We’d like to know more about the tackle Fly Fishing & Fly Tying reader’s use.

Which rods, reels or fly-lines do you own?
Would you recommend them or not and why?

Hi,
  Have a couple of BLOKE rods, and rate them very highly. They suit my casting style and as far as quality I feel they are excellent value for the money. I currently have a 9’ 5wt, and a 10’ 7wt, and would recommend them to other anglers. Without doubt they are my first choice, amongst the rods I have.

Tony

Using Sharpe’s Gordon range for about 3 years and have to say that they beat everything within that price range hands down.

Orvis Frequent Flyer 8,6´#4 7-piece.
Not that I am a frequent flyer, but a frequent hiker and bus-traveller.
A really nice rod with a lot of power in it. And really allround for the places I fish here in Sweden. The trout creek, grayling river, and even stillwater rainbows. I use it everywhere.

At the moment all my other trout rods are splitcane ones.
Not because of nostalgia, but for their qualities as fishing rods.
Whilst a good graphite rod is a part of your arm, a well-crafted cane is a part of your mind.
I dont have that much money though, so I scan the second-hand market for old canes in good shape. I search mostly for Pezon et Michel, preferbly with parabolic or semiparabolic action. In my opinion those are the most easy to obtain for the best prices, and if you find a “Parabolic Supreme Normale 8,6´#6”, then congratulations. A marvellous rod!

Just picked up new wychwood truefly 10ft 7/8 I haven’t fished with it yet but it casts incredably well for the price.
I’ve fished for sea trout with a partridge “s” 10ft 7 for the last few years and have got no complaints.I also use this rod for reservoirs.
Trout rods are
Reddington red fly 2 8ft6 5
cortland cx 7ft6 3
cortland endurance 10ft 4
all theese I would happily reccomend to any one.
cheers ff.

This season I bought myself a March Brown Hidden Water 7 piece 6’6” #3 rod for fishing my local river (Whitewater on the Hampshire/Berkshire border). This rod is able to be reduced to a 5’6” rod by removing the section just above the butt (no ring on this section). On a normal evening session I spend half my time with the rod at 5’6” as there are lots of overhanging trees and bankside vegetation. Extremely useful.

Not being a casting expert (having only fly fished for a couple of years), nonetheless I find the action of the rod excellent. I think it’s a pretty full flexing rod and it makes me slow my casting stoke down. I get a pretty good “feel” of when the rod is loaded. The rod also has a nice matt finish, the cork handle is nice and slim.

For £165 I think it’s a real bargain. 2 rods for the price of one!

I’ve paired it with an Orvis BBSII with a DT3 line. And, for the record, I’d recommend the Orvis reel as well. Lovely looks, good engineering although like all fly reels it’s overpriced for what you get compared to, say, a Shimano fixed spool reel.

My favorite rods are a 10’ #4 Scierra HM2, lovely light, crisp action rod which I use for dry fly & nymphs on any river open enough & on small still waters; the length considerably aids line control. Also, for small, overgrown, streams a 7’ #2 Sharpes Gordon which casts like a dream & is soft enough to give fun even with small wildies. My best value rod is an 8’ #2 Scierra Ferox; a bit faster action than I usually use but at under £60 (with discount) it proved ideal as a travel rod for a recent trip to the Smokey Mountains (USA) fishing for small brook trout in mountain brooks.
Dave Southall

‘Best’ Rods - For stillwaters, 9’6 #6/7 David Norwich EV? blanks, built up from blanks bought at Chatsworth.

9’6 #6 Allerton by Chas Burns of York.

Rivers - large-ish - 9’ #5 Streamflex and 8’6 Burns ‘Century’ dry fly rod.

small streams - 8’ #4/5 Sonik SK3 and recently purchased Shakespeare Trion 7’ #3/4

‘Soft spot’ rods - Daiwa 10’3 Amorphous with a WF8 line (heavier than I tend to use now), and Daiwa CF98H 9’6 6-8, with a DT7 - seems to work better than a WF for some reason.

Reels - Currently Dragonfly LA for reservoirs, Dragonfly (normal) 355 and 375 for rivers.  Retired LC100s after years of use.  Pity they stopped them.  Still have some Rimflys, which will probably outlast most of the above.

Lines - Cortland 333.  Seems to have the best combination of floatability, suppleness, visibility and shootability without being fussy or expensive.

enb - 14 September 2010 01:13 PM

‘Best’ Rods - For stillwaters, 9’6 #6/7 David Norwich EV? blanks, built up from blanks bought at Chatsworth.

9’6 #6 Allerton by Chas Burns of York.

Rivers - large-ish - 9’ #5 Streamflex and 8’6 Burns ‘Century’ dry fly rod.

small streams - 8’ #4/5 Sonik SK3 and recently purchased Shakespeare Trion 7’ #3/4

‘Soft spot’ rods - Daiwa 10’3 Amorphous with a WF8 line (heavier than I tend to use now), and Daiwa CF98H 9’6 6-8, with a DT7 - seems to work better than a WF for some reason.

Reels - Currently Dragonfly LA for reservoirs, Dragonfly (normal) 355 and 375 for rivers.  Retired LC100s after years of use.  Pity they stopped them.  Still have some Rimflys, which will probably outlast most of the above.
Lines - Cortland 333.  Seems to have the best combination of floatability, suppleness, visibility and shootability without being fussy or expensive.

My Dad has used the same Leeda for as long as I can remember. Its either a Dragonfly or Rimfly. No fancy drag designed to stop 911’s or Hummers but I’ve only seen a few lake trout actually take him to the backing, and he’s had some serious trout over the years. Love the LC100. Mine was retired after I purchased a major brand name a few years ago. Gone back to the Leeda which seems to be able to handle being knocked around the boat during a hectic day on Derg as does the BFR. The expensive piece of “space age” alloy is now lying at the bottom of a gear bag. (I hope the still aint making the Shuttle out of this)

I cannot comment on modern brand named rods as I don’t and haven’t used brand name rods in years. I have my rods made to measure.
I have a Marryat Tactical #6, recently acquired ‘’nice looking rod’’ I’ve fished with it only a half dozen times, jury still out & too early too comment.
I own early Sage, Hardy, Greys, ABU rods to name but a few, with advances in rods & materials I wouldn’t recommend the models that I have, good in their day.

I use Vivarelli semi automatic reels and speaking for myself, ‘’there is no better reel‘’ on the market. Over the years I have used & still own Martin, Mitchell, Shakespeare, DAM. All of these are automatic reels and the only reel I would recommend is the Vivarelli.

I use Mastery X P S in sizes WF#3 to WF#6 for dry & wet fly,
Snowbee WF#6 midge tip WF#6 neutral for wet fly & buzzer fishing, 
Cortland WF#6 clear intermediate & WF#6 precision tip type 3 lines when fishing deep.
For different reasons all of which are good lines and would recommend any of them.

Donal Hayes
[tackle junkie]

Hi I use Airflo sixth sense midge tip and most intermediates, the reels are wychwood which is a pain to try to change spools as I am starting to be a competition angle, The rod is Greys, if you’re looking for fly tying i use Veniards, Lureflash and Waspi dubbing I find Cortland lines very hard to cast and more or less useless.

A few people I know who dont like the feel of Cortlands really took to the Ultra 4 lines from Scientific Anglers. Might be worth a look if you can get your hand on one.

p

My favourite floating line has to be the snowbee xs floater.
On a few ocassions Ive managed to shoot the whole line on my 8# saltwater outfit.

Rod wise I use a hardy demon for small stillwaters, which is very nice and an orvis clearwater for the salt (nice rod but awful cork!)

I have a greys grxi reel and an old scientific anglers system two 7/8.
Would be nice if someone made a cartridge based reel that was saltwater friendly.

Hi, just to say my rod is a Greys GS2, best rod ever, absolutely supreme! The first one I got the cork split, Glasgow Angling gave me a new one, simple, amazing rod to cast and really good for money!

I’ve just bought a 10’#2 Greys XF2 Streamflex & an 11’ #3; superb rods, light, with crisp but progressive actions, great for line control with drys or nymphs & very forgiving if using light tippets.
Dave Southall