Thread: New fly fisher - reel advice

Originally Posted by HOO

Went for a fish this morning and couldn’t find my leader so used standard nylon hoping that would work but it stood out like dogs balls on the water so I guess that’s a no go
Got the spinner out instead and while I was setting it up a young stag came trotting past! Had some interest from some fish and half hooked one on a small black and gold toby.
Saw some big fish in the side creeks. Definitely an interesting morning out there

Sounds great. Trout fishing is pretty crap up here. It's too warm, we need some largemouth bass.

half way there you know where they sleep - you know you could speed up the process if you invested going out for the day with a really good guide - play dumb and really pick his brains - you may be able to find a friendly fly fisherman on here and petrol and beers and a day of learning ( bacon and egg pie for lunch ) - but your river not their favourite spots most likely - one day with a good guide equal to likely a year of thrashing a river for little gain - just choice of rod line leaders and flys you are well ahead

I just talked a bit to my sister about this thread. She is big time into her fishing and is sponsored fly rods through G Loomis (Shimano) so runs some pretty top end rods, NRX+, Asquith, etc and she seemed to agree with the general consensus here that your rod and your line are where your money should go. Flylab Exo was her reccomendation for a good no nonsense reel that is still good quality and won't cost you the earth.

Originally Posted by HOO

What is a fast/medium action? And the rod numbers I am guessing higher number for heavier fish?


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The action refers to the stiffness of a rod. A med-slow action will load slower. Typically not many options now in modern rods are anything less than med-stiff. Your casting style will determine your action need. Typically a faster action will give faster line speed so you can cast into the wind easier or push out longer casts. Some guys with very smooth casting can work with anything but it's from lots of experience. The weight of a rod refers to the line it will be designed to cast. The lighter the line the shorter it is typically designed to be cast. A small creek with still water needs a lighter rod to give good presentation typically. The Tongariro or large rivers have a lot of noise and action so a bigger rod (heavier) will assist with getting a line further out into fishable water. The line should be matched to the rod.
An alaround NZ setup would be something like a 9'0" four piece rod with a WF6 floating line. Good setups come around family easy at decent prices. I think the Primal gear rates as good bang for buck.

One of the boys at the local H&F convinced me to try using flies with a spin rod. Anyone do this? What are the best rig setups? Mostly fishing the Waikato between Ngaruawahia where fish stay out in the middle of the river passed the duck weed, and where it gets quite deep and fish seem to stay close the rocks along the banks in Hamilton.

Originally Posted by Three O'Three

One of the boys at the local H&F convinced me to try using flies with a spin rod. Anyone do this? What are the best rig setups? Mostly fishing the Waikato between Ngaruawahia where fish stay out in the middle of the river passed the duck weed, and where it gets quite deep and fish seem to stay close the rocks along the banks in Hamilton.

A bubble or float, with a couple nymphs, one heavy, another unweighted, cast just behind the weed line, works well, weighted nymph takes line down, the smaller light weight drift in the current behind the weighted nymph.
or a couple split shot 1/2m above a wooly bugger, cast and swing in the current,

The thing that I was always taught with fly casting was timing, timing, timing - and you don't set that you need to watch the line and do what it needs when it needs it in terms of loading the road to get the line following in the right place. I was using an Olympic fly reel on my really light setup and an Abu Garcia on the heavier which was pretty much top of the line back when (got it on a close out for basically cost price so not a huge expense back then).

Lines are a huge rabbit hole to go down, you can end up with a huge number of lines to do distinctly different jobs but in reality you can get away with around three or four - slow sinker, fast as heck sinker, floating but the enthusiasts get into tapers and different leader connection types and as I said it's a rabbit hole. I have no idea if the options are better or worse, I am not sure if the fish actually give two hoots to be honest.

Rods are where it really matters as others have said - I have an uncommon 'Ryobi' graphite rod here which is quite a powerful stick but with quite a slow loading on it. It's quite deceptive how much grunt it has, it can really send it and is very nice to use (although I have a fear of using it in anything resembling an electrical storm as I suspect it will not be pretty). I have always been hankering for a multi-piece rod that's more easily transported, but to be honest I haven't been freshwater fishing for a few years now as just haven't had the opportunity since kids turned up. Must get back into it, and should probably strip the flylines and loop them in big loops to get the memory out of them!