Hi all, … I replied to a post on the Quebec french fly fishing board. It got me thinking …
How much do you think that a rod, reel, line and backing could cost to comfortably fish for Atlantic salmon in Eastern Canada/North America?
There were some weird numbers running around the other board and I’d like to get an idea from you all here.
How much “could” a rod, reel, line cost. The sky is the limit. How much “should” it cost is another matter.
Sorry, … I’ll be more explcit …
How much SHOULD a rig cost.
Chris
I know nothing about fishing for Atlantics. May have to change that someday. I said $400 - $500. I choose that based on single handed rods and not spey or switch. Also I would think you would want a good quality reel that holds 200 + yds of backing.
But then again, what do I know?
Dave
There is some pretty good stuff for good prices these days. Redington Red.Fly, Red.X, and Crosswater Combos for example. The rods are pretty good and the Redington Crosswater reel, though made from a composite rather than aluminum has an impressive drags for an inexpensive reel. I have heard a number of good things about them from people using them for Salmon on the left coast as well as other saltwater stuff. Lots of other packages could be assembled from sub $150 rods and reels.
Christopher,
When you ask the question, “How much COULD a rod and reel cost to fish for Atlantic Salmon?”, that sort of opens it up to the high end outfits. Perhaps if you asked “How much should I expect to pay for a rod and reel outfit that is suitable for fishing for Atlantic Salmon.” you would get more consistent answers. The real answer is as always, that depends…
Make
Model
Quality - especially for the reel.
Just a thought…
Jim Smith
On the final episode of The Fishin’ Hole with Jerry McGinnis there was a good clip of Jerry, Coach Knight, and Ted Williams fishing for Atlantics in Russia
Mr Williams was using a Medalist reel on a similar low end rod.
This was not the ‘olden days’ when that’s all there was and Mr Williams could surely afford to use what ever high end stuff he wanted.
He just chose not to
Just like everything else in fly fishing (as well as life) you “can” make it cost as much as you want. I know guys that go to BC and use rigs that set them back over $2000. Does that mean they will catch more or bigger fish than anyone else? no not at all.
There’s no reason you couldn’t put together a set up of rod/reel/line/backing for under $300 and be perfectly happy with it.
Ahh the “The Fishin’ Hole”…I use to love that show when I was a kid. Jerry use to always take his little hotdog “Norman” with him all the time lol. That was a cool show.
Ted ‘The Splendid Splinter’, retired to his place on a great Salmon river up North, and his preferred rods were built for him by Fenwick. At the time he started, Fenwick was state-of-the-art, first in glass and then in the new carbon fibres. Even though I have and happily ffish Generation 2, 3, 4,…Nth sticks and have cast innumerable casting machines, quite a few of the Fenwick models are my favorites.
tl
les
BTW, if you examine the innards of Pflueger Medalists, you will see a very sophisticated drag system.
IMHO, fly rod technology has improved so much that an angler doesn’t have to spend big bucks for a good rod. I’ve cast rods costing $200.00 that I thought were good. And I think Cablela’s fly lines are a great bang for the buck.
Randy
Yes Les… Now that you mention it, the rod Mr Williams was using was a Fenwick
Thanks for refreshing my memory
Besides a couple of the glass rods, I have a Fenwick CoFi 5wt which I believe was their ‘top of the line’ just before the company slipped into near obscurity.
As I remember it retailed at quite a bit less than the competition
It’s a fine fishing rod and I was surprised that they dropped the model and then never replaced it with something new for the ‘higher end’ market
Like in all aspects of flyfishing, you CAN spend as much as you want, but I do not think you NEED to spend all that much. There are lots of decent rods and reels out there that would work just fine on Atlantics that won’t break the bank. Keep your eyes open for bargains and deals on discontinued items, sales, etc, and save your $ for the airfare to the holy land! S
Never fished for atlantic salmon. Do you need a ‘special’ rod for them? Wouldn’t a regular old fly rod in the proper line weight to cast the flies work?
Do they get really big or fight really hard? I’ve got a 9 wt. that’s landed smaller pacific sailfish, would that work? (Rod cost me around $40 to build).
I’d think the slamon wouldn’t be able to tell what kind of rod you were using until you’ve already caught them ;).
Buddy
I went with about $300 because when I made my salmon outfit it cost me about $150 in 1983. I built a Cabelas Fish Eagle 9’6" graphite that cost, as I recall about $80 and put an Orvis Madison 5 (not the Medalist Madison) on it at about $40. I figure at least twice that now. BTW, the outfit took three Atlantics on its first use and the only loss was to the pawls…the last fish, which got away, burned the tips off them.
Since I don’t fish Atlantic Salmon I can only use Pacific Coast Chinook as a basis. Assuming moderate size 10 to 12 pound fish I would approach it like this:
I would want a really good reel. A $40 dollar Pfleuger will work and has worked on millions of fish but I want something with a light, palmable and a nice drag, large arbor and anodized. So, something maybe like a Galvan or Ross in the $200 to $250 mid-range.
Choose a good quality fly line (this is the most important step because it is what will influence the perfomance of the rod the most - assuming you can cast) say $70 plus backing may put you at around $90 to $100.
So now, we are already at $340 and don’t have a rod yet.
Now is the time to try the line (and reel) on different rods – cast all of the rods in the shop and see what works best with your line. Thats the rod you want to buy.
You could do it the other way around but most places don’t let you just cast a lot of lines where they will let you cast rods.
A pretty good rod can be made or purchases for around $200 - 250 to $300. (thinking Temple Forks or Echo). A high end Sage or others similar types will run you more.
Throw in a little for uncle sam and your at $600 without much trouble.
This thread makes me wonder how much Lee Wulff’s original 6wt 6 ft bamboo rod will go for these days.
If it’s still around, I wonder who has it.
I also question why he preferred fishing atlantics with a 6’ full flex that utilized rings for locking down the reel.
He was THE master at Atlantic salmon fly fishing.
Just ordered a Reddington RS4 outfit for a friend of mine. He paid the bill, I just found the product for him. It was an RS4 9’, 8 wt, with a machined Reddington CD reel, Rio Line, backing and a case which held the rod and reel together - all for $150. It was a closeout special and no they don’t have any more of them. If you keep your eyes open under $200 to play the game. You can spend much more if you want.
How do you feel about where the rod was made? Do you want to feel are warm inside thinking “wow, my stuff was made by <blank>” even tho it might be made in China and the majority of the cost is the name?
I will assume you mean SHOULD COST as well. You can easily get a good single handed rod for about $150, reel for $100, line for $50, or for spey get a rod for $300, reel for $200, line for $80. You wont be able to feel all warm inside about having a “hardy” written on the equipment tho. For that you have to spend the upper 3 figures for their Chinese made (or is it south korean?) crap. Not that it is crap, it just isnt much better than stuff that is 1/4th the cost.