Jacob34

I would also recommend going to your local fly shop (If you have one.) or fishing store and try casting a few different rods. Fly fishing isn't like regular fishing per say, each individual has a different casting stroke. Go cast a few and pick which one feels the best to you. If you're going to spend upwards of $400.00 you really can't go wrong with the rod manufacturers you listed. Each have lifetime warranties.

I personally use a heavier mono when throwing square bills, like 14lb suffix siege. I've lost many a square bill cranks when using a lighter line.

I had and Okuma C3 spinning rod that I recently broke when I was in Texas. I tried horsing in a big blue cat with it. I didn't get much time with it, but I liked the feel of the rod other than it was a little heavier than I am accustom to.

I know how you feel, I haven't had a real day off for over two months now and I still need to get my shoulder worked on, it's planned this next weekend, but the bass are barely moving up and gearing for spawn around here. I might try to get in one more trip before I get cut all up

I just have three and their wee, not so wee, and freakin' huge. Mostly catch just the wee size though.

You can't go wrong with clouser minnows or wooley buggers for bass. I tend to just use your standard bead head flies for pan fish and do quite well.

Thanks Jeremy, we'll see how long it takes before I wear out my welcome

Mike, I could probably watch that show all day long , now if I could just convince my little girl that it's better than my little ponies I'd be golden

CoBass you're preaching to the choir This is the third time I'm getting my rotator cuff done. I first injured it in high school playing baseball and I never really gave it the proper time to heal back then and now I'm paying for it. I re-injured it playing slow pitch softball a couple weekends ago after turning a double play and throwing the ball back to the pitcher

Have a fun spring fishing season. I'll be sitting in my couch watching Phineas and Ferb with the children rehabbing my shoulder. Tight lines

Thank you very much, I do wish I weighed her. Any guesses on the weight?

Thanks everyone! Just got home from work and talked to my dad, He has cabin fever bad Hoping I can take him this weekend and do some fishing.

Man that blue rod is freaking awesome! I do feel for ya I left a $1200 fly rod outfit on top of my truck a few years backing hurrying to get out of a thunder storm in the high Unitas. Long story short I happen to notice a Fly rod and reel go zooming off the top of my truck. My heart just instantly stopped and like you I got bought it the day earlier and it was it's first trip out

Thank you very much! My dad is doing much better. He's just a little cranky because he's home all day He has never had to take a long time off of work before so he is going nuts

A little spill about my trip to Lake Fork on Mar 27th. My father in law and I meet up with our guide at 6am at the Mustang resort. We where out on the water by 7am. It was a lovely day up until later in the after noon when it got quite windy. We mostly fished finesse rigs and I was able to see my father in law catch his very first largemouth bass ever. It was quite funny. He thought he was snagged up so he started jerking the rod to free his worm and then that rod doubled right down and almost took him in the water It wasn't the biggest fish, but it sure put a smile on my face. My PB LMB came right after losing an even bigger one on a drop shot. She hit it right when it hit the bottom and came barreling out of the water and wrapped me around a tree and broke off. I was furious Then the very next cast Wham! fish on. I got her in the boat took a couple pictures and put her back in to swim another day. Didn't weigh her, but it was definitely bigger than any other I've caught in my life. About thirty min. into the trip I got a call from my brother in Utah about my dad, he had a heart attack at eleven o'clock the night prior and where trying to get a hold me since then. Talking to my brother he seemed to be okay and was in recovery. They eneded up putting two stints (I think that is what they were called.) in. My guide was awesome and busted his butt getting us on fish and I kinda felt bad that I wasn't really into the trip much. I would highly recommend the guide I hired. He was very down to earth and once again did he really did bust his butt for us. If anyone is interested in knowing who he was please message me because I'm not really sure if this site allows me to advertise his name. Here are some pictures and I hope you enjoy.

It's kinda funny why there is so much hate on quantum. My accurist PT is by far my favorite reel. Different strokes for different folks I guess

For Tiger musky and pike, or for that matter anything toothy I use a titanium shock leader. I had a friend who use to live in Florida that used this stuff while saltwater fishing. It's called Malin BOA no kink shock leader and I use the 30# test. It's dia. is about the same as an 0X leader I believe. The bad thing is it's pretty expensive at $29.99 for Thirty feet. I've heard good things about the Cortland and the RIO toothy critter steel leaders, but haven't tried them. I use to use just the heavier mono or flouro leaders, but after loosing quite a few fish a couple years back I started using the BOA and haven't had any problems with it. Now with carp I use mostly a 3x leader, but it really depends on how big the fish are and how much cover you're fishing in.

A ten weight is overkill in my personal experiences. I use a 9' 8WT. Sage Vantage to tackle tiger musky,pike,steel head,salmon and other bigger fish. If it's your first fly fishing setup I also would recommend a rod with a moderate fast action. It seems to be easier to learn on a rod that has a more forgiving action compared to a faster action rod. Redington makes good darn good rods for that price range and also the Sage Vantage is a sweet stick, other than it's a little more than $200.00. (around 230.00 I believe.). As far as reels go Lamson makes a couple reels in your price range in the Konic and the Guru. I've used both and they are great reels with great drags. Like mentioned fishing for carp takes a lot more finesse than say for pike or musky, and also different types of line. I do my carp fishing with a typical trout tapered line and my pike and musky fishing I use more of a bass taper line which helps turn over your bigger type deer hair flies. Once again DON"T SKIMP ON THE LINE!!! Every line maker has what you will need, it just comes down to personal opinion. I for one prefer RIO lines and other might like Scientific Angler or Cortland. I've tried them all and it seems RIO holds up better for me.

Thanks for the replies. I had a chance when I was at lake fork late last month to fish with a couple lowrider rods. I was extremely surprised how sensitive they were. I can only imagine how good the Cara is

I've been eyeballing these for awhile now and was hoping for some user input. I don't have the opportunity to handle these rods and have two models I'm looking at in particular. First is the 7'3' Amistad. I was wondering if this is a super stiff rod, like broom stick stiff and also is it a true heavy powered rod? Secondly is the weightless worm rod. I assume it handles weightless worms, but was wondering about other soft plastic rigs like light T-rigs and possibly drop shots? Any input would be appreciated. Thank you, Jacob.

I have the 6'10 MH casting rod and the 7'4" spinning rod and absolutely love them. I also have two Techna AV's and two HMG's as well as a Elite tech bass rod (Older model.) and like them just as much.

I'm in the market for a new baitcasting rod and came upon a Quantum Super lite on ebay for about $60.00. it's 6'10 (which I want) and also has the reel seat I'm looking for. I was just wondering if anybody has some experience with them, good or bad? Thanks, Jacob

If you plan on fishing mostly warm water species like bass and pan fish I highly recommend the Rio mainstream bass pike pan fish line. It has a shorter front taper which helps throwing those bigger bass type flies as compared to your standard weight forward or double taper line. It retails for about $40.00.

He is a question What rod brand and model do you have? The reason I ask is if you know I would be able to make a better line recommendation for you. Some fly lines are made for faster action rods and some are for slower action rods. Also what you plan on fishing for will determine line type as well.

:Chuckles: Fly fishing to me is one of things that you're not just going to pick up and be proficient with. I would suggest getting in contact with a local fly shop if you have one and get some casting lessons and some advice. The shop I go to frequently has helped me out a ton and one in particular has gone out with me on the river and shown me many things from different streamer techniques, swinging flies, dry fly and nymphs, and how to properly read the river's runs and what not. Once you get into it I think you'll have a blast and it can become quite addicting. Tight Lines, Jacob