Just bought my first fly rod, need advice
It's a Fenwick WCFT905-6.
Size 5 9' Fast action
What reel should I buy? Line? Starter kit of flys? Any other advice?
I'm new to fly fishing, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
Edit:
Ok everyone, here's the list of stuff I'll get. Tried to balance your suggestions.
Piscifun sword reel Cheap sf braided backing Sa air cel line, floating with the loop Max catch 4x leaders with perfection loop SF nylon tippets, 4-7x one each A fly kit on Amazon that has the box and a se of your suggested flies to get started. May buy some poppers on the side.
About $100 dollars for the reel and line supplies, 25 bucks for flies. Glad I have Amazon points from my credit card :)
Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it. I usually use traditional rod and reel, but I've wanted to try fly fishing for a while! I'll upgrade my kit once I get the hang of it, the rod is higher end to my understanding ($60 brand new on sale, usually $350+ so I had to do it). Until then, I'll keep you all post with pictures and what not.
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by LeedleLord9999
Well, not to answer a question with a question, but it all depends on a few things.
What kind of fish are you targeting? Where? What style fishing do you think you’ll be doing more? (Dry fly, streamer, nymphing, etc).
Awesome that you’re getting into it!
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by Kingfish880
Can't answer what style. Still learning. I'll be targeting sunfish, bass, etc. Will travel to trout waters eventually.
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by LeedleLord9999
Awesome! Well for learning on bream and bass, I’d go with a basic floating line (no need to go crazy and break the bank), but I’d suggest looking for something with a welded loop. It’ll save you a lot of trouble when changing out leaders and since a lot of leaders nowadays come pre-looped, it’s a breeze to change.
A 3x or 4x leader should be fine unless you’re going for bigger bass. And just remember that you’ll want to match tippet to your leader or go smaller, never bigger. (4x leader with 4,5,or 6x tippet for example).
And then for flies, little popping bugs like bream busters, spiders, or really anything with legs that floats. Then if you want subsurface any tiny clousers or small minnow imitations work well. As do bead head nymphs for bluegill.
Also a net can be a life saver haha
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by Kingfish880
Thanks for the help!
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by LeedleLord9999
I had a very similar rod to start. I used a very basic, cheap plastic reel and standard WF5 floating line. Loved fishing that rod and it caught me some nice bass and even a salmon.
Watch some videos on youtube and you ll find lots of useful information. I recommend Mad river outfitters (Not in any way affiliated).
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by cyberjonesy
Thanks for the help!
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by LeedleLord9999
Congrats. You’re going to have a lot of fun with that 5 weight.
You won’t be going after anything that will test your drag, so I’d recommend budgeting for a cheap reel, but spending the money on the line. The line will have more impact on your casting and presentations, not to mention the durability when you inevitably need to get it out of some interesting situations.
Have a great time with it - and tight lines!
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by cdmalgee
What price points do you think would be reasonable
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by LeedleLord9999
Spend like $100 max on reel, line and backing. Dont spend more than that. Redington makes a inexpensive plastic reel the crosswater and also if you have amazon you can get piscifun reels which are inexpensive and decent, $50 for the reel. For the line get a weight forward floating and spend around 20-40 bucks (scientific angler is good imo) for backing just get whatever cheap 20lb dacron you can, color is up to you. Also look at BigYfly for fly assortments they have them organized by species of fish which is very helpful for new fly fishers.
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by jhundo
Thanks for the help!
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by LeedleLord9999
No problem and good luck!
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by jhundo
For line, Scientific Anglers Air Cell Weight Forward Floating Line in a 5 weight. It's the best bang for the buck, period.
The Okuma SLV is a good starter reel, get one in the 4/5 or 5/6 size. You'll want some cheap dacron backing for the reel, nothing too fancy.
For bass and sunfish you could get away with just a straight shot of 6 or 8 lb test mono for a leader. I would recommend a tapered leader, though. Any brand is generally fine.
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by travbart
How is the memory effect on the scientific anglers line? I had bad experience with that brand and never touched it again.
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by St_sts
There are 2 things that were not really mentioned.
A good pair of copper/bronze polarized sunglasses are really useful. A pair of sunglasses is absolutely necessary. I have swung a fly into my face only twice in 15 years, but since I only have 2 eyes. I feel this is something worth the money (Costa, Oakley, Maui Jim, etc), but a $50 pair of Ryders will fill the gap.
The other thing I recommend is a pair of scissor clamps/forceps. Flies tend to be tiny and more fragile than your normal lures. Forceps will help remove hooks easily. Good pairs will have cutting surfaces/edges, a flat screw driver, and hook-eye poker.
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by DrSkunkzor
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