Hi Mart

Small world eh?
See what you made do

Nice to see a few LAS members here

Me also Marc, LAS through and through, but nice to meet up with some of the Fly Guys too.
Looking forward to learning a lot.

Dorset darren is on here also currently selling some nice fly gear

After all the welcomes and back slapping no one has asnswered Gerry's question
Any way here's another welcome Gerry and a few pointers I hope.
For the majority of coarse fish in the UK you are seriously over gunned with a 6/7 weight. Personally I would go down to a 4/5. You will not need anything too heavy for leaders, my own preference is for somewhere between 4 & 6lb depending on species and venue. Perch for example give a great fight on light tackle and are not particularly afraid of 6lb leaders.
If you are after barbel then your 6/7 should be OK. I would suggest length is more important then.
Zander fishing is good at Grafham. I have taken some great fish there but you will definately need 6/7 or 7/8 with fast sink lines. Try the tower (not the dam end one) and slowly pull a small pike fly say a size 4 or 6 across the bottom. Zander like freshwater mussel beds and there is one here. Also took a storming bream last year but it got round the anchor rope and lost it. Estimate it at 15lb+ its eye was as big as a 50p piece
I have taken some zander from Rutland but that was about 5 years ago. We took 8 from by the tower on the south arm up to about 4lb. Don't fish the fens much for zander on fly but I bet there is someone on here who does.
Roach and rudd are great fun but light gear for these is a must as are quick reactions, dace even more so, where I would use a leader of 21/2 to 3lb. With a 6/7 you would snap off on the strike with fine leaders.
Cheers
Tim

__________________
"Be quiet and go a angling."

I think if I were limited to one rod for all stillwater trout fishing, then a 9'6 #6 would be my choice.

Many thanks for that Tim

I thought a 6/7 might have been heavy for most coarse fish species, but the rod and reel were bought last year with Trout in mind, and I was so busy Lure Fishing for coarse fish that I never got around to using it.

I will try to search out a suitable rod and reel in the coming weeks.
I look forward to having a go on the fly for coarse species as well as the out Trout when I get the chance.

As for the Zander, I have a very local canal that holds a fantastic head of them, so most, though not all of my zed fishing will be done there.
Spot on about the mussel beds too.

Thanks Steve for your advice on choice of rod for Stiilwater Trout: Much appreciated.

Regards
Gerry

welcome and enjoy, nice friendly forum.