Northwest Fishing Reports

Ok heres what I want to do. I'm not big on the fly fishing technichue and dont really have the time to learn either but have been told by a lot of people that catching a fish on fly rod is unbelievably fun. I watched a show where they were trolling for salmon with downriggers on a fly pole and would be very intersted in doing that and was thinking of incorperating that same idea into rainbow trout on the lake. So I was thinking about getting a 3weight rod and a 7 weight rod to this. I don't need top of the line stuff since I wont be casting with these. I was wondering if you guys could point me in the right direction for some cheap fly rod/reel combos.

Thanks
Mike

Most of the major sporting goods stores offer starter combos that will probably meet your needs for <$100 .

I doubt you will find an inexpensive 3wt. rod. Those are considered specialty rods and are in the upper price range. Most of the beginner fly rod combos come in the 5-6wt. range. Here are some combos you might consider.

http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/spor ... /cat101046

http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/spor ... /cat101046

I have spent many wonderful hours trolling with a fly for Rainbow in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. A 5-6 weight combo is plenty good enough. The advise I can share, buy something simple but durable. When trolling your not as concerned with that fine casting rod as something that can take a little beating. If your taking about trolling from a boat as opposed to a float tube, then expect the rod and reel to get knocked around. Thats ok too, they make tough rods and reels reasonably. There is quite a lot to trolling it's a great way to catch fish, very effective! I troll from a float tube about 50% of the time. Ever catch a 10lb Rainbow? Right here in Washington, oh ya.

I have the fly rod in the 1st link that Marc shared, works great !

Too bad you're so far away. I have 2 cheap fly rods I'd give you. One is an Olympic 4180 - 8 foot. The other is a K-Mart 940 8 foot. One is about a 6 wt and the other about a 4 wt, guessing as they aren't marked, just going by the 8wt that I have, and the 6wt I sold a couple months ago. No reels, so you'd have to get a reel or 2.

not all the rod holders will work with a fly rod. But you could have a rod made up with a spinning rod handle on a fly rod blank.

amx I have sent you a pm am very interested

Sent PM back with info.

Zen Leecher, there is a fly troller if I ever heard one.

Mikeel, who knows, if you really dig the feel of bringing in a fish on a fly rod... you just may have an interest in taking up fly fishing. Give it some thought. Let us know though what happens with your trolling idea. I want to hear what you think.

ok looks like I'll be going to get those fly rods from amx tomorrow and now the question is what kind of reels should i get? Like I said I have no experience in this area so idk what to get or even to look for? any help anyone. Thanks again AMX see yo tomorrow?

Thanks
Mike

If you are totally messing around with the fly thing, and not sure about getting into actual fly fishing... then I would look at at trying to attach a level wind reel to the fly rod for the aforementioned purpose of trolling off the downrigger. I don't have my fly rod handy, but it seems like a level wind reel has a similar attach mechanism as the fly reel, and might work.

Now if you don't have either a level wind OR a existing fly reel... then just go by a cheapo fly reel to hold the line while trolling. You sounded like you really just wanted to feel a fish on a fly rod anyway, and it wasn't about the actual fly fishing end of it. Although, on second thought I can't see how a fly reel will have a tight enough drag to use in your downrigger. My fly reels have very loose drag, and you use the palm of your hand as the drag.

check out the okuma sierra fly reels they're good and they go for around 35 bucks. i got one and i abuse the crap out of it when i fly fish for spawning bass.

Thanks for the info will look into that. and yes I am looking into just feeling a fish on a fly rod but also want to keep the option open for getting into fly fishing if I ever get the time to learn. Also you might be right about the reels not having enough drag but the guys I seen on the show were trolling with fly rod for salmon with downriggers were using a traditional fly rod reel.

Some fly fishing reels have an adjustable drag. But they aren't as tight a drag as spinning and casting reels and the main method of drag is the palm on the side/edge of the spool. Some fly fishing reels are made for the 'big' fish out in the ocean and salmon in the rivers and such. I'd think they would have a better/tighter drag system for those big fish.