I met a chap today who wanted some casting advice, he had bought an outfit and was catching the odd fish but wanted some help with his casting.

So, he got his gear out of the car and asked for some help, he had been fishing with this set up so when I saw it I was bemused (I will not name names or dealers as I believe he will be heading back to the retailers this week to get it sorted)

He pulls out a GRXi reel 5/6 loaded with a 6 weight line, good choice, except the line was coming from the top of the spool, not an issue, I pulled all of the line off to re-attach it all properly and to sort the backing, no backing, fly line tied directly onto the spool. As I was removing the line the reel was spinning very freely, discovered that it was set up for right hand wind, the caster was right handed so needed the opposite, a little issue arises as I did not want to take the reel apart on the bankside, so, I explained this, he said he would plough on and he retrieved the matching rod for the outfit, a Ron Thompson sensorflex 7/8 weight rod. It was at this point that I told him he would struggle to get the outfit to ever balance correctly.

I then suggested that he to returns the reel and ask them to change it to the correct hand for him, supply some backing and then I found out how much he had paid for the rod (£50)

I did manage to get him casting and he was happy in that, but I just hope the retailer will sort the kit out for him, the reel should be an easy fix, as for the perfect rod to go with his reel.. I doubt they will sort that

Chris

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One word -----SHOCKING????

TT

Yeh, that's pretty poor form from the retailer.......

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Shame, one person who could easily have been put off fly fishing.
I was in an Oxfordshire tackle shop a few years ago (one that mainly sells coarse gear but does hold a small stock of fly gear) when a guy walks in and enquires about buying an fly outfit. The owner who obviously has a very limited bit of knowledge about this branch of the sport proceeds to scare him silly by telling him he'll need at least 2 rods and floating, sinking and intermediate lines for both. Not unsurprisingly the guy leaves empty handed.
I don't think that this was an attempt to sell the poor bloke a lot of unnecessary gear, just a lack of understanding about what you need to get you started in fly fishing.

Andy

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That reminds me very much about when I decided to come back to fly fishing in the summer of 2007 and my wife thought she was doing me a big favour by buying me a Shakespeare starter outfit from Argos. The rod an odyssey 8 footer seemed okay and the 3/4 wt reel was okay plus they also included backing which I had to add myself and one tapered leader. Trouble was when I got to the fishery and decided to try a distance cast the tip section flew off and if it hadn't have been for the leader and fly attached I would undoubtedly have lost the section. Quite perturbed I sent the rod back to Shakespeare and they were kind enough to replace it and reimburse me the postage, but on my second outing after that the replacement rod did exactly the same thing. Needless to say I had to buy another brand new rod as I can't trust the one I have. Anyone else had a similar experience with Shakespeare Odyssey rods?

Dealer experts are all around. Lines on back to front is my fav.Braided loops with a litre of superglue a close second.

I started off with a Shakespeare Odyssey and found it to be excellent for around £25, really helped me get into the sport when I started out, upgraded to a rod with a faster action after a while but still have the Odyssey and would recommend it to anyone who wants a budget rod to start off with to see if fly fishing is for them.

They seem to be a very popular rod so it could be that a small % go wrong with so many being sold, I think you must just have been very unlucky to have 2 go wrong.

I hear sh!t like this all the time when novices are buying lines off me, rods and reels totally mismatched and especially for the situations they intend to fish.

Had a guy recently looking for a full set of WF#6 lines for his new #5/6 Greys reel, no problem I said but probably only needs a floater and possibly although not essential an inter to start with, out of interest asked him what rod he had gotten, was a #7/8 Greys rod, sold by same company at same show on same purchase

Gives us all a bad name, the inconsiderate robbing scumbags.

The Pirate.

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Oh dear....my first ever fishing rod was bought from a dealer when I was 11. I was keen to start course fishing so duly went in clutching my hard earned pocket money and he sold me a fly rod!....genius.

I had no idea at the time but it is inexcusable for dealers to do this sought of thing where the knowledge is 'out there' and they should surely take a bit of responsibility for kitting people up properly. Not only does this help with casting etc but will hopefully lead to success and further purchases - a no brainer surely???!

Chris
We see this all the time when we are instructing and it really does show that you need to go to a specialised game tackle shop. We ran such a specialised shop for 30 years and for beginners we always did our best to ensure that the angler went out of the shop with a properly balanced outfit for the type of fishing he or she was going to do.

As part of the service the correct amount of backing was put on the reel, fly line attached and decent quality braid loop correctly added to the end. Naturally the reel was set up correctly for the right or left hand wind etc. Also plenty of basic advice was freely given on rod assembly etc etc.

There really is no excuse for a tackle dealer to sell inappropriate tackle. Another thing we frequently come across are braid loops attached badly by tackle shops. Usually massively over long loops with the fly line just inserted an inch or so. This results in a very floppy loop which does not help turnover.

Bob

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