When you are first starting out fly fishing and you want to set up a new fly rod, it would be best to go to a person who knows what they are doing to get help? If that is not an option, I would recommend doing the following because you will have to learn this eventually anyway.
If you bought the package deal, then most of the time, everything should be matched up. However, there are some companies out there that don’t know what they are doing when it comes to matching fly fishing equipment so be aware of this.
However, if you bought separate pieces, then I hope someone guided you through the purchas. Knowing what “Weight” of rod you got is important. This weight I am referring to is not the actual weight of the rod but the weight of the fly line that this particular rod is designed for in order to get the best performance from the rod.
The first determining factor that you have to take into consideration when selecting a fly rod is what kind of fish are you planning on going for? Are you going for salmon and if so are you planning on salt water or fresh water? Or are you going for pan fry or small trout?
Once you know what type of fish you are going for, then you can check out the following chart.
| Fly Line Weight | Type of Fish |
| 1 to 3 | Small trout, panfish any other small fish |
| 4 | Small to medium sized trout or other similarly sized fish |
| 5 to 6 | All sized trout except the smallest or the largest, Also adequate for small bass |
| 7 to 8 | Large trout and bass and some saltwater fishing |
| 9 to 14 | Mainly saltwater fishing and for salmon and steelhead |
Once you have decided what type of fish you’re going after, can you decide on the weight of rod that you’re going to need. The weight of the line should match the rod.
As well, your reel must match up fairly close to Rod. Each reel is designed for specific weights. For example, they will have designators on them indicating that they are meant for a 2 to 3 weight rod, a five or six weight rod or a 7 to 8 weight rod. the reason they must match is because if you picked a 2 to 3 weight real and tried to put it on a six weight rod, the line that you chose for the rod will not fit on the reel and you won’t have any room on the reel for backing or anything else. Not to mention that the reel is designed to help balance the rod making casting easier.
After you have your rod, reel and line matched up, it is time to get your setup ready. You will have to put the backing onto your reel first. You want to have at least one guide to put your backing through before you tie you it to the reel, so make sure you thread the backing and later the line through a guide. Some rods require you to put two pieces together to get a guide to use.
The line has to come off the bottom of the reel. Let’s say you are right handed and decided to reel in with your left hand (best choice). Tie the backing on so the line comes onto the reel from the bottom front and wraps up behind the reel then back out the top front, tie your arbor knot. If you don’t know the fly fishermans knots yet, no worry. There are lots of sites on the internet that can show you how to tie the many knots that the average fly fisherman uses. Check at the bottom of this post.
Reel in all of your backing if it is a complete outfit, otherwise you will have to play around with finding the right amount of backing. The papers that came with your reel should tell you how much backing in 20 pound Dacron or 30 pound Dacron your reel will take, but how are you to know how much you have reeled on? (I usually take my reel to my local fly shop and have them load it for me).
The backing serves two purposes. First, it helps fill the reel with line so your fly line does not have to be wound up in such small circles (that really causes a problem with the line). Also, if you hook into a big one or hook a tree or rock then you have some extra line to play with to get to shore or back up to where you snagged up the line. Fly lines are expensive and you do not want to be loosing those.
You now have the backing tied onto your line. Usually there is a little tag that mentions which end should be tied to the backing. If not, then if you are using a weight forward line, the backing gets tied to the end that has the really long and slender line. The other end has a very short slender line then very quickly thickens up, then slowly thins back down. That is the end you tie your leader onto.
So, tie your backing onto your fly line and now you need to reel it in. I prefer to take a small long box and punch a pencil or small 1/4 inch dowel through one side, push on your lines plastic holder then push the pencil out the other side. Now your line will come off the spool nice and straight and not twist on you.
Once you have reeled in all the line, now you will find out if you used too much backing because your line will not fit smoothly onto the reel. Best bet, strip your line out, and then take off some backing, cut it and tie the line back onto the backing and reel it in again.
For now, use the nail knot to tie the mono to your line for your leader. The thicker the leader, the fewer the wraps you need to form a nail knot, but the rule of thumb is 4 or 5 turns. You can buy a Nail Knot Tool
For a short piece of mono I have often just cut off a foot of my leader, the thick end, and tied it to my line, then tied in a small loop using a Perfection Loop knot. If the leader came with a loop, then you have a built in loop, but you will then have to tie a Perfection Knot loop back into your leader.
It is important that this short, 4 to 5 inch piece of leader be just about as thick as the line, you can not use a real limp and small size piece of mono. If you do you will not be able to transfer the power of the cast into your leader.
If you are going to tie on a tippet to the other end of the leader I suggest learning the Blood Knot or the Improved Surgeon’s Knot. The blood knot may be the best one to use.
When putting the rod together, line up the guides and push the pieces together with an equal amount of pressure from both hands. The guides have to line up for proper casting. After an hour or so of casting, make sure you test the sections to keep them from slowly coming apart.
Now tie on a small piece of yarn and learn how to cast.
Popular Knot Tying Sites
Animated Knots
Killroys Knots
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