Fly Line

[honda450]

Well want to buy some decent floating fly line and reel for my son for Xmas, just moderatly priced stuff. it will go on a TFO 5 wt rod. Suggestions, tips tricks would be appreciated. Thanks

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[Scott N]

I've also had good luck with Cortland line and continue to use it on a few of my fly rods. Other brands to look at include Scientific Anglers and Rio. Expect to pay about $40 for a reasonably good line, but don't cheep out too much because your son may just get frustrated with an inferior line.

There are a number of good reels out there, and if you are only fishing for average size trout, you probably don't need a disc drag (it's nice to have though). A click / powl drag reel will generally be less money that a disc drag. For smaller fish a reel is simply used to store the line.

Don't forget to get line backing also.

[honda450]

Yeah bought one of those cheapo reels last summer, lasted 2 weeks. My son is getting pretty good at it now, when he was younger he would get frustrated, at times I thought he would throw the whole setup into the river. Hes learning patience now. Another question Scott would a disc drag be of benefit to a younger guy?

[Scott N]

This is just my opinion, but I don't think that a disc drag has any advantage until you get into bigger fish. I don't think it would offer anything more for a younger guy starting to get good at fly fishing.

I fish the Bow fairly often, and while I do have a rod with a disc drag reel, my rod with the click / powl drag has worked just fine. The fish in the Bow can be big and fight very hard, and in some cases a disc drag reel can help. Still... the click / powl reel has not really let me down. I would want a disc drag reel for fishing for salmon or pike... bigger fish like that.

[honda450]

Thanks for your input Scott. Here is my son with a few cutties he caught and kept for Grandpa.

[Scott N]

He looks like a fine young lad.... good for you to get him involved with the outdoors.

I'm sure you'll get a few other guys posting some opinions too. Good luck with your research.

[honda450]

Thanks also lurch. Always more opiions are better than one,

[goldscud]

I've found Scientific Anglers to make the most durable lines. For a lower cost reel I would look at Okuma or Pflueger. You shouldn't have to spend over $80 to get a good, functional reel. Just try to find one with little to no plastic or composite parts.

[honda450]

Yeah goldscud that el cheapo reel I had was all plastic. Gears and all.

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[honda450]

Yeah once you fly fish there ain't no going back. That picture was from 2 summers ago, now he is a catch and release man as myself we keep the odd one here and there out of the 100 or so we caught last summer. He was some proud of his fly box in which he had to show everyone and of course everybody contributed to his collection. I have some friends from Arizona that come up every year to fly fish here in southern Alberta---die hards they have taught him very much. More than me.

Martin Classics are great little reels. I set one up on a 4 piece 3 weight TFO rod last summer with cortland line and it performs very well. Its a shorter rod and i use it on streams with great success. I have a 5 weight TFO with a very similar reel (from england though, can't remember name right now but it wouldn't be in my price range if it wasn't for garage sales). I have scientific angler line on there, works good too, i've let a few youngsters use that setup and they did very well. I'd reccomend a Martin reel.
As for line, all middle class lines will work great, i've tried many including cortland and scientific angler. All will be fine.

Another reccomendaton is stop in at wholesale and ask the guys behind the counter. They can usually help and the fishing desk is never as busy as the gun counter.
Do you have him tying flies yet? Thats a great step for flyfishers to take, not too difficult or pricey when starting out (after that however, price can get, well..........just like any hobby taken too far ) I still go through lots of flies, tying my own is the only reason i can fish certain stretches of stream known for the snags.

[bobalong]

I have four sons who are grown now, but I started buying them higher end hunting and fishing gear when they were still quite young. I was spending more on "toy" type items that they would use for a month and then they would get tossed aside. Using slightly better gear, made learning much easier for them and they used the gear all the time, and 15years later still use some of the same gear. I am not sure what the budget is but the Okuma SLV (about 90.00) and Cortland 444, Rio Gold, Rio Windcutter, Sci Angler Ultra 4 are all good flylines. These lines are all in the 45-65 dollar range. I recommend putting more money into the line rather than the reel if the majority of the fish you are after are going after are going to be under 15 lbs. If the lines listed here are stored out of the sunlight and cleaned frequently you should easily get 10 years use out of any of them.

[honda450]

Well went to wholesale sports today and here's what I got. Cortland 444 5 wt. flyline $46.99, and a Pflueger fly reel $69.99. And some backing. the older gentleman behind the counter was very helpful. All within my budget. Thanks to all who replyed to my post. Forgot to mention he gave me a nice little TFO backpack for free.

You made a good choice! Pfluegers are wicked reels, I use a Trion and a Summit and I love them both. Cortland line is decent stuff as well, had I read post sooner would've recomended Scientific Anglers.

[honda450]

Yeah I have a SA reel now for myself but believe the one I bought today is alot nicer, spoiled rotten kid. All I had was a willow branch, shoe strings and barbed wire.

[Versatile]

I run a Lamson Radius on my 4wt St.Croix and love it. You can always move reels from rod to rod so I would spend a little more money and let it last.

Cabela's stuff has been rated pretty high with Field & Stream.