Fly Fishing Gear for Slate Run in Pennsylvania

Fly Fishing Gear for Slate Run, Pennsylvania
Fly Line:
The fish you will catch will be either native brook trout or wild brown trout. We are
recommending a 4 weight, floating fly line for the brook trout, but you can use a much lighter
line if you prefer. We recommend a 5 weight, floating fly line for dry flies and lighter nymphs
for the brown trout and a 6 weight fly floating fly line for heavier nymphs and streamers for the
browns.
Leaders:
Leaders should range in sizes from a 2X for streamers up to a 7X for midges and small dry
flies. Lengths ranging from seven and one-half feet, up to 12 feet in length are suggested.
Tippets:
Extra tippet material ranging from 2X to 7X should be available for the leaders we list above.
Fly Rods:
For the brook trout, we suggest a 4 weight fly rod or lighter if you prefer. It should be a
medium action rod from eight to eight and one-half feet in length. The rod for the 5 weight line
should be a medium slow to medium fast action rod, depending on your preference, and from
eight and one-half up to nine feet long. The 6 weight rod should have be a little stiffer for
nymph fishing. We would suggest a eight and one-half to nine foot, medium fast to fast action
rod.
Fly Reels:
The fly reel you use for the 4 weight brook trout line (or even lighter) should be light but that
is about the only requirement. The reels for the 5 and 6 weight lines should have good drags,
preferably disc drags. You don't want to loose a nice brown trout because of a poor or rough
operating drag.
Waders:
You can get by without waders if you fish only for brook trout. If you fish the lower or middle
sections for brown trout, we recommend waders.
Wading Boots:
We recommend felt soles for your wading boots. You may want to consider the new rubber
sole boots that help prevent the spread of Didymo but we have not tested them on Slate Run
yet.
Trout Flies:
As always we recommend our own "Perfect Fly" trout flies. We suggest you look at our hatch
chart and select the flies for the particular time of year you plan on fishing. You should have a
good selection of streamers for the brown trout. The flies you have for the aquatic insects
should vary depending on the time of the year you are fishing. There is no one particular
insect that is more important than any other one throughout the season. The brown trout can
become selective on certain insect hatches.