You Don’t Know What You Need Yet – That’s Why You Need a 9-Foot 5-Weight

If you post in an online forum asking, “I’m new to fly fishing, what rod should I buy first?” there’s a good chance someone will respond with, “Get a 9-foot 5-weight.” You won’t just hear it once. You’ll hear it over and over again.

This isn’t about groupthink. It’s about practicality. More specifically, it’s about what I call “versatility in ignorance.” A 9-foot 5-weight gives new fly anglers the flexibility to explore the sport of fly fishing, without needing to understand every detail.

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Opinion: AI Search Is About to Flip Fly Fishing Upside Down, and Most Aren’t Ready for It

It has always felt like the fly fishing industry lags behind major consumer sectors in adopting digital transformations. I guess it is part of the industry's personality, rooted in tradition and slow to embrace change. We saw it with YouTube. While gaming, fashion, and fitness exploded on the platform in the early 2010s, fly fishing content took years to gain momentum. The same happened with social media. By the time people realized short-form videos were dominating Instagram, they were already mainstream.

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Fly Fishing The Salmon River In New York: Part 2 - Gear To Use

One question I am asked more than any other is what type of fishing gear is required to fly fish for salmon in New York. There isn’t one answer to this question. Gear is determined by the style of fly fishing that’s being done and water conditions. Below I will cover the basics of what brought me success on my first several trips to the Salmon River and what you can use to drift fly patterns to entice territorial strikes from King or Coho salmon. This gear can also be used to fly fish for Atlantic salmon, as well as lake run steelhead and brown trout, however other techniques may prove more successful.

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Fly Fishing The Salmon River In New York: Part 1 - When To Go

I first fly fished the Salmon River in Pulaski, New York in October 2015. It remains one of my most memorable solo fishing trips. I’ll never forget the excitement I felt driving north at three in the morning wondering if I’d be successful. I caught my first King salmon on that trip and the reality is I had no idea what I was doing. I used a 9’-6wt fly rod that was good enough to swing a woolly bugger, and when I hooked that first fish, I chased it up and down the Douglaston Salmon Run for the better part of 15 minutes.

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