For those new to the sport who want to go
fly-fishing on both lakes and streams, it’s a good
idea to purchase what’s called a ‘starter’ outfit.
This outfit usually consists of a 6-weight rod with
a mid-arbor reel that’s spooled with a tapered
floating line — weight forward — and a tapered
leader tied to the end of the flyline.
Let me walk you through that:
Match the rod weight and fly line weight.
• Fly rod sizes come in various ‘weights’ that
range in size from 1 to 14 and vary in length
from 7½ to ten feet — nine feet is the most
common. The weight of your rod should
be geared to the size of the fish that you’re
targeting. A ‘6-wt.’ rod is a compromise
between small and large fish. If you were
targeting large Arctic char, lake trout, or
northern pike, you’d need an 8- to 10-weight fly
rod. The rods also come with different flexes or
actions ranging from fast to slow with medium
actions being the most suitable for the widest
range of conditions.
• Reels come in small, medium, and large arbors
(that is, the centre spindle of the reel that holds
the line, on which the spool revolves). Large
arbor reels are the most suitable for large
fish because they have the best rates of line
retrieve. A mid-arbor reel would be suitable for
medium-sized fish.
• Flyline weights run from 1 to 12 and should
be matched with the weight of the rod. For
example, the ‘starter’ 6-weight rod should
be used with a 6-weight flyline, so it casts
properly. Lines come with different tapers:
‘double taper’and ‘weight forward’ are the
most common. There are floating lines, sink
tip lines, and full sink lines, which are suitable
for different kinds of fishing. Floating lines are
Cutthroat trout taken by fly angling.
Adrienne Radford and Riley Brennan with a lake
trout she caught fly fishing.
news&views SPRING 2019 | 29