Hello,

My first post here have been viewing for a few weeks. This year I really want to try fly fishing. I live in South Wiltshire, Salisbury and have fished for about 10 years, mainly river/coarse/commercials but never fly.

I will have plenty of questions along the way I’m sure. So here goes:

I have some basic tackle. My brother in law gave me a rod and a real (unused I think) it’s a TFG WF7. I have been looking around and rods and reels tackle etc. can be very expensive. If possible i would like to start on a very small budget. What line can you recommend on a budget? Also do I need line treatment – Mucilin Sink and the like?

I will be targeting river grayling and brown trout on a small river so any flies you can recommend would also be very useful.

In the spring time I plan to book a tutorial session at a local fishery but until then I’m very keen to get out there and give it a try on my own.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully some of you will reply and help a beginner out.

Hi Martash

There is a member on this Forum called the Pitsford Pirate. Not a good name for someone in the retail trade but he sells extreme good quality fly lines at a good price. You could Private Message him for advice and prices. With modern day lines they shouldn't need greasing.

welcome to the forum mart.
good line at a good price see pitsford pirate on here.
floatant for your drys ginks a good one dont use sinkant myself.
keep it simple to start and a couple of lessons is a must your instructor will let you know everything you need.

atb terry

__________________
"It is only the inexperienced and thoughtless who find pleasure in killing fish for the mere sake of killing them. No sportsman does this." - W.C. Prime, 1888

OK, first off, welcome to the forum and to fly fishing.

The tendency with many beginners is first to enter a state of enthusiastic confusion. There's a huge amount of fly fishing gear on the market and fly fishing has its own terminology, so it's often not easy to determine what is needed to get started.

First, I'll offer this piece of advice: The Famous Grouse's Universal Law of Flyfishing #1 states thusly: If you want to catch fish on the fly, then spend as much time and money as possible on the fishing and as little time and money as possible on the gear.

Remember that, as the temptation to buy shedloads of gear will soon overtake you. The key is to gain enough experience to understand what gear will truly benefit you from a fishing perspective BEFORE you buy it. Experience only comes from a cycle of learning about fishing and then fishing to use what you've learned.

OK, now to your specific situation.

What can you tell us about your current rod in terms of length and "line rating". Generally, this will be written on the rod somewhere near the grip and it can look something like this:

- 9' AFTM 7
-8.5' for 6/7
- 9' - 5

The line rating is (in simple terms) the weight of the line that the manufacturer feels is optimum for that rod. More on this later, first just tell us what you have.

For lines, the simple answer for now is to spend no more than you absolutely have to. A member of these forums called Pittsford Pirate sells an excellent range of lines for very attractive prices, and I would highly recommend getting one of these, but we need to figure out first what weight you need.

For a beginner, you should start with a weight forward line taper (generally indicated as WF) and a floating line.

Don't worry about line dressing, etc, etc at this point. There is plenty of time for that later.

Grouse

Welcome to the forum, See if anyone on the forum lives near you and ask if they would be willing to give a couple of hours of their time to go over the basics with you, Because 2 hours with somebody who knows a bit about fly fishing is worth 20 reading books.
As said PP's lines and very good as are the Barrio lines also sold on here, and I will be getting one soon to replace my floater.
Good luck in you quest for a trout on the fly
Mike
edit
Grouse is kind of right! but don't spend pennies and get cr@P because its just not worth it, If in any doubt ask on here.

__________________
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,9 bean rows will I have there and a hive for the honey bee.

Got to back FG's quote as the Number One best advice.

#1 states thusly: If you want to catch fish on the fly, then spend as much time and money as possible on the fishing and as little time and money as possible on the gear.

__________________
[COLOR="Blue"]"A fish seen is a fish nearly caught"[/COLOR]

Just 2 examples here why it's not always so.

Waders pvc £12.99 aldi or neoprene £40 ebay
The £40 ones every time
Line
fly line £5 ebay no make or £15 airflo from say! go outdoors
The £15 one
WHY because the £5 one as just been binned after just 3 hours fishing by lop lug on here and hes now using the Airflo I gave him.
There are times when dirt cheap just dont work.
Mike

__________________
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,9 bean rows will I have there and a hive for the honey bee.

Thanks for calling what I done with that line fishing

If your plan is to fish for small river grayling and brownies I would recommend that you look at 8-9 ft rods rated for either a 4 or 5 weight.

To be clear, my Universal Law of Flyfishing #1 does NOT say to buy the cheapest gear possible. There is certainly a value component, but as I stated in the next paragraph the beginner needs experience in order to know how best to spend his money.

The bottom line is that nobody has ever caught a fish while sitting on the sofa browsing a tackle catalog or while standing in the aisles of a tackle shop. Having a shedload of gear doesn't catch you any fish. Having angling skill AND the right gear is the combination.

Grouse