Teaching notes - rods, lines and reels

Breaking down the information beginning fly-fishers are given.

Beginning fly-fishers are given an overwhelming amount of information. In the next few articles, I’ll share my notes on the things I cover during a class. Consider them cheat sheets for the various topics covered during the class.

I’ll start with fly rods and lines. In future articles, I’ll share my notes on leader and tippet, flies and knots. I don’t claim that this “THE” way, it’s just my way. Others teach things differently. Use what is useful.

When I teach beginners, I prefer to spend the bulk of the time focusing on casting, reading the water and fishing with different setups. I firmly believe time on the water is the most valuable teaching tool. I’ll quickly cover other topic like rods, reels, lines and flies, but there is a lot of good material available on the web to do a deeper dive into those subjects.

That deeper dive is best done when you can’t be on the water. Two of my favorite sources are the Orvis Fly Fishing Learning Center¹ [take their quizzes for a fun way to test your knowledge] and the Far Bank Fly-Fishing School.

Fly Rods

The fly rod is a flexible lever designed to cast a flexible weight. Fly line is the flexible weight. When choosing a rod, consider what fish you will be fishing for and where you will be fishing for them. Fishing for trout in mountain streams is very different from fishing for tarpon in Florida. You want to have a rod that is suitable for the fishing you will be doing.

When choosing a rod, consider three things. The weight of the line you will be casting, the action of the rod and the length of the rod.

Weight

All fly rods are designed to cast a line of a certain weight. I’ll talk about line weights in the fly lines section below. For now, it’s sufficient to know the rods and lines should be compatible.

Action

Rod action refers to how fast a bent rod returns to its unbent position. Actions are usually described in terms of speed: fast, slow or medium; or flex: stiff, soft or medium. As you would expect, the terms are logical and understandable.

The action plays an important role in casting a fly line. Stiffer, faster rods make it easier to cast longer distances. Slower, softer rods make it easier to make more delicate casts.

The type of fishing you do dictates the appropriate rod action. As someone gets more comfortable with casting a fly rod, they often develop a preference for a certain rod action.²

Length

Look in any fly shop that caters to trout anglers and I’ll wager you will see more nine-foot fly rods than any others. I honestly can’t say why we landed at 9 feet, but that’s the most common size. Most of those rods will be four-piece rods as well. That allows them to be transported and stored easily. Generally speaking, shorter rods are used when fishing in tighter quarters like mountain streams and longer rods help with longer casts.

Fly lines

Weight

Because the fly being cast doesn’t have a lot of weight, the line has to do the job of carrying the fly to the target. As noted above, fly rods are designed to cast certain weights of line. It’s important to make sure the line you are using is the appropriate weight for your fly rod. The good news is both rods and lines are well marked, so you don’t have to guess.³

Tapers

Fly lines are no longer a constant thickness along their whole length. To make fly rods bend sooner, the line makers put more of the weight at the beginning of the line. Those are known as weight forward (WF) lines. Weight forward lines have about 60% of the weight in the first third of the line. Besides making the rod bend sooner, the heavier line in the front pulls the lighter line in the back along with it. This helps when you are trying to get more distance with your cast.

The double taper (DT) line is also a common line configuration. It spreads the weight out over a longer length of the line. Having the weight spread out along the line can help make more delicate casts. It’s also a good choice if you will be doing a lot of roll casting.

Floating and sinking lines.

While all fly lines have weight, some lines are designed to float (F), and others are designed to sink (S). Because of the popularity of fishing with flies designed to float on top of the water, the more popular and versatile lines are floating ones, so they don’t sink and drag the fly down with it.

Sinking lines are designed to sink at various speeds depending on the weight the maker has been added to them. They are used in situations where you want to get your fly below the surface and keep it below the surface. They are popular with folks who fish with flies that imitate bait fish or crustaceans.

To wrap up this section, if asked what a good the middle of the road, starting place for most trout anglers I suggest a 9 foot, four or five weight, medium fast action rod with a weight forward five weight floating (WF5F) line. That is a very versatile set up that can be used in many cold (trout) and warm water (bass) situations.

I always suggest buying a good rod to start. You’ll never be sorry you have it. You can add more rods to your collections as your fly-fishing adventures increase, but you will always be happy you had that trusty five weight.

Reels

I don’t spend a lot of time talking about reels. Unless you are fighting big fish in big water they are, or all intents and purposes line storage devices. I said, what I said.

The reel should be sized to the line you are using. The manufacturers tell you that and how much line plus backing⁴ the reel will hold. Spool size and drag type are also with considering. The spool holds the line, the larger the diameter of the center, know as the arbor, the faster you can reel line in. Most reels these days have large arbors.

Friction controls how fast the line comes off the reel. That friction is set by the drag system. Think of it like brakes on a car. Drag is set to used to control how much effort is needed to take line off the reel. Use enough to keep the spool from spinning madly when the line is taken off the reel but not so much so a fish can’t budge it.⁵

Beyond that it gets into areas like material, cosmetics and brand preference. Worthy topics for another time.

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If you have questions, don’t hesitate to drop them in the comments section. I’ll be happy to try and answer them.

The author teaching an advanced casting class…

1. Take their quizzes for a fun way to test your knowledge

2. Here’s an excellent series of short videos by Tim Rajeff, explaining rod action.

3. Here’s a excellent video on using a line weight lighter or heavier on your fly rod

4. The extra line, usually 20 pound test Dacron, that is added to the end of the fly line when it’s put on the reel. Most trout anglers rarely see it, but it’s a comfort knowing it’s there…

5. A trick I learned as a kid was to hold the fly line between my lips and try and pull line off the reel. If I could pull off line then the drag was too loose. I tighten it to just past the point where I could pull off line.