trolling with a fly rod

[Rum Buddies]

so I want to do something trolling in the future with a 2 handed 10 weight fly rod I have, but I'm not sure what type of real is going to balance with it.

I'll be using just straight mono of course but a regular mooching reel isn't going to balance very well and fly reels tend to not have a strong enough drag to stop it from spooling at trolling speed.

Any suggestions? I've seen mark pendlington do this several times but I don't recall what he was using for a reel?

 

[totally tyee]

One question that will help you get answers....

Downrigger or none?

TT

 

[broncosean]

Good question I was out flyfishing yesterday didn't catch anything and thought hey it would be fun to catch a winter spring on this light gear.

I was using a Islander LX which last year my dad caught a nice coho trolling a fly in the wash of the prop.

I think if you loaded it up with mono and attach it to your downrigger you could have a lot of fun. I would test it out with an inexpensive rod first.

Maybe someone else has tried it and can pipe up and give us some tips.

 

[Rum Buddies]

ya sorry thought i mentioned that, I would be running it on a downrigger, with chovy, spoon or plug - probably as a shallower 3rd rod.

I was thinking islander, but seeing as I don't run those on my main rods I don't see myself buying one just for a fly rod.

Maybe one of the large spool saltwater fly reels, but does anybody know of a brand with a tight enough drag for this application?

 

[Mongoose]

what about draging a fly? ive got a brand new fly rod, used it 2 times and got mad because i couldnt cast worth $h!%. anyone tryed dragging a fly out behind the boat in sooke or the waterfront in the summer? it would be good to get some use out of it

 

[dohboy]

hey mongoose , not that i am an expert but years ago i started to fly fish, and i must say the learning curve is very slow, i practiced for hours in the yard, with wool on the end just to get a loop, and trust me i am hardly better now than when i started but i can cast a fly and have it free drift for a bit anyways, long enough for a hit, but i agree with you would be tons of fun on the ocean

 

[Rum Buddies]

ya i've fly fished for years for just about every fish on the island, but these days I'm mostly into the salt.

I'm just looking to have a little extra fun and play around with ways to fish other then the normal flasher/anchovy setup. Well at least with a 3rd rod, I'll keep my 2 main rods with what I know works for me.

But I've seen cooper do it, I've seen pennlington do it - I just can't remember what they were using for reels.

 

[alley cat]

I have trolled a fly behind the boat on a fly rod and found that early morning and later in the afternoon / evening generated some interesting hits.
I used mainly blue or green flys and occasionally steelhead flys like the skykomish sunrise , varied the distance from the boat from about 25 ft in the prop wash to up to 100ft back for the spookier ones.

Without going into great detail you will be quite surprised at what the results will be !

Have fun !!

AL

 

[islandphile]

This presents some interesting challenges at the depths the winter springs reside at, like the need for a release clip which will hold on tough enough to get the gear down to 120 ft plus, but easy to release when you get a hit... might not be too easy to yank off the clip with a limber trout rod. Thoughts?

 

[tailout]

Poppa swiss!! WE fish fly rods all the time. Talk to Siwash ,chris can help you out.

 

[Rum Buddies]

well tailout don't tease me like my high school girlfriend, help me out here brah.

As for being too limber to pop a clip, I'm talking about using a 10 weight spey rod, so there is enough back bone I think.

I'm also not necessarly talking about winter spring fishing as thats not really my bag, I'm a spring/summer/fall guy.

 

[Gooey Bob]

I've had excellent success using fly rods off downriggers, or even mooching, with the following mooching reels that will fit the smaller reel seat usually found on a fly rod:

Daiwa 175 - the old classic! One way drag, a ratchet that'll make your hair stand on end, and pretty light weight. Not in production any more to the best of my knowledge. Try garage sales or ebay.

Shimano GT 1000 - The "newer" choice. Smaller diameter , but wider arbor than the GT 2000. Same Shimano drag system that you can beef up yourself if you like, light weight, decent ratchet. I'm not sure if they still make these or not.

Islander MR2 - The expensive choice. A great reel, but for five hundred bucks it should be. I use them on my boat almost exclusively, but then again I tend to fish a lot. Kinda heavy would be my only complaint. I hear there are some knock-offs available nowadays for a lot less money. Don't know about the size of the reel seats on them though, and therefore their adaptability to a fly rod.

For using fly rod off a downrigger keep these tips in mind:

- don't go lighter than a 9 foot 8 weight (and thats pushing it!)

- use 25lb or less mainline.(I use 20 lb Big Game.)

- NEVER overload the rod by holding it way over your head. You'll be tempted to do so in the final stages of landing a fish. 90 % of the time, you'll be rewarded by a loud crack and a broken rod if you succumb to the temptation.

- don't use flashers, and only put the line a maximum of about 3\4 of the way in to the clip.

- don't use the rod to pop the line off the clip to check bait etc. Rather, either let the downrigger bring it up, or grab the line with your hand and pop it that way.

- If you're going to mooch, and use a sliding weight, ALWAYS place about a 1.5 inch piece of surgical tubing above the weight sliding on the line. If not using a sliding weight, use a big idiot bead or shorter piece of tubing.

- softer, slower action rods (usually cheaper) tend to be more durable and work better than your high modulus graphite, high end rods. I've used a 9 foot, 9 weight Berkley Pro-Angler (bought for under $70.00 from Wal Mart)for about 3 years now and it seems to have lasted..

I hope this helps.

Have fun...

Gooey.

 

[siwash]

I fish a fly a rod on the downrigger often...and often with a dummy flasher...I use an 8 weight fenwick (inexpensive rods aren't as painful to break)and fenwick F912 reel (large arbour reels are better if using a fly reel to pick up mono line-otherwise it is really hard to catch up line on a fish running towards you)...I have played fish to 30# on it without too much trouble...when I am fishing the flyrod I always make sure I am using the light setting on the downrigger clip (run the clip straight off the canon ball if you're not using a dummy flasher....as far as using a spey rod I would think it would work fine except as you probably know, a little harder to land the fish and if you want to really get that light gear feel a single hander is where it's at for sure...if you're concerned about the rod not handling the pressure of trolling, it really does stand up fine (just don't pop the clip with rod or it WILL blow up)...also, don't let your friends handle the rod until it's off the rigger...trust me