Jun 26, 2026 · 55 min · 13 segments
Host Dave Schlom gets to delve into his favorite pastime, fly fishing, with two of his heroes -- Mike Mercer and Bryan Quick from The Fly Shop in Redding, California.
Mike MercerGuestDave SchlomHost
Bryan QuickGuestFly fishing, you know, though it can seem mystifying and, and like I said, a bit elitist if, if you, you know, at first, um, but that was the thing that I remember.
It's like, "Oh, I can do this, and it's not that expensive, and I can have fun, and this is not that complicated." So I'm wondering if maybe we can help break down the basics.
Maybe somebody listening, you know, has a kid or somebody, you know, their husband or wife that wants to maybe try this.
What would someone just need to... just to get off to a solid start without, you know...
And, and sometimes with all the gear I have, I c- I prefer to kind of ratchet back and fish very simply.
I mean, you have things like tenkara, which is just a telescoping rod and some leader off the end.
It's so elitist," like, "I could never do that." And you can get a really fine rod, reel, line outfit for around $300.
And I'm speaking about things we have here at the fly shop, but other places have that too, for sure.
And, uh, the one thing I always tell people is when you get started, you g- want to go to make that initial purchase of the rod, reel, line, the most important part of that purchase is always gonna be the fly line, and it's almost always gonna be a floating fly line, 'cause that's the most versatile.
And people say, "Come on, the fly line's more important than the rod? That doesn't make any sense." And a lot of times if you come from, like, a spin fishing background, it doesn't.
Fly fishing, you know, though it can seem mystifying and, and like I said, a bit elitist if, if you, you know, at first, um, but that was the thing that I remember.
It's like, "Oh, I can do this, and it's not that expensive, and I can have fun, and this is not that complicated." So I'm wondering if maybe we can help break down the basics.
Maybe somebody listening, you know, has a kid or somebody, you know, their husband or wife that wants to maybe try this.
What would someone just need to... just to get off to a solid start without, you know...
And, and sometimes with all the gear I have, I c- I prefer to kind of ratchet back and fish very simply.
I mean, you have things like tenkara, which is just a telescoping rod and some leader off the end.
It's so elitist," like, "I could never do that." And you can get a really fine rod, reel, line outfit for around $300.
And I'm speaking about things we have here at the fly shop, but other places have that too, for sure.
And, uh, the one thing I always tell people is when you get started, you g- want to go to make that initial purchase of the rod, reel, line, the most important part of that purchase is always gonna be the fly line, and it's almost always gonna be a floating fly line, 'cause that's the most versatile.
And people say, "Come on, the fly line's more important than the rod? That doesn't make any sense." And a lot of times if you come from, like, a spin fishing background, it doesn't.
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