Hey guys,

For those of you who fly fish, my girlfriend knows I like fishing and knows I wanted to get into more fly fishing so she ordered me a Lamson 1.5 radius fly reel but no rod. haha.

What weight rod should I put it on? I'm pretty new to fly fishing so I don't know too much about gear yet.

Cheers

I had the Radius 1.5 at one time. It's a pretty nice Reel. Ihave a couple of Lamson Konics now .Lamson makes great Reels.

The 1.5 sIze is best suited for a 3-5 Weight Rod. If it were me I would get an 8 1/2-9 ' 5 Weight Rod. The 5 Wt would serve well for Trout or Panfish and would do O.K. for Smallmouth even though a 6 or 7 would be preferable for Smallies.

Thanks brotha. I appreciate the help. I know my conventional gear inside and out, but once you ask me technical questions about fly fishing I'm like a deer in the head lights. Any particular rod you really like that would fit a beginner?? The online reviews are alway so sketchy.

I just got a Redington Pursuit in a 6 weight, for 110 bucks, im loving it! Good performance and i still have some cash in my pocket.

I don't own one but have handled the Redington Pursuit and it is a nice Rod. Another one I do own and really like is the newer model St Croix Imperial.

They run around $200.

If you have a Flyshop anywhere near You, I would recommend that you go and try a few out. Good Luck in the search

What species do you plan on pursuing with the fly? If it is going to be bass, then I would see if your girlfriend has a problem exchanging the reel for a larger model. 5 wt is going to be a bit small for bass. My personal best on 4 lb mono is a 10 lb fish, and a 35 lb fish on 8 lb mono. I would consider 5 wt to be along the same lines. Doable but not the best tool. It will severely limit the size of your bass flies. I've have an old 8 wt GL3 Loomis. Two years ago I picked up a 3 wt for panfishing. Weight forward line on the 8 wt, double taper on the 3 wt. Fast action vs slow. Man. talk about a difference! I can barely cast the 3 wt.

I don't thnk landing a bass on a 5wt is a problem, I use a 6wt. But when casting larger flies, an 8wt would do much better. From what I understand it is also much easier to cast larger flies if you can double haul, which I am in the process of learning to do.