Fish-Hawk.Net

hey guys, i'm heading off in july for 3 weeks. i'm driving straight to the west coast, and slowly fish my way back to ottawa. we plan on fishing alot of creeks and streams, and smaller rivers. obviously the targeted species will be trout.

i went off to lebarons and checked out some reels and the g-loomis venture looked pretty good. it had a nice drag system, and it's VERY smooth. can anybody tell me if it would be a good purchase or not.

if you do know that reel, should i get the venture 3 or venture 5?

i do plan on getting a 4 wt 7 maybe 7'6 rod. would this be a good lenght for the reel, and for the species i'll be fishing for??

thanks for the help!!

matt

The G-Loomis Venture looks like a nice reel. I don't have any experience with it so I can't comment on how well it works.

I would recommend an Orvis Battenkill Bar Stock Reel #2. Nice little reel with a good, smooth drag system. A 7'6" 4wt would be a perfect rod to fit it and to fish small creeks.

Cheers,

Salar

Dear Mr. Moore,

I clicked a couple buttons without knowing what they did and I saw that you have made several posts within general fishing, but not too many within float and fly fishing fishing. This suggests that you may be new to fly fishing. If this is so, you may wish to consider that, when it comes to rods below about 6-weights, the rods are much more important than the reels. The fish tend to be smaller and the drag systems don't matter so much. With 4-weights, some people hardly use the reel at all.

With this in mind, I would consider spending relatively more on the rod and relatively less on the reel. If I could afford a G. Loomis, I would consider making that the rod and then buying whatever reel I could afford if I had any money left afterward. I would also try a few different rods to see if I liked a "fast" rod or a "slower" rod.

Unless you are fishing in constricted conditions, such as small, overgrown creeks, I would look for a nine-foot rod. They are nicer to cast and work better for activities like Czech nymphing.

Regarding the weight, I understand that that some of the Alberta and BC trout are big enough -- and the rivers are wide enough -- that a 6-weight is the norm. I tend to fish in Upstate New York and I am presently searching for the perfect 4-weight, but that might only be because I have fished with what I feel has been pretty close to the perfect 5-weight -- a G. Loomis Metolius high line speed -- for the past two years. (Thus far I have avoided trying a G. Loomis GLX or a similar Thomas and Thomas for fear that it would ruin me for anything else and at the same time would leave my wife and child destitute).

Whatever you get, I hope you will keep us posted about your cross-country fishing adventure.

Manfred

hey salar and manfred, thanks for the input. i already have a 6wt rod and reel. nothing too expensive but decent enough. the rod that i already own for that 6wt out fit is 9 feet long.

the reason why i wanted to get a smaller 7'6" rod was for the convinience factor. as i said before i'm fishing across canada and as i will be bringing my bait caster, and spinning gear, but i wanted to concentrate my efforts in to fly fishing this trip. we ( my brother and i) were considering bringing my canoe, but with decided to leave her at home. and fish smaller rivers, creeks and streams. so i figured that a smaller rod would let me be able to cast in places that a 9 foot rod wont.

again i'm not an expert, not even close to being a good fly fishermen.

i have been looking at the loomis' rods and there's one fly rod, 7 foot 6 that was relatively cheap, 260$.

again all the help is greatly appriciated.!!!

matt