BillNye

I tried on the waders with boots and it felt like the bootie was pushing back against my toe. I would imagine wearing them with boots for a couple hours probably would be great. I guess I will order larges and deal with the bagginess. Maybe I will look into the simms but when I looked at sizes on Cabelas they only had medium large and extra large. Does anyone have experience with the redington waders?

Thanks for the replies. I should have been clear, I was looking at the stocking foot waders. I would love a pair of simms but for 300+ for the baseline model I'm not sure its in the cards. How much room should you have in the foot area? The Large size cabela waders have size 10-12 feet while the mediums have size 8.5 - 11. I was worried all the excess material would be clumped up in the wading boot vs the medium which fit more snugly.

I tried on some Cabela breathable waders in size medium and large. The large was really big in the legs and the bootie was also pretty large on my foot. When I tried on the mediums the body portion fit well but my big toe was touching the end of the bootie. For reference Im 5'10" with size 10 and a half shoes. Should I order medium or large? It seems like the smaller bootie would be better for getting into wading boots but im worried about it being uncomfortable. The large seems too big and the legs would be cumbersome while wading. Any suggestions would be great.

I received the rod I ordered and to me it seems 8' 6" is a little big for where I'll be fishing and the length is unwieldy compared to what I'm used to. Would it be a lot harder to learn on a 7'/7'6" 3wt rod vs an 8'6" 5wt one?

I have been doing some reading on leaders and tippets and have a question. I believe once I get the basic cast down practicing in the back yard with a piece of yarn I will start fishing on bluegills at the local pond. Would it make sense to just tie a piece of 4 lb mono directly to the fly line and skip the leader?

Well the baitmonkey won and I ended up ordering this rod after doing some more research.... The 8'6" 5 wt Cabelas TLr was on sale for 30 dollars and I couldn't resist pressing buy! Hopefully this will be a decent enough starting rod. I buy 90 percent of my fishing stuff during sales so I will research up on reels and other stuff I need till I can get a good deal.

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I have a pretty big yard and I will sometimes throw the baitcaster around out there so I was thinking I could practice at home. I have been watching some fly fishing videos and it seems deceptively simple when you watch people who have been fishing for decades but I guess thats what makes learning so frustrating. @Scott F I searched for lessons and it seems the price will be about 300 dollars for a 1 of 3 part lesson series does this seem reasonable? @gnappi I appreciate all the info you just laid out for me. I will hold off buying the courtland and wait for black friday to check out Cabela and Bass Pro for any combos. What would you recommend for rod size and weight? I see most people recommend a 9 foot rod to beginners but the areas I will be fishing are mostly small streams out in the middle of the woods. 9 feet seems pretty long? They stock alot of the local rivers with pretty big fish but I don't think there will be any monsters out there. Is 4 wt a better starting point? This is a good example of what a lot of the streams look like.

I have been bass fishing since I was a little kid but never got into fly fishing. I do a lot of hiking and while I'm out I see many cool trout fishing locations on the streams and rivers that run through our state parks. Pretty sure I have been fatally bitten by the fly fishing bait monkey but am looking for some advice on a beginner set up. After doing some research it seems like there are a bunch of different recommendations but not nearly as much info as you can find on bass fishing. Looking to just get a beginner set up to learn on then hopefully upgrade later if I like it. I was at walmart today and saw they have a Courtland Fairplay combo for 40 bucks. I looked up reviews and it seems like it is not the worst possible combo to learn on as it has Weighted Forward taper line. The rod itself is a 8' 5/6 wt rod. I will be using this for mostly trout and panfish if I can ever figure out how to use it. Does this seem like a good place to start?

I was able to make it to bass pro today after work and was able to check out the G Loomis E6X and the St Croix mojo. I thought both rods were very nice but to me the G Loomis had a power level that was more what I was expecting from a medium rod. I was only able to see the 6'6" version of the Medium Rod so I'm hoping the longer version would be similar. I see that Tackle Warehouse has this rod on closeout are they discontinuing it?

Great info thanks again for the advice! Im surpised there isnt anyone recommending the dobyns. Unfortunatly im not sure if I will be able to try them as the closest place to my house other than dicks is a bass pro about 2 hours away. Stick baits and t rigged trick worms are two big parts of my fishing routine so the rod would need to handle those well. It seems like the mojo is a really popular model and I think bass bro carries them so Ill have to try to make it this weekend and see. Im not sure there is anywhere I can find a g loomis rod unless bass pro carries them as well. I would for sure be checking out nicer rods like nhbull suggested but my wife is already questioning why I need two rods let alone 3! As far as reels are concerned is the sv reel a big step up in performance for lighter baits? I have a revo stx on my current spinnerbait rod now and was thinking of putting that on the new rod and getting a fuego for the spinnerbaits/jigs rod

Thanks for the replies. I'm open to any suggestions on a rod in the 100-150 dollar range. Looking for a little nicer rod than the inferno.

Currently I have 2 rods I bring with me on my kayak. A MH/XF Powell Inferno baitcaster I use for spinnerbaits/jigs and a ML/XF Powell Diesel spinning rod I use for plastics. I would like to add a baitcasting rod that can cast wackyrigged senkos, lighter trigs and trickworms so I can keep a ned rig or dropshot on my ML spinning set up. I have 3 rods in mind and was hoping to get some opinions on which would work the best. My current baitcaster is pretty stiff and I have a hard time casting wacky rigged senkos without causing the bait to fly off the hook after a couple casts. I am thinking of getting a Fuego for the reel but have been looking at the tatula sv as well. 1) Dobyns Sierra 6' 8' M/F 2) G. Loomis E6X 7'1" M/XF 3) St. Croix Mojo 7'1" M/F

I prefer to fish stick baits wacky rigged on a 1/0 octopus hook. I have tried a bunch of different types of stick baits and I prefer yum dingers especially at 2.50 a pack. Ymmv.

Im not sure if its the rod or reel but throwing wacky rigs and light plastics is really tough on my mh set up. Even with a half ounce spinner on the line I cant throw them as far as my spinning set up can throw weightless plastics. I have my stx with only two centrifugal breaks on and the lowest friction and magnetic break settings possible. I got the stx last summer for 80 bucks otherwise I would have gotten a tatula.

Thanks for the suggestion. The closest store I have to me is a bass pro about an hour and a half away. Ill have to make the drive and check out their selection.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Should I be looking for a medium or medium light rod since casting rods seem to have more power? I also know that power ratings between companies can be quite different. I would say a powell medium heavy is more on the heavy side than medium but I dont have much experience with higher priced rods.

Currently I have two rods that I use when I go out fishing on the Kayak. A MH/XF Powell Inferno casting rod with a Revo STX and a ML/XF Powell Diesel spinning rod with a Pflueger President. I use the Inferno for Spinnerbaits, Jigs, Buzzbaits and frogs while using the ML for Wacky rigging, light T-rigs and weightless plastic. I really like my ML rod and its fun to fight fish on it but I'm finding as the weeds start to grow in its becoming hard to put my plastics where they need to be and fight the fish out of cover. I'm looking for a rod that has a little more backbone but still can throw lighter lures. I find the gap between the ML and MH rods to be substantial and the Inferno feels very stiff and its difficult to cast light lures on it. I would like to stick with a casting rod as I prefer a casting reel over a spinning set up. Any suggestions on a rod I should check out? I'm looking to spend ~$150 dollars. I was thinking I would pair this with a Curado or a Tatula reel.

Its gen 3 I believe I got it last summer during the big sale abu garcia had. This is my first baitcaster so im a little leery to rip it open and see of whats going on with the bearings.

I can cast twice as far on my spinning set up with a pflueger president than my baitcasting set up with a revo stx which costs twice as much. Always feels like an effort to cast with revo maybe something is wrong with it.

I think you can get an abu garcia revo stx from last year still for 99 dollars. I have this reel and I like that it has both magentic brakes and centrifugal brakes. Because of this you can cast lighter plastics and heavier baits more eadily by just adjusting the brakes which will come in handy if you only have set up.

I always wear polarized glasses and a hat. Most of the areas we fish are fairly murky so its hard to see anything. This area was no more than 6 feet deep at any point and in many of the areas it would have been extremely obvious to see anything moving. We didnt see any small fish at all. Some other placed we fish that are murkier we will see smaller in the shallows but its hard to see anything beyond that.

My cousin and I were out in the canoe today in a spot that produced the largest bass caught in the state. I have always had bad luck here but usually chalk it up to high pressure. This pond is actually a river that a portion of was damed more than a 100 years ago so the area is long and not very wide in most areas. Anyway the water was very clear and we could easily see the bottom in most places. There was lots of stumps, rocks and downed trees interspersed with mud flats. We had a bad day catching one tiny pickerel. We eventually just floated the canoe without paddling to see if we could spot anything. We ended up not even seeing one bait fish. Is this normal or do you typically see fish often when out.

Thanks for the map. I am just wondering where people think fish are hiding around here. I end up just throwing a line everywhere till I hit something. There is a lot of emergent wood coming out on the north side of the pond that is pickerel heaven but other than that its hit or miss. Also please don't steal my fishing spot

Here is the best topo that i can find of the pond i fish most often. Im not sure how good it is to be honest but this is what the department of environmental management put out. I think it's deeper in the middle than 6 feet but what do I know. Where would you start fishing during the early spring given this info?

Thanks for the advice A couple questions 1) what topwater lures do you normally use? I have a jerkbait but once the weeds come in its pretty much useless. I like to fish a cheap Wal-Mart buzz bait but I haven't had much success. Mostly pickeral and one small bass last year. I also have a hollow body frog but I find it tough to walk from a sitting position and have never caught anything despite many attempts. 2) what color lures do you like to use? I usually use a smaller size white spinner bait but never with two Colorado blades. For senkos I have had the most success with watermelon/black specks but I haven't tried many colors. My other plastics I try to use natural colors. Do you find more success with colorful plastics or natural colors? I tried some lipless crank baits and didn't have much success. I'll look into the kvd 1.5 shallow.