Ross Flycast reel review

I recently purchased a Ross Flycast reel for a 4 weight Scott A3 rod.  I own a Ross Flyrise that I am pleased with, and mistakenly thought I was buying the same reel in a different size.  The Flycast retails for around $80 where the Flyrise retails for close to $100.

Ross Flyrise

Ross Flycast

The Flycast is no where near the quality of the Flyrise in my opinion.  It doesn't reel as smoothly, it's made of cheaper material, and it looks cheap.  It was advertised as a mid-arbor reel, but seems like a run of the mill small fly reel.  I have been pleased with my Flyrise, and Ross customer service was excellent on a repair caused from a fall on the river, however, the Flycast is probably more comparable to Ross' entry level Flystart reel than the Flyrise.  The Flycast does not pair well with my Scott A3.  It feels kind of like having hub caps on a BMW.  I am going to sell the Ross Flycast, and have already purchased a Lamson Konic that I have yet to hold (20% off, $99)

 I rarely pay full price for anything, and bought the Flyrise on sale for $80 a year ago, and the Flycast for $50 off of ebay.  Honestly, for fifty bucks, it's not a bad reel, but I don't think it is worth $80. I think I would buy the Okuma Sierra reel before the Ross Flycast, and you can pick them up for around $50.  I'll let you know what I think of the Lamson Konic when I get to fish and review it.

Lamson Konic

Best Catch Ever

Trophies

The fam went for a quick fall hike after church.  I squeezed in 30 minutes of delayed harvest (stocked, catch and release this time of year) fishing just off the parking lot that we hiked from. Blair and I picked up some nice pictures along the way.

We hiked past some wild water on the way to our destination. I didn't fish it today, but we took some photos.

toxic

Fresh Fall Fishing

I netted 2 hours on a little wild stream nearby Saturday.  It was 44 degrees in Shelby Saturday morning, but it was probably upper 50's in the mountains when my buddy Micah and I stepped in the water around 11:30am.  The stream was low and clear, the sky was a cloudless Carolina blue, and the leaves were already beginning to show their fall color.  As soon as my boot hit the river bed I stopped second guessing if this short time on the water would be worth the effort.  Just to stand in the stream, even without a fly rod, on this perfect fall day would have been worth it.

I spooked some fish walking too confidently in the first hole, before I realized just how low the water was. This hole has always been a numbers hole, but I have never caught a fish of note worthy size in it.  Today I saw two fish much bigger than I anticipated there. I still landed this nice bow and 2 others from the upper stretch of the hole despite my initial sloppy wading.

I fished a big stimulator with a red #16 bh copper john dropper.  I picked up 7 fish, and 2 of those were on the stimi.  The fish above was the first, and biggest fish of the day.  She took the bead head within my first 5 minutes on the water and was about 12 inches or more. Micah fished a double nymph rig, with a brown latex and natural cdc and wood duck soft hackled bh caddis larvae followed by a little #18 bh blue and silver pt.  I think he had more consistent action on the deeper runs with his set up, but it was hard to fish in the shallow runs due to its weight.

Good time on the agua.