Further North

You will look way cooler in your old-man-fit-over-your-regular-glasses fi they are mirrored than if they are just plain amber (and it's harde for other folks to see your regular glasses under the mirrors. Signed, A Cocoon owner since 2010. Just kidding...I've never noticed any perceivable difference, but everyone's eyes are different.

It is. Prehistoric, even. ...Not mine, but I know the guy who caught it, and I love sharing the picture. It's my favorite, "My fish eat your fish!" picture... Is that juvenile of me? You bet!

OK...I can now turn my disgust-o-meter up a few more notches at what people will do in pathetic attempts to catch a few extra fish... Not the the OP, that's Mother Nature in action, but the Rednecks and pig carcasses is disturbing...

I'd challenge that. I teach a lot. I look at questions on things I've discussed as places where I've not done a great job of conveying information, or capturing my audience's attention... ...and no. I'm not "a teacher" in the conventional sense...

That's absurd, and irresponsible. It is far easier on the fish than lipping it, or flopping it over the side of the boat with the rod and line...

Maybe some of 'em. This guy, and most of the fly fishermen I know, are anything but trout specific, snooty elitists. Most even own boats and fish with gear a fair amount of the time. I know three or four who fish for carp...on purpose. ...truth be told...trout fishing isn't hard. To make it challenge, you have to choose the hardest of all fishing methods and stick to top-water only. PS: I drive a Ford.

Me either! Great post - makes perfect sense to me. I buy most of my fly gear on E-Bay for half off...a lot of it tends to get bought by folks who think it looks like fun...never use it...and sell it a couple years later.

I've not seen those rods, will have to look them up. ...and yeah, it's a commitment to keep the deck clear but I use fly rods often enough that I do it...most of the time. Those are both great rods. Most of my fly fishing is from my "floating tackle box." I only wade a few times a year, but my fly rods are on the boat almost every time I go out. There's some presentations we just can't make with gear and I like having that choice when I'm fishing. ...and I just enjoy it.

I can't think of any reason why I'd go below 30# braid on a baitcaster...if for no other reason that it'd cost me a fortune to spool up a reel...

I'm 90 miles due east of TC metro...and the WI opener is a week ahead of the MN opener...but I'd say it's 70/30 against open water for most lakes here on the 5/5/2018 opener at this latitude...

Sometimes...sometimes not...look for their shadows on the bottom...their natural camouflage can't hide that...

If you could share where you got that laser and which one it was, that'd be great.

I saw two of those along the river yesterday... They're gonna be feeding their babies soon...

Around here, I'd be looking for this: YMMV, locally...

...from what I've been able to figure out, $30 - $50 fly rods...unless they are used examples of more expensive rods...will hurt me more than help me. I'm not saying others can't make them work, but I know I can't. On the reel side...a $20 reel isn't going to have the drag I need to put a decent fish on the reel if I need to. probably OK for most bass, but it'd never work on a decent pike or musky. ...but if you're makin' them work, keep up the good work!

Custom fly rods...if there's added value...can get really nuts... https://www.taigan.com/shops/oysterflyrods/items/42995-oyster-legacy-series-bamboo-fly-rod-by-oyster?gclid=Cj0KCQjw5fDWBRDaARIsAA5uWTgUjrFGCHERPNsKsgP9FHakQLVt_bgTydVYi5bkcGWuzr1SOZz6BBcaAutREALw_wcB ...but you have to make a "name" for your brand first. There's always a "local" market for "custom" rods built on commercially available blanks, but they tend to sell for less than the maker's rods. There's a local guy here who builds on St. Croix blanks, for example; you can usually get one of his rods in the $150 range. I have a few and they are great.

Not for a fly rod/reel/line. An Orvis Helios 3 rod in 8 wt. is $898. An Orvis Mirage reel to fit it is $649. Any decent fly line (Rio, Orvis, Scientific Angler, Airflo) is $90. That sorta defines the middle of the high end of fly gear so we're talking $1,637.00 You can spend more, without working very hard at it, there are G Loomis, and Sage rods over $1,000, there are plenty of reels that'll start north of $700... ...and no, the companies are not screwing anyone, it's a matter of the scale of production.

Temple Forks Outfitters makes very good, mid-range fly gear. I can't talk myself into Orvis, Loomis, Scott, Winston or Sage rods that are often north of $800, and can eclipse $1,000. I like the first generation Axiom rods by TFO, so I was looking forward to this rod, would typically wait until they started showing up on E-Bay to buy one...then I read that they were performing similarly to the new Orvis Helios 3 (one of those rods I can't talk myself into)...so I decided to go new...talking to Glen at Great Lakes Fly Fishing cemented that thought. I'm a huge fan of Lamson fly reels...without going out and counting, I'd guess I have at least a dozen, and the Cabela's WLX is a Lamson (it came with Lamson tag on it and a Lamson Reel pouch). Cabela's was moving them out for $135 (a steal for new Lamson), so using accumulated points to gab that was a no brainer. I had been looking at the Rio Single Handed Spey line for a while...my fly casting is atypical in that I do very little false casting...I try to pull the fly out of the water, do one back-cast and put the fly right back in the water and everything I read indicated this line would do that as well, if not better than the Rio Outbound Short I have on another rig...so I bought that with points as well. If I'd had to pay retail for all this...I'd be somewhere around $650 - $800.

Ditto...and I've been a hunter since the early 70s...

I was wondering how long it'd take for someone to...take the bait...

9 iron. Maybe 7 iron. Just sayin'...

Regarding acronym, Think Beatles... Rod: Temple Forks Outfitters, Axiom II, 8 wt., Glenn Blackwood, Great Lakes Fly Fishing Company, unraveler par excellence: $339.85. Reel: Cabela's WLX, bought with points: $0.00 (that's a Lamson 8 wt. reel, if you're not familiar with the sub-context) Line: Rio InTouch Single Hand Spey Line 3D , 8 wt., bought with Cabela's points: $0.00. Leader, 6 ft, Maxima 55 lb. leader + 18" Tyger Leader, 30#, $2.73, components (parts and stuff) Brian Smolinski, Lund's Fly Shop, River Falls, WI. Mustad twist lock: Wild ass guess, $0.25. Fly: Me, about $2.50 with materials and time. So, maybe, $350.00 if you tip the waitress heavily. Will catch pikeandbass; not debatable...will likely catch musky... Fly fishing's not nearly as expensive as some folks wanna make it seem...

30# braid, High visibility (I use Suffix 832 in Chartreuse), tied to a fluoro leader, or a hybrid leader around 12# to 8#. Works a bazillion times a year in crystal clear, NW WI and Canadian Shield lakes. Anyone who says it doesn't work is full of it, in my fishery. YMMV, and all of the other standard disclaimers. Giter' Done...

Here's an example where it'll make you better: When I got back into fishing, one of the first reels I bought was a Shimano Calais DC. The Calais DC will absolutely help you eliminate backlash, and help you build the muscle memory you need to cast. You will build accuracy, distance and even get better at close-up work. Over time, you'll reduce the "help" you get from the reel, until, in the not terribly distant future, you'll pick up some non-DC reel...and find out your skills move right over to the new reel pretty darned well. An expensive rod can have the same impact, but in a different way: it's probably gonna be lighter, better balanced, more sensitive, and more accurate, but that's another discussion. Lighter and better balance translate to easier fishing...so you'll do it more often, and for longer periods of time...so you'll get better faster... The increased sensitivity will have you feeling fish you'd never know about on a less sensitive rod. ...so, like the DC reel...one day, you pick up a less expensive rod...and the stuff you learned comes with you again and you're better for the dollars you spent. Anyting that moves us faster along the learning curve benefits us. One place I'd say this really made a difference was with fly fishing...$79 specials are truly awful, and you'll have a hard time developing a useful casting stroke with them...you'll fight the rod, you'll fight the line, the leader and the tippet will suck... I'm not saying a beginner should go out and buy a full Orvis set-up for $1300...but if you want to learn the basics with any speed, cough up the bucks for a mid range rod, reel and line.

Ditto for Humminbird.