Fly Rod...

[anthonyebola]

 My Parents who don't know much about fishing just got me a  new fly rod.  Its a 2 piece 8'6 rod made by Cabelas.... what type of real should I use with it, and what type of fishing is it made for?
Any help will be appreciated
-espo

[jacksmelt]

what weight is it? go in cabelas catalog and find the same rod w/ your rods dimensions and weight. they should have a recommedation writen there. if not after you find the rod weight go to a fishing shop or walmart. they can recommed what size reel to use. should be written on the reel box also. the scientific angler reels at walmart are pretty good for the money. w/ a 8'6'' rod i assume a midsized reel would be the one that would work.also make sure you match the line weight to your rod weight. go w/ rocket tapered line if you want to cast a distance. buy the best line you can afford. hope i helped. good luck!

[MickeyFinn]

I would bet it is a 5 wt or 5/6 wt but most likely it is a 5. It is a pretty common rod size. Always match your reel wt with your rod wt. If the rod says 5 wt get a  5 wt reel. When it comes to line and your dealing with a rod that has multiple wt's (sizes) my experience has been to go with the heavier size of the 2 wt's. Typicaly it will cast much better. As far as what line to get that will be dependant on what fishing situations you will encounter the most, are you going to be a hatch fisherman or an attractor pattern guy. My advice after trying every fly line ever made is to go with a weight forward (WF). Don't go buying a 50-75 dollar fly line  and find out it's not what you want. Sceintific angler makes some relatively affordable fly line in which you can buy 3 different performing lines for the price of one high end line. The thing is with fly line is your not paying for a line that cast better than the other brand, new out of the box. Your paying for durability, go cheap at first to find out what suits you  then upgrade.

[Buckski]

Anthony weight or rod and application?
If your gonna fish for steelies or salmon, I like the weight forward line the best like finn said. I use the SA line it was cheap and still have not replace it in years. I don't know why by I use 6wt on a 7wt rod I like the results, casts nice and hit the water better than the same line but on 8wt which I have on a st croix 9wt salmon rod.

Depends alot on the application, some guys have several reels and a dif. line on each.

[MasterAngler]

Also get a reel with changable line cartridges so you can use a couple different lines on one reel if you want, maybe not right now but you may in the future.  You may want afew different lines such as floating, sink tip, and full sink, and maybe at different sink rates for the sinking lines.  Its nice to be able to just change a cartridge rather than buying a few reels.  Another option to that would be to get a line with interchangeable tip sections. 

[tbone]

I use a 5wt still water with a 5 forward weight interchangable sink or float tip dragonfly reel.

I might even go to a 4wt sage before the seasons over so i can feel all the action, but as long as the line weight matches the rod  you'll do just fine...CHeers

[anthonyebola]

thanks alot guys