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hi all new fly fisherman here needing tackle advice ..


grayling4me

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hello folks. i have been a coarse fisherman for 50+ years and my favourite fishing is trotting small rivers with light tackle whilst having a nice country walk. consequently i catch mainly brown trout, grayling and chub, using maggot and worm. my fishing style has more in common with fly than coarse really and so i have decided to give fly fishing a go as it really does appeal to me. (sitting on a box for hours fishing 1 swim, watching a rod tip really isn`t my thing!)

so i am looking for recommendations re tackle for rivers like the lugg, wye and teme. its been suggested that i go for 9ft 4 weight rod or maybe a 10` rod - i want something light and as easy to use and develop my casting technique as possible, without costing the earth. i suppose what i want is recommendations from the experienced fly fishers here rather than those tied to suppliers ! any help much appreciated ...

 

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That doesn't sound like bad advice. My river rod is an 8' #3/4 weight, but then I only fly fish small rivers. I do sometimes think about getting a shorter, lighter outfit just for the fun of it. There are also some nymph fishing techniques for which people prefer longer rods - that's maybe a bit more specialised though.

 

As far as brands go, I like my Sonik fly rods, but Shakespeare make some cracking rods at extremely reasonable prices.

 

I like Snowbee XS lines, but they are expensive. John Norris own brand lines are excellent value for money.

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My local streams are very small, very twisty, so the usual advice about careful approach has to be multiplied a few times, as, perforce, you are very close to the fish you are after. It also means that the usual advice about long leaders is inappropriate. If the pocket of water you are fishing is about 4 ft in diameter, its no use fishing with a six-foot leader ! Also you will have to use a lot of roll-casting, side and switch-casting, and sometimes just poke the rod tip over the stream and lower the fly. That involves a lot of crawling through herbage and bushes. Most bushes on my streams are either hawthorn, bramble, blackthorn or briar !

 

Also, use a level line for short range work. A tapered line, if fished short, will have a greater weight of line between reel and bottom ring than the weight of line outside the tip ring. Makes all that switch and roll casting difficult !

 

With advancing age, my trout sessions have become shorter, and not being as nimble as I used to be, I now have to restrict my scrambling - but its still my favourite style of fishing.

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

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"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Long Rods i.e. 10ft or more with weights between 2-4# are becoming more popular for Grayling or Trout fishing using French, Polish or Czech

Nymphing Techniques. These methods generally involve Flocking out a long leader with a team of weighted nymphs and fished upstream at close range. The long rod helps with this as you can hold the flies out in the current away from your body. There are plenty of articles in the Fly fishing magazines and on the internet about these techniques.

If you fish traditional UK methods such as upstream dry or nymph or down and across northern spiders, then the rods suggested by Steve or Vagabond would be more suitable. I use a 10ft 4 weight for the Polish or French Nymphing and a 7'6" 3 weight or an 8'6” 4 weight for traditional UK techniques; the shorter rod for dries and the longer for Northern Spider fishing.

Tony

Edited by Tony U

Tony

 

After a certain age, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead.

 

 

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