try this http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog. … get=browse
its a convertible spinning/flycasting combo. ive used one before and its pretty cool. should do the job for ya.
The answer is NO. You can not cast a small fly with a fly rod and a spin style cast, the fly will not have enough weight to propel the cast.
Thank you ,Ray you answered the question :roll:
" Could I combine a flyrod with a spinning reel and light braided line to effectively cast (as in spinning casting not fly casting) very lightly weighted flies to fish smallmouth bass? "
The rest of the thread has drifted off into methods of using or adding weight.
I suppose “very lightly weighted” should be defined.
The answer is YES You can use a fly rod spinning reel and a fly. Use a fly rod spinning reel and mono for line and a small fly. If you need weight to sink the fly add split shot. You wont cast as far with the mono but it’s great for gills and bass. Take line off the spinning reel and cast just as you do with a fly rod and fly line. Bill
In the neighborhood of 1/16 oz. Medium light steelhead rod may be an option I should look at. I admit the diversity of replies have me a little confused… but, I’ll continue to sift through them and use the information to give me direction. Thanks
Steve, yes you can cast flies but with a spinning rod and a spinning reel by using a fly bubble from Netcraft they sell them. No need to put a spinning reel on a fly rod by using this bubble which was made for fishing flies with a spinning outfit. Check out Netcraft on the Web for your needs.
Hobo
Now I’m confused… you asked a question to fly fishers and you expected a common answer???
As an aside, I spent the 80’s fishing for steelhead with the long spinning rod (I upgraded to a 11 1/2 footer) and spinning reel. One of my favourite lures was a #12 black stone fly nymph with two small split shots attached above. The place where I bought my flys didn’t add weight to them. I’d cast a bit upstream and keep some tension on the line and let it drift a bit downstream. Repeat. I was essentially “hi-stick/czech nymphing”.
“The place where I bought my flys didn’t add weight to them.”
but you just said you added weight :shock: :shock:
Steve;
I had to go back to your original post several times to think of a proper answer. I have used a spinning reel on a fly rod. The reel, I beleive a Shakspere, had a front spade type trigger so you could release the line with your little finger. I used 4 lb. mono with a Thill long skinny slip bobber. It was sort of like throwing a dart when cast, very accurate and with the proper depth a deadly outfit for Blue Gills, Crappy and Bass. The 9 foot rod made for some good daping in the holes in the Lilly(?) pads. A Snelled hook with a light split shot and a worm!! Yep I have not only fly fished!!
You can fish with all kinds of flies, even dry flies, on a spinning rod. Do a google search for, “fly and bubble fishing,” and you should get plenty of information on the subject. Of course, with streamers I think all you’ll need is to add a few splitshots. 
Yeah, normally a stone fly nymph would have lead wrapped around the shank but these ones didn’t. So I had to add a few shots instead.
Guess I’m saying that if you short-line nymph with the spinning gear, you don’t need the casting bubble.
“There is nothing new under the Sun.”
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I am writing this because we have come full circle.
This topic makes me smile, no laugh, as do posts asking the inverse, if you can make a fly rod out of a spinning rod blank. The first serious spinning rod I got around 1955 was based on a fiberglass fly rod blank. Both spinning and hollow glass were in their infancy in the US. At the age of 13, I was ready to dump the primative spin casting outfit I had for something better. We purchased the kit to build an Erne St. Claire Wavecaster “Parabolic Action” spinning rod. The heart of the kit was a three piece 8.5 ft., HDH or D hollow glass fly rod blank. The but section was cut down to about 12-14 inches so that the final assembled rod was about 6’9". This produced a nice light action spinning rod for lures from 1/16 to 3/8 oz and line weights from 4-8#. The Wavecaster was a great rod. Erne later changed his design to use a 2 piece 8.5 ft rod so that all the guides could be mounted on the tip section with the handle built on the shorter but section for a total rod length of 7 ft.
Since spinning was new there were not a lot of rods specifically for spinning though my great uncle had a stunning 7’ bamboo spinning rod (Orvis?). Therefore, for a short time, catalogues and literature featured a lot of adapters which would allow one to use a fly rod or casting rod with a spinning reel.
BTW that HDH translates to DT6. Therefore I assume you can make a light spinning rod on today’s 6 wt blank. Move up and down the scale for a heavier or lighter action.
So in the end you certainly could use a fly blank for building a spinning rod. But, why would you with so many good spinning blanks out there and with some in the 8-10 ft length range? No matter what, a spinning reel on a rod built as a fly rod is a Rube Goldberg affair at best. This is like a combo rod which serves two purposes though it does not do either one very well.
Wow! Talk about deja vu!
Thanks for the memories Mike. I too built an Erne rod many, many years ago. Enjoyed it so much in the warmwater I was limited to, that I put together several more for family and friends. Mine even had the Alcedo Micron loaded with 4 lb. Stren. Caught lots of bass and bluegills in lakes near Detroit.
Probably not a good idea for today. I doubt that Erne’s “Wave Action” cast would work with the much stiffer graphite blanks in use today. That “Wave Action” was little more than a snap of the wrist that sent a wave down the length of the rod and shot the lure off the rod tip.
Again, thanks for the memories.
Bill
“Again, thanks for the memories.”
You are welcome, Bill. I still have the Wavecaster and the Micron. The soul of the first Wavecaster passsed into the one I have now when I took the high profile guides off of it and used them to reincarnate the rod on a 3 piece,8.5 ft, HDH or D, Herter’s Browntone Precision Fiberglass blank cut down to 6’9".
I still use the Micron once in a while though, with my current interest in Fly Fishing as much as possible, that is not a lot. The rod is retired. I realized that, though it always made a bluegill feel like a whale, I wanted to catch the whale. That was not the rod to use.
I am not sure if the 50s were transition years for fishing or transition years for me. Either way I want to write these stories down to share them with others besides those I fish with. I will use a figure because it is hard to say directly. When I look at the horizon, it is closer than it was before. So , while it still can be described as pretty far away, I want to get this done.
Mike, I hope you do…please enjoy the journey :!:
Look for a flyrod you can borrow so you can actually try it with the flies you intend to use before buying something you might not like. I suspect you’ll be able to cast clousers (lead eye, not beadchain) and conehead buggers, but maybe not well enough to satisfy you. If you like the length of the fly rod but don’t like the location of the reel seat, there are long ultralight spinning rods (noodle and crappie rods) that might work better for you.