Hi,

I am back into fly fishing after an extended break of nearly 20 years.
Looking at going back to mainly stillwaters and extremely rusty on any new tecniques that have developed in the past years

I managed to pick up a 'Hardy Graphite' 7/8 9ft and some wheatley boxes with flies for a reasonable price but need advice on a suitable matching reel & lines.

Any advice would be welcome

Just to keep the thread in sight until somebody with more knowledge than me comes along........

A piece of negative advice - steer well clear of Shakespeare fly reels - at least the Alpha and the Omni X. The drag went on 2 of the Alphas and the gearing on the OmniX, all soon after buying them. False economy in my opinion.

John Norris have reduced the price on their own brand "Professional"lines from £19 to £13. I find their lines more than adequate but haven't enough experience to compare them with more expensive ones.
A lot of people on this forum endorse the Pitsford Pirates lines for value and quality. He will also give you good advice on which line etc.

Hope you get some more answers soon

__________________
"Take not out your 'ounds on a werry windy day" Surtees.

Check out the reels for sale on the forum, these look very nice indeed, and there is a 7/8 version...

Shire Searchwater Fly Reel F&F member launch offer.

Pitsford pirate and Bario lines are well thought of by folks on here, although I haven't tried one myself yet.

Thanks for keeping this alive. & the info about the Shakespeare range (I seem to equate them with 'Black & Decker in the DIY/Trade world'). I have read about the Pirates lines and they appear very favourable from their reviews, and still need to investigate the John Norris range


They are some really sexy reels, but I think they are out of my budget by quite a bit. I think the Mrs would notice if they were to sneak into the house, so sorry about this one.

Another +1 for the Pirate lines though, many thanks

A cheap and reliable starter reel Greys G-Series Fly Reel

Neil