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Choosing a Fly Rod

The first two questions I ask a customer who may be looking for a fly rod are: What is your Budget? and What type of fishing are you planning on doing?

What's Your Budget?

Unfortunately, we do not all earn large salaries hence the price of usable Fly Rods can and do start at as little as £25 rising to in excess of £1000. My advice is to spend as much as you can afford, because I believe that up to £450 the more you pay for a Fly Rod usually means better quality of Blank and Fittings. Over £450 and I'm afraid a large portion of your cash sometimes pays for the manufacturers name and advertising budget and does not always mean better quality.

What Type Of Fishing Are You Planning To Undertake :

The first thought when selecting a fly rod, is it’s most often intended use. Are you casting for small trout on a brook/small river, Rainbow Trout on a Reservoir, or Salmon and Sea Trout on larger rivers? You first need to think about the size of the water you are mostly going to be fishing, and then the size of the fly you intend to cast. After that you need to consider the size of the fish you intend to catch. The rod size effects both the casting and the playing of the fish. The nice thing is if you fish for Salmon, Sea Trout and a Rainbow Trout , you can probably get by with one rod.  You might not get the ultimate choice for either, but depending on your budget you can get a very nice choice for a variety of fishing conditions. If you want to fish for small Brown Trout, Grayling, Salmon & Sea trout then you would have to consider buying two Fly Rods as you would get no satisfaction of playing a half pound trout on a rod that's capable of playing a large Salmon and you could damage a light Fly Rod playing a large Salmon.

Trout Fishing on Brook or Small River

Fishing for trout on Brooks and small rivers is usually carried out with short light weight rods in the range of :-

 6'-8'6" #3/4    These short light weight Fly Rods are ideal for short accurate casts. Some of the Fly Rods suitable for this type of fishing that I stock would be :-

Greys Streamflex,  Greys Missionary,  Greys GRXi,  Greys G Series, Scierra Pico, Scierra HMS, Vision Extreme Plus, Vision GT Four, Vision 3-Zone, Vision Intro, Redington CPS, Redington RS3, Redington Wayfarer and Redington Red fly.

Trout And Grayling on Small To Medium Rivers

Fishing for Trout and Grayling on small to medium size rivers is carried out using Fly Rods 8'-10' # 4/5. The longer Fly Rods 9'6"-10'  are favoured by Grayling Fishermen when using Bugs and Nymphs. For my trout and grayling fishing I use a 9' #4 for dry fly, 9' #5 for small Nymphs and Wets, and a 9'6" #5 for Bugs and Heavy Nymphs, but these are my personal choice and may not suit everyone.

Some of the Fly Rods suitable for this type of fishing that I stock would be :-

Greys Streamflex,  Greys Platinum, Greys Missionary,  Greys GRXi,  Greys G Series, Scierra HM3, Scierra HMS, Scierra IC3, Vision Extreme Plus, Vision GT Four, Vision 3-Zone, Vision Intro, Redington CPS, Redington RS3, Redington Wayfarer and Redington Red fly.

Rainbow Trout On Small Still Waters

This Is where most newcomers to our glorious sport start their experience of Fly Fishing and is also an opportunity for those not sure whether they will take to to the sport or not to buy a Fly Rod costing only a few pounds and catch fish.

Fly Rods most commonly used would be 9'-10' #6/7.

Some of the Fly Rods suitable for this type of fishing that I stock would be :-

Greys Streamflex,  Greys Missionary,  Greys GRXi,  Greys G Series, Scierra HM3, Scierra HMS, Scierra IC3, Vision Extreme Plus, Vision GT Four, Vision 3-Zone, Vision Intro, Redington CPS, Redington RS3, Redington Wayfarer, Redington Red fly, Ron Thomson Reflex, Ron Thomson Excite and Ron Thomson power Shoot.

Reservoir Fishing for Rainbow Trout and Salmon & Sea Trout Fishing on Medium Size Rivers

For reservoir fishing a 9'6"-10' #6/8 is the most commonly used Fly Rod and for single handed Salmon & Sea Trout fishing the norm would be 10'  #7/8 although some anglers would choose a 10'6" or even a 11' #8. My choice would be a 10' #7

Some of the Fly Rods suitable for this type of fishing that I stock would be :-

Greys Streamflex,  Greys Missionary,  Greys GRXi,  Greys G Series, Scierra HM3, Scierra HMS, Scierra IC3, Vision Extreme Plus, Vision GT Four, Vision 3-Zone, Vision Intro, Redington CPS, Redington RS3, Redington Wayfarer, Redington Red fly, Ron Thomson Reflex, Ron Thomson Excite and Ron Thomson power Shoot.