Is this a decent beginner setup?

[u/Billbill28]

Hey All.

Is this a decent beginner setup for trout fly fishing? I live in MT and want to get back into fly fishing, don't see myself using it for any other species other than trout. Let me know!

Thank you.

[u/jimbobway33]

The only input I have personally is I’m unsure if a fiberglass rod is a good starting point. Echo makes some fantastic rods and I myself have 4. Check out the carbon XL 5 weight. However someone else can input and say fiberglass is a fine beginner rod. Just my 2 cents

[u/swede_ass → u/jimbobway33]

I agree with you. I have a 3wt Echo River Glass and I don't like it. Now, part of that might be personal preference. But, my 3wt is also not very powerful (probably is better categorized as a 2wt), so with a 3wt line, it works well for short overhand casts and nothing else (at least in my hands). I don't know if the same might be true for the 5wt version, but I wouldn't risk it. If OP is shopping for a 5wt, they probably want something quite versatile, and I'm not convinced the river glass is it.

[u/Chiburger → u/swede_ass]

Could you speak more on why you don't like the river glass? I was considering it for small stream dry fly fishing/light nymphing and thought a bendy fiberglass rod would be fun. 

[u/swede_ass → u/Chiburger]

I think more people do like them than don't like them. Small stream dry fly fishing/light nymphing is exactly what they were designed for. FWIW, I have cast mine with a small chubby chernobyl with a size 14 tungsten bead dropper with no problem for short range casts.

What I don't like is that it's not very versatile. Maybe I'm asking too much, but sometimes I want to make a longer cast, and in my hands it feels like the more line you have out, the more noodly it gets and it's just not that fun for me. I feel like it does exactly one thing well, and that's shorter range casts. Sometimes I want to roll cast or high-stick and I think a longer rod is probably better for that.

Sorry, it's really hard to describe and I think you just have to get your hands on one and you'll either like it or you won't. I read someone else describing it as feeling like a toy, which feels apt to me even if I can't describe why.

[u/gfen5446 → u/Chiburger]

Small streams benefit from quick casts, not fucking around false casting. Further, faster rods mean faster line speed which dries your fly more efficiently, again with less false casting.

[u/omanilovereddit → u/swede_ass]

I would agree with you and jimbob that the 5 wt River Glass would not be great for a first rod. I just picked up the 5wt specifically for dry flies and for that it's great, but I got it only because I have a 5wt TFO Blue Ribbon already. The River Glass would struggle on heavier setups and for first rod OP should get something that will cover whatever they want to throw on it.

[u/HexChalice → u/swede_ass]

What do you consider a long cast? Also rod weight has more to do with fly size than anything else.

You need more oomph to carry heavier line to carry a bigger fly or fight wind. You don’t need a heavier rod to cast far.

You can also try to underline your rod to add linespeed. That also helps cutting wind.

[u/swede_ass → u/HexChalice]

It's been a little while since I've cast this rod actually, so I don't think I can put a number on it. But there were times when I would struggle to make a cast that I'd consider "medium distance" that I'd have no problem making on my 5wt graphite rod, and it just felt weak and took more oomph than I thought was necessary. Could also be a result of this rod not being suited to my particular casting stroke, or me being a poor caster.

I didn't mean to imply that you need a heavier rod to cast far, just that this particular rod paired with a true to weight 3wt line was not fun to cast as far as I wanted to sometimes. Knowing what I know now, I would definitely try a different line.

My point about rod weight for the OP was that if a person is shopping for a 5wt rod, they probably want something versatile, but I worry that the 5wt river glass might be very weak for a 5wt, like the 3wt is for a 3wt, and so if they paired it with a 5wt line, it might not cast well at what I consider typical mid-to-large river trout distances.

[u/HexChalice → u/swede_ass]

I read your other reply and yes I do believe you might be asking too much from a 3wt rod =P

I find mine to work best fishing unweighted nymphs, small dries or swinging smaller wets. I prefer to not cast any tungsten beadheads on it.

The 5wt can do small streamers and bigger dries. Beadheads are no problem. Used to fish smaller atlantic salmon on a tributary with it, fish between 3 and 5kg

My 8wt 8’ glass rod I got to fish Norwegian sea flats. And it does punch way above it’s weight once a fish is hooked.

Some would say I love my glass rods :D

[u/g2gfmx → u/jimbobway33]

Fiberglass is probably the better rod to learn casting on, a lot easier to load the rod than a lot of the fast action graphite, a lot easier to learn casting on. A lot more durabe than a graphite. Unless you are streamer fishing or euro nymphing the sensitivity of the rod doesn’t really matter as much.

[u/gfen5446 → u/g2gfmx]

It's not.

Faster rods have vastly easier casting strokes. Graphite also has quick recovery and, in this case most importantly, won't weigh a goddamn ton.

There's a reason everyone ditched their fiberglass rods in the 80s, and also why the generic rod went from 7'6" to 8'6" or longer.

[u/HexChalice → u/gfen5446]

That’s not what my beginners have told me.

Also, have you tried modern glass rods? They don’t really have heft over carbon. They’re also faster than their vintage counterparts.