Just bought my first fly rod

[lucky]

Hi - firstly I'd just like to say thanks for all the great info that Smoothy, Fluff Chucker, Miles, Skinhead and others have contibuted to this section of the site - I'm completely new to fly fishing and the stuff I've been reading here over the past couple of weeks has been immensely helpful. A couple of weeks ago when chatting in the local pub with a Scottish mate of mine who now lives in London we got on to talking about fishing and it emerged that he had been into fly fishing since he was a kid in Scotland. Apparently he now goes to a reservoir just outside of London (we can get there by train from Clapham Junction which is just near where we live) which is stocked with brown and rainbow trout and he has offered to teach me the basics. We probably won't be going until next year so I've got a bit of time to get some gear together and wasn't going to get anything just yet but then realised that Harris Sportmail are offering all Daiwa fly rods at 50% discount so I dived in (I think they're going pretty quickly) and grabbed a Daiwa Lochmor trout 9ft6 #6/8 progressive action 2 piece fly rod with case for £87.50 (reduced from £175.00). I think I've made a fairly reasonable choice - this really is new territory for me but I have read some complimentary reports about Daiwa fly rods in previous posts - (I wasn't sure whether to opt for the #5/7) but we'll be mainly going to reservoirs rather than small rivers so I thought something around a #7 would be best, I thought a progressive action would be easier to learn to cast on than a fast action and if I ever wanted to do some saltwater fishing although possibly not ideal, the rod wouldn't be too light. I'm afraid I'm not sure of what reel to match to it though. It's a bit mind boggling but at a guess I say a 6/7 or 7/8 reel and perhaps one that is anodized aluminium so it could be used for saltwater use in the future. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to what make or model reel to get. I'm not in any hurry to buy the reel just yet - like I mentioned I would have waited a bit longer to buy the rod and done some more research but the Daiwa deal wouldn't have been available anymore if I'd waited. Thanks again for all your help.

[Old Smoothound]

Well done mate, I'm glad we could be of help to you. You have bought an excellent rod, my pal at Daiwa designed them and I tested them for him. So rest assured you will not buy better at that price.

As for a reel, loads to choose from all I can say is try and buy a brand that is known in the market. British Fly Reels have some very good reels along with Orvis such as the Rocky Mountain range.

Have fun using them….and tight lines.

[lucky]

Thanks Shaun - that's reassuring news about the rod. Thanks for your suggestions as regards the reel too - I've been thinking about an Orvis Pro-guide Mid-arbour #7 but I'm not going to get anything just yet - I'm not in a hurry and I think there could be a few end of season sales coming up so that's a good reason to bide my time - someone told me that Sportfish are planning to offer a 20% discount in the near future. I also want to check with Daiwa as what the optimum reel rating for the rod would be. With the rod being rated 6/8 I guess it would be #7 but I'll see what Daiwa have to say. I've heard that their customer service is excellent. In the meantime I've printed off a couple of your posts to read through over the weekend. Thanks again for all your help.

Phil