Didn't see another fishing thread in this subforum so I'm assuming talking about non fly-fishing is ok as well.

I went trout fishing last week and it was pretty relaxing, enjoyable and fun so I'm concidering taking up the hobby. The available rods, reels and so forth are a tad bit overwhelming. I enjoyed trolling the most [insert joke here] so that's what I want to do mostly in local lakes containing trout.

I really don't know if brands tend to be global or local so dunno how helpfull a mostly US audience can really be but here's the rod+reel I have in mind, budget roughly 70+70 Euro tops.

Rod: Really dunno, currently looking at Exori Trout Project (the Sensitip-X looks good) stuff and Balzer (Diablo VI) and maybe Shimano. Probably ~3m
Reel: Tica Dynaspin (GH2000)

FWIW I used Power Bait and galleria mellonella maggots last time and want to stick with that.

Pretty much any info would be appreciated

Rods I think can be pretty localized and you shouldn't have trouble finding a solid, graphite rod basically anywhere in the world. Reels--for niche applications there may be "better" reels (a lot of it is in the eye of the beholder) but you will be hard-pressed to go wrong with Shimanos. They have fantastic customer service as well. I sent in two of my Sustain spinning reels last year ($30 charge per reel) and they sent me back one brand new one, and put brand new gears/bearings into the other. I would say they have flat out replaced over 10 reels for me; all for the same service fee for reel. I have a few Daiwas that I really like as well and there are plenty of good brands but Shimano makes a good reel and stands behind it.

Fish story:

Hit a couple of different spots on the Truckee yesterday. Started off downstream from the town of Hirschdale...interesting spot. I drive an AWD vehicle and almost got stuck in this little access dirt road that leads to the railroad tracks. Hooked and lost one small trout, and then the rafters came by.

Went upstream to an area off of Glenshire Road (there's a private rail crossing labeled for foot traffic only). I got to this spot



and was trying to work a two-nymph rig behind the big rock on the right. As soon as it straightened out downstream, a nice fish comes up and hammers the trail nymph (I actually saw it). Felt good, but it went deep, gave a couple of head shakes, and gone.

Different fish story:

West Carson today, very low, very spooky fish, and didn't get a strike.

Ran out to the East Carson and found myself at the head of a deep hole...finally success! This guy put up a spirited fight where I actually had to chase it downstream a bit.

your getting the hang of nevada trout fishing. the fish are in tough spots or they have been caught already. you have to work for them but there are lots of big ones.

the rivers are so pretty even when skunked you have fun.

in summer real early or real late is best.

big browns after dark.

Beautiful fish man!

I got out last weekend and actually threw the fly rod a bit. Found some bonito in close and chased them around for a bit before they got all scattered. They were pounding the glass minnows and moving pretty fast so it was kind of hectic trying to get shots at the fish. Ended up catching two smaller guys around 4-5lbs and hooked one big one prob 12+ that I pulled the hooks on after it had a ****ton of backing out. Had a few more strikes too where the fish just whiffed on my fly and caught a couple spanish mackerels as well. I got a GoPro and have been fiddling with it some. Here's a short little video of the boneheads (forgive the rap muzak!).

https://vimeo.com/45369747

LOL my only contact with bonito (besides the sushi bar) was trying to get them on live anchovies under a float off a pier in SoCal 100 years ago. 4-5 lbs would have been a monster there, most were probably in the 14"-16" range.

Sheesh, hoodies and shades for fishing as well as poker?

thats where poker players get the idea from. its all about trying to catch fish.

Got skunked on the East Carson and Truckee over the last couple of days...there had been some thunderstorm activity a few days prior and apparently there was a mudslide on CA-4 that caused the East Carson to be high and off-color.

I'd mentioned a trout drive-by on the Truckee before where I was fishing a nymph rig under a white yarn indicator and the fish batted the indicator. This time, it actually gave it a taste! I'd like to publish a fish story where the yarn got tangled in its teeth and I ended up landing a fish, but none of that happened.

This happened when the indicator was waterlogged and just below the surface, so this would call for something like a white wooly bugger, yes? (don't have one, but might pick up a couple). I've used beige and green indicators in other parts of the river and have never seen anything like this before.

try fishing a muddler with a white head if you can find one , the work especially for browns.

that fish might have just hit the white thinking it was a moth

Heading to Glacier/Waterton after Labor Day - no concrete plans for fishing yet, but will try to work some in in between sightseeing/hiking.

pm me when you get here if you have free time. if im in town i may be able to take you out fishing or at least tell you where to go hiking ,fishing, eating etc, i am in kalispell.

^^^^ If you go up there, seek this man out!

Thanks, Ray, for all the recommendations! The river/creek fishing I was able to get in didn't work out too well, and the trail closures early on in the trip kept us out of Avalanche Lake (due to smoke) and Hidden Lake (due to bear activity).

Fortunately, later on, both opened up. We did an evening hike up to Avalanche Lake where I was finally able to get into some small but spirited Westslope Cutthroats that were feeding on the surface. This is a representative of the 5 or 6 that I landed before we headed back down.




Yesterday, our last day in the park, we walked down to Hidden Lake (500' up from the visitors' center, then 700' down to the lake ) I'm going to reprint an excerpt from a PM here without permission, hopefully Ray doesn't mind:

I tried stuff with orange in the pattern (October caddis/stimulator types) yellow, the mosquito-colored Adams that was working at Avalanche, all to no avail. Sometimes the fish, large and small, would angle up to take a peek, then maybe even swirl around, sometimes they would ignore it entirely. It was very nerve-wracking, but also very exciting! Too bad I couldn't interest one of them in what I was selling.





















On the way out, there was a family of mountain goats grazing by one of the waterfalls, perfect end to the trip.


Thanks again Ray!

great trip for you. glad it worked out so well. lots of trails get closed for bears so you get to go where they let you. happy you saw a bunch of bears in the wild. they are fun to see.
shortly after you arrived i set off for oregon to go surfing and crabbing. did well at both.

come back up again and this time meet me for lunch or something.

Absolutely - and please shoot me a pm when you're in the bay area and I'll try and get to wherever you're playing and buy you a drink (since I know Diablo is buying you dinner...)