Most of my fly fishing in the past has been on the river. I have fished in a few lakes, but always borrowed kit for it.

If I'm going to take the plunge and get an outfit for lakes fishing this year, what would you recommend? Budget to £400 for rod/reel/line but no need to spend up if it's not necessary....

Cheers

It's not necessary - you could have two or three very nice outfits for that.

Now then "Lakes" come in lots of different shapes and sizes from 2 acre 8 foot deep to 40 kilometers long and 1500 feet deep.

They also come with different kinds of fishes - from 4oz wild brownies all the way to Nessie.

What's ya chasin, and where?

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Plusnet/Madasafish > Liars to the internet community

Oh, good point. I guess in the past I have fished Tanfield Lodge (11 acres) and Leighton Reservoir (100 acres). Both of those were bank fishing only. Never caught anything over 2lb (but hope to). So I guess that's the kind of thing.

I suspect I used a 9'6" or 10' rod, but can't be sure....

Is that any help?

personally for bank fishing I would go for a 9 foot outfit as casting all day a longer rod will tire your arm out quicker (longer lever=more arm strain), anything from a 6 to an 8 weight would cover all situations.

Thats a start - you'll still get messed around - but that's a fair description.

Bank side fishing on modest sized lakes in England chasing Rainbows.

The classic call is a 9' 6" - 7 weight - you don't need a fancy name - Airflo, Shakespeare etc etc etc - floating mill-end line from Norris or Mularkeys (£4.99 - honest) - and your choice of reel - add a sinker or a sinking poly-leader and lots of methods are on the menu.

Second approach - if you already have a fly rod of any type - use that - and see what you think needs changing.

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Plusnet/Madasafish > Liars to the internet community

Great, so the classic call is 9'6" 7#. Sounds good. I have heard good things about the x-flite.
Thanks for your help.
Stuart