More on fly-gear !

[Guest Mike Connor]

For fishing, one is bound to purchase, various odds and sods,

flies and leaders, hats and boots, and also reels and rods.

Some need much, some need less, some need even more,

and some just can not get enough, and become a tackle whore.

 

The prices vary quite a lot, and some may be quite insane,

for the very latest carbon fibre, or indeed the very oldest cane,

fortunate indeed then, that the fish of this are blithely unaware,

no matter what you use to catch them, they really do not care.

 

Use what you like, it matters not, if your fishing you enjoy,

buy the latest, buy the oldest, buy every single fishing toy,

remember though, when fishing, you may be forced to tarry,

when you find out, that you have bought, far more than you can carry!

 

With fifty rods, and sixty reels, and every single special line,

you will be well equipped of course, and this is really fine,

problems may arise though, as this stuff fills your fishing room,

and for fishermen with wives may cause approaching doom.

 

Struggling to the river, weighed down by all this lovely tackle,

one may be forced to then endure an occasional silly cackle,

"what do you want with all that stuff?", some others may well ask,

"for catching fish, a single rod and reel and line, is equal to the task".

 

You may well find as well, that when you plan another fishing trip,

that you are simply spoilt for choice, and are unable to equip.

then of course for every angler, comes at last the acid test,

when everything is packed and sorted, how to lift a heavy vest?

 

Weighed down with various accoutrements, you struggle to the bank

and despite this multitude of gear, you still draw another blank.

Your struggles notwithstanding, no matter how you plan and try,

when you reach the river you still find, you don't have the right fly.

 

Box on box of lovely flies and lures, all tied with care and hope,

floatant, sinkant, grease, and oil, even a piece of kitchen soap,

this causes even patient anglers, to occasionally start musing,

perhaps it might be better just to stop and think, what I am using?

 

Weightlifters we are mostly not, and though some may be strong,

perhaps we should carry far less gear, and try not to use it wrong?

best rods, best lines, best reels, best flies, does it really matter?

when a local with a string and stick, your illusions then may shatter?

 

To try out all the tackle, an angler would need to live a dozen lives,

and this is not including all the tricks and tools, and special knives,

you only have one life my friend, better not to waste it wishing,

grab a rod, your gear and flies, get out and do some fishing!

 

TL

MC

[Guest Newt]

Excellent one Mike. The God one too. I really enjoyed both.

[Guest Cranfield]

Good posts there Mike,

Very enjoyable read ,thanks a lot.

 

When do you go to sleep?

 

We all know about Newt!

[Guest Mike Connor]

Originally posted by Cranfield:

Good posts there Mike,

Very enjoyable read ,thanks a lot.

 

When do you go to sleep?  

 

We all know about Newt!  

Glad you enjoyed them. Sleep? What is that?

 

What do we all know about Newt????

 

The only thing I know of Newt,

although I wont of course insist,

is that every time I hear of him,

he is almost always **** !!!! )

 

( Just a bit of fun Newt! )

 

TL

MC

[Guest Cranfield]

Mike,

 

Check out Newt,s profile and you will see,

 

He comes from a land far from you and me,

 

He,s five hours behind me,

 

Probably six behind you,

 

Where he comes from the sky,s always blue.

 

 

You started it!!!

[Guest Umber]

Keep em coming Mike. Great stuff.

[Guest Newt]

Originally posted by Mike Connor:

The only thing I know of Newt,

although I wont of course insist,

is that every time I hear of him,

he is almost always **** !!!!

Well Mike - if you had been named for a small, aquatic lizard, just think how you'd feel. And that is my name, not a handle.

 

I am totally in awe of your fluff-flinging knowledge (and that is a real, serious fact). I am now very surprised I ever managed to catch fish on a fly rod.

 

One burning question I do have though. I always thought (and have read on here) that a fly reel was just a line holder. Yet I look at the catalogs and find fly reels selling for huge prices. ??? For instance,

 

Penn - to $450 (£320)

Vario - to $375

Abel - to $750 for the reel and to $350 for a spare spool.

[Guest Mike Connor]

Originally posted by Newt:

Well Mike - if you had been named for a small, aquatic lizard, just think how you'd feel.    And that is my name, not a handle.

 

I am totally in awe of your fluff-flinging knowledge (and that is a real, serious fact).  I am now very surprised I ever managed to catch fish on a fly rod.  

 

One burning question I do have though.  I always thought (and have read on here) that a fly reel was just a line holder.  Yet I look at the catalogs and find fly reels selling for huge prices.  ???  For instance,

 

Penn - to $450 (£320)

Vario - to $375

Abel - to $750 for the reel and to $350 for a spare spool.

 

As I said Newt, just a bit of fun. I actually did think it was a "handle", and not your real name. There is a common saying in England, often used when somebody has drunk a bit too much, to the effect that he is then as "**** as a newt". The little rhyme was a play on that, and was not in any way seriously intended to poke fun at you.

 

For trout fishing, and fishing for most other freshwater fish, ( at least in Europe), with the possible exception of salmon, large pike, and carp. It is indeed the case that the reel is only a line holder, and that the fish are invariably played "from the hand".

 

For the fish mentioned, ( to a lesser extent), and for big game fishing, bonefishing, etc, it is necessary to have a reel with which one can fight the fish, as this is impossible to do from the hand. The Abel you mention is a top class big game reel.I don´t know the others, ( apart from having heard the names),but they might be too.

 

With regard to prices, for a first class big game reel with a reputation for quality and long life like Abel, such a price may well be justified. I really have no way of knowing. I have only ever handled a couple of big game reels, and never fought a fish using one, so am not knowledgeable enough about it to make any really useful comment.

 

For "ordinary" trout reels, the prices sometimes quoted are in no way justifiable, and are a result of many factors. One of these factors is that fly-fishermen, especially in America, are prepared to pay more for gear in the first place.

 

There is also a lot of snobbery with regard to fly-fishing gear, and the market caters to this.

 

There are some very excellent carbon composite reels now available, very cheaply, which are better suited to the task in quite a number of respects,( they are lighter, tougher etc), but many refuse to use them because they "look cheap", and still insist on machined alloy reels, which have been turned from bar-stock.

 

There are reels designed to fit #3 or #4 weights, which have disc drags, etc etc. This sort of thing is quite superfluous for most fishing, especially on those weight rods. Indeed, for most fishing, and for rods up to #8 weight, I would venture to suggest that a simple reel suffices for just about anything. Simple reels are also invariably cheaper, lighter, and less likely to break down, than complex ones.

 

For many people, the gear they use is as much a status symbol as their car, or clothing.This has relatively little to do with the actual merits of such equipment.

 

The most expensive gear is not necessarily the best suited for any particular purpose,

and as the choice of gear is a very subjective thing for many, the actual basic criteria are often ignored, or may not even be known at the time of purchase.

 

I am always rather amused when I see fellow fly-fishermen decked out like perambulating Christmas trees, with dangling glinting clanking gadgets, and sporting highly polished rods and reels. In many places I fish, this would result in one catching nothing at all.

 

The "hype" propagated by the trade is mainly responsible for this. Quite a few people believe what they read and hear, and simply do not think much about it themselves.

 

Even a little thought on the part of many, would soon make then aware of how ludicrous some things are, but this is not the way the world works.

 

My own particular criteria with regard to various tackle, are quite simple really. It should be suited to the job I wish it to do, it should be reasonably priced ( if possible, when I have no alternative, I will also buy expensive items), it should be as light and inconspicuous as possible, and it should last a long time.

 

Some of these simple criteria are often surprisingly difficult to fulfil. When the current fashion dictates that rods should have bright shiny finishes, or reels should be polished like mirrors, then it is difficult to find alternatives. This is one reason I started building a lot of my own tackle years ago. I did it in order to obtain exactly what I required, as I was unable to buy it, ( or could not afford to ).

 

Unlike many, I am not obsessive about my tackle. If it does the job well, I am happy with it, and I don´t care what names are on the rods or reels.

 

TL

MC

[Guest Steve Burke]

Mike, you mentioned composite reels. In my fly fishing days that's what I ended up using. Mine were very reliable and nice and light, especially as I bought the smallest size I could get away with. They were also matt black. Cheap, yes. Nasty, no.

 

What's your opinion on geared reels for fishing big waters?

[Guest Mike Connor]

Originally posted by Steve Burke:

Mike, you mentioned composite reels.  In my fly fishing days that's what I ended up using.  Mine were very reliable and nice and light, especially as I bought the smallest size I could get away with.  They were also matt black.  Cheap, yes.  Nasty, no.

 

What's your opinion on geared reels for fishing big waters?

For some years now I have used Vivarellis more or less exclusively for trout and similar fishing. This is a black non glare carbon composite reel, semi-automatic, made in Italy. They are not cheap, but they are in my opinion the best reel available for trout fishing, bar none. The reel has no "handles" as such. It is operated by depressing a lever, which acts on a cog, to turn the reel spool. The lever projects above the spool housing, and may be depressed with a finger of the rod hand.

 

This reel weighs less than half of even the smallest metal reel available, is extremely tough and reliable, and it is a one handed operation to recover line very quickly indeed. Much faster even than any automatic reel available.

 

I have heard it said by many, that this reel is not suitable for "fighting" fish over a pound or so. This is presumably because people use it incorrectly. All my fish are fought from the hand, and I simply use the lever to recover slack line, or to wind up quickly when moving from pool to pool, etc.

 

I have had pike of over twenty pounds on this reel, lots of seatrout, some big ones, any number of trout and grayling etc,and quite a number of carp to double figures No problems.

 

The reel also has a "drag" of sorts, which is a preset brake on the spool. I have this set just enough to prevent overruns when stripping line off the reel, and don´t use it to fight fish. It has to be preset with an Allan key, in any case.

 

One may also brake the spool with a finger, or the rod hand thumb, if required. This is often necessary to put pressure on carp or seatrout which tend to make long powerful runs.

 

It is not possible to turn the spool by depressing the lever, when any pressure is on the line. It simply will not work. The technique is to strip line as "normal" with your hands, and use the lever simply to take up slack. I can recover thirty yards of line in a couple of seconds. if necessary.

 

This reel is absolutely perfect for its intended purpose, and I would never go back to using any other type.

 

The only disadvantage, is that the reel is only made in one small size. This means that it is difficult to use heavier lines,than a #6 with backing, as they simply will not fit on the spool. Another reason why I now use "part lines" almost exclusively.

 

With regard to geared reels generally. Over the years, I tried quite a few of these, including various automatics etc. They all had various disadvantages.

 

There is practically always too much to go wrong, and they are also heavy and invariably expensive. As the Vivarelli has solved all my problems in these respects, I would no longer even bother trying a geared reel. There is none which even approaches the slack line retrieve speed of the Vivarelli in any case.

 

For "big water" fishing, such as the Baltic sea, I only occasionally now use "conventional" fly-tackle. I prefer to use a special set of casting floats. Coupled with a thirteen foot 1 1/2 lb TC Carp rod, and a Shimano wide spool casting reel. ( Fixed spool )

 

These "floats" are available in a whole range of types and sizes, floating, sinking, intermediate, etc etc. And may be used as a very satisfactory substitute for a fly line.

 

They have a number of very impressive advantages over a fly-line. Here are a few:

 

Cheap! even the most expensive floats only cost a couple of quid at most. Most cost even less.

 

You can carry the complete range in a small wallet, to suit any situation.

 

You can change rigs and flies immediately, without any problems, even with freezing fingers.

 

The wind has little effect on casting these things.

 

You can cover massive amounts of water very thoroughly, and with ease.

 

They create very little disturbance, compared to fly-lines. And are indeed practically invisible in the water.

 

You can cast incredible distances, and present your fly to fish that "conventional" fly-fishermen never even get close to.

 

A thirty gram "float" will carry even very heavy or bushy flies, a very long way. There is not even a remote possibility of achieving this with a fly-line.

 

You can present your fly at any depth, and in any configuration you care to choose, with consummate ease, and as the main line is monofilament ( I use 15 lb nylon on these reels), you have much greater control, as the wind and waves do not toss it about like they do a fly-line.

 

As the "float" is a sliding rig, you have direct and immediate contact with the fish, and can feel even the slightest of "nibbles". With practice, you can even tell what sort of ground you are fishing over, as you can "feel" the fly hopping along through weed, over rocks, sand etc. The "feel" is different in every case.

 

You can simply use a piece of nylon as leader. ( I habitually use ten pound nylon on the Baltic, as big fish are to be expected) Usually nine feet long. "Turnover" ( if required) is effected by "feathering" the last few feet of the cast.

 

Tangles practically do not occur.

 

No other specialist gear is required, no fancy leaders, no other fancy stuff of any description.

 

You can immediately rig up for any other type of fishing, bait, spinning, "conventional" float-fishing, plugging, etc, all with the same gear, as it suits the circunstances, and your particular fancy of the moment.

 

A fishing jacket will hold all the stuff required to do this. No need to lug a great load of stuff along.

 

There are many other advantages as well, these are just a few.

 

As a result of using this gear for "big water fishing", and the Vivarelli for practically all other fly-fishing, I have no need of any other stuff, and indeed have ceased to even bother trying much of it.

 

I give regular classes at various clubs, on casting, fly-dresing etc etc, and I get to handle a great deal of various gear. Even brand new expensive stuff which I would not normally be able to handle regularly. None of it has as yet even aprroached the ease, simplicity, versatility of application, and reasonable price!, of the stuff I now have.

 

If I had had this stuff when I started, over forty years ago, I would have saved a great deal of time money and effort, and would probably also have caught a huge number of fish!

 

So, to answer your original question. My opinion of geared fly-reels for fishing big water, is that they are, at least as far as I am concerned, superfluous!

 

TL

MC