Anyone have an opinion on the Temple Fork rods and Okuma reels? 8, 9 or 10wt for the occasional saltwater inshore trip?
The rods are great for the money however the reel is a bit on the lower end of the scale for saltwater fishing. You should be fine for Reds but if you are going to do much SW fly fishing, I’d opp for a Ross, Orvis, Abel or Albright GPX. If you are interested in an Albright GPX I can put you in one for a couple of hundred bucks. I can do a rod and reel combo for around $450.00.
I was looking for a new 8 wt and my father told me to look at Temple Fork because it was a great rod for the money, he has 3 or 4 of them. Like JMB said, he also to look at other reels because Temple Folk does not do it for saltwate
The Teton Tioga is a good reel for around $150, last time I priced them. I’ve had one as a backup reel for years and it performed well even on drag burning runs from bonefish.
TFO makes a great rod even if it was twice the price.
I have a TFO 4wt for freshwater and like it a lot. They are good for the money. Not sure about Okuma fly reels though. Ross reels are good. I think St. Croix are fairly inexpensive.
If a man wakes up early to go fishing he 's sleep deprived, If a man wakes up late to go fishing he’s fish deprived
quote:
Originally posted by jmbThe rods are great for the money however the reel is a bit on the lower end of the scale for saltwater fishing. You should be fine for Reds but if you are going to do much SW fly fishing, I’d opp for a Ross, Orvis, Abel or Albright GPX. If you are interested in an Albright GPX I can put you in one for a couple of hundred bucks. I can do a rod and reel combo for around $450.00.
JMB. I might be interested in one of these combos as I recently grenaded my trusty orvis 9 wt. Can you e-mail me or post some pictures of the rod and reel?
The Temple Fork rods are first rate and the best casting rods I own. They brought Lefty Kreh in a 3 or 4 years ago and he redesigned their rods. I bought one as a back up to a Sage, but it is now the primary and the Sage is the backup. TFO also has some solid and affordable reels. I think you can order from their site but I usually use Burleson…great service and very nice people. http://burfish.com. You might also want to look at Waterworks/Lamson. Their Velocity reels are very good and are not too expensive.
Okuma does make cheaper reels, but I have the 8/9 Helios by Okuma and I love it. Very light reel that is ultra smooth with a good drag. I ahd no problems stopping good size reds with it.
I would recommend it.
Whalerman
I would go with the 8wt TFO w/ Lamson size 3 velocity reel. Great setup for a very reasonable price. I was skeptical of the TFO initially, but I have taken advantage of their lifetime warranty a couple times and had a new rod in less than a week on my doorstep. Great rod and great back end support should you run into a mishap.