New to fishing, need some help

Phew, big, subject. :o)

Firstly traditional fly fishing tends to use a reel, the Japanese style called tenkara doesn't and is probably the style you've seen talked about on this site.
You don't have to stand in the water, just near enough to be able to cast a line to where the fish are holed up. Of course this can mean getting your feet wet in the process.

The idea of using a fishing rod and not just a stick is that the rod enables you to flick the line out further and more accurately. A rod also absorbs the power from a running fish and enables you to "play" the fish into the bank without it bumping off the hook.

I'd probably say the most important part of this type of fishing is being able to get near the fish without completely spooking them as you don't have the luxury of being able to cast long distances. If you haven't already, it may be a good idea to get yourself a pair of polarised specs and just try and find and then get close to groups of fish without them seeing you.

I can't comment on what type of permits etc you'll need where you are. I'm from the UK and it's fairly prohibitive, so I envy folk who can backpack, fish and eat their catch freely!

Good luck anyhow!

Where do you live? Where will you be fishing? What type of fish?

gofastandlight.com sells a great, light backpacking setup for under $18. I won't recommend it to you, though, without knowing answers to the above….

Thanks for the tips on how it works. The main reason I wanted to know if you have to stand in the water is because lots of places the water is freezing that it burns just after a few seconds of standing in it.

I live in southern cali, and probably most of the fishing will be done in the sierras from south west and north west of mammoth/ bishop area. I am guessing most the fish is trout?

not sure if fly fishing will be my thing, maybe something along the lines of cast in a line and pull out a big fish for dinner lol.

I had a chance to check out the rods on gofastandlight and they look pretty stout. would those work good for where I described going? or would the fly fishing work better?

Hi Paul,

While the rod looks like a toy, it performed wonderfully for me in the Holy Cross Wilderness of Colorado two weeks ago! I caught quite a few trout (none bigger than 8", but that wasn't the rod's fault :) ) and didn't have any problems.

That said, it should work for trout in rivers and lakes where you don't expect truly big fish.

I used the fly/clear bobber setup and small spinners. both caught fish. Since you have little experience it shouldn't be a big deal, but the short rod definitely casts a shorter distance than any other setup I've used.

If the casting limitation doesn't bother you, then I say buy one! Show us pics!!!!!!!

Paul, get yourself some neoprene socks.

You could go with the fastandlight setup, which weighs in at 7.2oz, but it only extends to 3 feet, so your casting range would be greatly limited. I have an old shimano rod + reel combo that only weighs 7.5oz with line, and its a 5 foot rod, so I can get some decent casts out of it.

You could also try the eagle claw fiberglass rods. These are even more lightweight that mine, and I know at least a few people on here use them. Also very cheap, under $20 at Cabelas.

I wouldn't put much money into it until you know that you enjoy it and you be will places where you actually get a chance to use it.
Depending upon where I'm going, I take either a 5-piece bamboo fly rod and reel (I don't know what it weighs, but not much) or my inexpensive telescoping Shakespeare rod and reel. It weighs less than 8 oz. ready to go. I'm pretty sure that it cost me less than $20 and has lasted years, and years and years………….

Yeah, I dont want to dump to much money in to it right away and $20 for a rod and reel is super cheap. my only concern is that things are going to start adding up in weight. I want to keep everything as light as possible. even if I have to spend a little extra money on the rod and reel. any other good suggestions?
Thanks guys

One of the lightest/cheapest options you are going to find is Shakesphere's "Alpha 20" reel. It can be found for about $10, and the claimed weight is 5oz. Thats even lighter than my tiny shimano reel, so its a pretty good deal. Who knows if the claimed weight is realistic, but it should be in the ballpark.

My recommendation would be a small 5-6oz reel, and the eagle claw fiberglass rods, for a total weight of around 8oz. Thats about the lightest spinning combo you are going to get without going with the small pen rods.