How to Select the Right Fly Fishing Rod

Video Transcript

Hi! This is David Dirks, managing director of Dirks Outdoors on behalf of Expert Village. Today we are going to talk about fly fishing basics. First thing we are going to do is talk about choosing a rod. One of the most important fundamentals in fly fishing is having the right rod fitted to the right fitted mission. Different rods are for different kinds of fish. One of the ways that manufacturers universally do that is by creating what they call a weight, a line weight for each rod. Rods run from 1 weight to 15 weight and the way that works is very simple. The lighter the rod, the lower the number. One weight is the lightest rod you can buy. That would be for very very small lightweight flies, midges things that you use for very very delicate kind of fishing. Up to the 15 weight which you know are talking about sail fish, large Tarpin, things like that so you have a lot of different variety in terms of rod selection of when you start to look at rods. If you are just starting out in fly fishing, what you are going to find generally are a good 6 or 7 weighted rod is going to be a good all around rod for fly fishing that you are going to find yourself doing around the country. The other thing that is important too is probably somewhere between an 8 foot and 9 foot rod length is about what you will find that will handle any fly fishing situation you will find yourself in. Rods are built in sections. You will find standard fly rods are built in two sections. However for those that like to travel to their destinations and pack smaller rod cases, a 3 or a 4 piece rod would probably be very appropriate. Let's talk about reels. One of the things fundamentally about a reel is that you want to make sure it is balanced and that it is sized for the weighted line you are going to purchase. If you are buying, let's say for example a 6 or 7 weight rod with 6 or 7 weight line, make sure that the reel that you purchase is able to handle that. If you buy a beginner package you don't have to worry about that because the manufacturer makes sure that it is the right size reel to fit the rod that you are looking to to use. Another recommendation I have for reels is to make sure your reel comes with or is loaded first before the fly line is on, with some kind of backing. Backing is important because if you get a really large fish if that should happen, they can take you right down to your line, take all your line out and if you only loaded your line in, you would have nothing to fight the fish. Backing allows you to fight the fish even after they strip a lot of your fly line off. Backing comes in as braided nylon or Dacron. The last recommendation I have on reels is make sure that you take care of your reel. That means basically just simply cleaning the reel at the end of every season, oiling it up and following the manufacturers directions for care.

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