After doing alittle research I have this question:

Can you cast longer distances with a flyrod vs a normal surfcasting setup?

ummmm.......I don't fly fish........but



......I HIGHLY DOUBT IT .......;)

...think about that plum, you can really load up on a spinning or conventional......but on a fly...(your lobbing right)???....

Well, I understand your point....
I know you can get a fly out 50 to 100ft with the casting/whipping action. I can't do that with a normal rod.
Maybe I just need more help with "casting"....

Kev, maybe you are not using compatible equipment. You should be able to cast more than 100 feet with a cecent size plug or jig.

The rod should have a reel that balances well with it and use a line within the rating for the rod. If the rod is rated for 3-6 oz plugs and you are trying to cast 1-2 oz. , it will not load the rod to help catapult so to speak the plug out when you cast.
Something must not be right.

Best thing to do is ask questions out on the beach or go with someone from a club if you join one, you should be able to find someone willing to get you headed in the right direction.

Hello There I fish using fly, conventional and sometimes spinning gear. If you are looking for distance I will suggest conventional hands down, fly equipment next and lastly spinning. I have had great results with my Ben Dorr 10' with a Abu 6500. Just my .02 cents.

Where were you doing your research?

I'm sorry I mixed up everything here.
I did research from books and the internet, but
I mixed up the flyrod with the normal rod. My mistake.

PS:
Where can I get a fly tying kit?

Plum Ireland Stripers, please e-mail me at PROandKaaT@aol.com
I'm from Plum Island area, so maybe we can go flyfishing together sometime. Hope to hear from you.

there's somethin fishy goin on here....;)

...........Hook, Line and sinker?

Plum, if this is for real, I have some advice for you. Flycasting is a fairly tough way to fish from the surf... especially for a novice. Although distance is not always important, a nice breeze in your face and its hard even to get your leader to roll out correctly.

Catching saltwater fish on a fly is a challenge even for experts. Whether its stripers, tarpon, redfish or sailfish, I think most people agree that the fly is the biggest challenge. There are times when the size and action of the fly allow you to better match the bait the fish are on, but for the most part, it can be tough.

I really believe the natural progression of things is to start with the basics and try and learn a little about the fish and their habits and habitat. Spinning equipment is the easiest for beginners. Conventional/baitcasting equipment takes some more work, but gets you more distance on casts and better control of your bait/lure. Get a practice casting plug, go out in the yard and put some work in. Better to do it while NOT fishing so you can concentrate of your technique.

Work on your casting, your set up and your presentation. Catch some fish.

As for a fly tying kit... hey, I'm not trying to discourage you, but its a pretty big leap for someone who didn't even seem to have a rod or know how to tie a knot, up to tying successful flies to match baitfish you don't know much about.

Hey, I've been fishing alot since I was a kid. I fished freshwater bass, trout, etc. Bait, artificials, flies. I can honestly say I'd been seriously fishing for over 15 years before I started in the salt. Even though I knew most of the knots, how to cast, types of lures, so on, there was/is still a big learning curve. There are a ton of factors that go into all this. Rod, reel, line, lures/bait, season, wind & weather, tides, structure, presence of forage. Its gonna take some time to work it all in. And even if you think you know all this stuff, you can still get stomped on by those fish. Ask some of the ol' salts on this site... you can feel real dumb out there when the fish are breakin' all around you and you've tried everything in your tackle box and they just won't hit.

Again, I'm not trying to discourage you... You just don't want to set yourself up for frustration and failure. Don't try to drive before you know how to start the car. Know where I'm coming from.

Now, if this is all a bunch of horse-dung... I've got some advice for you too. We've had plenty of BS on the board before. This is taking on that tone a bit. I apologize if that's not the case, I'm not trying to alienate you... it just sounds familiar.

If you're being straight, keep asking questions, keep your eyes open when you're out there... read the books and magazines. Most of all, get out there and fish.

Kev, you're putting the cart before the horse. I've seen this all too often before so I'm being very sincere when I say to keep it simple and not try to tackle too many things.

I suspect that you are looking and reading too much stuff from too many sources and each one says something like "If you wanna catch fish, you hafta do this". Well, if you listen to 300 different opinions and try 50 different things, you'll master none and frustrate yourself in the process. No matter how many tips & tricks you pick up along the way, there is no substitute for time on the water. Places like this can help shorten the learning curve and maybe steer you away from some of the mistakes we've made on the way, but there is ZERO substitute for time spent learning a particular trick by spending time on the water.

Stick with a decent surf stick matched to a decent reel with good line, develop a smooth cast qnd you'll be suprised how far and well you can cast in a short time. The key to basic casting is a smooth arc that loads up the rod, stores that energy, and then releases all of the energy built up to send whatever your casting to the distance AND location that you want. Seriously keep things simple and work on one major skill at a time and progress to the more difficult methods after you've had success with the more standard methods. It will make a tremendous difference in your enjoying fishing the surf or getting frustrated and hating it...

Good luck,,
John

Originally posted by schoolie monster
Now, if this is all a bunch of horse-dung... I've got some advice for you too. We've had plenty of BS on the board before. This is taking on that tone a bit. I apologize if that's not the case, I'm not trying to alienate you... it just sounds familiar.




I'm not trying to start anything here. I'm new to surfcasting and saltwater flyfishing, and I'm asking a lot of questions. Some stupid, some not. You can ONLY learn from asking questions, and doing it. So I'm practicing, and asking questions. Maybe John should add a NEW area of these boards for "newbies only". This way this won't happen. Ya know?!?!?! Once we get a grib on the way things go,etc....we can gain access to these boards.

Plum, not at all, you are in the right place to ask questions... this is the right place to learn and I'm not offended and no one else should be offended by your asking...

I was giving you serious advice... 95% of my post was intended to help. John is 100% right. If you come in with huge expectations and trying to do too much, you'll likely give it up as a bad idea. In the computer field we have a saying when troubleshooting... KISS... keep it simple stupid.

I know these things because in the last few years I've done alot of totally new things. Its all fresh in my mind.

I started a totally new career from scratch.
I started saltwater fishing 60-80 times a year.
I am a first time house owner.
I am a first time father.

I've done all this at once and this is alot to manage. Things get crazy, but I try to keep things simple.

I think the same goes for getting started in fishing or anything else for that matter. Keep things simple. Its daunting to step onto a beach and look out a huge ocean and try and catch fish... If you have 2 dozen lures in the bag, what do you throw? where do you start?

I say, start with maybe 3 or 4 proven things. Example... my first year I fished alot for schoolies (still do). I focused on two main lures. Plastic shads for fishing the water column, poppers on top. For large, I fished almost exclusively eels, some chunk bait. That's it. I had great days, I had days were I struggled alot. But I spent my time fishing, not guessing what to try.

What do people catch 80% (I'm big on %'s today) of their fish on? That's not hard to find out. Focus on those few things. Take as many variables out of the equation as possible. Don't try to learn everything at once.

The "horse-dung" comment was meant only to say that we are fairly good at recognizing BS from prior experience. And when someone asks for help about tying knots and casting one minute and is ready to tie flies the next... I'm just shooting straight with you, it sounds like BS. I'm not trying to push you away from the board or from fishing.

Cool?

Plum - don't fret about it but I think I see what's happening here. You are asking some basic questions and after some people offer their advise, you seem to maintain your original plan and say you are going to do what you originally wanted to do anyway. That's OK as long as you understand that you are asking for advice and then kinda sorta rejecting it. Nobody requires you to use a particular recommended method but everyone here, regardless of current skills & abilities had to start somewhere. Now with all of books and sites and clubs, it is possible for you to not make all of the mistakes we made when we really got into it too.

Surffishing is truly a blast when you can make it work for you and it can be EXTREMELY frustrating when it doesn't work.

As far as when people say that some of your posts have an odd but familiar tone to them, some people in the past have made a habit out of trying to run before they could walk and offering all kinds of different approaches to catching fish that were really unneccesary and maybe even a bad way to go fishing. I don't think you are trying to be confrontational about it but I do think you may be trying to learn and do too much from the beginning. You also seem to quickly reject others sound recommendations pretty quickly. I want to say again that I am truly trying to be sincere in helping you here.

To give you an example, a couple weeks ago, you asked if you should use a sinker ahead of a jig to cast better and then to fish a particular depth and style. Just about everyone readily agreed that although it might work in some cases, the far better approach would be to just use a bigger jig suited for the kind of fishing you're talking about. You then said you would try your method anyway and asked for everyone to agree that your way should work anyway. Several people recommended that your way would not be the best for several good & sound reasons and tried to offer you the conventional approach which has developed and worked for generations. You implied (well the way a lot of us read into it) that since you had all these 1 ounce jigs & sinkers you would try it instead of using the recommendations others offered. Now that's OK, you can do what you want, but just understand that experementing with different ideas before you have the basics under your belt can easily lead to an unsaitsfactory fishing experience for you. And advocating those ideas against the recommendations of people that have varying time in years and in some cases decades of fishing the suds will cause a lot of people with time in fishing to shake their heads knowing you are probably going to do things wrong for the sake of doing things your way. That's OK, that's you choice, but others may take offering their guidance less seriously if you are going to reject or diminish their sound advise.

Please understand that the BEST way to surf fish is to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy fishing from the surf or if you try to do too many things at once that don't work, you could easily end up hating it and short changing yourself because it really truly is one of life's greatest pleasures.

Good luck & hope this helps,

John

I really understand what your saying John :) THANKS!!!!!!!!!

I have checked around, and to be honest. This is the best place for advice and help. I want to THANK EVERYONE for helping me out in my time of need. It means a lot.