Special guest contributor: OWL from the www.georgiariverfishing.com site.
This is a wonderful guide for not only beginners and those curious about flyfishing but those of us old hands will get a kick out of it. And face it. If you quite learning yer dead… Now enjoy OWL’s article.
I think everyone is unique in life, and in fly fishing. We each have our own ways of doing things and our own beliefs about what fly fishing is all about. In this article, I’m going to share with anyone out there who is thinking about picking up a fly rod what I think about getting started in flyfishing. My way is not the only way – not by a long shot! And, my way may not be the best way – but generally speaking it’s what works for me.
Flyfishing doesn’t have to be complicated, serious or expensive.
Owl’s Ultimate Noob Guide to Flyfishing Basics
The Short Version Highlights:
1. When flyfishing, you cast the line not the “lure” or “fly.”
2. You do not need, nor will it help you as a new flyfisher to own a $200-$800 fishing pole. You will break it and then you will
cry for three weeks because you’re out $654.40.
3. Buy not the cheapest, but the “almost cheapest” fly line you can find. As of 2010 it should cost you around $30-40. A $100 “super-fabulous-wonder-line” will do nothing for you, and your pitiful casting….right now.
4.Buy backing only if you are going after really big fish. Otherwise, it’s a waste of $5 for you right now.
5. Casting is moving the rod tip so that the weight of the fly-line “loads” the rod, just like you load the rod with the weight of a Rattle-Trap before heaving it half way across Lake Seminole. YOU CAST THE LINE, not the fly. The fly follows where the line leads.
6. Practice with no more than 12-20 feet of flyline out the rod tip at first. I’d say doing this for an hour and watching the rod and line while you do it would not be wasted effort or time. ( If you are a fast learner though, go for it.)
7. There is alot of terminology in flyfishing that you do not need to worry about right now. Learn about the line, the rod, the leader and tippet and the fly and you’ll be on your way and keeping it simple. There will be time later to understand braided currents, emergers, cripppled midges and blood knots.
8. You can “fly fish” for anything from Marlin to brook trout. The weight of the rod and line should match the quarry. A 6 wt used to catch a 6 inch brook trout will feel like landing a feather with a baseball bat.
9. HAVE FUN.
10. ASK QUESTIONS. LOTS OF THEM. Online, in real life, on the stream, etc. Most anglers – even perfect strangers will be happy to help you if you need help while out fishing. Short fat ones with scruffy beards even enjoy it.
The detailed version, highlights – lowlights and all the rest:
So, you think you want to learn to flyfish, do you? Well, today is your lucky day. Why? Well, I’ll tell you why!
Because I’ve decided to write down 22 years worth of flyfishin wisdom here for you tonight. No fancy terms, no
technical mumbo-jumbo and no complicated instructions. Just simple, basic and useful information for the man,
woman or child who thinks that flyfishing looks like “fun.”
First, though we must get you in the proper mindset. Imagine you are standing in a pristine spring-fed creek in
some majestic wilderness field. You are surrounded by grazing elk, and you can hear the call of a lone wolf as he
howls out his lonely song. There are beautiful, colorful fish all around you, and through the clear water you can see
several of them rising to sip dainty mayflies off the surface of the gently rippling water. You stand there in awe at
the amazing world around you and you’re too caught up in being part of nature to even raise your fine bamboo fly rod for
a cast.
Now, forget all that junk. That’s not flyfishing, that’s the cover of an Orvis catalog. Sure, there are people out there
who get to do that stuff, but generally speaking, not people who don’t know a tippet from an indicator from a haystack EHC.
You don’t just buy a bunch of high-dollar gear from some fancy store where they sell dog beds and women’s clothing, walk out
into the river and declare yourself a fly fisherman. If you don’t do a heckuva lot more than that, you’re little more
than a walking advertisement for the next great flyfishin tool, hat or vest. As a noob, you should just forget about
exotic trips to New Zealand or Labrador and concentrate on learning the basics. That way, when you’re no longer a noob in 10 or 15 years, you’ll be ready if you ever do get
to go out west, or up to Labrador for 5 pound Char. What’s a char? Oh boy. This is going to take more work than I thought.
Grab a cup of coffee, or some tea or for pete’s sake at least a Coke and let’s get started. I ain’t got all day.
Flyfishing is like regular fishing, except it’s not.You use flies instead of lures(although they do the same thing basically, which is to entice a fish to bite your hook). You cast the LINE, instead of casting the lure, and you normally don’t have any fancy equipment like centrifrugal breaking, disc drag, instant anti-reverse or 342 ball bearings to help you compensate for being a poor caster. Oh sure, you may have all that stuff one day ( well, except the 342 ball bearings! ) and if you feel like you need it then fine – but right now you’re a noob and I don’t know what the drop-out rate is on noobs, but by the amount of used flyfishing gear that shows up on the internet each year it must be pretty darn high. So, don’t waste your hard earned money on expensive gear, even if you like expensive stuff – because you don’t even know if you like flyfishing yet!
As someone who has just decided they’d like to give flyfishing a try, when I say flyfishing what do you think of first? That’s right, catching houseflies with tiny bits of flypaper on the end of some thread tied to a hairbrush. But after that, what do you think of? OK, now we’re gettin’ somewhere – the FLY ROD! Maybe you sat and watched someone on a river “conducting the orchestra” with his rod, or maybe you were just fascinated by the price on “them long cane poles” with the reel seat in the wrong place. Or maybe you saw a fancy catalog with people dressed up like olive-drab wool-covered circus clowns. Big funny shoes, vests full of pockets, hanging gadgets all over their torso, and giant rubber pants. I don’t know what drew you to it but here you are and there’s little doubt in this old flyfisher’s mind that the ROD is what is almost always the first thing people want to know about. Last year on a little creek in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, a young dope head…errr…young man came up to me and said the following: ” Hey man, how does flyfishing work?” I told him it was lazy and couldn’t get to it’s cubicle on time 4 days outta 5. Actually, I explained it to him. How the rod casts the line, and you use a fly made of feathers lashed to a tiny hook with thread. How it was graceful and peaceful and how if you wanted to catch wild trout it was almost always more productive than other methods. He said ” huh.” and walked off. Now, I was joking at the beginning of this article when I said you should ” Forget about all that junk” to some extent. If artful presentation, stealthy stalking, precision casting and technical fishing doesn’t appeal to you at least a little bit, then flyfishin’ may not be for you. At any rate, if you’re already a fisherman that’s 2 points for you. If you’re still reading this, that’s another 2 points. If you read this to the end in one sitting, that’s 100 points and you can skip a grade, junior. Moving on…
The fly rod is your weapon! If you attach a bayonnet to it. Ok, it’s not a weapon at all. The bayonnet would break it because they are so flimsy at the tip. The fly rod is your long, bendable fulcrum of fishing that allows you…..honestly, I have no idea if fulcrum is the right word or not but it really doesn’t matter. Now, pay attention! The fly rod allows you to “load” the rod – just as you would a spinning or baitcasting rod – but on a much more pronounced arc. The more line you have out, the more you need to load the rod to move it. And the key to a good cast, contrary to what I just told you is not so much in the loading as it is in the stopping of that rod. You make a backcast to lay the line out behind you and you stop the rod dead in it’s tracks – this causes the line to unfurl behind you the right way. If you don’t stop the rod on a dime, you’re going to have trouble with your loops. Loops are what the fly line makes as it’s cast. Imagine you have out 30 feet of line. As you quickly move the rod in a backward motion, the line begins to shoot out behind you. Well, at some point you’re going to have part of the line shooting out behind you, and part of it following it as it shoots and you’re going to have( if you do it right) a nice, long horizontal “U” shape behind you. If you don’t stop the rod with some authority, pause to let the line unfurl, and then start your forward cast, you’re going to have issues.
Now, them fancy certified casting instructors will tell you that 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock are where you need to stop your cast…blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh sure, it works if you do it their way – there’s nothing wrong with it. Except for the fact that if you are standing in a field or on a pond with your new rod and you learn to cast straight overhead stopping precisely at 10 and 2, you are going to be in a world of hurt on a trout stream in the southeast, unless it’s a major river or a tailwater with plenty of room.The fact is, alot of casting instruction available today IS NOT fishing instruction.If you spend your hard earned money on casting lessons you should realize that up front. Good casting for castings’ sake, or for looks or show has about as much to do with practical fly rod fishing as driving to work Monday morning has to do with the last 5 laps at Indy. Good casting is something to strive for and something that will help you to put the fly where you want it. Good casting is not double-hauling the whole flyline out into a field with grunts and whole body contortions just to show how “great” a caster you are. That’s called “being macho” and it should have died in the 70′s along with bell bottom pants.
So, we’ve very basically covered the rod – but what are fly rod(and fly line) “weights.” The “weight” of a rod determines the weight of line you can easily throw with it. You can normally throw one weight below or above – if you have a 4 wt. rod, you can probably get away with throwing a 3 wt, 4 wt or 5 wt line on that rod. The heavier line will make it “load” easier(bend easier with the backcast or forward cast), and the lighter one will allow you quieter casts(meaning, when it hits the water) and make the line seem to fly though the air “faster” with less effort than the recommended weight. For the purposes of the noob, one line size off – either higher or lower isn’t going to make a huge difference. So, in other words don’t worry too much about it right now. What we need you worrying about is how to cast and we’ll get to that shortly. The last thing about “weights” is that you should match the weight to the fish species and conditions you’ll be fishing in. Big flies for big bass( on big water or not) demand a big rod – a 5 or 6 wt. is good, and 8 wt is better. Just remember though, if you’re lake or river has no bass over 2 pounds, that 8 wt is going to be overkill when it comes to landing the fish. If you’re going to go after trout or bluegills, you can do it with whatever rod you have – even that 8 wt Redwood. But, again you have to remember that small fish on a large “weight” rod is going to be little more than a vibration on your line as you swing them into the boat or water-ski them across the river to you. Not many folks find that to be alot of fun, unless the only reason you fish is to count how many you catch, or how big a fish you can catch. Frankly, if that’s your goal then to accomplish it you’d be better off with something other than a fly rod. Why? Well, because a fly rod is an efficient and effective tool for precise angling – but it’s no buzzbait or spinnerbait which are much better suited to searching large areas and catching lots of fish in a short amount of time. You CAN and probably WILL catch alot of fish in a short amount of time with a fly rod, but it doesn’t happen as consistently as with other methods. Now, stop getting me sidetracked, noob. Back to rod weights!
Small fish are much more fun with a 2 or 3 wt. rod. Length of the rod is a personal choice, although you’ll have an easier time with super-long casts( that you are NOT making right now, noob.) with a longer rod. Shorter rods work well in tight places where a longer rod would be hard to cast, and on smaller fish so they feel like bigger fish! You can even call them “monsters” if you like, even if they are 8 inchers. What do I care?
Casting….casting….ok…here we go….
Good casting for PRACTICAL fishing purposes puts the line where you want it to go and the fly on the target – whether that target is a fish you can see, or a run where he might be holding, or 2 inches to the left of that big ole stump where Mr. Mossyback is hanging out. Good casting should be about good fishing. If you want to show off to your friends( and perfect strangers) how great you are with a flyrod, in my book it better be with a 6 pound bass or a 20 inch trout on the end of your line. Now, putting that knowledge to use is another story. A 50 yard roll cast putting your fly in a back-eddy under an overhanging mountain laurel limb; where it’s gulped down by a 15 inch brook trout is good fishing AND good casting. But for you, the noob it’s not that important. ( Especially if you’re fishing for trout in the Southeast, where on 95% of the water your average cast for the day will normally be less than 20 feet long. For pond or lake bass, you may have to cast further than that, but if you’re chasing scooling fish that are breaking 50 YARDS away, why not just take it easy on yourslf and break out the conventional tackle, buddy? The fish won’t mind and neither will your arms.)
So, to cast the fly rod, you’ll need to strip out some line. Start with the length of the rod. I know, you are gonna want to strip out 40 yards of the stuff and try to get it all in the air – but do us both a favor and resist that urge, alright? Just strip a rod’s length of line out of the last, tip-top guide. ( rigging the line is in the next paragraph, btw) Now, I want you to sit there and look at that line as you gently wave the tip of your rod around. Slowly, but not too slow. Make the line stand out horizontally as you move the tip, but don’t go so fast is slices the air and you can hear it. Do you see that? How the line follows the rod tip where ever it goes?
Once you get the hang of that, with just a rod’s length of line out….you can let out a little more – but first, (assuming you are normal and are right handed and not some left-handed freak of a human being) take the left hand and hold the flyline in your fingers – between your forefinger and thumb. Not at the very, very tips as if you’re sitting with the Queen drinking tea and eating crumpets, but don’t grab it like you’re choking it to death either. You’ll need to hold that line so that you can strip out more line as you cast, to increase the line you have out to hit your target. Remember, you don’t just rear back and throw a lure out there and the line magically follows it. Say it with me: ” YOU CAST THE LINE!” That said, you can’t pull out 60 yards of fly line and drop it in front of you, do one backcast and shoot all the line forward. Oh sure, there are people who can do it, but you can’t. Not yet anyway. ( I’ve been fly fishing for 22 years and I can’t do it. But then, for the most part for practical purposes in bass or trout fishing that is one of those “tricks” that impresses people at fly fishing shows.)
So, pull a little more out and hold onto it with your left( or off) hand. Now, move the rod tip back and forth gently, until you feel the rod loading a bit more and a bit more until you have the line going back and forth in a near horizontal fashion. This is basically a fly cast in slow motion and without the problems that can come with more and more line out. As you work it back and forth, by all means DO NOT GET USED TO THIS ACTION. What I mean is for pete’s sake do not think you have to whip the line back and forth for an hour before laying down the cast. Ok, so you’re gently moving the rod back and forth with about a rod’s length and a couple of feet out the tip. Do you see how you have to move the rod further, and with a little more purpose to get the line to start going horizontal? You do? Good. ( If you don’t then you either have a super-stiff rod or you need to google ” horizontal.” You tell me.)
Now, if you’re comfortable with the line going back and forth in a horizontal plane and you can feel and see what’s going on, you’re on your way. That’s right – watch what you’re doing. Go ahead and look over your shoulder in the beginning to make sure your casts are laying out properly behind you. What’s proper? Well, for fishing purposes as long as the line isn’t getting tangled or wrapping around your ears, that’s pretty proper. Short of setting up a camcorder and filming your casting stroke, watchin your backcast is the best thing you can do – watch what your flyrod is doing. As you watch and you’re seeing what’s going on between your arm, the rod and the line, with your left hand that’s holding the line you are going to strip out more line during the cast. OH, don’t whimp out on me now, noob! It’s not that hard – it just takes a little bit of timing. Once you get enough line in the air – say, two rod lengths of it – on the backcast( which loads the rod to allow you to make the forward cast and present the fly to the fish) the fly line will take a moment to “unroll” – during this brief moment( which gets longer as you add more line) you quickly strip line off the reel in about a one foot increment. You want to strip line from the reel, not pull on the line floating in the air. If you pull on the line floating in the air you are taking the first steps to a “double-haul” and Lord knows we ain’t there yet, rookie. So, take it slowly. The main thing to remember here is that your hand holding the line has to keep it taught. If you strip out another foot, but let your line holding hand move toward the part of the line that’s zipping out behind you, it’s going to cause slack in the line and cause the thing to collapse somewhat. The line should stay as “tight” as you can make it. This leads to tight loops and a cleaner casting stroke, and eventually after a dozen more steps that we won’t cover here, to more fish! So, take an hour. Two hours. Take all day. Do not rush your ability or your growing “feel” of your new rod by trying to rip off foot after foot of line in the hopes of laying out 30 yard casts by lunch. The only thing you will accomplish is wrapping line around your ears and getting so frustrated you give up and put your new flyrod on ebay. Ebay is full already. So take it EASY, when teaching yourself to cast. Once you’re able to get out the basic cast, and cast at least 25 feet of line, you need to either get with someone in person who can show you how to increase distance and accuracy, read a book on it, or watch a video about casting. It’s more than I can explain in writing here, although once you have the basic back and forth casting stroke down, are watching what you are doing and understand how the rod loads and unloads as you go from forward cast to backward cast, etc. it’s pretty much the same thing for longer casts. There are also several other types of casts…side arm, bow-and-arrow, roll cast – but these aren’t basic casts and I’m getting sleepy. So….moving on!
( This is not me, but this is what may happen if you don’t take learning to fly cast at a slow to moderate pace.)
So, once again: In flyfishing you cast the line. Not the spinnerbait. Not the plastic worm. You have to always remember that you aren’t casting a big ole jig-n-pig and the line flow out behind it like Batman’s grapplin’ hook used to do on Saturday mornin’ cartoons. You cast the line and the fly follows it to the place where you pointed the rod. I’m repeating it because I think that concept is what frustrates alot of beginners who see people casting and don’t understand the way it works. If you’ve read the paragraph before this one and gone out and practiced what I’ve suggested though – you should be ready to move on to line-leader-tippet issues. So, let’s do it! Put on your thinkin’ cap and listen up! Modern fly line is wonderful. It floats( they do make sinking flyline but as a noob, you don’t need it and wouldn’t know what to do with it if you bought it so just forget about it for now), it’s finish is slick making it cast easily, and it hardly ever needs cleaning. As a matter of fact you can get through a whole season of trout fishing, or half a season in warmwater without ever worrying about taking soap and a rag or a few paper towels to your line. ( When you do want to clean it, don’t spend your hard earned money on some fancy wonder-cleaner garbage – use dishwashing soap like Dawn and a few paper towels. It does just as good a job and costs you 1/100th the price!)
So, you have a flyline, which is(normally) that big, bright yellow, orange or green line that looks like somethin the kids make plastic jewlery out of to give to their friends. Well, even the cheapest fly line( which is what you should be buying, noob. At least until you’re sure you like this flyfishing thing.)is good enough for a beginner to learn with. Well, ok – not THE cheapest you can find, because you can get some line for $10 at your local big box store and you may end up thinking you hate flyfishin’ because you can’t cast 30 feet without rupturing your spleen – when in fact, the problem may be that you just went TOO cheap. Stick with some name brand manufacturer’s basic, most affordable line and you’ll be fine. And don’t be afraid of store-brand line either, because it’s probably made by the big name folks, and will work just as well for your first line as a $100 line. After all, all that high tech R&D won’t do you a darn bit of good if you don’t know how to use it – so trust me when I tell you that THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU TO PAY FOR IT. Save your money on a decent flyrod. And when I say “decent” I don’t mean anything over $100. The guy at the fly shop is probably a great guy, but he also wants to make a living. If he’s someone who appreciates his customers and wants them coming back, he won’t try to sell you the latest super-rod. If you visit a flyshop looking for your first rod and someone does that to you my advice is to politely run as fast as you can out of there.
Anyway, back to the line….If you plan on running out and fishing for stripers, tarpon, barracuda, King Mackerel or Killer Whales, then you’ll need to put some backing on your reel before you splice in the fly line and wrap that on. Now, backing is a sort of “insurance policy” and is a smaller diameter( big word. I see you’re impressed.) cord type thing that allows you to put much more line on your reel than if it was all that fat day-glo orange stuff you’re casting. If you’re going after largemouth bass, shoal bass, bluegills, trout or other panfish there is no need to worry with backing. Sure, if you decide to blow some money on a guided trip or some such on trophy trout water, and you manage to hook, play and land that 30 inch brown you might need some backing. Or, if you’re first trip will be for bonefish on the saltwater flats, by all means go ahead and buy some and attach it to the reel. How, you say? With a dern knot, rookie. You know how to tie a knot right? No? Well, that’s intermediate stuff there. Just go on the internet and look up improved clinch, surgeons knot or some other fishing knots. There’s a good site for that right here: http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php. I’m trying to tell you how to get into flyfishing, not raise you. Anyway where were we? Oh yeah…well, you tie on that backing if you must and then splice it to the flyline. Most folks use a nail knot for that, but use whatever you like as long as it won’t come undone and it’s a fairly smooth knot. You don’t want a Killer Whale peeling off your line and when that knot hits the tip-top guide it gets stuck and breaks him off at the tippet. Now, about winding your fly line onto the reel. YOU are what keeps the line smooth on the reel and you have to work it back and forth by using a finger to guide it onto the reel. You want it uniform across the reel spool or you’ll end up with a mess later on. Just like the guide on a baitcaster that evens out the line, you’re finger must do the same. And you wind line onto the spool from the bottom. Just put some on and then use the reel handle to test it. You’ll know when you have it right. And that little tiny “ring” that’s just up from the cork handle on your flyrod( or foam if you can still find one made that way) is NOT for the line. It’s a hook keeper. I once fished with a noob who couldn’t cast 5 feet in front of him facing away from a 20 mph backwind. When I went over to see what the issue was and help him out, I found his line threaded through the hook-keeper. Don’t do that. The fish will laugh at you and your fellow anglers will cheer them on.
So, you’ve got the day-glo chartruse line on your reel and strung up through the guides on the rod. Now comes the fun part. For me. Here is where I get to tell you that as a noob, you don’t need any techincal advice about leader size, tippet size to fly size ratios, making your own braided leaders by hand, or dropper rigs. What you need is something simple and to the point that has you fishing in ten minutes, not sitting on the bank with four spools of tippet wondering what to do next. I know, I know you’re asking me what in the world “tippet” is? Well, it’s fishing line. Most of it is skinny and thin as a spider’s web for trout fishing, but really it can be any size and thickness and when it all comes down to it – anything you tie on the end of your leader is “tippet.” But Owl – what’s a “leader?” “Do you mean a fishing guide?” The “leader” is a mono or braided line that comes off your flyline( you know, that bright colored fat rope hanging from the end of your flyrod right now). It’s used (along with tippet) for two reasons…in order to “turn over” a fly your casting so that it lands at the very end of your cast and doesn’t get tangled up on itself, and because at least in semi-clear water a fish isn’t going to be very excited about eating a bug or minnow imitation hanging off the end of bright day-glo orange rope. The leader is tapered, from fatter at the end that attached to the fly line, to much smaller at the business end where you tie in the “tippet.” “But Owl, if the leader is monofilament and the tippet is mono too, why not just skip the tippet?” Well noob, because generally in the past 20 years mono leaders have been more expensive than tippet( for the amount of time you use ‘em at least) and if you start with a 6 ft leader and tie onto it and change flies 12 times during the day, each time cutting that leader shorter and shorter at the end of the day you’re going to have a leader suitable only for using as a limb-line for catfish. You use up the tippet when changing flies and when it’s down to almost nothing, you clip it off and tie on a new section of tippet. About the only practical time you can just skip the leader-tippet thing is when fishin bass bugs or other large flies on a short leader( in dingy water). Then, you can just tie a 2 ft section of 8 pound test on the flyline and get casting. Unless you’re using bugs bigger than a golf ball or that are really wind resistant and hard to cast. Got it? No? Too bad. We’re a’movin on! ( PS – If you’re fishing for trout or bass in freshwater, I cannot recommend highly enough using a “braided” leader. They are a little more expensive than a mono leader, but they last longer, turn over great and are really tough. You can probably go all year using just one leader. Braided leaders aren’t bulletproof, but they’re darn close.)
On to the reel….
For the new flyfisher the reel is not very important. About the only thing a basic fly reel is good for – make that 90% of all fly reels from the $20 reel to the $400 reel – is holding the line. That’s right…what you are fishing with – that super-long cane pole looking fly rod has a line holder. Modern, higher priced reels(and some newer low-priced reels) come with disc drags and even ball bearings – but these are things you have no business worrying about right now. Just worry about laying that line back on the reel in a smooth, controlled, level manner. That’s half the battle in flyfishing when you’re just starting out – keeping that line from hanging you, wrapping around a limb with a hornet’s nest in it, or ending up looking like a 1970′s spinning reel after 15 minutes of use. Reels come in alot of different “weights” and sizes just like fly rods and you should match up the reel accordingly. However, if you have a 6 wt. flyrod and the reel you like or can afford says “for 3-4-5 wt. rods” don’t worry about it – go on and buy it. It will work just fine for a noob like you.
If you have a really cheap reel or an older one, you may only have a “click-pawl” drag system. This drag system is made up of the reel and the palm of your left (or off) hand. You simply have a “clicker” inside the reel housing and there is no drag. If a big fish makes a super-fast run and you don’t get your palm lightly on the reel, chances are it’ll overrun and you’ll break off the fish and have a mess to try and untangle. Most modern reels – even the cheaper ones, have a disc drag. Do you need it for bass, bream or trout? Probably not – but it may just keep you from dealing with one more headache you don’t need starting out so I recommend a reel with a drag. Just don’t spend $400 on it, no matter how great the guy at the flyshop makes it sound. It’s not going to catch the fish in most cases. You are. Remember it’s a line holder, unless you’re after those Killer Whales that keep popping up here in this article.
Let’s talk flies, noobie. Flies. Why do they call them that? Does a #2/0 bass popper look anything like a “fly?” Nope. Not unless it came from Three Mile Island. They call them “flies” because the imitation’s used by trout fishermen are created to resemble( if not perfectly imitate in every way) aquatic flies in trout streams. A big zonker streamer that’s 3 inches long is called a fly by default I suppose, because you throw it with a fly-rod. Streamers, poppers and other “flies” for bass may be called “lures” if you want to get techincal about it, but fly fishermen will ask you why you were casting a POP-R on your fly rod if you try it. And, there are some flyfishermen out there who frown on using anything but an actual precise imitation of the food the fish are eating – but these folks are called ” purists” and we’ll get into what makes them tick another time. Some folks have other names for them, but that’s another time, too. Or maybe never. But, whatever you wanna call them you go right ahead, noob. It’s not a big deal. Just get a feel for what size fly you’re using and even a description of ” a gray fly with brown wings” will usually suffice. I once read an internet post from a fellow who was new to fly fishing. He reported a good day on the water, and someone asked him what size fly he had used to catch his trout. The obviously new flyfisher replied ” I don’t know. Medium?” You should look at some flies in a fly shop to get an idea of the sizes. Either that, or make sure you can handle some snickering and laughing from other fishermen when you tell them what size the fish are taking!
Trout Flies
Flies for trout are small. Some are incredibly small. So small in fact, that many flyfishermen over the age of (even)30 will use magnifying glasses to thread the tippet through the hook eye. Do you see this letter: A ? Many trout flies in the midge family are about that size. They have a numerical designation and that “A” would be about a size 26. They go up in size( and smaller in number, thanks to whatever idiot designed the system) so that a #14 would be about the size of a dust bunny from under your couch and a #2 streamer would be as big as a roll of lifesavers candy. Only probably bushier and not as sweet.
Flies that float are called ” dry flies.” Flies that sink are called nymphs. ” Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Shouldn’t they be called “wet flies?”
Well, ther are flies that go by “wet flies” but for whatever reason that style of fly fell out of favor with most flyfishers a while back, and modern nymphs are usually the go-to fly for subsurface presentations.
Bass Flies
Big bass flies can be streamers that imitate minnows, crayfish that imitate…well,….crayfish(crawdads), poppers that gurgle and pop like a hurt whatever, sliders that dive and dip like an injured minnow, or any manner of other “creatures” like worms, frogs or even baby ducks. I once saw a fellow fishing with a baby duck fly on a small farm pond in South Alabama. The bass in the pond were small, and didn’t want any part of the fly. However, the local mother duck took it into her flock, raised it, taught it to fly and the fisherman would come to visit the fly whenver he could on his day off from work; bringing it crackers and little tiny hand-reared crickets.
Total lie. So I got sidetracked. Deal with it.
Saltwater flies
They’re big and look like party favors and I know little to nothing about them. Sorry.
_______________________________________________________________
Anyway, one last “basic” about this fly fishin thing you’ve decided you just have to get into…ok, make that a few last things.
*It’s spelled flyfishing or fly fishing. You pick.
*If you’re wading for trout in the Southeast the rocks are slippery. A wading staff is a good buy for a noob, just don’t get the most expensive one because it doesn’t matter if the handle is teak or rosewood when you bust your butt. A good pair of felt soled wading boots used to be mandantory, but the wading boot makers and environmentalists are(for now at least) ceasing production on felt soled boots. The “why” is another topic. If you’re going to fish slippery streams, buy some if you can, before they are all gone. You can thank me later.
*You do not need one (or two or three) of every single fly in every size that the fly shop or catalog sells. Talk to a local angler or someone who fishes where you want to fish and ask them what the five most productive flies are and in what sizes! ( THIS IS IMPORTANT….especially if you are fishing for trout – sometimes going up or down a fly size will make fish that seemed hesitant to bite, suddenly gluttonous pigs!)
*Go fishing with someone who has been flyfishing for more than 5 years. Even then, let me say that this does not always mean you won’t pick up someone else’s bad habits, but that’s what the next bullet point is for….
* ASK QUESTIONS!!!!! If you fish with someone and they tell you that you have to do X number of backcasts per cast, or that you have to use X fly on Tuesday’s or that you won’t catch fish unless you have the new secret fly – ASK SOMEONE ONLINE IF IT’S TRUE! Don’t be afraid to ask questions – even the ones you think are “stupid.” Remember: The only stupid question is the one you ask. That’s a joke. You know how it goes. Geesh. Lighten up.
*Never, ever fish without eye protection as a noob. Actually experienced fly fishers shouldn’t either, but some of us do. As a noob though, you are far more likely to get a hook in your eyeball. IN YOUR EYEBALL. Buy some polarized fishing glasses. Cheap ones, because you will lose them or break them sooner or later. And, the cheap ones work just as good as the $400 Costas for protection from flying hooks and spotting fish. They key is to get POLARIZED glasses. Don’t go to Walmart and get $2 sunglasses. Splurge on this and spend $15 on a good pair from the fishing section.
* Don’t rely on anything you’ve read above as the gospel truth of Fly Fishing. Two reasons: Because someone is going to disagree with something I’ve said. #2. Because what works for me may not, in the end work for you. ( And that’s ok.)
* Last but not least….HAVE FUN. If you’re not having fun flyfishing you should ask a friend for help. Or give up the sport because you stink at it…..I’d try asking for help first, just in case though.
Next week’s lesson: How to dislodge a fly from your fishin’ buddies rear end without killing him.
