Hey all

Hoping for more of that knowledge that people have been so generous in imparting to someone who acts questions of near-imbecile standard!

Took delivery of my greys grxi rod today and am beaming. As a side issue - couldnt believe the case etc it came in. Im spoilt in comparison to all the coarse rods ive bought in the last couple of years that just come in a cloth bag!

Anyway - the spools aree preloaded with backing and line, with a loop on the end.

Its a 5/6 wt rod, which i will use for coarse fish and rainbows , the biggest fish (unless i get a rogue barbel or pike but theyre not intended targets) would be around 5lb id imagine, mainly chub.

What leader, how long, and what tippet material would you recommend, are there any brands i should be getting/avoiding, merits of "ready made" vs making my own up, how to do so, etc etc.

Also what knots should i learn - coarse wise i pretty much subsist off grinner, 4 turn water knot and palomar but i appreciate a diferrent discipline will need new skills!

Lots of questions there so thanks in advance for your patience and time

There have been many threads on this very subject here is a reply to one.
what's the best leader to buy
Run a search and you will find many others.

richard

__________________
Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

Your knots are fine but i would add the fig of 8 or surgeons loop to your list to make your loop to loop connection with your flyline.
Have a look at posts from Skateboard Dave,he really knows his stuff regarding coarse fish on the fly.
At 1st I would stick to a reliable mono like drennen sub surface green.only swithcing to flurocarbon in very clear water.

Jim

__________________
The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Thanks for the replies will check those threads and others.

Would i be right in thinking that a tapered leader and tippet terminating in 4lb ish line would be fine for the type of fish i am after? i am assuming the energy of any lunges would be transferred along the tapered leader providing it has stretch, so there would be a balance of resilience in the rig and still delicate enough for good presentation.

I feel a bit lost with all this, although thats exciting in itself. As a coarse fisherman swithcing to fly as a method, a lot of the stuff ive learnt im having to unlearn, as the embedded philosophy is counter-intuitive with a lot of coarse methodology.

theres a joy to that in itself though

There is some truth in that but you also will have learnt much to aid you.. For example watercraft etc Also very few fly anglers will have fished with the BS of hooklengths that coarse anglers do frequently ie down to 1lb or even 12oz. So handling fine tippets shouldnt be a problem...

Tight lines

Andy

I totally agree with coasty, whilst it is true that it is sometimes a bit of a hinderence in learning to cast coming from a non fly fishing background, the watercraft element is a highly transferable skill, i have only been fly fishing a couple of years myself, however i started fishing 35 years ago when an obsessive angling dad bought me my first rod,

as to your leaders question, the leader should be taylored to the size of fly and the body of water you are fishing on, ie you wont turn over a big bushy mayfly imitation on a trally light leader , and there is no point trying to fish a small brook 20 feet across with a 51 foot leader set up...

I make my own furled leaders, they are called singapore leaders, search the site, there are a few threads about them

oh and by the way, once you get going you will never look at your bait rods in the same way again, i have cast a worm in anger twice in 2 years, every time i fish (which is usually one to two times a week) i reach for the fly rod

__________________

Coasty, the Pimp, and the others have covered most of the bases here, but just a couple of points.

- In any thread about leaders, someone will soon rush in shouting, "Buy a ferruled leader! Buy a ferruled leader!" Don't. As a beginner you cannot possibly gain any advantage from them, especially when you consider the cost.

Use a pre-made tapered leaders and I'd say start somewhere around 8 or 9 feet. You can make up additional length with tippet.

I tend to favor going slightly overweight on the leader and then using tippet to get the diameter and visibility down for the last couple of feet at the fly. So for trout, I use an 8 foot tapered leader to 5 lb, which is wretchedly excessive for wild trout fishing here, and then I make up the last foot or three with tippet ranging from about 2 to 5 pound BS.

- I like to look at leader setups this way: Use just what you can get away with in terms of length, diameter, and strength.

Leader setups tend to be faddish in my view, currently the fad is to fish with outrageously long leaders. This follows a fad back in the 90s for using extremely light tippet. Neither of these makes any sense to me.

Use just what you can get away with. Don't fish with a 12 foot leader when a 9 foot would do. Don't fish with 6x tippet when 5x would do. IMO, there is no benefit to be gained in going to extremes and especially when weighted against the disadvantages of complex setups, difficult casting, tangles, increased hangups, etc.

Adjust your setup until you figure out where the sweet spot and then don't get pulled into thinking if 9 feet is working, 12 feet must work better.

Grouse

Hi' Milo, Welcome to the fold, or should that be the stewpond?
I would add only one thing to what the other lads have written. You mention shock absorption by the tapered leader. As a coarse fish angler, you will have already learned that the drag setting on your reels and the flexibility of your trotting or leger rods, when correctly handled, will take care of the protection of your tippet, and the hook hold.
Also, I would back Grouse by saying, 'Keep it simple' until you get into your stride. And Icky, regarding river craft, known as 'Reading the water.' I will check to see if I can find the title of a very good 3-Ms video on exactly that subject. If you don't receive a PM, then assume I can't find it, but I'll look.
Cheers Terry C