ledhead1944
New member
Yep, I'm a newbie but had some experience with flyfishing but not much. I'm a way better at a spinning reel than flyfishing.
For some reason, I began to take an interest in flyfishing. Like I said, I'm better with a spinning reel. I grew up hunting and fishing. My dad had a boat, and we would go for crappie on Crooked Creek Dam, Lake Arthur and Keystone; walleye and perch at Pymatuning and Mahoning and a few chartered trips to Lake Erie for walleye and perch.
My dad passed away last June, and I had a lot of fishing gear to sort out. I already knew that I was going to start to fish again with the spinner. As I spent two days organizing all the plastic spinning baits, crappie jigs, hundreds of hooks and jig heads, I said to myself to get that flyrod and reel that I got in February and just give it a try at the pond at my local sportsmen's club.
I watched a lot of Tom Rosenbaum and Simon Gauseworth on YouTube just to get the basics down to get started. I figured the pond is a good place to start. Fast forward two months, some new/old equipment I just bought, I am casting better.
The new/old rod and reel combos are:
Orvis Clearwater 7'9" 3 oz 5wt/Orvis Clearwater reel
Orvis Silver Label PM10 8'6" 2/18 oz. 5 wt/Orvis Battenkill 5/6 made in England
When I casted those new/old rods with the matching reels in my yard, my casting was WAY better like 7-10 feet better. A lightbulb went off. The other rod and reel that I had were not balanced properly. How do I know, I put the new/old reels on that rod and my casting was just as good with the new/old ones I bought. I'm casting around 7-10 feet longer depending on fly that's tied.
The other rod I have is a 5wt custom rod blank from Midwest Custom Fly Rods. IM6 blank 9' 5 wt, action moderate to moderate fast. I think that it's just the reel that's not a good option for the custom rod that I have. If anyone has some tips or comments on any of those rods and reels that I have, let me know. I could use some good information.
Anyways, I figured out why I'm gravitating towards flyfishing. It's a lot like competitive archery and bowhunting. I do both. I shoot a lot of 3d and field archery. I've got several bows and two of them are the same make and model. They are just setup differently. I like to tinker with my setups. If you shoot competitively, you tinker and can get into the minutia of setups, arrows, etc. That is exactly why I'm gravitating towards flyfishing- getting into the minutia of setups.
For some reason, I began to take an interest in flyfishing. Like I said, I'm better with a spinning reel. I grew up hunting and fishing. My dad had a boat, and we would go for crappie on Crooked Creek Dam, Lake Arthur and Keystone; walleye and perch at Pymatuning and Mahoning and a few chartered trips to Lake Erie for walleye and perch.
My dad passed away last June, and I had a lot of fishing gear to sort out. I already knew that I was going to start to fish again with the spinner. As I spent two days organizing all the plastic spinning baits, crappie jigs, hundreds of hooks and jig heads, I said to myself to get that flyrod and reel that I got in February and just give it a try at the pond at my local sportsmen's club.
I watched a lot of Tom Rosenbaum and Simon Gauseworth on YouTube just to get the basics down to get started. I figured the pond is a good place to start. Fast forward two months, some new/old equipment I just bought, I am casting better.
The new/old rod and reel combos are:
Orvis Clearwater 7'9" 3 oz 5wt/Orvis Clearwater reel
Orvis Silver Label PM10 8'6" 2/18 oz. 5 wt/Orvis Battenkill 5/6 made in England
When I casted those new/old rods with the matching reels in my yard, my casting was WAY better like 7-10 feet better. A lightbulb went off. The other rod and reel that I had were not balanced properly. How do I know, I put the new/old reels on that rod and my casting was just as good with the new/old ones I bought. I'm casting around 7-10 feet longer depending on fly that's tied.
The other rod I have is a 5wt custom rod blank from Midwest Custom Fly Rods. IM6 blank 9' 5 wt, action moderate to moderate fast. I think that it's just the reel that's not a good option for the custom rod that I have. If anyone has some tips or comments on any of those rods and reels that I have, let me know. I could use some good information.
Anyways, I figured out why I'm gravitating towards flyfishing. It's a lot like competitive archery and bowhunting. I do both. I shoot a lot of 3d and field archery. I've got several bows and two of them are the same make and model. They are just setup differently. I like to tinker with my setups. If you shoot competitively, you tinker and can get into the minutia of setups, arrows, etc. That is exactly why I'm gravitating towards flyfishing- getting into the minutia of setups.
