Friday, May 20, 2011

How many reels do you use?

I was reading about floating line, sinking line, etc. and how some are better to use for a certain fly.

It got me thinking if people have more than one reel with different line that they use while they are fishing.

Is this what a "purist" would suggest is the only way to fly fish (i.e. appropriate line for a particular fly) or can you use most line (save sinking) with most flies?

10 comments:

  1. Hey Ed. I'm pretty much non-traditional. I have one rod & reel with floating line for creeks and rivers and one rod & reel with intermediate sinking line for lakes. I fished the floating line at Angels Creek last week and used, well, you read the post.

    Mark

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  2. Mac, I have somewhere around 30+ reels. I have extra spools for most of them, so I can use any reel with any rod for most circumstances. Obviously, you would use a floating line with a dry fly. You can fish a nymph with a floating line or a sink tip or a full sinking line. You usually have to add b-b weights to sink it lower and faster. They make so many special lines for streamers, etc. that they are hard to keep track of. Not to mention that certain people like certain makes and types for particular rods and lines and flies.

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  3. Hi Mark...I may get another setup because I was reading there are some "cheap" but good fly fishing rods (http://flyfishing.about.com). The guy lives in your neck of the woods. I follow him on Twitter but he doesn't post to often. Thanks for the input.

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  4. Hey Howard....that is a lot of reels. You collect reels like I collect hats (not that there is anything wrong with that).

    I mentioned to Mark that I might get another set up since a few of them are under $100 in the review I read.

    I think I am "out growing" the reel I have now. It seems "cheap" to me as I spend more time fishing. I think next spring I will buy a new one (or two).

    Thanks for the info.

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  5. I probably have about ten reels, with maybe 4 extra spools. I generally use the same reel, Battenkill, with a 2 wt, 3wt. I use a floating line always. Fishing small streams you don't have the need to really bounce the bottom, and if your BH fly dosen't do the job. a split shot will.

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  6. Alan....so you can switch out a spool? Howard mentioned that too.

    My reel is an entry level so I don't believe that I have that option.

    Also, so the bead head is not for attraction but for weight (or is it both)?

    Thanks for the information.
    I better save up my pennies to upgrade all my equipment this fall.

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  7. Ed,
    just my two cents..For trout I use a 4 wt floating line for 100% of my trout fishing. This is mainly because I fish small to medium streams and tend to use size 10-18 flies. In my trout fishing ventures so far I have not needed a sinking line as split shot has worked for me (bead heads sometimes help a fly sink but often enough they don't add enough weight to be effective it is a function of the other materials on the hook).

    Again needing sinking line is more about water type. I do have a sinking tip on my line I use for bass (7wt set up).

    One thing that might be more useful for trout is having different line weights. Larger sizes for larger flies...smaller for smaller water and smaller flies.

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  8. Since we are in the same neck of the woods Mike your input is important.

    Over time I will definitely be adding to my collection of lines, reels, etc.

    Thanks again.

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  9. Hey Ed, this is a good question. I personally only use one reel with floating line. I've only got 2 rods, an 8wt. and a 5 wt. They both have floating line. I fish a lot of alpine lakes and rivers of all kinds. What YOU should use really depends on your water. If you have the need to fish deeper than 10' a sinking tip is in order. To save you a ton of money and trouble, I think Rio makes a line designed to swap out tips. I went through the phase of buying lots of stuff, and through time you may eventually quit using a lot of it...

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  10. BCFN....you are right about what I need depends on where I fish. As I learn more or think about fly-fishing more, questions arise and I wonder if I am missing something, if this is a common occurrence, etc. This is one of the beauties of blogger: I can post and people can provide feedback. Thanks for the tip on the Rio line. Cofisher and brktrt told me about that company in a previous posting. I have seen them at the LL Bean store by my house.

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