target Bass, and light saltwater, bream, whiting flatties.

Shrimpo, Gillies, I take it thats a brand name? A good brand? or is it a little like 'sauces for courses'

So far i believe I will need roughly a rod 8 foot long?

How is weight measured, 5 weight equils what exacly

(excuse my dumbness)

Dave

[Shrimpo]

Yeh Gillies is the brand, Has the kit on motackles website.

[Dan23]

I've been researching the same topic. There seems to be weights from 1-14 with around 5 being ideal the same sort of fishing you'd do with a 2-4kg spinning outfit.

Watch some tutorials on Youtube and you'll see how its done. Look on Troutlet for an idea of what's available overseas. Or to see what's available locally Tackle Warehouse in Brissie has a whole upstairs section dedicated to fly fishing.

[Dazzamcgee]

5 weight 8ft rod, weight forward floating fly line(for ezy casting) with a fluorocarbon leader(weight depending on specie)around 10lbs.

[Cowfish13]

BCF sell some fly fishing combo's. They're only cheap starting ones, but they come with everything you need (rod, reel, line & flys). They are around $150. Come in 8 and 6 weight rods, each 9' and 4 piece (according to their online store).

They're are gillies:)

[Feral]

Its fairly simple, Leanne Payne gave me some lessons on one of the AFO Hinze trips. Never bothered with following up because I dont really fish anywhere the wind is light enough / I have 30 metres of clear space behind me to allow me to cast them! The gear is also quite expensive for just a passing fancy.

[shortie]

For a reel any old cheap thing will do as you do not really fight a fight with a reel on fly.

Rod: 5-6 weight. Anything doesnt really matter for a beginner.

Line: Do not go cheap. A reasonable fly line will cost about $100. Is well worth the money. Its supple and cast a whole lot better.

[merrick]

ok first thing, like all fly rods the best way to find out what you like is to hold it and wave it around abit (just like all other rods!)

Beginners weight would have be between 5 - 7 (i use 4wt *alot* but then again ive been fly fishing for years.) anyway less then 5 is generally for trout and above 7 is starting to get into the tuna gear (and of course heavy!)

As for the reel, well all it does is hold the line. I have a crappy reel because i don't expect to catch huge fish on it! I think i got it for like $25 or so. brand new

Line - for a newbie weight forward floating. the line would be best 1 weight above the rod (ie if you have a 5 weight rod, the line should be 6 and therefore easy to cast) basically this is where you pump most of your money.

You can use a leader, however there is nothing wrong with just wacking abit of 6 pound mono on the end.

Cheers

Rob.

[Carstenvp]

Hi mate.

Merrick is really on to something here.

I had lessons by "Henrik Mortensen" Google him if you like, he has done 3 really nice casting/fishing DVD's and is rated one of the best around (I am still crap, have only fly fished around 5 years for trout/seatrout).

I recon a 9' weight 6-7 with a WF (weight forward) floating line.

The extra lenght will make your back cast (which is the most important) easy'er to master. Choose something with a MEDIUM action, if it too fast the rod will feel stiff and harder to time your casts, it is all about timing not brute strength.

I started with a Loop Blackline (Swedish), don't think they are avail. down under but look for something not too cheap, I think that if it is too bad quality the action will make it too dificult than it has to be.

The Reel is just something to hold your line, if you are gonna use it in salt water, choose a reel not made of metal but some sort of a composite material.

I use Vision 3-Zone Large Arbour, they are cheep, don't rust, very light and the Large Arbour (larger inside diameter) makes the line less prone to Memory.

Don't worry about line strenght, it is a coated Dacron line and will pull the skin of an Elephant's back before breaking.

Now the leader and Tip on the other hand is very important.

I am lazy and have always bought my leaders and just added a tip in the right strain.

Total length should be atleast ONE RODLENGTH for fish that spook easy like bream.

Leaders come in Floating, Intermediate, Sinking, Fast Sinking, Super Fast Sinking.

Choose a couple, floating/Intermediate for surface/sub surface fishing (the fly will pull tip down up to a meter easy) Sinking/Fast sinking for getting deeper down if needed.

Personally I do 90% of my fishing with a Floating line/Floating leader setup.

Regarding the weight classes (AFTM) this is simply the weight of the first 30 fod (9.15 meters) used as the casting weight, you can google it for a exact diagram of the different weights

I haven't flyfished the last year (since I moved to Australia) so I am properly a bit rusty. But if you are interested you are welcome to come around for a few casting lessons or a fishing trip to a Dam like north pine. (I don't know where you live)

You are also welcome to borrow my casting video/dvd's if you like.

I havent found any good shops in the SEQ but there are a few online like www.flyworld.com.au and www.alpineangler.com.au

If you have specific questions you are also welcome to PM me.

All the best

/Carsten

[Nog]

Mate

First of all and it's a bit of a broken record but please please buy the best rod you can afford. I started with a reasonable rod but I always struggled to cast well. Once I went up a nothc my fly fishing got a whole lot more enjoyable. If you are chasing Bass, Flatties etc a 6wt would be perfect.

Rods I would look at as a MINIMUM are;

Sage Launch

Redington R3

Innovator Matrix

Loomis GL2 (Adventure)

You can pick up some really good cheap ones from fly fishing sites such as flylife, saltwaterflyfishing and sometimes on fishnet. put dot com dot au on the end of these.

Line as the others have said needs to be good

Floating go either Rio, Cortland 444 or Scientific Anglers Bonefish or Redfish

If you use bulky flies have a heavy short leader, and converse for light flies.

And get a lesson is VITAL. Nial Logan (learntoflyfish.net), Gordon Low (Fishead tackle at Victoria Point, Gavin Platz (Tie 'N' Fly Outfitters on the Sunny Coast) are a couple around SEQ that will sort you out

Norm

[sarod420]

Gday

I personally would start out with a cheap combo around a 6-7wt with a floating line (they are the easiest to cast) and then if you enjoy fluff chuckn move up to a better quality rod and reel set up, but it can be pretty tough to start out but once you get the hang of it you wont wont to put the fly rod down

[Nastymind]

Anaconda Logan.

Pfleuger Kits

[bigtez]

Nastymind: DO you stock a range of fly lines as well or just the startup kits?

[Do$tylz]

man I'd love to see a fly caught flattie/bream/whiting. That'd be awesome.

[bigtez]

I will be giving it a red hot go at the Bream and Snapper comp this weekend.

[Nastymind]

bigtez wrote:

Nastymind: DO you stock a range of fly lines as well or just the startup kits?

I only stock the start up kits and the reels.

I also found Okuma fly reels on the system yesterday too.

I won't be stocking them but they are available.

[reef_raider]

have a look at the ones at bcf... $150 8 and 6 wt. comes with everything you need to get yourself started

[bigtez]

These are a little more expensive but better in quality then most beginner combos.

http://www.flyworld.com.au/view/20080128120315/

[sarod420]

The okuma reels arent to bad 4 starters with bream and flathead.

Bream and flathead on fly are great fun i have been catchn more bream on flies lately than on plastics or hardbodys, some good size ones around 30-40 on the edges of the channels at nudgee use a sinking or intermediate line and 2-3in clousers (chartreuse and white is best)