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9/13/2008 12:46 AM

chuck

Joined: 9/5/2008

Posts: 15

poll

what is a good place to start looking for a rod and reel? what do you use?

9/15/2008 8:07 AM

dmoss

Joined: 9/3/2008

Posts: 47

Re: poll

Modified By dmoss on 9/15/2008 9:00:03 AM

Hi Chuck,

There are many, many answers to your question. There aren't too many places locally to look for rods. Southtown Sporting Goods in Joplin has a few. Backcountry Outfitters in Springfield has a big selection (I think he is still open), and Bass Pro Shop in Springfield. Naturally there is a seemingly endless list of 'on-line' retailers for flyfishing equipment. There are a lot of options when it comes to selecting a rod/reel. St Croix and Temple Fork are good quality mid-range rods (around $200). The higher end rods from Sage, Loomis, Winston can run as high as $900 for the rod. Depending on what type of fishing you will be doing, you would want to select a rod weight that will best suit that type. Most of the manufacturers have a lower end price range of rod and a high end range. The high end rods have exotic wood reel seats, expensive metal hardware and single foot hardloy guides. The lower end rods have aluminum real seats and hardware and chrome snake guides. It really depends on your budget. The reel doesn't need to be anything fancy. You will want one with a decent, smooth drag system. Another option is the Cabela's stowaway rod/reel/line combos. MAKO has purchased several of these in different line weights to use at clinics. They are pretty good rods and durable. The entire setup with rod/reel/line/case runs around $215 for a 5 weight and they are 5 piece rods which are nice for transporting around. If you are going to be at our outing this weekend, the camp trailer will be there with all the rods in it. You might want to try out a few different ones to get a feel for the different weights. There will be plenty of experienced casters there who will be glad to give you a hand. Here is a link to the Stowaway rods:

www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp

As far as what I use, I've been using the Sage XP rod (discontinued) for some time. It's a fast action, light weight rod that seems to fit my casting style (flailing around in the air, apparently trying to kill mosquitos and setting the record for most wind knots on a single cast).

David-- Forum Moderator

9/17/2008 7:44 AM

kdogle

Joined: 8/7/2008

Posts: 31

Re: poll

Hi Chuck,

Backcountry Outfitters is still open and has moved to Campbell street next to Fin and Feather. So if you are on your way to Bass Pro from South Campbell it will be on your left about a mile prior.

I agree with David, try the club rods. Also, if you go fishing with someone else, ask if you can try their rod for a few casts.
If you are trying to build up a decent rod for as little as possible and space is not an issue, Temple Fork has a 2 piece rod that is really nice and runs about $100. That is what I set my son up with. The down side is that to save $$ there is not a case included. BPS has this rod in a 5 weight as a combo for about $115 for rod, reel, and I think CV2 line.

I'm not too picky on reels for fishing around here, basically something that holds the line on will do. A reel is something you can easily upgrade as time passes and the old reel will always serve as a nice backup.

Also don’t forget that lines are not the same. I recently overweighed my Echo rod to slow it down a little bit to fit my casting style (or lack of); I really like the rod now. I was about to sit it in the corner and go by a new rod but thanks to the help of a fellow cub member I was able to try out different setups and find something that worked. I don’t have a lot of experience in this area, but I have heard that different lines from different manufactures can drastically change the behavior of a rod.

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