Finally got a fly fishing reel!

[mepps]

I was planning to start fly fishing this spring, but the reels I am interested in are quite pricey. I was going to put it off until May, but as luck would have it, I was given not 1, but 4 fly reels! Of course they are all 40 years old, but 2 of them are in excellent condition and I'll be out for trout opener here in Halifax on April 1st. Any tips from you fly fishermen?

 

I have already price checked the reels, and none are worth too much (other then sentimental value perhaps)

The rod on the other hand, is a beautiful old Fenwick trout rod that is worth more then all the reels combined.

 

Condex fly fishing reel x2 (the rust whiped right off)

 

Emperor 1684

 

 

Bristol 65 (this one wont even turn)

 

 

 

In other news Rapala is releasing a new beer - Lakemaid Beer

Edited March 22, 2008 by mepps

[Greencoachdog]

Very cool lookin' antiques!!!

 

Watch yer backcast it you put one of those big Pike spinners on there!

[mepps]

lol

 

I actually hit my friend Jon in the back of the head with a #5 Mepps a few years back. He said it felt like he was hit by a baseball bat, and apparently he has in fact been hit with a bat before. He was ok though, but the blade of the lure was folded in half.

Edited March 21, 2008 by mepps

[danbo]

The top one looks like a Condex from Britian..I had one years ago.

Pflueger Medalists are the best low cost reels today.

[FishHeadRic]

Hey Clive! What's your set up? 5wt-7wt-8wt? Do ya have a line or a set of lines yet? If ya do, what's the taper on it/them? Weight forward, shooting head, even? How deep are the rivers there? Are you going to have fish any depths to get to holding fish? Did you do any steelie fishing back in toronto? Do ya have a good selection of flies. nymph, egg patterns yet?

 

Ric

[mepps]

Hey Clive! What's your set up? 5wt-7wt-8wt? Do ya have a line or a set of lines yet? If ya do, what's the taper on it/them? Weight forward, shooting head, even? How deep are the rivers there? Are you going to have fish any depths to get to holding fish? Did you do any steelie fishing back in toronto? Do ya have a good selection of flies. nymph, egg patterns yet?

 

Ric

 

 

Woah FHR!! Slow down, I'm new at this!

 

I THINK its a 5-6 wt, although the details on the rod are rubbed off. The rod is about 8.5 feet long Fenwick and if the model number on the case (FF858) is correct, its made of glass and around was made in the 60s.

 

I just striped off the old line, and will be getting some new line this week (maybe tomorrow even)

 

I don't know what "taper on it/them? Weight forward, shooting head" means yet.

 

I havent checked out the rivers here, but I'll ask around at the local tackle shop. Most of my fishing will be small back lakes and shallow rivers.

 

Never fished steelhead before, but I used to fish for brook trout a lot when I was younger in small streams and ponds.

 

I have a ton of old flys for trout and salmon, but a lot of them are rusty. I plan to tye my own at some point, I have most of the tools already.

 

Here are some of the flies I have that are labled:

Black Drake (size 10), Silver Doctor (size 8), Dusty Miller (size 8), Jock Scott (size 8), Silver Grey (size 8), Moose (size 7), Black silvertip (size 8)

And as far as I know, they were all either made/purchased in Quebec or New Brunswick and many are tyed with moose hair.

 

I'll photograph everything else when I have a chance, but here is a photo of some unnamed flies...

 

Edited March 22, 2008 by mepps

[FishHeadRic]

Clive, Just wanted to know where you were at with all of it. I'm going out for drinks on the west side but I'll post some helpful stuff for ya tomorrow when I'm getting rid of the hang-over Right off the bat I can tell ya that rod you have is an 8 wt rod. You'll have to match the line to this.... I'll write ya more up tomorrow.

[mepps]

Thanks bro!

[snag]

Very nice,

 

I love the handle on that one.

 

Next time you're down you can teach me how to use one of those things!

[FishHeadRic]

Hey Clive, Sorry this took so long! A lotta crap has been going down in my life. Don't wanna go into it so... Anyways I picked a few things off the net that I hope will help ya out.

Bunch of tutorials I found on Utube.

 

Here's a good read on the basics of fly fishing.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Fly-Fishing-Basi...e&id=508158

 

Here's a great site. A lot of info on the boards here.

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/index.php

[snag]

Must've been one doozy of a hangover Ricula!

[Reef Runner]

lol

 

I actually hit my friend Jon in the back of the head with a #5 Mepps a few years back. He said it felt like he was hit by a baseball bat, and apparently he has in fact been hit with a bat before. He was ok though, but the blade of the lure was folded in half.

 

 

lol

[Canuck2fan]

I was planning to start fly fishing this spring, but the reels I am interested in are quite pricey.

 

I have to admit I not an expert on fly fishing, but I do dabble in it from time to time when bored.... The reel is nothing but a line storage device so having a fancy reel really isn't important. Those reels you got might not be expensive but I bet they will act just fine for you. When I see someone with a big dollar fly reel I just laugh to myself and wonder if has an LCD screen or something, because except for bragging rights they just wasted their money that could be spent on better line, rods and now fuel to go more often....

Edited April 25, 2008 by Canuck2fan

[Golfisher]

Clive, how has fishing been in NS? I got a teaching gig at StFX and in a few months' time I'll be joining you as another Ontario "expat" in NS. Have you done any saltwater fishing there? Shads? Stripers? Even Mackerel? I got quite excited about fishing tidal waters when I first looked into fishing opportunities in NS, but I nearly broke down in tears when I found out that where I'll be moving to (Antigonish) has no smallmouth bass. The nearest and best smallie waters are found in your neck of the woods, I'm told. It's a shame that Halifax is two hours away from Antigonish.

[FinS]

i like those flys wanna sell?

[mepps]

Thanks for the reply Ric - I thought you had forgotten about me

 

I've seen a few of those videos before, i'll check out the other shortly.

 

Golfisher: I caught plenty of smallies last fall near Bridgewater, havent had luch yet in teh Halifax (HRM) area. I have mostly been fishing 20-30 minutes before or after work - havent had a chance to really put time inot finding a good lake. Its pretty early for bass right now, temps are jstu above zero right now and we had snow this morning

 

I'll be shure to reprot back with more details. Iall ask around about locations near Antigonish. Bass are not held inhigh regard here, they are about as liked as carp are in Ontairo. The smallies and chain pickeral are not native to NS waters and all the trout guys (which is at least 75% of the fishermen here) HATE them. Southern NS is best for big smallies, 18-22 inchers are pretty common.

 

May is supposed to be prime time for stipers in teh Minas Basin, but they are practically an endangered species here (rpobably will be official in the next few years) Im gonna be in teh US most of may and missing the best time sadly...

Edited April 26, 2008 by mepps

[Golfisher]

Yeah, from the searches that I've done, trouting seems to be the holy grail for most fishermen in NS. I guess I'll have to get off my lazy bum and get into river fishing.

 

Stripers are completely off limits over the whole stretch of the Northumberland Straight all the way up to the tip of Cape Breton, which sucks big time for me as I was really looking forward to it. It seems cods aren't the only decimated fish stock in the Maritimes.

[mepps]

yeah, sadly all fish stocks seem low. They put a lot of money into re-stocking, but I dont think they are yet to see the results the want. I have fished a nearby stocked lake a few times and there are as many as 50 people fishing it at a time - the lake is really small too. If even half those gus keep their limit that day thats a huge hit to the population. And catch and release doenst seem to be of much interest to many fisherman here.