Dads Fly Gear

[Bill B]

After the AT.com 15th Annual Moss Landing trip the wife and I continued north to see my mom and collect the rest of his fishing gear.  Dad never fly fished that I know of, he was more into bass and trout on spinners and bait casters. 

I sent a few photographs to Wayne and he educated me on some of it, I now know 100% more than I knew before Wayne educated me. 

What I am really curious about are the flies.  These are at least 60 years old. I remember them all through my childhood.  Can any of the Ohana educate us all on what I have here.  The rod is an Eagle Claw No. WT300 and 8' in length.  The first guide is a traditional guidde and the rest are the single loop fly guides.  Also looking at the reels, which would you use.  I do have some spongy green fly line, but sadly no leaders.

I plan on experiencing the Darkside and try my hand at fly fishing here on the local lakes and ponds, where trout, bluegill, catfish, and bass hang out.  Bill

[jurelometer]

The labeled flies are mostly dry.  Look like a couple wet flies too.  Old classics.  If trout are feeding on the surface, dries (and wets) about the same size  and profile (for the fish looking up) as what they are feeding on should work.  Most of the color and material variations are for catching humans.  There are more modern post/parachute versions of the dries that fish a bit better, but if your goal is to use Dad's gear, the trout haven't evolved, so these flies should still work.  Might want to freshen up the thread with a tiny bit of nail polish.

There are various dips and dressings (AKA floatants)  used to keep dries dry.

Dries like that will catch panfish, but they are primarily used for  trout visibly feeding on the surface.

That one with the spun deer hair  head is a muddler style.  It is fished sub -surface and is supposed to represent sculpin type prey, or anything bulky and without much wiggle.

Not sure what those long shank patterns are.  They are some type of streamer, also meant to be fished sub-surface, usually  with an active retrieve. 

That black bead head is a type of nymph.  These will drop down a bit.  Nymphs catch everything that you will be chasing in a pond or stream.  That is what I  would try first if I was out to harass  some bluegills, bass, trout etc.  in still water.

If you are going to buy a fly or two, look for some bead head wooly buggers, maybe in olive.  

In still waters, let the nymphs drop down to where the fish are hanging and slowly nudge, pause, nudge, nudge, pause...

-J

[Swami805]

The red and yellow ones look like a "lucky joe" for catching mackerel, old school sabiki.

[Bill B]

Cool beans.  I now know 200% more than when I started, but 100% more confused.  No worries though, it's fishing nothing to stress about 🤣. Bill

[CI_Seawolf]

Bill, those no knot eyelets are meant to eliminate a nail not from leader to fly line.  They stick in the fly line and have barbs to hold them in the line.  Most modern lines have loops at the ends for your leader to attach to via a perfection loop knot on the heavy end of a tapered leader.  Those old glass fly rods are a pretty slow action, they take some time to learn to cast on. 

[jurelometer]

Bill, those no knot eyelets are meant to eliminate a nail not from leader to fly line.  They stick in the fly line and have barbs to hold them in the line.  Most modern lines have loops at the ends for your leader to attach to via a perfection loop knot on the heavy end of a tapered leader.  Those old glass fly rods are a pretty slow action, they take some time to learn to cast on. 

Ooh, didn't see those.

Definitely toss the eyelets. 

There are a couple ways to attach a leader to a fly line without integrated loops, but the simplest approach is to simply nail knot the leader to the line.  If the leader needs replacement, you can redo the nail knot, or simply cut down the old leader to a foot or so, tie a loop in the end, and loop to loop the new leader. 

Nonslip loop knot is my preference, because the tag does not stick out 90 degrees, like with a perfection loop.

Those fly lines will be coated with PVC, and the plasticizers leach out over time.  Check for cracks.  If the coating  is cracked, the line is toast.  Any cheap double taper fly line of the right size will be fine for starting out with an old trout outfit.

Welded loops on fly lines started out pretty terrible.  They are  much more reliable and durable now, but many folk, especially the trout guys, will cut off the loops under the belief that they will get less plopping, better drifts, and a straighter layout on the cast. If you buy a line with them, I would leave them on.

At least for me, casting an old fiberglass rod is not so difficult. You just have to work within its power limit. The tip of the rod carries more mass and is less springy than modern carbon fiber, so it can  oscillate more at the finish of the casting stroke (I.e., Cl_Seawolf's "slow action"). But the lower section will also load more readily- which helps with learning how to cast properly. I think that folk that started with carbon fiber rods have more difficulty, because the casting stroke that they are used to using needs some adjustment.

The standard way to teach casting ingrains a specific motion pattern, like learning a golf swing.  Meh...  I am closer to the Lefty Kreh teaching camp.  Learn what you want to make the fly line do, learn how the moving fly line is showing you what you are actually doing, and then start casting.  Very little on the specific  motion patterns.  You will have the basic tools to throw more types of flies, on more types of lines, on more types of gear, in more types of conditions. And in both directions.

Give it a shot! Accomplished conventional reel casters can often become competent fly casters in less than an hour.  Spinning reel guys are more of a challenge

-J