J
john montana
I have heard good things about the carbon, but haven't cast it. Like I mentioned before, don't buy a rod without casting it. You really want to make sure the rod talks to you!
New.. need some gear suggestions
Z
Zarick
But when you are new.. and haven't really done any REAL casting.. how do you know?
I
igquick
john montana said:
Well put...
Im sure most right handers reel in with their left and cast with their right...then again I cast with both hands unless Im fly fishing(so right handed cast)
Im still a noob when it comes to fly fishing so new people like yourself might relate to me SO I preffer using my friend's flyrod which is only 8 feet long while mine is 9 feet long...8 feet for me seems less of a hassle when you get tangled by casting flaws or when your rod hits some branches...
S
Spydeyrch
Zarick said:
Ok, so here are my thoughts:
Go to Don at River City Fly Shop in Tigard. I recently (as in end of may) purchased a TFO 1wt rod from him and an Echo Ion 2/3 reel. Because I got the rod and reel together at the same time, he gave me backing, fly line, and a leader loop for free. Ended saving like $60 - $80 or something like that!!!
Echo Carbons are nice man, they really are!! Not as "stiff" as the solo, a little lighter too.
If you are trying to save $$ on your first setup, get an Echo Solo rod for $120 (rounding up). (Above I had said they were $99. When I first got mine, it was $99. It looks like they raised the price to $120. Sorry about the wrong info above in my first post.) My reel, and first one at that, that I use on my echo solo is an Okuma Sierra something. It takes either a 4/5 line or a 5/6 line. It was $35 when I got it at bi-mart. It costs the same as the echo solo reel but made of cast aluminum rather than plastic. Plus it has a nice click and pawl sound to it with a descent drag. I have caught deschutes red-sides on it, coastal cutties, bass, etc. Works just fine and I still use it to this day.
The Cabelas Prestige Plus Fly reel is normally $50 but is on sale right now for $30. The Cabela's Prestige Premium is going for $90. The RLS+ is a nice looking reel and the specs read well but I haven't ever used it so I can't attest to it. Sorry.
If you are willing to go up a little from $35 get the Echo Ion reel for $80. You really can't go wrong with that!! It was voted one of the best reels for it's price point and has a lifetime warranty.
If you can afford even a little more, upgrade from the Echo Solo rod ($120) to the Echo Carbon ($180)
If you go to Don at river city fly shop and get the Echo Carbon and the Echo Ion, I am pretty sure he will cut you one sweet of a deal that you will find hard to turn away from!! And you can cast them there before you purchase to now if you like it or not.
As far as the guides go on the Echo solo, doesn't make a difference that I have noticed. I think that they did that for price cutting $$ purposes, but that is just an idea on my end.
So, if you get the solo rod and the Echo Ion reel, you are looking at: $120 + $80 = $200.
And I am sure that don would hook you up with awesome deals with what ever else you need.
If you go with the Echo Carbon and the Ion reel, you are looking at $260. Very much worth it in my opinion. Perhaps you may not recognize, feel, or understand the differences between the different rods, but if you get a good rod, you will appreciate it later down the road once you do get that ability to feel the differences in rods.
I like the last of those two options. That would be one sweet setup!
As far as a novice casting and telling the difference, it won't be easy at first. But after a while, one can tell the difference between an oak branch of a rod and a nice limber tool. If you get a thick, cheap, hard, heavy rod at first and work on that one, then a ways down the road have an opportunity to cast a nice rod, you will notice the difference. But if you start on a nice setup, you won't have to worry about if you can tell the difference or not. Cause once you get it down pat, if you ever have a chance to cast on a thick rod, you will tell the difference and be grateful that you have an awesome setup. Better to get good (but not $$$) now, rather than cheap and pay for a second setup later to replace your first cause it just didn't cut it .... :think:
-Spydey
H
halibuthitman
Ive casted the s-curve 5wt and it is a fine casting rod, but it has a foam grip and the guides are taped and not thread wrapped.. it is a low quality flyrod.. but it will fish stocker trout forever and probably never break. Im with john on the 7 wt.. Its my primary big trout and steelhead rod and the most commonly used weight flyrod in the world. I fish scott and echo flyrods and quite a few glass flyrods, at your skill level you will not be able to reap the rewards of a high end flyrod.. but in the end if you stay with flyfishing your gonna buy one. Echo flyrods are the most flyrod for the money on the market right now period. I would buy a used outfit off craigslist and save myself around 60% on a good outfit.. if you buy a rod that has a warranty I guarantee if you send it back they will fix it no questions asked. The lamiglas factory in woodland has 4 rods on the shelf right now for under $100 that would probably last you for years. Im not gonna suggest lines or reels, I have a very high opinion on lines and reels and its where I spend most of my money... a bad reel is a miserable useless frustrating thing.. I would not make my decision lightly. I will say that my line stash is mostly scientific angler, airflow.. and Royal Wulff.. and I love them all- Good luck
H
halibuthitman
Zarick said:
loop style guides shoot line better and are actually more durable-
J
john montana
halibuthitman said:
And don't take a 6 wt sage Carp fishing...right Halibuhitman? hah....how is the carp saga coming along?
H
halibuthitman
ha ha ha ha... your luvin it! I will catch my first on Saturday.. stay tuned!!john montana said:
J
john montana
I appreciate that you can see the challenge. Too many people assume they are easy. I excited for you to get your first. Make sure you post it when you do.
Z
Zarick
Okay.. so I just hit a fly shop near me. Didn't get to cast due to time.
He had a RL Winston Passport for $180 that he said would be a really good rod.
He also stated putting an echo ion reel for $90 and then $35 for the line and $5 for some leader.
So $310 out the door.
Seems higher than I wanted to go.
Thoughts?
He had a RL Winston Passport for $180 that he said would be a really good rod.
He also stated putting an echo ion reel for $90 and then $35 for the line and $5 for some leader.
So $310 out the door.
Seems higher than I wanted to go.
Thoughts?
S
Spydeyrch
Dude, if you can make the drive, go out to river city fly shop in tigard. Talk to Don. He open Saturday mornings usually. Just call before hand to see if he is in.
That $90 reel seems $10 higher than normal. The echo site says they are going for $80 ($79.99)
$35 for a line is a good beginning price. Probably isn't anything fancy. I still have my first fly line. It is a Cortland 333 line that I got for I think either $30 or $40.
Really, go to river city fly shop and talk to don. Get a rod and a reel together. I would go for the Echo Solo ($120) and the Ion reel ($80). That will hit you at about $200 for those 2 things. Then see what don can do for you for backing and a line. I wouldn't be surprised if you walked out of there with your rod, reel, backing, and line for $200. :dance:
Leaders, if it is trout, I just get some SA leaders from bi-mart. I think they run like $2.60 a package, or something like that. They have, 1x - 6x, sometimes 7x if you are lucky. They work just fine for me for trout.
Good luck man!
-Spydey
That $90 reel seems $10 higher than normal. The echo site says they are going for $80 ($79.99)
$35 for a line is a good beginning price. Probably isn't anything fancy. I still have my first fly line. It is a Cortland 333 line that I got for I think either $30 or $40.
Really, go to river city fly shop and talk to don. Get a rod and a reel together. I would go for the Echo Solo ($120) and the Ion reel ($80). That will hit you at about $200 for those 2 things. Then see what don can do for you for backing and a line. I wouldn't be surprised if you walked out of there with your rod, reel, backing, and line for $200. :dance:
Leaders, if it is trout, I just get some SA leaders from bi-mart. I think they run like $2.60 a package, or something like that. They have, 1x - 6x, sometimes 7x if you are lucky. They work just fine for me for trout.
Good luck man!
-Spydey
Z
Zarick
I'll got sat morning.
I noted Cabelas had some good deals on echo rods with ion reels.. all come with leader for less than $250. I just want to get a good rod without going too cheapy.
I noted Cabelas had some good deals on echo rods with ion reels.. all come with leader for less than $250. I just want to get a good rod without going too cheapy.
S
Spydeyrch
Zarick said:
The echo solo is a good rod for the price and warranty. I don't consider it cheapy. I got mine out today and went casting on a local pond. Good action.
Before you go to cabelas, go to river city. Talk to Don. See what he can set you up with. Tell him you were looking at the echo solo rod and the echo ion reel but don't really want to spend more than $200 - $250 (or what ever your price range is). He will set you up.
Speaking of $250 ... for $250 you could get the echo carbon rod and the echo ion reel! See what don can do to help out with the backing and line. Tell him that you want to get the rod and reel together. He will hook you up.
Take care and enjoy!
-Spydey
J
john montana
Waco, you and I need to go see Don together. Seriously...you are missing out on a great experience from one bad one with his shop. I 100% support Royal Treatment as well, Joel is a flat out great guy (I have another carp presentation over there in a few weeks by the way) and his shop is first class all the way. You cannot go wrong with either shop...Zarick, as you can probably tell, most of us are protective of the small fly shops. We want those guys in business! So I do hope you go see these guys (NWFFO is a good shop too of course).
We need to go see Don though Waco...I hate that you had a bad experience there.
We need to go see Don though Waco...I hate that you had a bad experience there.
S
Spydeyrch
john montana said:
I can understand where Waco is coming from. I went to River city on 2 or three seperate ocassions and didn't have as good of an experience that I had hoped to have. But, I don't believe that I was dealing with Don in those few first attempts.
After John insisted that I go back and give it another try, I decided to do so. I took a sweet cane rod down there with an older pfluger 1493 (I think that is the correct number) reel. I met don that time. I pulled out the rod and showed it to him. We got to chatting. What was originally a planned 20 min stop by the shop turned into an hour long chat about rods, trips to alaska, lines, etc. We got to laughing, and swapping stories. It was a blast!! Best time I have ever had in a fly shop. He gave me some sweet discounts on a few items.
The next time I went in there, I had my kids with me (the real test is to take kids into a fly shop and see if they listen and not touch things they aren't supposed to, hahahaha). They did great and listened. Don was really nice to them and offered them candy (and no, not in the pervert van kind of a way, see image below). I went in to get a TFO 1wt rod and an echo ion reel for it. Back when I got the line for my cane rod, I asked him if he had any of the TFO 1wt rods. He said no but had some ordered and they should be in by the end of may.
So come the end of may, I called him up really quick and asked if he had any. He said that he didn't believe so cause he sold his last one but that we would check. Well turns out that he still had one. It had been misplaced. Funny thing too, some guy had gone in earlier that morning asking about it but because it had been misplaced, he didn't get it and Don thought he was out. I guess it was just destined to be mine! hahahaha
Anywho, so I went in to get the rod. He started to ring me up and I told him that I was going to get an echo ion 2/3 reel too for the rod. He got all excited (very cool to see) and said that he would give me free backing and a free 2wt line (he didn't carry 1wt lines at that time) because I was getting the rod and reel together. So normally the backing would have cost around $10 - $15. The 1wt line I wanted was a Rio line. It usually runs about $75. But because I got the rod and reel together, Don hooked me up with free backing and a very nice line, for free!!!! Then he sold me a leader loop at a third (that is 1/3) of the cost as advertised. I walked out of there with a new rod, reel, backing, and fly line at about $80 - $100 cheaper than I was excepting to sped. Granted I still ended up spending it there on new tippet, leaders, flies, floatant shake, gink, etc. But still, what a sweet deal!
Don won my appreciation and loyalty after "redeeming" his shop after my first 2 bad experiences.
All i can say is that we are all human and sometimes, we just have bad days. Sometimes more than others. Even fly shop owners.
That is my $0.02
-Spydey
Here's the freaky candy pic (click on it, it is a .gif file and moves. HILARIOUS!!!):
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Z
Zarick
Okay,
I went to River City Sat.
Don was there. So was a guy named Kevin. Apparently Kevin is a fly instructor that helps Don out from Time to Time.
Don felt that a 6wt was a better setup for an all around rod. He thought a 5 would work just fine, but a 6 allows for throwing heavier flies and allows a person to get out a little further in lakes. Plus he said when the wind hits the 6 make a big diff and there is no real advantage for a 5.
So Kevin took me outside and showed me some casting stuff and had me cast a solo for a while. He also got a more expensive 6 (can't remember the name). The solo felt a little softer, but was a bit easier for me to hit a straight line with.
So.. $170 out the door I bought the solo kit. Not sure at this point that I shouldn't have tried some other kits at some other places (I.E. I never did try the winston which many say is a better rod), but I really liked Kevin and Don and they both felt the solo was a really good starter RIG.
HOWEVER, I really didn't like the reel. I got it home and played for a while and the reel felt.. cheapy. So yesterday I drove back to River city and talked to Don again. He said.. yes the reel is the weak spot. So if I wanted to upgrade he would give me full credit for the solo reel, transfer the line to an ion and I could pay the diff. That was about $45 (ion is about $10 cheaper at river city). Don also gave me about $2 off some leader and tippet and 12 free flies.
So now I have a 9' 6wt solo with an ion reel. all for about $215. My only complaint at this point is the the ion reel has a lot of scratching on the retrieve side of the cartridge already and I haven't even used it. Not sure what that is about, but reel itself is WAY nicer than the solo reel.
I went to River City Sat.
Don was there. So was a guy named Kevin. Apparently Kevin is a fly instructor that helps Don out from Time to Time.
Don felt that a 6wt was a better setup for an all around rod. He thought a 5 would work just fine, but a 6 allows for throwing heavier flies and allows a person to get out a little further in lakes. Plus he said when the wind hits the 6 make a big diff and there is no real advantage for a 5.
So Kevin took me outside and showed me some casting stuff and had me cast a solo for a while. He also got a more expensive 6 (can't remember the name). The solo felt a little softer, but was a bit easier for me to hit a straight line with.
So.. $170 out the door I bought the solo kit. Not sure at this point that I shouldn't have tried some other kits at some other places (I.E. I never did try the winston which many say is a better rod), but I really liked Kevin and Don and they both felt the solo was a really good starter RIG.
HOWEVER, I really didn't like the reel. I got it home and played for a while and the reel felt.. cheapy. So yesterday I drove back to River city and talked to Don again. He said.. yes the reel is the weak spot. So if I wanted to upgrade he would give me full credit for the solo reel, transfer the line to an ion and I could pay the diff. That was about $45 (ion is about $10 cheaper at river city). Don also gave me about $2 off some leader and tippet and 12 free flies.
So now I have a 9' 6wt solo with an ion reel. all for about $215. My only complaint at this point is the the ion reel has a lot of scratching on the retrieve side of the cartridge already and I haven't even used it. Not sure what that is about, but reel itself is WAY nicer than the solo reel.
J
john montana
Good deal...i'm totally with Don on the 6 vs 5 debate. Now get out after some fish man! Congrats!
T
troutmasta
I love this place!
I love this place!
I rarley fly fish but I read this whole thread, every post.
John Montana and Spydey are the kind of people that make this place special.
Cheers to you guys for all your help:clap:
Makes me want to dig my ol Cabelas bug chukker out and start asking questions.
I thinks its 6 wieght, only caught smallies on it....
Any way thanks for being Awesome guys!!
And Z. congrats on a fine purchase with help like that you can't go wrong!
I love this place!
I rarley fly fish but I read this whole thread, every post.
John Montana and Spydey are the kind of people that make this place special.
Cheers to you guys for all your help:clap:
Makes me want to dig my ol Cabelas bug chukker out and start asking questions.
I thinks its 6 wieght, only caught smallies on it....
Any way thanks for being Awesome guys!!
And Z. congrats on a fine purchase with help like that you can't go wrong!
T
Tinker
steelhead_slayer said:
I'll second that about sensitivity. Can't believe how small some of the minnows are that I've caught and they sure felt larger when I couldn't see them...
S
Spydeyrch
Zarick said:
So glad you have gotten a nice rig together!! Glad that Don was able to help you out and look, you even got some simple casting lessons for it all!! SWEET! The Ion reel might have been a used reel, that would explain the scratches and the slightly cheaper aspect of it ... just a thought.
Glad you went with a 6wt too. Although I enjoy my 5 wt, there are times I wish I had something just slightly heavier and a 6 or even a 7 wt would be perfect. But that is next on the list of rods to purchase for me, hehehehehe.
So you paid just a little over the $200 mark and walked away with a solo rod, ion reel, backing, fly line, leader, tippet, and 12 flies along with casting lessons!!! That to me is one sweet deal man!!
Congrats on the purchase. Have a great time. Hopefully we can hit the water sometime.
Take care man.
-Spydey
P.S. Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I have been up in northeast washington for the last week.
