Knowing what you got can be helpful...

Fishing A Learning Experience, Pass it On.
1

I’m pretty new to fly fishing. Alright, that’s only sort of true, I am relearing after nearly twenty years of dormancy- and it hasn’t been like riding a bike. My rekindling( or rebirth, as you will) came at the hands of my dad who has decided to come to my town to fish some of the rivers and fisheries we ahve here in central arizona.

He’s decided to teach my son how to fly fish and it has brought back the memories about our sport that really sent me back out to learn all I can about it again. Due to this, my grandmother entrusted me with some rods, one of which is a fiberglass rod from the late fifties. I also received an old, crusty pfuegler reel loaded with an unknown line. ( it’s only been a couple of years, still good…)

so, unknown rod, unknown reel and unknown line… I’m not the greatest caster ever, but with a balanced setup, my cast is clean. It used to be… with this fiberglass, reel and line, I’m casting in molasses. I can barely get a wolly bugger out twenty feet, getting it back up is much like fighting a fish to the surface.

So, after a frustrating day, I take the gear to my favorite fly shop, and the gal there knows, loves and adores fiberglass- she’s all over my pole before I can tell her what’s wrong, she’s got it together and whipping it around and asks " Wow, feels like a great four weight-or is it a five?"

The blank look on my face tells her everything, looking at the rod in a closer inspection reveals the rest.

So I’m buying a new reel, wf4f line, and signed up for a class so she can teach me how to cast the glass. So long as I bring a case of my home brew…

Knowing what you are playing with is very helpful. Turns out, after going to weigh the first thirty yards of the line at the gun shop next door to the flyshop, the line is a dt6f line. casting a 6wt line on a 4wt pole… a pole that is made from something as soft and springy as glass… it’s a wonder i didn’t have a Bugger for an earring.

2

papaguss,

I am so glad that you are getting back into fly fishing and I really enjoyed this post. Keep them coming and let us know how you are progressing with your “rebirth”!

3

Bugger earrings are considered very cool in some circles, they are way too large for eyebrow piercing however, so wear your glasses when flinging line. But it’s it amazing what a knowledgeable caster can do with a rod you were not really too deeply in love with, sounded like you only took it out from a sense of duty. Like taking your grandmom’s best friend’s grand daughter out and then you discover she is really cool and can dance. A year from now you will probably be a raving fiberglass fanatic. There’s a little Fenwick 5 wt. I built for a friend’s wife 20+ years ago I would love to give a try now.

4

I don’t know about the fanatic thing, but I know that I love fishing, and I know I love the history surrounding this rod. I also love the idea of getting my hands on something newer and more to my cast. this four weight thing is going to be the death of me…

5

OK, so without the wolly buggers and using a dry fly my cast is wonderful with the fiberglass. Your guess is as good as mine as ot the why… I made a new post about it… and soon I’ll have to try this fishing thing on a river…

6

Its the slow action. It takes so long that gravity and wind resistance on the fly on your back cast plays a more significant role than with that extra fast cannon of a graphite rod.

I can fish buggers and weighted streamers with my 7’ 4wt Diamondglass, but it’ll show you a whole new set of gears when you tie on a dry.

7

wow i read this part and almost fell off the chair laughing wow it sounded so wrong lol. but i understand the feeling when it comes to a glass rod with the wrong weight line i have a great berkly glass rod and it reads 6-7 but it casts like a dream on an 7-8 wt go figure lol.

8

it does sound wrong- but it’s how it went down, and it was funny to boot. you can’t get more hilarity out of fiction. reality is much stranger than fiction.

my son is the catfisher, and he will only use soap and outfishes everyone out here. it’s weird, he ‘reads’ the urban lakes and ponds and goes for it there. Soap simply makes a scent trail like no other i guess. Cats go crazy over it- says he got the idea from “River Monsters.”

9

that’s good, I’m terrified of buggin with this rod, I’ll stick to the newer set of gears. I have enough piercings. ( the practice flies I fling about- you know, a bit o yarn on the end) cast fine on the grass… so I’m losing my mind…