Carolina Mountain Sports maintains a well-stocked fly fishing department for our waters in Western NC, as well as equipment for folks traveling to our western states or for a variety of saltwater trips.
Our rod selection includes Winston, Loomis, Diamondback, Temple Fork, and Cortland. In addition, we have a special Carolina Mountain Sports Guide Special that has proven to be an excellent performer at a modest price. Most of our rods are 3-6 weight, but we also carry some 8-12 weights. The Winston Boron rods are very popular and get great reviews…$645. The less expensive Winstons are very nice and their Vapor series has been popular…$300. Loomis is a great name in rods and they have introduced some new, moderately priced models. Temple Fork is always a good seller and their Professional series is our best seller…$149. Their Series 1 rods are very nice and the smaller models in this line have been popular. The TiCr series are excellent for someone wanting a stiffer, faster rod, especially for saltwater. Cortland rods have been good sellers at very reasonable prices $100-200. The recently introduced Diamondback Flawless series is excellent and has received excellent reviews for it’s performance…$250-$300. We also maintain accounts with other companies and can easily order Redington, Albright, Pfleuger, Scientific Anglers, and Lamiglas. In addition, we can easily order any of the Hardy products as well as the Royal Wulff Bamboo Rods.
Rod Selection Tips: Customers are welcome to test cast our rods to better decide which rod suits their casting “style” and timing and personal preference. Rods behave differently when loaded with line. And, it’s not unusual that a rod performs better when “uplined” (i.e. a line wt. heavier than the maker specifies. Most of today’s rod’s actually perform quite well. But remember, a rod doesn’t necessarily make you a better caster…but lessons and practicing the correct technique does.
Warranties are important for many customers. As a general guide, most rods selling at $100 or more have excellent warranties. Specific wording varies with the manufacturer but, in our experience, most replace broken rods without question.
Our premium reels are Ross, and we typically stock the new Cimarron Large Arbors (CLAs) and occasionally the Evolutions. The new Ross Worldwide reels are good sellers. We especially like the Ross Flystart. Reports on it are excellent and it appeals to folks interested in a good product at a really good price, from a great company. The new Ross Flyrise is a very nice imported reel, cast and machined, with new coatings and a premium drag system…an excellent choice for about $100. We can also order Tibor and Billy Pate products. These are world famous reels for folks seeking a premium reel with cork drags. We have added the new Cortland Precision XC large arbors and that is proving to be an excellent reel. The new Cortland Endurance and Pro-Cast models are quite well made and very popular for folks seeking moderately priced reels in the $65-145 range. All the Cortland reels have been getting excellent reviews. We also stock Okuma and Pfleuger, and some of the Temple Fork models, as they offer excellent value and service for fresh and saltwater models, in prices ranging from $35 to $115. Special orders are welcome for any of the Scientific Anglers, STH or Hardy reels, as well as the other models mentioned.
Reel Selection Tips: For most freshwater fishing, the reel really doesn’t make much difference…nor does the quality of the reel’s drag. A lot of customers are very happy with relatively inexpensive reels (and have allocated most of their funds toward rod and line where it really counts). But, some customers prefer a nicer, smoother reel with a better drag. In most cases, more money means higher quality and greater dependability…and often a lifetime warranty.
Saltwater situations can demand a better reel, but it still doesn’t have to be really expensive for the occasional trip to the coast. However, you do want to make sure it has sufficient backing capacity. Numbers stamped on reels and optimistic capacities listed on boxes can really lead you to make a bad decision. If headed for the coast, research thoroughly and seek the advice of a fly shop with saltwater experience.
We carry a wide variety of fly line brands and models from Cortland, Scientific Angler, Royal Wulff, Teeny, and Rio. All of these are excellent lines and each brand has some unique and special models that may suit you particular needs. This is especially true if you are deep nymphing, throwing bass flies, pursuing saltwater species or fishing deeper in rivers and lakes.
Wader selections in stock include models from Dan Bailey and Simms. Both brands are excellent and are available in a wide range of sizes and prices. Simms also offers some custom fit options which may appeal to folks having trouble getting the correct size. Models from Hodgman, Chota, Redington and ProLine can also be ordered. Chota wading boots have been our best sellers and we stock the Abrams Creek and STL series. Vests are by Simms, Fishpond, Redington and Columbia; tackle packs are by Fishpond, William Joseph and Clear Creek. Naturally, we also stock a wide assortment of leaders, indicators, nippers etc.
Fly tying equipment is by Renzetti and Griffin, as well as FTM and others brands. We typically stock the excellent Renzetti Traveler vise, as well as the Renzetti Presentation 2000. These and all the Renzetti rotaries are top quality products and receive excellent reviews for their versatility and quality. We carry an excellent selection of tying supplies from major distributors like Rumpf, Wapsi, Montana Fly and Hareline Dubbin. Our fly tying materials department is quite well-stocked and is one of the best stocked departments in the entire region.
The store has an extensive selection of flies, including popular nymph, dry fly and streamer patterns as well as bass flies and saltwater flies. We are happy to order any specific patterns and we can have flies custom tied. Many of our patterns are produced by our local tier, Mickey Reavis. Mickey had tied professionally for years and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our fly tying department. In addition, we stock patterns by Enrico Puglisi, Montana Fly, Riverborn, Dan Bailey and Turrall.
Carolina Mountain Sports offers monthly beginners classes in Fly Fishing for $35 and occasionally schedule intermediate and saltwater classes that are slightly more expensive. We routinely schedule Fly Tying Classes for beginners and advance tiers. Check our news page for dates. We also are happy to conduct individual lessons in casting and line management. Just contact us for specifics. Many folks like some extra coaching to fine tune their skill or correct bad habits. Others are interested in learning the double-haul, speed cast and line management tips for saltwater trips.
Experience has shown that everyone benefits from casting lessons. Whether you are making short casts to trout on small streams, or longer casts to bass on rivers and lakes. A lot of folks benefit from some simple tips and pointers on roll casts and water hauls for trout streams. One of the major benefits of working on distance casting is a marked improvement in your “short game.” Learning to increase distance will really tighten your loops and improve the accuracy and efficiency of short casts on small streams.
Richard is our casting instructor and he encourages everyone to take casting lessons to learn correct technique from the very beginning, or to correct bad habits and improve technique. Much of his training is drawn from classes he has taken from Lefty Kreh, Bob Clouser, Capt. Sarah Gardner, Capt. Brian Horsley, Mack Brown, Joe Humphreys and several others.
Guided trips are available with Richard for trout and smallmouth. He specializes, however, in “On Stream “ instruction. These On-Stream Clinics are great ways to become familiar with various methods and techniques and to help folks better understand “how to fish.” We can also book trips for you with various guides in western NC and Eastern Tenn., for either float trips or wade trips for trout, smallmouth bass and muskie. Take a look at our Slideshow for pictures from some of our trips. The guide services we utilize are excellent and we get very positive feedback from clients who have fished with Marty Shaffner and Jeff Payne of Tristateangler. Feel free to call and discuss the guided trips with Richard.
If you are interested in Saltwater trips, we’ll be happy to recommend guides in NC and SC that we have personally fished with, or know from their excellent reputations. Just call or email.