Hi All,
Started fly fishing a couple of months ago and have a few questions if you can help me out?

Does paying £25 plus on your fly line make much difference? I bought some cheap £10 floating WF line off Ebay and while I can cast a reasonable distance is the most important thing technique or shall I buy a more expensive line? Now I am sure that I will be fly fishing in the long term is it worth spending a lot more on a rod too? My current rod is an 8 weight 10 ft Fladen Vantage fly and was around £45, if so what do you recommend? I mostly fish stocked lakes from the shore and boat. If I dont need to buy a better outfit just yet I can buy a more expensive one in January.

I have been using tapered leaders, should I attach a lenght of tippet to the end of these? Also what kind of tippet should I use? It am getting different advice re florocarbon line.

Last question - a couple of times the fish have vanished and obviously gone down deeper (I usually fish dry flies or lures near the surface) what do I use to follow them down (and how)?

Sorry for the multiple questions, but thanks for any advice!
Rich

Welcome to the forum.
If you are happy with the performance of your tackle,then stick with it.
It will save you a bit of money if you add a tippet to your tapered leader,you can use fluro/co-poly/mono whatever you want.I would match the material of your tapered leader.
Fish are deeper, use a weighted fly and let it sink until you find the depth theyr'e at.

Jim

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

Hi and welcome

Lines-wise, no you don't need to spend a lot, but then again it depends just how good/bad the one you got off ebay is. Contact Pitsford Pirate on here for very good, very reasonably priced lines.

Rod? those Fladen rods seem to get good comments on here for a budget priced model but you might want to consider something a little lighter perhaps for stocked lakes, as an 8 weight is quite heavy duty, especially if you like fishing dries. Loads of good deals around on 6/7 weights.

Use a knotless tapered leader (with shorter length of lighter tippet tied to end) - or you can just use a straight length of mono, again with a lighter tippet added, which is what I do most of the time. There are mixed opinions on the benefits of tapered leaders, depending on the type of fishing, but personally I have never found much noticeable benefit using them.

To fish deeper you could also use a sinking line - a slow sinking/intermediate will be good for searching different depths on those types of waters. You could use that on your current 8 wt rod, and get a lighter rod with floating line set up to give you two options.

As Jim says, no need to jetison your gear just because it might be cheap though - if its working for you and catching you fish, thats what matters.

__________________

I have had a rod i got off ebay for quite a while now and i cannot fault it the slightest it is called a "SpringCreek" and its the 9ft 6/7# and it has a nice stiffish action and plenty of backbone and for £21 you cant really go wrong,

They are beng sold on ebay in different models and in different weights and heights but i went for the 9ft 6/7# as i just wanted to have one rod which i could use for every situation like dries, wets and for a single handed salmon rod too and so far so good but still no salmon on it.

Hope this helps abit.

Hi', Rich, and welcome to the FFF.
You don't have to spend a fortune on tackle in order to compete with the best anglers, using the most expensive gear in the world. Fact. Your knowledge of fly fishing, your knowledge of your quarry and its habitat, how to read the water, how to exploit that knowledge and the ability to cast well are what help you to catch fish -- not the cost of your gear.
I like the look and the feel of quality rods, reels and lines as much as the next man. I appreciate good workmanship; but I think I have my priorities right. The most mportant bit of gear to a fly fisher is a fly, absolutely no argument. You need the tackle to present it; and you can do that with a relatively cheap rod.
You might do it better with a more expensive rod; but hang on to the rod you have for now. For the river, the most popular choice is a 9ft 5wt; it's a good all-rounder; and for value for money, you would be pushed to beat a Shakespeare Odyssey. I'm not a director of the company, but if you fancy going up market a little, the Trions are also great rods for the price. I have handled two belonging to mrtrout, and I would cheerfully spend a day on the river with his 9ft, or a day on a still water wih his 10ft 6wt.
Believe me, a £500 rod is not going to be ten times better as a fishing tool than a £50 specimen. It will not catch any more trout for you -- that is up to you. As the other lads have suggested, sniff around on here, and you will find some good deals from a decent bunch of tackle dealers.
Do I have any decent rods? Yes. Are the most expensive ones the best for me? Not necessarily.
Last year I bought two Shakespeare 4Wt DT Floaters in town at £10 each.
I have had more expensive lines that were not as nice to handle. I owed mrtrout a favour, and gave him one of the lines. He likes it.
When you are more experienced, you will learn what to buy for yourself. Learn how to fish, then treat yourself. TerryC
PS What you have to remember is that the rod that was once an angler's most recent purchase, and most highly prized fishing stick, may one day be put away in a corner of his fishing den, to make way for one several times more expensive. It will be a joy to use, but there is no guarantee that he will catch more trout with it than he did with the old one. I know, I've been there, so have many others.

Thanks for the advice, I originally bought a 7/8 rod and 7 weight line but my rod snapped while fishing (an accident when the line wrapped around a propeller!) so I bought the rod I have now from someone at the lake for £20 so I could continue fishing. I am going to go online and see if I can get a 6/7 weight bargain, I have seen the spring creek rods online, I have bought a lot of other tackle from that seller in the past, its all been quality stuff for the price.
I bought a 4/5 weight 8 feet 6 rod for my 10 year old daughter who sometimes comes fishing with me, I have cast for her and she retreives the line, she caught 3 rainbows and a big perch on her first trip (4 blue bow's and a small pike on her second!) so she's hooked too. We are pracising her casting in the garden so she can do it all herself.
I have used this a few times while dry fly fishing and find usefull for delicate presentation, you are right I think I need something longer and a little heavier for general use.

have a look here for a bargain

http://www.tacklebargains.co.uk/acat...ance_Rods.html

__________________
WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!