Fly rod line ?

[Gindog]

I have found 2 8' fly rods. One of them have new looking floating line in it with a auto reel. The other has a auto reel and the handle coming loss. Can the good float line one be use or do I need to take the it off to crappie fish with it. If I have to take the floating line off can the reel be use with just 8lb line?

[Cray]

If your not going to fly fish I would take it off. Roll it up in about a 6 in circle to store it. Mark the end away from reel because it could be a weight forward line if you ever want to reuse then you know which way it would go on reel. I would fill reel almost full of trotline cord for backing then put on about 25 yards of yor 8 lb mono and it will work fine for jigging.

[Lotech Joe]

If you don't ever want to use the fly line for fly fishing, you could just add a couple of split shot to the end, then about 8-10 feet of mono. That's the way I learned to fish for trout and it worked great.

[CrappiePappy]

Lotech Joe has a point ...

My Grandfather had two fly rods w/automatic reels, but I never saw him use them to "fly fish" with. Instead, he used one of them to Crappie fish with, by simply adding a 2ft leader of 8lb test mono and putting a hook/sinker on it. It was used to tightline fish, and was very effective. The other rod/reel was simply left at home, as a backup.

I now have both of those rods/reels. But, the reels are stored, the fly line long since thrown away ... and the two rods, one with a baitcast reel & one with a spinning reel, though used off & on for many years (by me), are now resigned to "backup" status ... since I've gained many other rods, over the last decade, that are more suitable for my preferred style of fishing (casting). That's not to say that they are never going to be used. As I get older & slower in my approach to fishing, they can be modified to work with a rod holder & serve as two more 8ft long outfits. The one with the baitcast reel would work right now, in fact.

... cp