With the rod held in right hand, the handle is on the off side, facing out and away. This forces right handers (like me) to switch rod to left hand to reel in line.
Spinning tackle or fly rod/reel, I cast left handed & reel right handed. However, every fly reel I have seen comes "standard" for a left handed retrieve. All the righties that I know cast right handed & reel left handed. Maybe you just happened to get a reel that is "backwards". Or maybe since I am a lefty I have reversed all this in my head and have it backwards :)
Most reels today are reversible to reel with either hand. Most do come as a right hand wind which is traditional. I wind with the left hand also. Many of the old reels were only available as right hand wind like the old bait casting reels. Unless yours is an old reel it is most likely changeable to either hand. The ole Medalists, South Bend, and some others old reels were also changeable.
It's a conspiracy theory I'm telling you. Joke aside, the reel's handle can be switched, depending the make-model. The Okuma KVL and a few other models allows you to pull out the gear, and switch side. A simple tool that pulls out the internal drag mechanism to allow you to switch it, similar to the spinning reel handle and locking cap. Fly reels are a bit more work, requiring a bit more forces, subtle handling, and lots of pissing off when you forgot which direction the dragging wheel was last placed in when you fail. Happened to me a few times in the past, and still happen when I help my left handed fly rodding friends when they use my gears.
Ive found several references and all seem to agree on the same thing:
Tradition
Practicality
The tradition part is not obvious, but it seems to hinge on practicality.
Fly LINE spends much of its useful time (fishing) OFF the reel. It is in the hands of the angler, at his feet or generally somewhere in between.
This gives it the chance to hang up in a reel handle that is on the LEFT side of the reel.
Back when reels were first designed, they were rather bulky affairs. They were nothing like the sleek, lightweight things we have today, which are more air than structure!
So, a bulky handle on a bulky reel would always be in the way. This would naturally lead one to place it - yep - on the off side.
For a couple hundred years, fly fishing was the realm of well-to-do BRITISH anglers, and The British are nothing if not traditional. The off side position seems to have stuck.
Today, most reels are open designs that allow you to orient the reel either way. But not all - I have an older Martin Model 60 that is enclosed. It only allowed for one orientation... the traditional, or BRITISH, one.
(I say "allowed," because I wasn't having any of that. I took the handle off and reattached it so the reel could be mounted the other way round. Problem solved).
David I have one fly reel with the left sided retrieve I have yet to set up for Pike .
I myself always hate that feeling of losing contact with the fish while switching hands using my three other reels/rods and right handed retrieves .I'll have to check to see if they can be reversed .
I agree with David that traditional fly reels had right hand retrieve. I have a Herter's reel from the early 70's, and the Herter's catalog that I ordered it from. Nearly all of their reels had right hand retrieve.
The reasoning was that, once you've cast your line, all the action is in the retrieve and that it should be done with your dominant hand. We can trace this way back into Britain in the earliest days - Isaac Walton, for instance.
And all this time, I though is was designed for tele-kinesis endowed people, trying to make a joke out of the rest of us, as they use their mental power to hold up the rod, and spin with the same predominant hand they casted with. In the meanwhile, the rest suffer with the non-predominant hand with the rod, and reel with the predominant hand, creating a crossed-brain complex issues later the same day, when we sleep, resulting in nightmares. Conspiracy theory!!
Many of the saltwater boys still believe that the winding should be done with the dominant hand. If and when a fast fish turns and runs toward the angler the dominant hand can do a much better job of keeping up with the fish running towards the angler. I personally have have been winding with my left hand with spinning and fly for over 45 years and I will continue to do so even though the experts say otherwise. ......I could be wrong.........Naaaaaaaaa
The testimonies normally chimed in as, when reeling in with the dominant hand, supporting the rod with the non-dominant hand for a large fish that runs, both hands are easily become fatigue. However, when predominant hand holds the rod, where the more agile hand (the non-predominant), although taking longer, the fatigue level reduced nearly to 1/3 the factor in comparison. Study like this had been done for those who fish the deep seas, chasing after ultimate fighters. However, is it true for fresh water small frys? No, if you consider only a few hours of fishing. Yes, if you're planning to roam the waters more than 8 hours.
....as Leo pointed out, there's always personal preference...
and for every preference, there is someone to defend it.
In my case I'm fishing for bluegill and bass, maybe crappie.
I'm not really concerned with massive fish running toward me so fast I can't keep up.
I take care to not be too obsessive about fishing. At heart, I'm a casual spin fisherman. I've always thought it odd that casting reels,
be they spin or bait cast, place the handle to the right hand.
To me it's a matter of convenience and efficiency. With the handle on the left side, I don't have to change hands to reel in the line.
it's that simple for me... the KISS principle in action.
Truthfully, the handles on my fly reels are so small that tangling hasn't been an issue. I see where it might be, but lik. e so many things we worry about... it has turned out to be most of a non-issue.
I think we understand the why of handle placement, now. The background of it, if you will. From here, the debate can begin.
I vote for left hand placement. All you "righties" can kiss my grits!
I vote for a dual sides..at the same time. Why just only have one? Right..right? You have your KISS principle. I have my BUTT (But U Told Them) principle. So, we have our KISS BUTT principle, which works well.
Do yall really want me to believe that yall reel your fish in with the reel? the only time I touch my reel is to take up the slack down by my feet , I fight the fish with my rod in my dominate right hand and the left hand pulls the line in with my break being under my index finger of my right hand , this way you feel the fish not only on the rod but also with the line. I have reels that some handles are right handed ,some are left handed , really dosent matter when the only thing you do with them is pick up the slack line LOFR
LOL! Come now LOFR. It's all about fly rodding humors. Of course, I can't say the same for my friends who started out fly rodding. They still use the reel as a mean to haul in the fishes. Don't ask..lecturing them is useless at this moment, when they're way too hyped up in getting the fish in, with the die-hard habit using the spinning reels for so many years.
If I have my option, the automatic reel should have the ability to switch like a normal spinning reel. A portion default to the right, and a portion default to the left, designated as lefty or righty right out of the box.
i am right handed... and all my bait casters reel from the lh. except one... i got free with a rod purchase. I HATE IT!!!. i just dont get it.all these pros... watch them on tv, switch hands to complete a cast. I DONT GET IT!
i am new to fly fishing and yes my fly reels crank from the left and are able to tear down and switch. 99 percent of my bluegills caught retrieved with a line pull except two that went to reel, an 18 inch bass and my 10" bluegill.
Well since watching WFN during the "Hard Water "period last season and noticing all the fly fishing programs out there I had an itch to start a little fly fishing program of my own. I purchased a four piece 8.5ft. long Quarrow 5wt fly fishing outfit complete with backing, floating 5wt line, tapered 9ft leader and an assortment of poppers. This was a late christmas present to myself and i finally broke it out to do a little practicing on som BG's. I called the local DNR and started talking good quality bluegill lakes in my area. They recommended Five Lake in Clare, Mi with a history of quality catches of panfish. I headed out the next morning and quickly caught a few off the dock considerably quicker than bait and bobber. I thought there might be something to this after all. I noticed a couple of knots in my leader that probably had developed during my short lawn practice session. i also noticed the leader had developed a memory coil and the popper didnt exactly lay right in the water. In fact the popper would submarine a little on retrieve, however it was catching fish. So off to drift the weedbeds!
The lake was a flooding of five deep lakes or ponds with shallow expanses 2 to 4 ft connecting the ponds as one, crystal clear and deep weed edges ending at 12 ft. I picked the largest flat and started a control drift. The action was quick and furious one flip cast from one side of the boat to the other resulted in a hooked fish 4 to 8 inches long. This was great I thought to myself and this started my addiction.
The action quickly came to an abrupt halt when the popper snagged on the boat and broke about half way at one of the knots that had developed. No spare tapered leader So i broke out my Ultra light and a casting bubble attached the fly and i thought i would be back in business. NOT!!! Even though i was catching fish it was not the same. The fun of catching on the fly rod was gone!.
So here in this story quite a few of the purists will cringe. I made a leader of 5 lb micro braid off of my ultra light spool and reattached the popper. Due to the floating attribute of braid i noticed the popper had litte more pop and didnt submarine as much. I resumed catching fish at the same pace. The next day caught my personal best 10" gill. Now i am solidly hooked on this. Bluegills on the Fly! Thanks largely in part by this website. haha
Since that day I have purchased a 4 and 3wt now im in trouble. The lawn is getting long!
Great account Ken !A pleasure to read! I am the uncringing occasional flyrodding type and use mono to tie leaders to fly line .I have a surplus of Garcia Royal Bonyl 4 and 6# test tippet I tie into 12 # test leader. I lost several flies in bushes and trees using 2# test .Best thing I did ,other than improve my casting ,was to go to 4 # test at the end .I may have you cringing now! Lol .
Great story Ken, as far as leaders though you don't need expensive tapered leaders for Bluegill and Bass on my 3wt outfit for top water I normally just tie on a 6 foot length of 20lb mono and then a 3 foot section of 6 or 8lb mono. The mono floats and will help keep your top waters on top. To straighten it and take off the sheen I use one of the little leather patches with the rubber inside. This set up will cast and turnover just fine.
For sinking flies/streamers I use Floro which sinks and a slightly shorter set up....I'd much rather fish on top if I can it's just so much fun to see the strike :)
A friend of mine did recently send me a nice assortment of leaders from Cortland to try out. Their called Cortland Precision with a taper designed for Bass/Bluegill supposed to have better knot strength and be more abrasion resistant. If the wind and rain ever quits I hope to try them out soon :)
Justin... i live in michigan but hopefully i will be spending time in florida this winter. ive been catching alot of bluegills on an orange ant with white legs ... bluegills up here in mi are hitting this like crazy.
Ken, if that's crazy..well..I'm with you. 1/32oz and 1/100oz jigs, fly rod, tipped with crawler, using fly rod, and a mini spinner reel. Yeah..welcome to the world of hybridization.
Well I tried it out yesterday... fishing in about 10ft of water with a slip bobber and worms. The lob cast was a little awkward at first but caught fish.
The "Nail Knot" is the same knot used for the pre-packaged stop-knots for slip floats. I use those stop-knots. I just save the little plastic tubes they come on, when I need to tie a Nail Knot, I just use that little plastic tube.
David, Leo ... tried the hybridization... caught my self several times trying to strip line in and banging my hand against the spinning reel handle... lol ...would love to dedicate a 3wt or a 2wt solely for live bait rigging... thanks
Ken, this rig is the closest thing I know this side of using a net on them,bluegill love crickets, porcupine quills are the most sensitive strike indicator known to man , and the flyrods are so much fun and sensitive when playing the fish, I keep my line under my index finger on my rod hand and use it as my brake, and I alway strip my line in at 90 degrees to the rod so I never bump the reel . You'll get the hang of it. LOFR
Ken, don't worry. You're in the same boat as the most of us. My eyes are degrading little by little, and I'll be there soon enough where the Coke bottle lens won't help me to thread the lines any more. I'll probably will be feeling the lines like a blind person on braille, then stumble around the water, acting like a fish bait donut filling in the float tube, mistaking a shark for a very large striper. I only use hybridization when fly reel usage is restricted..really restricted, or, for trolling. Trolling around my water with the fly line will yield you a nice fast moving watercraft that will break your rod and holder, or an unknown monster that will strip your line faster than you can cay, "Ooooh @#$#@&*(&!!"
Nail knot is excellent not only for fly line to leader/backing, but also great on mono-flouro leader. I try to combine nail knot and Snell knot for my rigs now, beside a combo of perfection, trilene, blood, and several easy knots as a back up to teach my kids. Don't want to teach my wife too many insidious knots since she can "accidental" hang me out of frustration.
LOTFR, love those quills. I'm experimenting on the quill vs Thill extreme sensitive versions to see the similarity, which I got a batch that costed as much as per/quill. So far, so good. Slightly larger in diameter, handle just a bit more weight for the larger crawler pieces, and consistent in buoyancy from float to float, rather than testing each floatation capacity like the quills. Yet, quills are still my fall back float. Taught my family to grab dried reeds as make-shift float as well. They cracked up, but landed fishes before I did *sigh*
Ken, something you may want to try is a spin fly combo rod.
Really just a fly rod blank mated to a spinning reel seat,
they are a "best of both worlds" proposition. Too often, compromises
don't work so well.... but this isn't one of those cases.
I have two 7' spin fly rods, an Olympic and a Wright & MCGill/Eagle Claw.
They make excellent casting rods for light bluegill tackle, and
I match mine to light spinning or trigger spin reels.
They are also not too shabby as fly rods with a heavy enough line.
My Olympic has a rear section on the handle that dismounts, placing the fly reel in the traditional position. The W-M/Eagle Claw doesn't, but you can mount the reel at the rear with tape or zip-ties.
Bonus: I got mine for around 10-12$ on Ebay. New ones are more than double that.
Well known among stream wading fly men are clip on magnifiers.
These clip to the brim of cap or hat, and fold down for use.
When you're done with the fine work, you flip them up and out of the way.
Also available are sunglasses which have these retracting magnifying
lenses built in.
The clip on type are 15-25$, while the others are $75-100.
The more expensive ones combine high quality, Polarized glasses
with equally fine ground lens optics.
I have not tried either type, but from the sound of it we could all use a pair.
Ken, the best solution if you're wanting to fish live bait from a fly rod with a spinning reel, is simply to have a spinning rod custom-built on a fly rod blank. I make such rods myself, and they're my specialty, but there are also plenty of other custom builders who could build one for you. For a spinning reel, you need spinning guides to get good casting distance, not to mention proper placement of the reel. Let me know if I can help.
Dick.
They actually have them with multiple lenses. Not enough magnification with one lens? Bring another into play!
I just sucked it up, admitting my eyes were about shot for really
fine work. Then I got progressive bifocal glasses and added Polarized clip ons.
There are several ways to go. When I checked on Ebay for "clip on magnifiers," there were several designs to choose from. Hat brim types started at $11.
An old feller that I used to visit about once a week was also a rod builder. He fished a 9' glass flyrod that was built as a flyrod. He had a Shakespeare spincast reel that mounted under the rod and close to the reel seat. The reel did not have a button on the back of the reel to release the line. As I recall the line was released by back cranking the winding handle. He liked to fish cut bait and soft craws in the river by just letting the bait dead drift down the riffles. He caught SMB, catfish, and carp. He caught some big ones too.
David, aka, "McScruff"
With the rod held in right hand, the handle is on the off side, facing out and away. This forces right handers (like me) to switch rod to left hand to reel in line.
Is this some traditional thing?
Jul 10, 2013
Powder River
Spinning tackle or fly rod/reel, I cast left handed & reel right handed. However, every fly reel I have seen comes "standard" for a left handed retrieve. All the righties that I know cast right handed & reel left handed. Maybe you just happened to get a reel that is "backwards". Or maybe since I am a lefty I have reversed all this in my head and have it backwards :)
Jul 10, 2013
Ray Ditzenberger
Most reels today are reversible to reel with either hand. Most do come as a right hand wind which is traditional. I wind with the left hand also. Many of the old reels were only available as right hand wind like the old bait casting reels. Unless yours is an old reel it is most likely changeable to either hand. The ole Medalists, South Bend, and some others old reels were also changeable.
Jul 10, 2013
Leo Nguyen
It's a conspiracy theory I'm telling you. Joke aside, the reel's handle can be switched, depending the make-model. The Okuma KVL and a few other models allows you to pull out the gear, and switch side. A simple tool that pulls out the internal drag mechanism to allow you to switch it, similar to the spinning reel handle and locking cap. Fly reels are a bit more work, requiring a bit more forces, subtle handling, and lots of pissing off when you forgot which direction the dragging wheel was last placed in when you fail. Happened to me a few times in the past, and still happen when I help my left handed fly rodding friends when they use my gears.
Jul 10, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
Tradition
Practicality
The tradition part is not obvious, but it seems to hinge on practicality.
Fly LINE spends much of its useful time (fishing) OFF the reel. It is in the hands of the angler, at his feet or generally somewhere in between.
This gives it the chance to hang up in a reel handle that is on the LEFT side of the reel.
Back when reels were first designed, they were rather bulky affairs. They were nothing like the sleek, lightweight things we have today, which are more air than structure!
So, a bulky handle on a bulky reel would always be in the way. This would naturally lead one to place it - yep - on the off side.
For a couple hundred years, fly fishing was the realm of well-to-do BRITISH anglers, and The British are nothing if not traditional. The off side position seems to have stuck.
Today, most reels are open designs that allow you to orient the reel either way. But not all - I have an older Martin Model 60 that is enclosed. It only allowed for one orientation... the traditional, or BRITISH, one.
(I say "allowed," because I wasn't having any of that. I took the handle off and reattached it so the reel could be mounted the other way round. Problem solved).
Jul 10, 2013
John Sheehan
David I have one fly reel with the left sided retrieve I have yet to set up for Pike .
I myself always hate that feeling of losing contact with the fish while switching hands using my three other reels/rods and right handed retrieves .I'll have to check to see if they can be reversed .
Jul 10, 2013
John Sheehan
"Hanging on the reel handle", I can see where that could be a problem .
Jul 10, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
found the line getting "huddled" on the reel.
I see it as an error on my part, although the reel handle is there.
It's a liveable arrangement, because I don't like changing
hands either.
Jul 10, 2013
Bob Parker
I agree with David that traditional fly reels had right hand retrieve. I have a Herter's reel from the early 70's, and the Herter's catalog that I ordered it from. Nearly all of their reels had right hand retrieve.
The reasoning was that, once you've cast your line, all the action is in the retrieve and that it should be done with your dominant hand. We can trace this way back into Britain in the earliest days - Isaac Walton, for instance.
Bob
Jul 11, 2013
Leo Nguyen
And all this time, I though is was designed for tele-kinesis endowed people, trying to make a joke out of the rest of us, as they use their mental power to hold up the rod, and spin with the same predominant hand they casted with. In the meanwhile, the rest suffer with the non-predominant hand with the rod, and reel with the predominant hand, creating a crossed-brain complex issues later the same day, when we sleep, resulting in nightmares. Conspiracy theory!!
Jul 11, 2013
Ray Ditzenberger
Many of the saltwater boys still believe that the winding should be done with the dominant hand. If and when a fast fish turns and runs toward the angler the dominant hand can do a much better job of keeping up with the fish running towards the angler. I personally have have been winding with my left hand with spinning and fly for over 45 years and I will continue to do so even though the experts say otherwise. ......I could be wrong.........Naaaaaaaaa
Jul 11, 2013
Leo Nguyen
The testimonies normally chimed in as, when reeling in with the dominant hand, supporting the rod with the non-dominant hand for a large fish that runs, both hands are easily become fatigue. However, when predominant hand holds the rod, where the more agile hand (the non-predominant), although taking longer, the fatigue level reduced nearly to 1/3 the factor in comparison. Study like this had been done for those who fish the deep seas, chasing after ultimate fighters. However, is it true for fresh water small frys? No, if you consider only a few hours of fishing. Yes, if you're planning to roam the waters more than 8 hours.
Jul 11, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
and for every preference, there is someone to defend it.
In my case I'm fishing for bluegill and bass, maybe crappie.
I'm not really concerned with massive fish running toward me so fast I can't keep up.
I take care to not be too obsessive about fishing. At heart, I'm a casual spin fisherman. I've always thought it odd that casting reels,
be they spin or bait cast, place the handle to the right hand.
To me it's a matter of convenience and efficiency. With the handle on the left side, I don't have to change hands to reel in the line.
it's that simple for me... the KISS principle in action.
Truthfully, the handles on my fly reels are so small that tangling hasn't been an issue. I see where it might be, but lik. e so many things we worry about... it has turned out to be most of a non-issue.
I think we understand the why of handle placement, now. The background of it, if you will. From here, the debate can begin.
I vote for left hand placement. All you "righties" can kiss my grits!
LOL! :-) :-) :-)
Jul 11, 2013
Leo Nguyen
I vote for a dual sides..at the same time. Why just only have one? Right..right? You have your KISS principle. I have my BUTT (But U Told Them) principle. So, we have our KISS BUTT principle, which works well.
Jul 11, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
Jul 11, 2013
Lord of the Fly , Rods
Do yall really want me to believe that yall reel your fish in with the reel? the only time I touch my reel is to take up the slack down by my feet , I fight the fish with my rod in my dominate right hand and the left hand pulls the line in with my break being under my index finger of my right hand , this way you feel the fish not only on the rod but also with the line. I have reels that some handles are right handed ,some are left handed , really dosent matter when the only thing you do with them is pick up the slack line LOFR
Jul 11, 2013
Leo Nguyen
LOL! Come now LOFR. It's all about fly rodding humors. Of course, I can't say the same for my friends who started out fly rodding. They still use the reel as a mean to haul in the fishes. Don't ask..lecturing them is useless at this moment, when they're way too hyped up in getting the fish in, with the die-hard habit using the spinning reels for so many years.
Jul 11, 2013
Lord of the Fly , Rods
Ok Leo what side of the reel should the handle be on an automatic fly reel? LOFR
Jul 11, 2013
Leo Nguyen
If I have my option, the automatic reel should have the ability to switch like a normal spinning reel. A portion default to the right, and a portion default to the left, designated as lefty or righty right out of the box.
Jul 11, 2013
Slip Sinker
i am right handed... and all my bait casters reel from the lh. except one... i got free with a rod purchase. I HATE IT!!!. i just dont get it.all these pros... watch them on tv, switch hands to complete a cast. I DONT GET IT!
i am new to fly fishing and yes my fly reels crank from the left and are able to tear down and switch. 99 percent of my bluegills caught retrieved with a line pull except two that went to reel, an 18 inch bass and my 10" bluegill.
Jul 12, 2013
Ray Ditzenberger
I am not overly interested in kissing anyone's grits but I have all my reels setup to reel left handed. .....Just do'n what comes natural
Jul 12, 2013
Slip Sinker
Well since watching WFN during the "Hard Water "period last season and noticing all the fly fishing programs out there I had an itch to start a little fly fishing program of my own. I purchased a four piece 8.5ft. long Quarrow 5wt fly fishing outfit complete with backing, floating 5wt line, tapered 9ft leader and an assortment of poppers. This was a late christmas present to myself and i finally broke it out to do a little practicing on som BG's. I called the local DNR and started talking good quality bluegill lakes in my area. They recommended Five Lake in Clare, Mi with a history of quality catches of panfish.
I headed out the next morning and quickly caught a few off the dock considerably quicker than bait and bobber. I thought there might be something to this after all. I noticed a couple of knots in my leader that probably had developed during my short lawn practice session. i also noticed the leader had developed a memory coil and the popper didnt exactly lay right in the water. In fact the popper would submarine a little on retrieve, however it was catching fish. So off to drift the weedbeds!
The lake was a flooding of five deep lakes or ponds with shallow expanses 2 to 4 ft connecting the ponds as one, crystal clear and deep weed edges ending at 12 ft. I picked the largest flat and started a control drift. The action was quick and furious one flip cast from one side of the boat to the other resulted in a hooked fish 4 to 8 inches long. This was great I thought to myself and this started my addiction.
The action quickly came to an abrupt halt when the popper snagged on the boat and broke about half way at one of the knots that had developed. No spare tapered leader So i broke out my Ultra light and a casting bubble attached the fly and i thought i would be back in business. NOT!!! Even though i was catching fish it was not the same. The fun of catching on the fly rod was gone!.
So here in this story quite a few of the purists will cringe. I made a leader of 5 lb micro braid off of my ultra light spool and reattached the popper. Due to the floating attribute of braid i noticed the popper had litte more pop and didnt submarine as much. I resumed catching fish at the same pace. The next day caught my personal best 10" gill. Now i am solidly hooked on this. Bluegills on the Fly! Thanks largely in part by this website. haha
Since that day I have purchased a 4 and 3wt now im in trouble. The lawn is getting long!
Jul 13, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
embraces silk that fishing offers.
Some good moves, buddy.
Jul 13, 2013
John Sheehan
Great account Ken !A pleasure to read! I am the uncringing occasional flyrodding type and use mono to tie leaders to fly line .I have a surplus of Garcia Royal Bonyl 4 and 6# test tippet I tie into 12 # test leader. I lost several flies in bushes and trees using 2# test .Best thing I did ,other than improve my casting ,was to go to 4 # test at the end .I may have you cringing now! Lol .
Jul 13, 2013
Lee
Great story Ken, as far as leaders though you don't need expensive tapered leaders for Bluegill and Bass on my 3wt outfit for top water I normally just tie on a 6 foot length of 20lb mono and then a 3 foot section of 6 or 8lb mono. The mono floats and will help keep your top waters on top. To straighten it and take off the sheen I use one of the little leather patches with the rubber inside. This set up will cast and turnover just fine.
For sinking flies/streamers I use Floro which sinks and a slightly shorter set up....I'd much rather fish on top if I can it's just so much fun to see the strike :)
Jul 14, 2013
Lee
A friend of mine did recently send me a nice assortment of leaders from Cortland to try out. Their called Cortland Precision with a taper designed for Bass/Bluegill supposed to have better knot strength and be more abrasion resistant. If the wind and rain ever quits I hope to try them out soon :)
Jul 14, 2013
Justin
Jul 15, 2013
Slip Sinker
Justin... i live in michigan but hopefully i will be spending time in florida this winter. ive been catching alot of bluegills on an orange ant with white legs ... bluegills up here in mi are hitting this like crazy.
Jul 21, 2013
Slip Sinker
is it crazy for me to lob a 1/32 oz jig baited with a cricket along with a small float just to take a gill on a flyrod?
Jul 21, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
Yes Ken it is crazy - but its awesome!
Jul 21, 2013
Leo Nguyen
Ken, if that's crazy..well..I'm with you. 1/32oz and 1/100oz jigs, fly rod, tipped with crawler, using fly rod, and a mini spinner reel. Yeah..welcome to the world of hybridization.
Jul 22, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
Jul 22, 2013
Lord of the Fly , Rods
Crickets on a flyrod,"What more a tasty morsal a bluegill could ask for", LOFR
Jul 22, 2013
Slip Sinker
Well I tried it out yesterday... fishing in about 10ft of water with a slip bobber and worms. The lob cast was a little awkward at first but caught fish.
Jul 23, 2013
Slip Sinker
makes the nail knot a little easier to tie i think
Jul 23, 2013
Allen Morgan
The "Nail Knot" is the same knot used for the pre-packaged stop-knots for slip floats. I use those stop-knots. I just save the little plastic tubes they come on, when I need to tie a Nail Knot, I just use that little plastic tube.
Jul 23, 2013
John Sheehan
There ya go Allen, thanks!
Jul 23, 2013
John Sheehan
And thank you Ken!
Jul 23, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
nice on the nail know, guys.
Jul 23, 2013
Slip Sinker
thanks guys my eyes are getting bad and i had a hard time passing the tag through all those loops... now i can do this in the dark.
Jul 24, 2013
Slip Sinker
LOFR thanks for the pic... it gives me confidence to see pros setting up live bait as you have shown.
Jul 24, 2013
Slip Sinker
David, Leo ... tried the hybridization... caught my self several times trying to strip line in and banging my hand against the spinning reel handle... lol ...would love to dedicate a 3wt or a 2wt solely for live bait rigging... thanks
Jul 24, 2013
Lord of the Fly , Rods
Ken, this rig is the closest thing I know this side of using a net on them,bluegill love crickets, porcupine quills are the most sensitive strike indicator known to man , and the flyrods are so much fun and sensitive when playing the fish, I keep my line under my index finger on my rod hand and use it as my brake, and I alway strip my line in at 90 degrees to the rod so I never bump the reel . You'll get the hang of it. LOFR
Jul 24, 2013
Leo Nguyen
Ken, don't worry. You're in the same boat as the most of us. My eyes are degrading little by little, and I'll be there soon enough where the Coke bottle lens won't help me to thread the lines any more. I'll probably will be feeling the lines like a blind person on braille, then stumble around the water, acting like a fish bait donut filling in the float tube, mistaking a shark for a very large striper. I only use hybridization when fly reel usage is restricted..really restricted, or, for trolling. Trolling around my water with the fly line will yield you a nice fast moving watercraft that will break your rod and holder, or an unknown monster that will strip your line faster than you can cay, "Ooooh @#$#@&*(&!!"
Nail knot is excellent not only for fly line to leader/backing, but also great on mono-flouro leader. I try to combine nail knot and Snell knot for my rigs now, beside a combo of perfection, trilene, blood, and several easy knots as a back up to teach my kids. Don't want to teach my wife too many insidious knots since she can "accidental" hang me out of frustration.
LOTFR, love those quills. I'm experimenting on the quill vs Thill extreme sensitive versions to see the similarity, which I got a batch that costed as much as per/quill. So far, so good. Slightly larger in diameter, handle just a bit more weight for the larger crawler pieces, and consistent in buoyancy from float to float, rather than testing each floatation capacity like the quills. Yet, quills are still my fall back float. Taught my family to grab dried reeds as make-shift float as well. They cracked up, but landed fishes before I did *sigh*
Jul 24, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
Really just a fly rod blank mated to a spinning reel seat,
they are a "best of both worlds" proposition. Too often, compromises
don't work so well.... but this isn't one of those cases.
I have two 7' spin fly rods, an Olympic and a Wright & MCGill/Eagle Claw.
They make excellent casting rods for light bluegill tackle, and
I match mine to light spinning or trigger spin reels.
They are also not too shabby as fly rods with a heavy enough line.
My Olympic has a rear section on the handle that dismounts, placing the fly reel in the traditional position. The W-M/Eagle Claw doesn't, but you can mount the reel at the rear with tape or zip-ties.
Bonus: I got mine for around 10-12$ on Ebay. New ones are more than double that.
Jul 24, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
These clip to the brim of cap or hat, and fold down for use.
When you're done with the fine work, you flip them up and out of the way.
Also available are sunglasses which have these retracting magnifying
lenses built in.
The clip on type are 15-25$, while the others are $75-100.
The more expensive ones combine high quality, Polarized glasses
with equally fine ground lens optics.
I have not tried either type, but from the sound of it we could all use a pair.
Jul 24, 2013
Walt Foreman
Ken, the best solution if you're wanting to fish live bait from a fly rod with a spinning reel, is simply to have a spinning rod custom-built on a fly rod blank. I make such rods myself, and they're my specialty, but there are also plenty of other custom builders who could build one for you. For a spinning reel, you need spinning guides to get good casting distance, not to mention proper placement of the reel. Let me know if I can help.
Jul 24, 2013
dick tabbert
David I need that magnifier I wonder if 2 is better.
Jul 24, 2013
David, aka, "McScruff"
They actually have them with multiple lenses. Not enough magnification with one lens? Bring another into play!
I just sucked it up, admitting my eyes were about shot for really
fine work. Then I got progressive bifocal glasses and added Polarized clip ons.
There are several ways to go. When I checked on Ebay for "clip on magnifiers," there were several designs to choose from. Hat brim types started at $11.
Jul 24, 2013
Ray Ditzenberger
An old feller that I used to visit about once a week was also a rod builder. He fished a 9' glass flyrod that was built as a flyrod. He had a Shakespeare spincast reel that mounted under the rod and close to the reel seat. The reel did not have a button on the back of the reel to release the line. As I recall the line was released by back cranking the winding handle. He liked to fish cut bait and soft craws in the river by just letting the bait dead drift down the riffles. He caught SMB, catfish, and carp. He caught some big ones too.
Jul 25, 2013