Fly rod on the troll

[Dave S]

Hey peeps, I just acquired a 9' #8 Sage rod from usedvic. It came with a 3" diawa fly reel. I want to take it out and go after some coho with it. I have a few ideas on how I was planning on rigging it but I wanted to hear what you guys do. Any help is much appreciated!

Oh, I'm also wondering what kind of deal I got.....Sage Graphite II 890 DS 9'0" 3 7/8oz paired with Diawa SF708 reel and some new line. Paid $175. Rod is near mint. Reel has light wear.

 

[outback]

what # is the line?

a 3" reel is pretty little, and you will notice that when you hook into a 10 lb coho... they can take you into your backing VERY quickly. i would recomend a full sink like type VI ... i cant tell for sure but it looks like it has floating line which wont do you too much good. good fly line will run you about $80... but its worth every penny

you will find with the small diameter of the reel that if that fish starts to run towards you, it will be very hard to catch up without stripping in line. and once you start stripping the line in and that fish takes off (which Coho are well known to do) thats when problems start to occur...

by all means give it a shot. a bucktail in the wake on the fly rod is one hell of a sport, but remember fly rods are NOT built for downriggers!

by all means give it a shot

 

[seadna]

When coho are a thick as they are right now off the west coast, almost anything dragged on the surface will work. That said, a 3" long fly that is chrome/blue, or chrome/green or white/green tied in a bait fish pattern will work fine.

 

[fish stalker]

I dont know about the rod and reel but fly line is crazy expensive. I bought a beauty sage large arbor reel I am going to try out tomorrow.

 

[Dave S]

I just had another look at the reel and it measures 3.75" across. I am going to spool it with some mono over backing and run a small spoon. I am going to try setting on a light release off the down rigger. I will need to stop reel creep as well so will set another light release by the reel to stop that. I know it's not what this set up is designed for but it's gonna be fun!

Feel free to shoot holes in my plan.

 

[seadna]

Coho killers flopping on the surface in the wake can be pretty deadly. I don't think you need the down rigger to be successful especially if you're fishing on the west side of the island.

 

[scott craven]

Maybe you'll hook into a 25LB Spring and get a real workout Dave !

 

[Little Hawk]

Keep us posted Dave... this is way cool!

 

[reelfast]

mono on a fly reel is an invitation to a seized spool. you would be far and away better off with 20 or 30# braid. 'wake flying' was pioneered up at tofino and developed into a killer technique for Coho along kelp beds by one of your own inventive people. to do this, you simply troll a fly about 30' back of the boat, on the surface. you can certainly do this with braid, a swivel, mono leader, fly designed for this technique. Google around and learn about the technique and the flies. you can still find these flies in small shops on the island tied with polar bear hair. a small clevis and chrome spoon ahead of the fly adds some adidtional attraction. careful though, this is really addictive. rod is a pretty standard sage and a good one at that. reel, so, so but servicable and more than capable of dealing with salmon. go have fun.

 

[Aces]

Yes, it's fun. I've been using 8 wts off the downriggers for a few years now.

 

[Rum Buddies]

I don't know about the rod but the reel is very old and originally sold for maybe $50. I used to have one as a kid, they don't like salt water and if I remember its a clicker drag so likely won't stay put on the rigger. Can't go wrong with a sage rod though.

 

[Fisher_dude]

If you are using it to troll only, I'd just get a large arbor reel and fill it full of 40-50lb braid. Whatever you do end up doing, just remember to wash out that reel with some fresh water afterwards. Salt is hard on fly lines. I use my Sage 8100 SP and a Sage 4210 spooled up with 4-500 yards of 30lb test braid that I use for bucktailing on Okanagan lake and it's a blast!! I find that I troll more spoons with it than anything. Just make sure you put a small barrel swivel in-line somewhere if you are trolling a spoon.

 

[Big Green Machine]

mono on a fly reel is an invitation to a seized spool. you would be far and away better off with 20 or 30# braid. 'wake flying' was pioneered up at tofino and developed into a killer technique for Coho along kelp beds by one of your own inventive people. to do this, you simply troll a fly about 30' back of the boat, on the surface. you can certainly do this with braid, a swivel, mono leader, fly designed for this technique. Google around and learn about the technique and the flies. you can still find these flies in small shops on the island tied with polar bear hair. a small clevis and chrome spoon ahead of the fly adds some adidtional attraction. careful though, this is really addictive. rod is a pretty standard sage and a good one at that. reel, so, so but servicable and more than capable of dealing with salmon. go have fun.

You can still use mono, but having backing is essential. Mono stretches and contracts and that can warp your spool.

A large arbor reel is needed for adequate pick up.

We do this 'Bucktailing' on Okanagan Lake. I also run plugs and spoons off the downrigger, but with the fly rod be careful popping it off the release clip.

 

[flydon]

As Poppa Swiss mentioned, this reel and salt water are not a good mix. It is not anodized, and will really look nasty if you use it in the salt.
Don

 

[reelfast]

Art Limber is the gentleman who does bucktail flies out of polar bear. you can still find them here and there in the smaller tackle shops on the island. Shawn Bennett who used to run the show at Weigh West really perfected the technique. if you can find the flies, get your hands on them as there really is no substitute for polar bear hair, not legal down this way. once you have a grab 30' behind the boat on the surface, you are hooked for life, really exciting stuff.

 

[TenMile]

I do this from time to time as well -- my boat is even called "Bucktail" but that doesn't mean I'm particularly good at it.

As others have said, I don't think you'll like that reel much for Coho as they are likely to destroy that setup. Arbour Reel as mentioned is strongly recommended as they have a better drag setting and the larger spool is easier to retrieve. You can get a decent Akuma Arbour Reel for about $50-75 -- all aluminum. I use an 8/9wt rod and wouldn't really want to go smaller than that as I'd worry about snapping off the rod. I find that if you're Bucktailing on the surface you pretty much have to hold the rod in your hand to get a good hook set. In a rod holder, you'll see the rod go, but about 90% of the time, I find the fish has spit the hook before I can grab it.

You can also use the downrigger -- set the line well forward in the clip -- just enough to barely hold it. No flasher of course. A Coho Killer works well here as it has some good action on it's own. I find that hook ups tend to stick better on the rigger as the release will give you a set. Dont yank the line out of the clip like you would with a Mooching rod as you can risk snapping your rod - let the fish pull it off or manually do it if you are checking your gear.

 

[Falcon]

Well how did this all work out for you? Just curious