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WTB Fly reels

Started by Todd Rahm, June 22, 2010, 07:55:08 AM

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Todd Rahm

Ok, fellas I'm kinda looking for some fly reels in case a few of ya just happen to have some laying around.

My priority is a  7 wt, but open to others as this will probably be the only way I fish ever again.  :biggrin:

Lets see what ya got?

alscalls

Todd, I only have one and I will always keep it.

But we have a local fly shop that would be glad to help if your interested.
     http://anglersxstream.com/

Nice fellas...... pricey on some stuff but they know their stuff. :wink:
AL
              
http://alscalls.googlepages.com/alscalls

Todd Rahm

Thanks Al, but wasn't looking to buy new yet. Was hoping to pick up a nice one someone wasn't using to much anymore. Thanks though.

BigB




Todd,  when I built my flyrod, the instructor told us to get the cheapest reel out there.  When flyfishing, the only thing the reel does is hold the line when you aren't using that section of it.  We got scolded if we used the reel to bring in a fish.  He told us that if we want to reel in a fish, then he will give us a Zebco 33 to put on our pole.  :laf:


Brian
hand call user primarily, but if you gotta use an e-caller, there ain't nothing that sounds better than a Wildlife Tech

Todd Rahm

I need it for the drag.  :innocentwhistle:

BigB



Quote from: Todd Rahm on July 10, 2010, 04:15:54 PM
I need it for the drag.  :innocentwhistle:



Use your left hand against the side/rim of the reel as a drag.  If it gets hot from the friction, dip your hand in the water for a sec and put it back on the side of the reel.   :eyebrow:  :laf:


Brian
hand call user primarily, but if you gotta use an e-caller, there ain't nothing that sounds better than a Wildlife Tech

alscalls

I think I may have one of those old automatic reels laying around somewhere....... It winds the slack line up for you..... :shrug:
AL
              
http://alscalls.googlepages.com/alscalls

Todd Rahm

I think the wife is looking to buy me a new Lamson for being such a great hubby?  :innocentwhistle:







I just havent told her yet. Lol  :alscalls:

alscalls

AL
              
http://alscalls.googlepages.com/alscalls

Hawks Feather

Quote from: Todd Rahm on July 15, 2010, 11:02:23 AM
I think the wife is looking to buy me a new Lamson for being such a great hubby?  :innocentwhistle:

Todd,

Just go ahead and order one and get an extra spool while you are doing it.  After all, You are worth it!

Jerry

Todd Rahm

Thats not a bad idea Jerry....................a hubby bonus for the hubby bonus.  :biggrin:

Okanagan

Messed up my post so bad I deleted it and started over.  See next post below. :confused:

Okanagan

Quote from: BigB on July 08, 2010, 09:29:50 PM



Todd,  when I built my flyrod, the instructor told us to get the cheapest reel out there.  When flyfishing, the only thing the reel does is hold the line when you aren't using that section of it.  We got scolded if we used the reel to bring in a fish.  He told us that if we want to reel in a fish, then he will give us a Zebco 33 to put on our pole.  :laf:


Brian

Well, this is s slooowww conversation, or at least my reply is.  Just noticed this thread.

Re playing a fish from the reel:  it is easy to play and bring in small fish by stripping in line.  The bigger and faster the fish the harder that is to do until it is almost impossible.  Fast fish larger than 12-15 lbs. (I'll even say larger than 4 lbs.) are much easier to play from a fly reel with a good drag.  I am anxious when I hook a salmon sized fish until I get the fish "on the reel" with the loose loops of line back on the reel.  I can't let line out by hand on a running big fish with much control.  The running line will burn and cut fingers.  Loose line stripped in and lying around your feet and legs will tangle, stopping the line going out and fish will break off. 

The fly reel is merely a place to store line until you hook a fish big enough to need that drag.  I burned out the drag on a cheap reel on one Chinook salmon-- and it was worth it!  Blistered my hand by palming the reel on another one. 

I had always played fish by stripping in line, working the rod and letting the fish have some back when he surged away, etc. When I started fly fishing for salmon I knew that would not work, so I deliberately went out and forced myself to learn to play fish from the reel by catching a bunch of pink salmon, and then a bunch of much larger and strong chum salmon (brute is the only appropriate word for chum on a finesse fly rod).

Todd Rahm

Hey OK, I have several nice reals now, and looking to get one for my new 9WT. What I have learned is as you say witht he big ones.

I'm looking to try and get into the 30" rainbow club, and fish for larger pike and in both cases, it'll be abonus with a nice drag. Plus all my salmon fishing will be done with a flyrod from now on.  :biggrin:

Okanagan

A 30 inch trout is really something!  Go for it.

You live where you can get into salmon.  Those and pike sized fish are fun on a flyrod.  I caught some pike on a fly rod in Saskatchewan last summer, but nothing really big.  In a week or two we will have a big run of chum salmon:  abundant numbers, easy to hook, hard fighters and about the right size for winnable strong fights.

You are probably ahead of me but here's some of my process I went through from trout reels to a reel more suitable for salmon, without breaking the bank.  I like a large arbor so that each turn of the takes in much more line than on a reel with a small diameter center spool.   

As to drags, for larger fish I wouldn't have anything but a disk drag with a large center tightening knob.  I'm using a Redington Crosswater 7/8/9 reel on a 9/10 wt rod now and like it.  The reel I burned out on one fish has a small knob off center that tightens up a small surface drag of some sort.  I use that reel for smaller trout now.  I keep wondering if I should try for an albacore tuna with a fly rod next summer if I get out with my friend in his boat off the Oregon coast.  Probably more time consuming trouble than it would be worth, as a guest anyway!

I also learned not to use monofil for backing.  It stretches and gets thinner when a big fish is pulling on it, and when it is on the reel, it relaxes and gets fatter in diameter.  The expansion warps the reel and binds it up.  Dacron backing is excellent.  With a 30" trout you will need some backing, way more than a fly line!



Todd Rahm

I'm lucky to have a couple of big time fly fishing nuts for idols.  :biggrin: But I'm still a rookie for sure.


I went on a trip where my buddy caught a large cod, large halibut and sea bass on his fly rod all day long. Ended up breaking the rod but he fished anyway after that.  :biggrin: Where I'm still beating the water he's shooting out 100 foot like its nothing and his loops and rolls amazing.


Hawks Feather

It is fun to watch a fly fisher that knows what they are doing.  I don't.

Jerry

Okanagan

Quote from: Todd Rahm on October 27, 2011, 12:11:17 AM
I'm lucky to have a couple of big time fly fishing nuts for idols.  :biggrin: But I'm still a rookie for sure.

I went on a trip where my buddy caught a large cod, large halibut and sea bass on his fly rod all day long. Ended up breaking the rod but he fished anyway after that.  :biggrin: Where I'm still beating the water he's shooting out 100 foot like its nothing and his loops and rolls amazing.

I'd love to fish with your buddy and just watch and learn.    That's way the easiest way to learn, by watching and asking a live person rather than books, videos etc. I'm not all that good at casting, etc. but catch fish.

Fly fishing requires a light tough and timing rhythm that is a a great pleasure even if the fish aren't biting.  That is true to some extent when fishing with any well matched gear, but double so with fly gear.  Sinking lines and big flies for salmon mess up that casting pleasure for me, compared to trout, but they have their own kind of fun.  Wish you could fish chum with me next week.

On the halibut, were the fish up top or in shallow water or did he drop down a jig fly or something like that?  I have seen halibut cruising just under the surface and hitting bait fish on top, though normally they are lying on bottom.






nastygunz

Fly casting is not casting, it is a beautiful coexistence of mind, body and moment :yoyo:

nastygunz

#19
Todd, I hope this isn't a thread jack, but I get the feeling your going to feel about fly fishing like I do, and I wanted to share this article I wrote with you:
-------------------------------------------

Fly fishing for me is an obsession, I do it nearly every day in season, and when I am not doing it I think about it all the time. Now it is January, the weather has been in a long brutal pageant of freezing , sub-zero temperatures, about as far from fly fishing as I can be. But there are ways to feed the hunger. I have a huge stack of catalogues to pore through looking at all the new gear designed for the discerning fly fishermen. After all you can never have enough gear right?.

When I have the catalogues pretty well memorized I put them away for awhile and then take them out again and go through them all over again. When I am on break from the catalogues I try and catch as many fishing shows on TV as possible, sadly enough they are way to few and far between. My weekend winter routine consists of rising early and sneaking out into the living room so as not to wake my better half whom I sometimes refer to as the “Baby Grizzly”, who can be a trifle aggressive when woken on the weekend, firing up a big coffee and then scanning for some good fishing shows.

I prefer the fly fishing shows although I will, in the privacy of my home, watch “other” types of fishing. I have to say that Charlie Moore the Mad Fishermen is my favorite, he actually fishes places near where I live and has great celebrity guests and in addition is absolutely hilarious. His Cod-Father skits slay me. In between doing all this I have begun the yearly process of refurbishing and upkeep of what I refer to as “ The Arsenal”.

The Arsenal is my collection of fly rods I have collected over the years. I have my original fly rod I started with which is a 6’6 South Bend 4 weight, still one of my favorite rods, casts like a dream and is light and sensitive. I have hammered everything from northern pike, bass and pan fish on it, but usually use it for my favorite, native brook trout. While that rod is light and fun and gives you a good fight on a fish at another point I decided I needed something a little more lighter and challenging. I think every fly fishermen comes to the Zen point of not going the easy route and wanting to go lighter in rod and tippet to make it more of a sporting proposition.

My move in this direction was to purchase a tiny Temple Fork 6 foot, 2 weight and top it off with a hair like 2 pound tippet. It is so light it feels like your casting with nothing in your hand, I think it is perfect for the native brookies I love to fish for, especially in the woods or over grown pastures and beaver ponds. And any fish puts up a fight on it, I also love using it for pan fishing, a rock bass or crappie or bluegill can really put a bend in it for sure. I also think on some of the fly fishing only ponds the tiny line and a long fine tippet with a 16,18, 20 midge or similar fly give you a huge advantage when fishing a heavily fished pond.

Last year I was fishing my favorite fly fishing only pond and was hammering them on this pond with a size 18 blue olive and there was another guy there who was catching fish regularly, and when we happened to be leaving we stopped and chatted as fly fishermen are apt to do, and compared flies and he was using a size 10 black nose dace as compared to my size 18 blue olive, and we were both catching fish, go figure!. The other best thing I love about this rod is when I am sitting in my recliner watching fishing shows it is short enough to be able to put together and make casts with while I watch the show, an unexpected benefit, one which makes my partner shake her head when she sees me doing it.

The workhorse of my arsenal of fly rods is my Cortland 9 foot 6 weight which is a beautiful rod with a nickel handle and wood insert, I like looking at it as much as using it. You can tell it is my favorite by the dark handle stained by sweat, bug spray, fish slime, and every other fishing lotion, potion and liquid known to a fly fishermen. That reminds me whenever I used to get a new rod I would rub dirt and dressing and such on the handle so the bright new cork would not mark me as a newbie or rookie. Thankfully I am over that insecurity now. I use this rod for the bulk of my fishing where I fish bigger waters and expect, hopefully bigger fish and currents and such.

It has turned out to be a great rod for when I am chasing small mouth, who seem to have many feeding and habitat similarities to trout , I even use mainly trout flies when pursuing small mouth. Coupled with a slick Cortland Lazer Line I can cast a country mile with it. It is a sensitive rod but has plenty of backbone to work a big fish in river currents.

And speaking of backbone and big fish, when I am fishing for big northern pike and walleyes, or bass in thick, weedy waters, and need to chunk some big streamers or top water flies, I turn to my 9 foot 10 weight. I had to get this rod because none of my other ones had the weight to cast the big gaudy streamers I use for mainly northern pike, and bass in thick cover. I also weight down the leader and use it for walleyes in the Conn. River. It has a WF bass taper leader which rolls out good n stiff to push the big streamers I use. It is perfect for fishing top water deer hair bugs or big poppers or plowing though lily pads and weeds.

To solve the problem of walleye, pike and pickerel teeth I have a roll of the Winchester braided line which is very strong but limp, which is 20 pound test, and virtually oblivious to teeth, I even have to saw it to cut it with a knife or scissors. I use this to make about a 6 inch shock tip or bite leader which I tie onto the tippet and then I tie onto the end of that a little spring clip so I can quickly and easily change streamers or poppers when I want to. Anybody who fly fishes and hasn't went after northern pike is missing a real thrill, they are a spectacular fish on the fly rod, especially as you can often see the hit just like when trout fishing.

This rod is a real heavyweight, as witnessed one day when I took off early one morning to try for some morning bass at Turtle Pond in Concord, off the boat ramp. I was using a big deer hair bug to try and pop a bass and did not have much luck but kept getting bumps from blue gill and crappie so I put the 10 weight away and grabbed the 2 weight and went to cast and after casting the 10 weight for over an hour I ripped the 2 weight back so fast I socked myself in the face and knocked my glasses off!. Fly fishing can be a contact sport.

These are my main rods that I use most of the time, but I do have others, I have a 8 and a half foot Cortland 6 weight that I have rigged with a sinking line for when I want to go low and slow for the deep water fish. I find this coupled with a good shiny salmon streamer jerked along the bottom can be used for northern pike, but also is very effective on walleyes. I would be interested to know if any other people have ever fly fished for walleyes. This is also a good go to rod when slow trolling or fishing deeper trout ponds.

One of the most important but unsung heroes of my fly rods is my Scientific Angler 9 foot 6 weight, which I paid about $30.00 for the complete package, pole, reel, line, leader, tippet and 10 flies. What's so important about this seemingly cheap, mass produced, fly rod?, glad to tell you, its the one I lend to people when they want to try fly fishing, brothers, nephews, etc., that way they cant get their hands on my good fly rods hahah!. And surprisingly it has a nice soft action to it and is a nice looking rod. My last few rods are by no means my least rods. I love old things in general and especially old fly rods. I have an interesting old fly rod which is the subject of argument to this day, it looks like it is either wood or fiberglass or a mixture of the two. It has a medium action and I use it occasionally for trout and pan fish. I like the rich dark brown finish it has.

I also have a great old Shakespeare bamboo rod in fine shape with the bag and tube and cloth and 2 tips. I love bamboo above all other rods and fish this little beauty quite often for brook trout. I love the fact that it is so old and has so much history behind it and like to think the original owner smiles when he sees it is still catching fish. It has that classic slow, old, soft, sweeping, bamboo action which can be perfect for softly dropping a dry fly down on still waters. I switch rods often while fishing and it can be amazing the difference when you switch from old bamboo to high tech graphite.

It is always enjoyable fishing it also because when other fly fishermen see it they love to hold it and look at it and invariably get to talking about bamboo and fishing which is always a good thing. I think it sets you apart when your on the water with old bamboo, sort of says sometimes technology isn't the best thing going and tradition and craftsmanship still win the day. My other final favorite rod is another classic old bamboo rod from L.L. Bean, 9 foot with original tree case and original canvas and leather rod case. I love the look of this rod, old dark varnish, with a wrapped cord handle that even has some fish scales varnished into it.

It has a beautiful soft action to it and last year I bagged a gorgeous 17 inch brook trout on it. Whenever I use this rod it makes me feel like an old time gentlemen fly fisher, like I should be wearing tweed and smoking a pipe, maybe having a Haggis for lunch and chasing it with a Beefeater Gin. Well that about wraps it up for my arsenal of fly rods, it does seem to be a natural progression when you fly fish to slowly accumulate more rods for different fish and conditions. Or just because you love looking at them and holding them and when your snowed in during the winter you can look at them and dream of better days ahead. And it gives you something to do cleaning them and your lines and re-tying knots and such.

My rods to me are old friends who have shared many adventures and great memories, and allow me to fish many species and conditions........now if I only had that 12 foot 10 weight I have been looking at for some salt water fly fishing........... :wink: