Floating line with a sinking tip is a good all around line. Cortland 444 is good. For trolling, I have an 8 1/2 foot Ugly Stick. I love this rod. Nice and stiff for using leadcore. Not a good rod to learn how to cast. My casting rod is a St Croix 5-6 wt 4 piece. If you can afford a $200 rod, there is NO comparison compared with using a cheap rod. Casts like a dream. Ugly Stick has a Pfleuger Medalist. It's the bigger of the two they make. The Uglystick is around $40 and the medalist is around $35 I think.
no, its a uniform sink level line which means that it sinks at the same rate throughout its lenght and there is no taper . there are other sink sines for casting that have tapers, but they are not ideal for trolling. this is the traditional trolling fly line other than using lead core and its long enough to get it far away from the boat. the casting tapered lines are double the price.
I run cortlands they are very good rods for the money make sure you put on a level sinking line which means it does not taper towards the end where your leader is tied on its the same diameter at both ends. we run on my boat a 5/6 WT and also run a 7/8 fiberglass cortland this rod rocks!!! It goes a little deeper that the 5/6 WT rod. All my rods are matched up with the correct WT rating of the rod this is very inportant for the rod to perform correctly. If you get a salmon on a fly rod its the best trust me!!!Good luck!!!
for the first 4 to 6 weeks after ice out I troll sinking fly line on my fly rods. I have been doing this for many years with great success, and there is nothing like battling a 3 to 4 pounder with a fly rod. I use dbs top guns and streamer flies with much success. good luck.
You may want to go with either a 6 or 7 wt. rod for trolling and casting.
IMHO I don't think you can beat a Temple Fork flyrod for the money. http://www.templeforkflyrods.com/rods/series1.html
As for reels I think it's just a matter of preference and what you want to spend. I don't think a high end fly reel with adjustable drag is as necessary for FW as it is for SW. Mainly due to the diffferences in environments and heavy drag required for SW fish. But that's just my opinion and I personally like finely machined reels.
I'm just a rookie trolling in fresh water. The last couple of years I have been using my SW striper rod and reel (Sage 9wt with a Teton reelwhich is overkill) with a Cortland 425 gr. sinktip but it's been effective at Quabbin.
I'm thinking of trying my old Fenwick fiberglass this year with a full sinking 6wt line. As my 4wt with a sinktip just doesn't seem to work for trolling.
