Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Flyfishing with a Spinning Reel/Rod

This may be blasphemy in some eyes, but I'm just wonderng if anyone has ever used their spinning rod/reel for fishing with flies? Just thinking about trying it for brushy streams, or for when using the kayak and floating over really thick weeds or lily pads. Panfish and Bass seem like they might go after something like this. Any suggestions? I'm not ready to go out and buy more high priced equipment (i.e. another rod/reel), and would like to try and get some more out of a really nice setup that I currently have. Anyone have some insight on this non-traditional approach?

It is possible. I would suggest a small casting bubble hooked about 3 feet up your line and then throw any fly you want.

Don't sweat the blasphemous fly fishing technique, it works. Being a purist can get in the way of catching fish. Sometimes a spinning rig fishes flies better than a fly rod because you can cast so much farther. I've caught sacks of trout, most released, on flies cast with a back packed spinning rod. Almost of all of those were caught by using the casting bubble. There are several types of bubble, and my preference is the teardrop with an eye at each end. Tie the small end to the terminal end of your line, then tie a leader to the big end of the bubble. I mostly use clear bubbles, but the yellow or orange ones are easier to see in poor light, and I use the larger ones that cast easier rather than the small bubbles. We fish awfully clear water so I tie on as long a leader as I can cast, about rod length.
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<br>The bubble leads the way on the cast of course, which means the leader and fly are whipping back along the line and are likely to wrap around it and tangle. So, just before the cast splashes down, I feather the outgoing line by pressing my finger lightly on the rim of the spinning reel spool, or even stop it by grabbing it and lifting the rod tip sharply if needed. The idea is to get the line to straighten in the air just before it lands, putting the fly out beyond the bubble where it won't tangle (and incidentally, making it more appealing to a fish the instant it lands.)
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<br>I fish almost exclusively dry flies on or in the surface film, but have used wet flies with this rig. A few times I have used a split shot and no bubble to fish deeper but don't like it much. In the right situation that could be excellent however.
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<br>Several times I've had big trout hit the bubble, and I think that would be even more likely with bass. I've never put a hook on the bubble but it would be easy with a split ring on the big, trailing end. One evening in the fading sunset flare on mirror water, a really big trout inhaled the bubble and took it deep. I waited a bit, tied on the biggest fly I had, a deerhair concoction the size of a 3/4 grown mouse, and dragged that fly past the submerged log where he had hit. Alligator splash on the take, great fight... wish I could say I landed him but he came off after a minute. I helped weight an 11 lb rainbow from that lake and he was in that class from what I saw. Good luck.

OK, I confess. I've not only used spinning gear with flys, I've used my fly rod to fish.....bait.
<br> Laugh all you want to. It works.
<br> In my book, the fly rod is the King of the Stream Rods. It enables you to fish up close, with excellent line control, and with the right set up, cast over 100 feet.
<br> For use with a spinning rod, the above is good. I've been known to use a floating Rapala instead of a casting bubble.
<br> Or tie on a leader with a blood knot. Leave one of the tag ends of the blood knot long. Attach your fly to that. Then use a casting bubble. BTW, I like the casting bubbles that one can partially fill with water. Makes them heavy.
<br> If you want to use a spinning rod for bait fishing up close, as in a stream, use a cheap fly reel. Looks funny, but it works.
<br> Big flys ? Of course. Try trolling a fly from a rowed boat.
<br> Roll cast pickups ?
<br> I hooked my biggest Steelhead with a roll cast pickup, and a change of direction cast.
<br> It's lots of fun being imaginative with a fly rod. They are very flexable. E

I've got a friend that says this all can't be done, as he's tried without success. I picked myself up a mini waterfilled casting bubble, so I'll have to try that to see if I can get the hang of it. The complaint he had was that the splash of the bubble could spook fish, and he just didn't have a good success rate with it. I'm determined to find a way though, just to show that it can be done! Is there any difference between the splash of the casting bubble and the splash of the large fly line?
<br>Thanks for the suggestions so far...

Do you have any problems with snags when using the floating rapala? What size? How would a fly reel attatch to the spinning rod? They screw on like a spinning reel? If so, that could be a fun option. So when I'm casting with a bubble, my lure will land in the water behind the bubble, correct?

Tacticalsquirrel, just my opinion but I think the splash can be positive, negative or in most cases neutral. If fish are real spooky from heavy fishing or other reason, splash is bad and you may need the eastern delicate presentation. On the other hand, in certain bass situations and for big trout in places where they eat frogs, baby ducks and mice, a splash is a come to dinner call. I'd suspect that there is more to why your friend isn't catching fish than the splash.
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<br>Also, cutthroats in crystal clear high lakes are real spooky by nature, but in my experience, that just means that after you catch the first one, you have to move or wait several minutes without fishing before another will bite at that spot.
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<br>Eremicus, you are a downright heretic and sound like you'd be fun to fish a creek with. I prefer a long flyrod for creek fishing, and almost never actually cast in such situations, which are usually brushy. Just poke the rod tip where you want the lure and lower line to where you want it. That's why I like a long rod, to reach pockets and holes in the brush without casting. A great technique is to tie a bare hook with worm on the end of leader or better, on the end of mono line, with a split shot a foot or a little more above it. Then poke the rod tip into the water to the depth of the fish, like one holding back under a log, and let out line, allowing the current to take the bait to the fish's nose. I often use a small spin reel on a fly rod in such situations.

WHILE fishing in wyoming once i ran into a guy using the clear plastic floats with a spinning rod and reel. the fly was a platte river special (streamer). he filled the float completely with water and the bubble took its time but sank gradually. this was fishing in a lake. i have used a float and wet fly on a spinning rod often fishing for bluegill when there are more than 2 people in my boat. i have taught quite a few youngsters to fish using the float and wet fly combo. i bought the clear floats at cabelas. the one i like best has a rubber tube that runs inside of it.
<br> while fishing with a friend who doesn't fly fish i tied a plain piece of wooden stick above his fly. the stick was for weight and worked in the pinch.
<br> i like the idea of the rapala and dropper. just like the two fly cast it is possible to catch fish on either. i've used the dry fly with nymph dropper on yellowstone lake with some success. these combos can be a pain because of the tangles that i inevitably incurr but sometimes it's worth the aggrivation!

Would the pound test weight of the line make much difference in tossing the flies? What would work the best?

Regarding lb. test of line for casting flies with a spin rig, each of us will have different experiences for fishing different situations. I'd go with as light a line as your fishing situation will allow. Light line casts better, presents a lure more naturally, and there is no doubt in my mind that fish hit better with light lines. A brushy, snaggy stream doesn't allow room for light line, but in open lakes or broad rivers, you have room for a fish to run and you can finesse him with light line. I've caught a 26 lb. chinook with a trout rod and six lb. line from a boat in salt water, but in small steelhead rivers and some bass situations, 20 lb. line is a good idea. My fishing with flies and casting bubble has only been for trout in the NW, up into BC. I think 8lb. line and six lb. leader has been my max. and more usually, six lb. line and four lb. leader, and some 4lb. line and leader in high lakes where the trout aren't big. I've caught trout to about 4 lbs. on this rig and there is fair chance of hooking bigger ones so I don't go any lighter
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<br>One time I tied a leader to a spoon with a fly trailing it, and caught a few fish, but had tangle troubles. The floating rapala has some great merit and I will try that one of these days.
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<br>This late afternoon I'm trying to decide whether to go after salmon till dark. Lots of big fish in the river but they just aren't biting, and the river is in flood stage so high it is over roads and I can paddle my kayak through the riverbottom forest, way up in the trees.

Out here in Kalifornia, we often use heavy wire/weighted flys that feel like lead shot and sink like them.
<br> You drop them right down the back side of a rock from a range of 3-6 feet. In otherwords you wade up behind the rock, and lobe them in. No casting as taught in the fly fishing schools. The trick is to wade to where the other fishermen don't, and then do this. You can use bait as well. Since flys work as well, I don't bother with bait.
<br> Lots of my friends tell me they lobe the fly and bubble out and just keep the line tight. You don't really reel it in. Since I use a small floating lure, I do reel it slowly in a stop & go pattern. Like a feeding minnow.
<br> Or, one just wades down, or up, stream, and quater the white water sections. Not the pools and runs. The fish, in the summertime, tend to be in the white water sections where the bait and lure fishermen get hung up and then refuse to fish. More oxygen and cover there. And the fish are far less spooky. E
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What size rapala did you find worked? Floating one or sinking? I'm thinking abou trying that one. Have any problems with it catching the line and twisting everything around?

I prefer the floating lures. I put the fly on a dropper. Cut your line. Or tie on a leader with a blood knot. Leave a tag end 1/3 to 1/2 the lenth of your leader and attach the fly. That way, it stays out of the way of the "casting weight" lure. E

I've used a fly reel and fly line on a 6' 6" spinning rod 'cos of thick brush along streams and rivers here in New Zealand. Plus a light mono on a spinning rod on a fly rod as well. Course fishers in the UK use this method with huge success. If you think it might work use it. You have nothing to loose and it might just surprise you.
<br>Lindsay Thompson
<br>www.colonials.co.nz
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My pop used bait also and I tease him about it too. I still had as many bites as him on an egg gob fly.