Hi Guys (and maybe girls?),

I have done coarse and sea fishing all my life but would now like to take up fly fishing.
I would mainly like to fish small / medium rivers for trout and grayling but have no idea what would be the ideal set up?
Would rather buy good second hand kit than new average kit and obviously need an outfit that would suit a novice.
Have fly fished once but that was with borrowed kit and at Dever Springs where, to be honest, you don't even need to know how to cast!
Have checked out ebay but there is so much choice that i am bound to make the wrong one!
Have no kit at all at present just my 'very expensive' new rod licence!
Any / all help would be greatly appreciated!

micky,
whilst i am no expert,you can buy good new gear for not a lot of money. if you look at greys fly rods they seem to get great reviews on here. if you want to buy good second hand look at the usual suspects sage,hardy and the likes. the sage txl are fantastic rods but you are looking at proper cash even secondhand. if you let me know what rivers you are looking to fish i might be able to guide you as to what line weight you would need.

welcome to the madhouse,jon.

Am no expert but would suggest you first decide what type if waters you will be fishing mainly and find out from local anglers/clubs what rod length and rating is most suitable on those waters i.e. 7.5ft, 8ft, 8.5ft, 9ft, 10ft in #3, #4 or #5 for example, set yourself a budget then try out a few rods within that budget to suit the situations you intend to fish.

Whatever you spend on a rod, spend half as much or less on a reel and get a couple of mill end fly lines, give them a good thrashing whilst you are learning, trample all over them, stuck in bushes etc before getting something a bit better.

You might think its not worth learning to cast but I assure you it is, some qualified instruction is invaluable, money well spent.

The Pirate.

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Hi Micky, and welcome aboard.
You won't get much better advice than that already offered from the pirate and Jon, but we need to know your rivers etc, large small, preferences, dry fly, spiders, nymphing etc.
It all helps to get you set up correctly, and will save you money in the long run.
Plenty of excellent bargains to be had on this forum, and as Jon points out some cracking new deals out there as well.
Pirates lines will serve you well, thousands of happy customers on here.
Take your time, and tell us all.
Cheers Steven.

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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.

I think u should maybe state how much u are thinking of spending and people can start to help u from there, I myself am new to fly fishing not the best caster in the world but find my Grxi+ a good rod to learn with and play fish on, even my dad an experienced fly fisher of over 20 years said he rates them pretty high.

Hi Micky,
I see that some good advice has already come your way. As you are just starting out in fly fishing, you may like to consider contacting a local fishing coach for advice. Most coaches will gladly offer free advice over the phone. Perhaps an hour or so of instruction may also save money in the future.

Angling Trust Registered Coaches near you can be found by going to the Angling Trust website and clicking on 'Find a Coach'

Tightlines

gsflyfishing

GS Fly Fishing - Fly Fishing Tuition in Yorkshire

Cracker of a post from the Pirate.

But putting on my nit-picking hat.

Last week I called into a local fishing shop and the owner was busy unpacking his order of the Shakespeare Odyssey rods so I had a look at a 7.5' and an 8.5' - lovely things by any reasonable standard and I was boggled by the prices - UNDER £25.

Half that might not get you the reel, but the rest of the advice is bang on.

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Plusnet/Madasafish > Liars to the internet community

As down stream said the odessey rods are fantastic value for money rods, you can also get a shakespere mustang reel for about £15 or a leeda intrepid reel with line for around £30 to get you going all the best bobby

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first divison champs!!!!!

St johnstone Fc

Wow, very impressed with all the comments and help offered already!

This is my reply to all so far, taking into account the various points made.

To be honest i have no real idea which rivers i will be targeting specifically and even those that i am considering such as the Severn the Dane and the Ribble i do not no the information regarding which stretches? I live in the Manchester area so will be within 70 miles of that?!

I do think that the casting training is maybe the starting point so that i can ask the local expert for his recommendations of places to fish and therefore rods type etc...

Expecting to spend approx £100 - £200 on kit at first and then add as i go on?

If anyone lives in the area and fancies a pint to discuss that would be great

Many thanks to you all !

Hi Guys,

Not had any tuition yet but have now narrowed down my preferred rivers and type of fishing so hopefully someone can give advice on size and line weight of rod.

Basically the two rivers i want to fish are the Bollin and the Birkin. Both of these are more like streams than rivers being only approx a max of 20ft wide. Will be mainly stalking in quite restricted areas so am i right to assume relatively short rod?
Fish types are brownies and grayling so advice on sort of fly types to try would also be good