Question for you fly folk
 

It's end of the year, and I'm taking stock/planning for next year...
I've been getting a sense of the seasonal rhythm of Southern California.

I've noticed a pretty decent fly fishing contingent on here over time. Though I've been doing a bit of research, but figured it'd make for fun conversation here as well.
As I'm getting back to work and my disposable income appears on the horizon again, I'm remembering how much I loved Fly Fishing growing up in the south.
Mostly river fishing in GA for rainbows and browns, and pond/Lake fishing in AL for Bass, Panfish.

Fun story: My grandfather always kept a stocked pond full of catfish. Every evening he'd drive the truck down with a 3 gallon bucket full of feed. The catfish would come up and just cruise the surface hoovering it up.
My dad and I tied little brown half sized woolybuggers for feeding time, and it was a bit like freshwater cobia fishing on the fly. They made for the best runs I've ever had on a fly reel.

My house burned my Sophomore year and I never got around to replacing most of my fishing gear.

I'm thinking I want to get back into it.... Play in the streams up in Eastern Sierra.... Possibly add an element of challenge to my saltwater fishing from time to time. . . I'm also stoked to have a casting pond in the Pasadena Arroyo just around the corner form my house.

I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna grab an Orvis Clearwater outfit...
I like the look of the reel and I like the 25 year policy.
I always used Orvis gear when I was a kid, though I understand there are a lot more options these days.

First question: Would I be mistaken to go any cheaper? Anything else "entry level" you'd recommend?

Second question: If I wanted to start traveling north for something more substantial like steelhead, would I want to start out with something more than a 5 weight? Would it be a mistake to go up to a 6 or 7 on my first rod if I'm likely to start out in lakes and streams for trout?

I would recommend getting the best rod and lines you can afford and anything for a reel. Reels largely are just to hold line. My problem with the entry level sets is that they include cheap fly lines which does a huge dis-service to the the fly fisherman. For streams/rivers I would recommend a 5wt setup, but if you are getting into steelhead you are going to want a completely different setup. Most of those guys are using spey rods which is a whole new ballgame. If I were getting started around So Cal and thought about fishing the Sierras and local salt I would get a 5wt and an 8 wt setup.

I have a bunch of ff gear that I wish I'd use more. Problem with the ocean fish... teeth are considerable different than their fresh water cousins.


I've used larger sized tippets, but then hooking up on even a large sized mackeral will give you a fun fight.

Good luck!

The only challenge I foresee (other than the future drain on your bank account) is that you're talking about two very different end results, so one outfit is not going to cut it.

For Eastern Sierras, 4 wt is about as heavy as I would go other than for big waters. On the flip side, for bay fishing for spotted bass, etc, I'd start at a 6 wt. and work up. Your bay outfit will want an intermediate or full sink line, while your trout outfit will need a floating line and others as dictated by fishing style.

If you're just "testing the waters" of getting back in, a 5 wt will meet neither need ideally, but will keep your entry cost low. The Clearwater kits are solid enough, I'd suggest adding a spare spool with a full sink line as well, and then swapping out for trout vs salt. Once you get outside the bay, that 5wt is going to feel awfully noodley, awfully quick, though.

OK cool. Thanks all. This def gives me a good frame of reference for starting.

I think I'm gonna stick to the 5wt and cut my teeth again on river/stream fishing and see if that's enough to start a siphon on my wallet :)

I seem to have a knack for taking an interest in stuff right as it's end of the season...

Fair to say the whole Owens/Bishop area is completely shut down at this point, or is there actually decent winter fishing anywhere near there? (or god forbid, southern california?)

I believe that the Owens river is open year around

The Owens, both Upper and Lower, Hot Creek are open year around. Be aware of road conditions if trying to fish the Upper Owens or Hot Creek. A lot of guys snow shoe or snowmobile in during the winter.

After 45 years of spinners, bait casters, and conventional setups, I tried fly fishing for the first time a few years ago on a trip to Yellowstone. Summer 2019, I got a guide to take me and my wife in Sequoia NP. She had a blast (and so did I). Now we are pretty much hooked but don't really know jack. I was going to take a class in March at the LBCC, recommended by Tigermidge but it cancelled due to COVID. We ended up taking a casting class on the Kern River. We also took a pack train trip to the Kern River right before the SQF fire. A blast but man was I sore from the horses. We have been to many creeks this year with some success mostly tiny fish in the 5 to 7 inch range. In October we took a guided trip on the Lower Owens, I caught between 20 and 25 browns and rainbows between 9 and 16 inches. All on a half day trip. My wife caught about 10 but lost another 10. She had an absolute blast. We went back this past weekend and fished the lower for about 4 hours Saturday and explored looking for other access further south on Sunday. I got 4 browns Saturday 10 to 12 inches. Shut out Sunday. The weather was fantastic, which is why we went Saturday.
My wife found and purchased a used Reddington crosswater 5wt, Rod and Reel for $40.00, didn't even ask me. Before I even had my own fly rod. I found an ECHO Base 5wt on Offer Up for $40 in Pasadena and bought that. I have a ancient Cortland clicker fly reel that someone gave to me 40 years ago. I put line on it and have caught 40 to 50 fish on it. Nothing big but good enough for the type of fishing I am doing. I am going to upgrade to a new reel this Christmas. I know less than zero about fly rods but for what I am doing the gear we have is fine.
I got back yesterday at 5PM and I am already thinking about going back, I got it bad. I think my ideal trip will be 4 to 5 days. Fishing a day on the lower, a day on the upper (never fished there), and a day at hot creek (been there but did not fish). I am really interested in trying a drift trip on the lower too. I am also considering taking a Jeep trip on the south fork of the Kern (more expensive than the pack train). Good thing my wife is hooked too. I have started thinking about trying to complete the heritage trout challenge. I have three of the six needed already, although my picture of my Golden sucks, so I will need to go do that again.
So far I used guides 4 times, Montana, Pack Train, Sequoia NP, and Lower Owens. I have been really happy because I have learned a lot about techniques, things I would never figure out on my own. One really nice thing is with my background, I pick up things quick. I can have the guide set me up and point me in the right direction and then spent 90% of his time showing my wife what to do. Works perfect, I always tell them in advance, "If she has fun I will get to fish more".
Good luck with gear and limiting expenses.
Tom

I'll second what the last guy said, buy used if you're on a budget and just starting out. There's a lot of good gear out there on the cheap and for the price of a new orvis rig, you can get a 4 for the streams and a 6 weight for the bay and streams and rivers with larger fish. I'd then recommend spending money on getting the right lines. for the bay, I'd get a 250 grain full sink. I like airflo but rio and others are good too. For the 4 I'd get a good high float line maybe even an indicator taper as it will make nymph fishing easier and fish are eating nymphs almost all the time. Another thing to consider, for the 6 weight, if you can find a reel with a spare spool or the spool is still in production, do that. This will allow you to have a floating line as well for fishing XL trout like on the upper owens in the winter and if the rod is a good fast action, it will probably work fine for steelhead. I've been catching stripers on my 6 wt the last few weeks but they've mostly been small.

My 2 cents... you're going to end up adjusting your budget if you get back into this, Ha.

All good advice so far, a 9' 5wt is your standard "do-everything" trout fishing rod, but it will feel like overkill on small streams. Personally, I like a 3-4wt for Easter Sierra streams, and a 5wt on larger rivers, lakes, or if I need to throw heavier streamers for big trout. I just have more fun fishing trout on lighter gear.

The rod and fly line is definitely where you want to put your money for lighter setups, the reel just holds line when trout fishing. BUT... if you get into saltwater species on the fly with a heavier setup, you'll want to invest in a good reel with a sealed drag that can handle powerful runs.

I bought rods in this order as I got back into this obsession... 5wt, 4wt, 8wt, 7wt, 10wt. The 8wt from a kayak for Calico is a blast!

If I did it over again, I'd buy the following, in whatever order suits your fishing preferences:
4wt (all-around trout), 6wt (streamers, windy conditions, light saltwater-surf fishing), 8wt (steelhead/salmon, all-around saltwater - kelp beds), 10wt (Yellowtail/Dorado). You could also go 3, 5, 7, 9... endless choices, LOL.

OK cool, good to know! I might start playing around up there between rockfish closer and the spring.

That sounds amazing. I wish I could get my wife into fishing. Maybe she'll take to fly fishing :) Those prices sound ridiculous. I might have to set up a few alerts while I'm not *itching to get out and see if anything turns up like that. 40 bucks for that rig, and I'd have a hard time saying no myself. Also good tip on the guides. I always used to love stopping into mountain fly shops in north GA and learning the spots.


Thanks to both of you for such specific and detailed info! I really love this forum and I appreciate you helping me out. This gives me a great point of departure and something to keep an eye out for.

PM sent

Just wanted to say...
 

Thanks again for all of the advice here! It looks like I'm in the game.
My wife is the queen of Ebay Sniping, and she grabbed me an unused Redington Crosswater 8'6 5/6 for 60 bucks tonight :)

Nice. Looking forward to the first report.
I got my wife the 7'6" 3wt echo base, new for $79 from a place in Va, called green top. It arrived a few days ago. She is gonna love it. It arrived a few days ago, I got it out and looked it over. Looks super fun being so light.