Hey guys, I was fishing with my club on saturday and most of the guys have been fishing for ages and have the big tackle boxes stuffed with all sorts of things. I did also notice that some of the guys have loads of spools of line and a few reels too. I also hear of guys having multiple rods too.

My question is, typically/ideally how many rods and reels would an average angler need?

I have a 9ft Shakespeare Trion which I got a couple of months ago and I love it. It is a #5/6 and feels really light and I can cast well enough(IMO). I use it for boat fishing on lochs and bank fishing at fisheries. I am starting out on my local river too. I have two reels, an old Hardy with a spare spool with my floating line and my intermediate and an old reel I don't even know the name of with my sinker on it. (I am planning on going for the Greys GRXI kit with the spare spools soon).

I can't see, or haven't experienced yet, when I would need anything other than what I have already. Am I missing something where I will need more lines?

Rods - I am guessing a bigger rod means you can load more line when casting and therefore cast further. How important is this other than obviously by casting further your fly is in the water longer and increases your chances of catching a fish?

What I have experienced with the rod is that into the wind I can't cast far at all. I know you don't often need to as fish will be closer in anyhoo but I see guys who can still get a straight line out but mine looks like a bit of spaghetti with the flies dropping on top of it. Is it because it is a #5/6 and too light for the wind?

As ever chaps your thoughts are gratefully received.

You'll get a mixed bag of responses here. Some of the more technically minded will have different lines for many varying conditions .......... however I am a plain old river fisherman with some still water kit:

Orvis Superfine #2 Sage floater: Stream
Bloke XL50 #5 PP floater: occasional still water
Bloke XL50 #7/8 for salt/pike fishing floater & intermediate spools on an Orvis reel both PP

The Superfine gets the most use.

I am getting a couple of rods made for me, any breeze and the #2 gets a tad difficult. A #3 and #4.

It's the rod length which is key the 6'6" #2 is needed where I fish. The three will only be 7' and the #4 8'

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Carl

http://www.wandlepiscators.net/
http://teiseangling.co.uk/index.htm

TOMORROW THE TRENT COULD BE YOUR FISHERY! When are YOU going to JOIN THE ANGLING TRUST?

hi Ally. I regularly fish from a boat and i take two rods with me, both the same. I have 2 reels (usually you can only have one spare rod set up, by fishery rules, so more is pointless), 4 spools. (loaded with floater, inter, medium/fast and Di8) If you are pleasure fishing, you need 1 rod. I only take two because i can save 5 minutes by not breaking down and setting up again. The other is already set up. I fish alot of competitions; if the fish all of a sudden change depth/feeding pattern etc i can just pick the other up. In a competition 5 minutes whilst the fish are feeding hard is a long time. If i am pleasure fishing i generally don't set two up, just because i have to break it down again. Unless i want to use varied methods to keep it intresting.
The main advantage to having multiple rods is if you only take one, and break it, you are f*@?%d! No more fishing! if you have a back- up you can set it up and carry on.
In terms of spools it is just for a variety of lines, if you only use one line, you only need one reel.
hope that helps

Sounds like you have enough gear for the moment.

You don't need to have lots of rods unless you are after a wide range of species or fishing in areas where a particular type of rod would be needed.

As an example-

Salmon fishing - perhaps double handers around 10 weight.
Tropical species, bonefish, permit, tarpon - fast action - 8 -12 weights.
Lakes/reservoirs - 6-8 weights.
Chalkstreams - 4-5 weights.
Small streams for wild trout- 0 - 3 weight. In shorter lengths.
Boat fishing - 10 foot rods in 5-7 weights etc etc etc

I have amassed a fair bit of kit over 18 years of fishing most of the above (not the boat though ).

You'll no doubt get lots of good advice in response to your question.

Just don't go out blowing loads of cash on unnecessary gear just yet.

The odd lesson or three would help you casting in windy conditions or reaching a little further.

Cheers

I use two rods normally a 6# 10ft harrison home build, and a 7# 10ft sage rpl, but weather permitting i will get out my 9ft harrison home build 5#, but were i fish mainly is Halliford mere and a longer rod helps me get above the banks , apart from that ive just got used to them i will if im in the mood get my old shaky odessey 9.5ft 7/8 out for alittle trip down memory lane, still does a great job even if it only cost £26

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If in doubt, get the montys out

Intelligence is relative to your environment

I got the tackle purchase bug and it is totally uneccessary. If my missus knew exactly how much money in tackle is in the boot of my car then I might not live to see another dawn. Finally after 2 years of buying sh*t that I dont need I have the set up that I was looking for all along.

My advice would be buy out of neccessity not out of lust You have a set up that suits you fine at the moment just enjoy your fishing. As mentioned £100 in quality tuition will go a lot further than £100 on tackle and you will benefit more from the lessons that the tackle.

All the best,
Scott.

Scott, can you please tell us what the final correct set up was, as I too have enough tackle to start a shop.
If there was an ignore button for classifieds on here I would have pressed it long ago.

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"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

Never a truer word.

As a kid I owned a total of two rods - the fly rod, and the spinning rod - two reels (ditto), and - you guessed it - a fly line and a spinning line.

I was lucky enough to have a good trout stream only a few hundred yards walk from home and a days supply of tackle want into a couple of old two ounce tobacco tins.

Thirty years later I returned to the game and in the first eighteen months bought more tackle than I could reasonably justify - and MUCH more than I can comfortably carry.

I hope to get good enough to pare the kit down to the same as I used to carry as a kid!

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Plusnet/Madasafish > Liars to the internet community

Christ, thats a good question, I've seen plenty of anglers with multiple rods, reels, lines etc... I for one, I'm guilty of being one of them...

Mk2 Swift 10' #7
Greys Gtec 10' #7
Streamflex 10' #5
Streamflex 10' #3
Sharpes 7' 6" #2/3

Greys X Flite Reel 7/8 with 2 Lines
Hardy Demon 7000, with 25 lines.
Greys GTX 2/3 with 1 Line
Lamson Radius with 1 Line

Thats all.... I think....



GC

I think it all depends if you wish to obtain the absolute minimum you can get away with or the maximum to cover all eventualities and be a 'tackle tart' at the same time......

Persoanlly, I have two 10' #7's for resevoirs, several 9-9'6" #7's (I take alot of people fishing who dont yet have their own gear) a couple of 9' #6's for fun fishing in small waters and a 9' #5 for playing about when conditions allow and hopefully, one day, a spot of river fishing too.

I also have a 9 #8 for heavy resevoir fishing and SWFF , a #10 for SWFF and a 9' #14 rod, well, it aint for brook fishing now is it!?

I seriously doubt I could really justify it all but as someone who grew up with constant 'hand me-downs' I simply enjoy being able to say I worked for it and hence enjoy having my toys.

I also have a number of reels and mostly use two or three of them and generally only the floaters and intermediates.

It is horses for courses really and entirely up to you what you want and how much you wish to pay.

In my defence, I seldom buy new as I dont see the point as I feel I can get more for my money second hand or 'last seasons' models. It is cheaper and just as good and sometimes better (the old Platinum XD's are better than the new models IMHO)

So really, it is up to you. Everyone can justify their collection but do we always 'need' it? No, not unless you are a Comp Angler

Ben

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