Any advice out there for a long time bait caster looking to take up fly fishing? Mostly be fishing East Texas 100 acre private lake for bass, crappie, and perch.

Need to know about rod/reel combos, line weight, flies to use etc. And the best place to buy all this.

I am a complete novice to fly fishing equipment.

Thanks.

There will be a wide variety of opinions posted here so I'll start in with mine. To learn to cast, a five or six weight combo would be best. It's important to start off right by learning to cast. There are quite a few good starter combos out there: Temple Fork Outfitters, Bass Pro, Cabelas, Scientific Anglers, all make thoroughly useful starter sets. Best thing to do would be to set your price limits and get to a Bass Pro or some fly shop and tell them what your range is.

Get a floating line to start. They are usually not quite as expensive as sinking lines and that is a step two thing anyway, fishing a sink line.

Flies - poppers, foam spiders, woolly buggers, any trout flies are great bluegill flies. There are so many flies that it's best to just grab a few of the most common above and whatever else is recommended.

Are you close to a Cabelas or Bass Pro or a fly shop?

WDS, I agree with the above poster that you want to buy a basic 5 wt combo system with floating weight forward line. Bass Pro in Shreveport has a nice selection of beginner rods and reels in several price ranges from under $100.00 to over $300.00 for a starter set. You can manage most bass on this system and certainly bluegills are a lot of fun. The lighter weight rods (3 wt) are a little more difficult for a beginner to handle and even though pan fish on them is a hoot, I would not start there. If you cannot take lessons from someone, get Lefty Kreh's beginning fly casting CD. I think it is better than the Scientific Angler series, and it is really easy to understand. Practice casting in your yard or at a park. It can be very frustrating to get to the lake, and have that line everywhere and not know how to manage it. I am sure that you would have several takers on going with you to a private 100 acre lake anytime you want to go. If you have any questions I can help you with, my e-mail is qualey99@mac.com
Good Luck, but I can tell you that fly casting is addictive, so be careful or you will end up like me with 8 rods, 3 boats, enough fly tiying material to supply Bass Pro for a year, and teaching your wife to fly fish so you can make that the family vacation.
Frank

BTW, what part of Texas are you located in?

Hey WDS -- Welcome to the dark side...

There is a good thread on newbe equipt on another board I frequent.

http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=852697

Other forums are all well and good, but what about this forum?

Thanks...all good advice. I am in Dallas, so Bass Pro and Cabellas are easy places to start. .

1st thing you need to know about fly casting is to forget everything you know about bait caster casting. This is an on going lesson for me. I spent 35 years spin/bait caster fishing, and the last five breaking all of those learned habits to fly cast(but it is worth it)! GET LESSONS!!!!

What deckhand said above is as true as it gets. You cannot force a flycast without adorning yourself with a new piercing somewhere on your delicate person.

I was looking for this thread yesterday and finally found it. What deckhand says about getting a lesson is also a great chunk of advise. I'll reinterate what I said in that thread: Get at least one lesson from a certified casting instructor before you even consider purchasing any gear. There is a lot of great advise in that thread other than my babbling.

Good luck and tell any significant other with whom you share a romantic interest that we all said we're sorry.

BPS offers free casting instruction on weekends. Tought to beat that price!!

JR

Nothing wrong with this forum, it is great. I just happened to read the new string on the other that had some very good advice.

Hill Shepherd, I love the quote in your signature! Dogs are indeed wise in that regard.

WDS Bass Pro would be a fine destination. Get a bit of coaching, pick up a starter set, get to look at all the tackle you will be buying once you are good and addicted....

Hillshepherd, I just giving you a little bit of a hard time.

The quote is actually from John Gierach, but I can't remember which book at the moment.

There are plenty of good options for starter rods out there. Get the best you can for the money. Save on the reel, unless you plan on fishing salt. For most fishing the less expensive reels will serve you well. Ross reels Flywater are on sale (closeout of old models) and perform well. I really prefer Winston and Sage rods, but I do have a couple of Cabelas rods amongst my stash. I prefer the Cabelas over the Bass Pro brands that I have cast.

I would also recommend you go with 4 piece rods over 2 or 3 piece due to ease of transport (flying) and storage.

If at all possible try and go to a shop that will let you test cast / provide beginner casting lessons. I don't know of many fly shops in the area, but others may be able to help you. You may also wait a bit and try and hit one of the fly fishing club meetings and see if anyone would be interested in mentoring you and let try a couple of different rods to see what suits you.


Then eventually you make the final step into the shadows as many of us here have and, like myself, end up with many rods, including boo and rolling your own. Tying flies, gear for small stream, large rivers, steel head, salt.... And then you face your greatest fear --- when you pass to the big river in the sky your wife sells all your fly fishing gear for the money that you TOLD HER you spent on it.

Much appreciated gentlemen. I knew I could get some good advice here.