Beginner needs advice

[Friendly Fisher]

I want to fly fish for steelhead and trout. Is there a rod I should begin with. I was thinking a nine to ten foot rod rated at 7#. What does everyone think? I have caught many fish drifting and plunking so I know how to fight and land big fish on light gear. Thanks, Dan

[Newbs]

I started with a 9' , 7 wt thinking that I could use it for trout and if I got into a steelhead I would still have a chance. That worked great for a long time but eventually what I found was I wanted a lighter rod for trout in smaller streams and a heavier one for the steelies.

[Slow and Low]

FF.

Depends on the stream. Depends on the rod. I spend my time on the deschutes and a 7 weight vps is what i use in high wind but my go to rod is a 6 weight. If you fish the mackenzie most of the time a 5 weight will cover you. 10' is a long rod and unless you plan to do a lot of float tubing 9' is plent and 9'6" is ok.

This thread comes up all the time and if you search you will find many opinions.

Good luck.

[BigSkyHunter]

For an all around rod for steelhead and trout, I would suggest a 7/8 rated 9 ft. I have used a Cortland rod as described and it worked great. Lots of options though and it all depends on how much money you want to spend.

BSH

[mgdfly]

A 9 1/2 ft 7 wt. is a great summer steelhead rod, but a little too heavy for most trout fishing. I do use that rod to throw big stonefly nymphs on the Deschutes, or when fishing large leeches for large trout in lakes. A 9ft 6wt. is about as good an all around trout as there is, but that's just too light for 98% of steelhead situations. Decide which fish you will be chasing the majority of the time, and make your decision occordingly. Tight lines!

[finnedwonder]

9ft 6wt will catch every trout in Oregon to light for steel though. To be honest I have a really nice 4 wt I use for all my dry fishing when there isnt to much wind or to big of water and I carry my 6wt with me on my back or just lay it down and have it rigged for bigger bugs and nymphs or if the wind decides to kick up. Most of the time If I'm on a river with Steelhead in it in any significant number Ill just bring my 8wt and target them. Just my :twocents:

[stillwater97]

Hey there!

Welcome to an addictive sport!

Its a tough thing picking one rod to do both steelhead and trout.


I guess the question is, what are you planning on doing more of? Steelheading , or trout fishing..

If you plan on primarily fishing for steelhead, I'd go with a 9ft 7wt. If you were planning on doing more trout fishing, I'd start with a 9ft 6wt.

In fact, I'd prolly suggest a stout 9ft 6wt (like a TFO TICR ) as you can do just fine catching both summer steelhead and trout. (some may disagree)


That being said, you are going to have trade offs. My advice is to get a rod that matches the fishing you are doing the most of and then after a while, pick up a second, third, fourth, tenth,... that fits different applications.

Anyway, good luck!

[Slow and Low]

Where are you gong to be fishing?

[cphatts]

I would recommend two seperate rods. A 4-5 weight for trout (depending where you fish most often) and a 7-8 weight for steelhead. As mentioned above, you could use one rod for both but I think you'll be over/undergunneed in a lot of situations with only one rod.

[frankenfish]

I second the recommendation for two rods.

For trout, you will want to be able to fish nymphs and dry flies. If you are fishing dry flies, you will need to use light tippet, 5x and 6x. If you fish with a heavier rod, you will break the tippet pretty much every time a trout hits. Even for nymphing, you will generally use 3x or 4x and sometimes 5x on the dropper fly. You would be best served by a 5 wt. as an overall trout rod if you want to be effective.

For Steelhead, you want at least a 7 weight, but preferrably an 8 or 9 wt. You don't need to "match the hatch" and fish as delicately for steelhead. You will have trouble with heavier tippet and flies with a 6 wt. A 7 weight is not going to suffice for bigger water or winter steelhead. An 8 wt. is a good choice. Just stout enough (minimally) for winter steelhead fishing and good for spring, summer, fall. A nine weight is sometimes overkill with smaller steelhead, but if you get a big one on you will want it. At least an 8, a nine wt. is a better bet if you are going to use one rod for all steelheading.

Now for the reel. A few manufacturers make reels with interchangeable cassettes. You can get cassettes for about $15 each. That way, get a bigger reel and use different cassettes for the lines for trout and steelhead.

For the lines.

For trout I recommend a 5 wt. double taper floating line for trout. You don't generally need to cast great distances and presentation is more delicate as well as aking it easier to roll cast. Leaders are 9-12 ft tapered leaders, fluorocarbon tippet for nymphs.

For steelhead, a multi-tip, like the Anadromous Advantage from Rio, lets you have many tips with one line. A floating line and different lengths of sinking line. Add an intermediate to the pack and you're done. Leader depends on line, conditions, fly etc. 9-10 ft. tapered for low water, level tippet of 2-6 feet for sinking lines. Flurocarbon tippits may help. If you want one line, a weight forward is best. You can then add various sinking leaders for winter or deep water but it won't be as effective as the multi-tips. But, an annoying thing with multi tips is the tendency for the point where the loops join to hang up in the guides, especially when they ice up in winter.

Another advantage of an 8 or 9 wt rod is you can also use it for other species, like small mouth bass, as bigger flies are needed and a smaller rod would not be very effective.

[NCL]

All of the advice so far is excactly correct. I would especially concur with Frankenfish's evaluation. There is not the perfect one rod, even for just a single species of fish such as steelhead. This year I fished an 8 weight for steelhead all year and thought that I would really have been beter off with a 7 weight. I fish a 4,5,and 6 weight for trout depending on where I am fishing, and the conditions, although I fish the 5 weight the most of the time for trout. I guess it really depends on your budget and in my case the mood of the War Department (wife), if I had to go with only one rod for both species I would probably opt for a 6 weight but then the rivers and conditions I fish are probably quite different than what you may be targeting.

[D3smartie]

a 6wt rod is as close to an all around rod as you will find. I fish my 6wt about 90% of the time that i fish these days from the salt, to steelhead to salmon. I disagree that it isnt enough rod because i have used it enough to know that it will cover about 90% of your steelheading and although it might be a little on the heavy side, it can cover all of your bigger river and lake trout fishing.
As Slow and Low asked, where are you mainly going to be fishing? It helps to be specialized but it isnt 100% necessary. Ideally two rods or even 3 would be the way to go to cover all situations, but if i was going to fish summer steelhead, big trout or heavy water trout rivers like the D, lakes, bass, carp, salt... i would use a 6wt. I woulnt ever use anything heavier than a 6 for trout, but thats just me.
But if you are planning on fishing a lot for winter steelhead and salmon, you should step up and get something heavier and end up with a couple rods.

[FatFreddie]

Another local on-line source of info is www.Westfly.com. Not as big as ifish, but it's all fly. Don't get me wrong...ifish is fine. I'm just suggesting expanding your horizons.

BTW, do the fly fishers here have get-togethers (rondis)?

Just asking'.

[12244]

I am jumpin in to Flinging a fly for steel with a Redington 8wt pkg I picked at Joes for 90.00, with my 10% NW Steelheaders discount.
The large arbor reel looks sufficient, and the 8wt feels just right for steel.
Good Luck, any other beginners/novice want to join me, send a PM.