What do you use for the fly?

ardinn

So who makes your favourite rods? For me it's Greys, Hardy's younger, cheaper, faster better option - Whats your go to brand?

SeaFields

I use a Grey's. Fantastic rod. It's a 10ft, 6-7 weight. Has taken seatrout, salmon and brownies as well as stockies for me. I use a Cortland line on it. Always found them the best.

Zzippy

How long is a piece of string?!

I have Sage, Orvis, Greys, Guideline, Beulah, Loop, Vision rods, everything from a 7'11 4 wt to a 14'8 10 weight, and all have their particular use. My favourite is probably the Sage One 10 foot 6 weight for wet fly on the lake, and the Orvis 11 ft 7 weight switch rod, but I also love a little 4 weight I have from a Welsh company called Genwair, nice and soft and perfect for delicate dry fly stuff with very light leaders on Corrib.

ardinn

Yeah I suppose the question was whats your favourite

whelzer

I have Dawia, Reddington, Cortland, Sage, FlexTec and Shakespeare rods.
(Hope my wife does not read this!)

For last few seasons I rarely use anything other than Shakespeares for normal stuff - rivers , FlexTec for lakes and the Cortland 10ft 4# Cortland for Czech nymphing...

Shakespeare rods (Agility and Agility rise) are fantastic rods for the money in my opinion.

See my post - re Tenkara (something I will try this year)..

May as well go the whole hog - Reels I exclusively use Okuma Airframe and have caught all sorts inc bass, mullet, sea trout, pike, trout.
Cheap, cheerful, decent drag, salt water resistant. For lines I use almost exclusively Barrio (again have used full range in the past SA, Airflo, Cortland, etc). Cheap, cheerful, low memory, last me about 3-4 seasons - I am hard on gear.

ardinn

whelzer wrote: »

I have Dawia, Reddington, Cortland, Sage, FlexTec and Shakespeare rods.
(Hope my wife does not read this!)

For last few seasons I rarely use anything other than Shakespeares for normal stuff - rivers , FlexTec for lakes and the Cortland 10ft 4# Cortland for Czech nymphing...

Shakespeare rods (Agility and Agility rise) are fantastic rods for the money in my opinion.

See my post - re Tenkara (something I will try this year)..

May as well go the whole hog - Reels I exclusively use Okuma Airframe and have caught all sorts inc bass, mullet, sea trout, pike, trout.
Cheap, cheerful, decent drag, salt water resistant. For lines I use almost exclusively Barrio (again have used full range in the past SA, Airflo, Cortland, etc). Cheap, cheerful, low memory, last me about 3-4 seasons - I am hard on gear.

Heard barrio lines are great - If you are that hard on gear gimme a shout if you need anything at all - I wont be beaten on price in europe on any of the brands you mentioned - Apart from barrio as he wont gimme the distribution rights in Ireland

Wibbs

After a long hiatus I'll be getting back into the fly fishing this year. Yay! Over the decades :eek: I've been fishing I've owned and used a few different brands, Hardy, Bruce & Walker, Orvis, Diawa. What I settled on was of all things a few Bruce & Walker Hexagraphs I got back in the 90's(7' 6"/9'6"/11'). I learned on split cane(a handmedown from my dad back in the 70's), so that kinda informed my choices I suppose. Never really got on with the fast taper tippy carbon, not on rivers anyway.

The Hexagraphs, being solid rods made from carbon in the same manner as the old split canes were a nice mix of the old and new for me. They never really took off as they were heavier than people got used to, but IMHO they're one helluva small river rod outside of the weight part. I actually like the weight in the tip, means the rod loads itself in tight spots with a short line. Funny enough they still make them for carp anglers. They're becoming collectables now, especially the American made Walton Powell ones.

Lines? I went through every manufacturer I'd reckon. Never found much of a difference really. Then I got into silk lines(my dad had one for donkey's years) and would find it hard to go back to a modern line TBH. Maintenance(and cost) is their only minus IMHO. Can last decades, much thinner per weight so cut through the air and land and lift off with less disturbance and have near zero line memory and no stretch, though that can be a double edged sword.

ardinn

Wibbs wrote: »

Lines? I went through every manufacturer I'd reckon. Never found much of a difference really. Then I got into silk lines(my dad had one for donkey's years) and would find it hard to go back to a modern line TBH. Maintenance(and cost) is their only minus IMHO. Can last decades, much thinner per weight so cut through the air and land and lift off with less disturbance and have near zero line memory and no stretch, though that can be a double edged sword.

What silk lines are you using - I'd be interested in having a throw!

Wibbs

They are defo worth a try anyway Ardinn. I wouldn't be using one on lake bank type fishing, but IMHO they're ideal for rivers. Because they float on, not in the water they cause less of a splash when lifting and because they're more supple you can keep a dry fly from dragging for longer as they tend to give with the current. Another handy thing with silk is that if the fishing demands it leave the dressing off and they're an intermediate line. I've read/heard that greased up they won't last a day's fishing as a floater but I've never had that issue. Maybe it depends on local water chemistry?

Have used Phoenix lines, very nice, though I found they didn't last as long as they should, but your milage may vary. Have one of these Terenzio lines cheaper and just as high quality in my humble. A little stiffer initially but soon loosen up. I've heard good things about these lines made in France. And they're cheaper again. They also have an in house developed coating that reduces the maintenance involved(you can essentially leave them on the reel to dry, though they'll dry quicker laid out). I never used a line dryer myself. I just pulled the line from the reel after a days fishing and laid it out on newspaper.

More and more companies are making silk lines these days so internet searches bring up other names. Mostly in France, Spain and Italy where they didn't go out of fashion nearly as much as the rest of the world. I've met guys from two of those countries out fishing and I'd say a third of them were using silk.

Oh and use the same AFTM rating as any other line on a particular rod. There's an interwebs rumour that suggests going up/down a weight with silk. Not true.

Summer In the City

ardinn wrote: »

What silk lines are you using - I'd be interested in having a throw!

I accidentally bought Cortland 444 Sylk which is a synthetic version of the old stuff. It has a really thin diameter but seems to cast well. I'm very much a novice though.