Taking the mystery out of fly fishing

[USCGME2]

Well, we definitely have some fisherman on this board that is for sho! I thought I would start a thread on fly fishing. Just gonna cover some basics and dispel a few myths if I can. I got into fishing this way when a buddy of mine took me and once I caught my first fish on a dry I was hooked. Pardon the pun!

Fly fishing is nothing more than using the weight of the line to carry the lure rather than the weight of the lure go carry the line. Fly rods can be used for everything from trout to pan fish to large ocean fish like bonefish, tarpon and even sailfish on the extreme end. In fly fishing the rod and line are everything, the reel is actually much less focal than in other types of fishing. In fact, the vast majority of the trout I have caught has been "nymphing" which, sad to say, is really not much more than cane pole fishing with a really expensive rod!

Ok, without getting into all the infinite set ups for the endless variety of species, Ill talk a out a basic all around set up you can use on a variety of fish in a waterway near you. First, the rod - a 5# to 7# weight is ideal to start with. In fact they make 5/6 and 6/7 combo weights too. A 6/7 weight will do well because you can fish larger flys like streamers, poppers, and wooly-boogers off it easily. It will also handle blue gills, trout, crappie, and really fair sized bass too. For dry fly fishing they can be a little heavy handed but, will work. I personally like at least an 8'6" to 9' length to really drive the line and lure out on a good loop. Its also a good nymphing rod which usually has a little extra weight on it. Longer rods make mending line on the water easier.

Most popular line choice for the average set up would be a 7# floating "weight forward" line. All this means is the forward section of the fly line is heavier to help carry the line out and transfer the energy to roll over the leader and tippet. For a leader I like a 9ft 6x with a pretied loop. For Tippet I will use anywhere from 5x to 7x depending on they fly in use. Basic rule is larger the fly, the more heavy the tippet needs to be.

Tomorrow Ill write some more on fly selection, and basic techniques for casting and catching.

[offtrail]

Good job brother looking forward to the rest of the info. I started fly fishing back in the early 70s but never stuck with it. For sure flyfishing can catch fish when other methods fail...that's a fact jack

[cajunlady87]

Good post and explanation, looking forward to more on fly fishing.

[orly152]

Nice post USCG, fly fishing sure looks a lot more exciting to me...maybe someday I be lucky to try it. Looking forward on more fly fishing post.

[jmarshnh]

Thanks, glad to see some information on fly fishing. I have been trying to fly fish since I came up north in 1988. Sure have fun but have no clue what I am doing. Looking forward to more about it and maybe some day I will do okay.

Jim

[USCGME2]

Little more on fly line set up... Since we are using a pretty basic set up, 7# weight forward line what comes next? Well, a fly line basically tapers from heavy to light progressively to transfer energy from the load of the rod to the fly. Oh, I forgot to mention that your backing on the reel is usually a Dacron 15 or 20 pound line wound down on the reel and is attached to the fly line via a nail knot.
www.animatedknots.com/nailknot/
The fly line then attaches to a short heavy piece of nylon line called "Amnesia". This usually about 3" in length with a small loop on the end and is bright red in color. Its called Amnesia because it reminds you where the end of your fly line is. my loop is rigged via surgeon's knot. To which I attach my leader (5x to 7x) 9 ft. Normally, I use a 6x and if it has a loop I just run the bitter end through and go loop to loop. If the leader is not pre tied, I put a loop in using a surgeons knot. Now, I will usually cut off about 18" of the leader and put in another surgeons loop. Then I attach my tippet with yet another surgeon loop and go loop to loop. Now I should have about a total of 9 ft to my tippet's bitter end.
www.animatedknots.com/surgeonsloop/
That sounds like alot of tying and it is initially. If you fish carefully, you will almost always break off at the tippet near the fisherman knot at the lure. Every so often you have to re-tie a new tippet and occasionally a new loop on your leader. So, its not as bad as it seems at first. I have a fly line at home that has had the same nail knot in the amnesia for years. They are hardy.

[USCGME2]

Lure selection:

Streamers/Attractors: A streamer is a longer pattern that often imitates baitfish and is fished by casting out stripping back the line making the lure undulate in the water. There are an endless variety of these that range from matukas, mouse patterns, black nosed dace, worm patterns and the infamous Mickey Finn. An attractor is a pattern that looks like nothing and is taken as everything. Best example of this is a Wooly Booger. IMO, a #8 or #6 olive drab gold bead head WB is the single best fly you can have. I have caught trout, bass, crappie, bluegills, and even a nice northern on the Wooly. Get over a bed of gills and fish that lure on a slow strip and you will be amazed at the action. If there are big trout around look out, they cant leave these alone either.

Nymphing: Nymphing is a small fly fished below the surface, often below a strike indicator, that imitates the nymphal stage of aquatic insects. Honestly, this type of fishing is almost exactly like cane pole fishing. More on that later. Popular nymphs for me are San Juan worms (red), Prince Nymph, Copper John's, olive scuds, sow bugs, 1/80th oz white jigs (devastating) and the ubiquitous Pheasant Tail. These come in various shapes and sizes but, suffice it to say many will catch a variety of pan fish as well as trout.

Dry flies- Dry fly fishing is the top water world of fly payterns. There are infinite varieties, styles, shapes and species to imitate. For simplicity sake, I trend toward terrestrials when angling for warm water fishes. Popper bugs, Sneaky Petes, grasshoppers, ant patterns, and frog patterns dominate. Throw a Sneaky Pete over blue gill beds, pop it a few times, let it sit and the gills (and bass) will make quick work of it! For trout, they tend to be more specific feeders and a wider array of usually small dries are required. That is a whole department unto itself. Know this though, a blue gill will readily take a large Elk Hair caddis and several other "trout" flies.

[thywar]

Just so you know.. to me this is very interesting.. I own a fly rod.. and that's the end of the story. I've just given you everything I know about fly fishing. I own a fly rod.. lol and I live about 30 minutes from a great OK trout stream. So you're giving lots of great info there USCGME2.. (although you've yet, for me anyway, taken any mystery out of it)

On the other hand I could watch A River Runs Through It 1,000 times just to watch that line work.. I don't believe there is anything more calming and peaceful looking than watching a fly line snake across the water.. Fly Fishing isn't a mystery to me.. it's art

[USCGME2]

Casting - thanks Thywar for that observation. Great casting is an art, its also mostly comepletely unecessary. Sure, if your fishing the flats at Andros Is, you best be able to chuck a good loop into the wind with accuracy or kiss that trophy bone good bye! Admittedly, to cast a wooly booger 50 plus feet does take some practice but, does not require the arial show from a River Runs.. That is however one of my favorites too!

Myth buster #1 - you have to cast like a champ to catch fish on a fly rod and its hard learn. Wrong! 90% of the hundreds and hundreds of fish I have caught on the fly were within 20 feet. That is only about double the length of the rod itself! A short line is easier to cast, handle, and mend on the drift. The most used "cast" I employ is a roll cast. It can be taught in about ten minutes if your sober. 12 if your a little drunk. . All you have to do catch the majority of your fish is drift a nymph under a strike indicator past like spots and you'll pick up twice as many fish as the guy throwing all those 75 ft loops, getting a two feet of good drift and missing strkes cause he's so far out. Man, he looks regal though! Imagine taking a cane pole, putting the rig in the water and allowing it to float DRAG FREE and hooking up when the strike indicator bumps. That easy!

Thywar - I have you casting good enough to catch fish in ten minutes! Set that pole set up and when I get there Ill show you just how easy it really is.

[USCGME2]

Myth buster # 2 - Fly fishing requires a ton of gear. And its all expensive.

Yeah, not so much. True you can drop seven hunney alone on a pair of waders, 300 bones on some wading shoes, 2 grand on a rod (without a reel), and $600 bucks on a fly tying vice. Not exaggerating here folks, there is expensive crap out there. To catch fish and have fun, you can pick up a number of starter kits, a pair of waders and some lures and be under 200 bucks out the door. Thats for some good stuff too that will last you with care. All you really need to get started is a rod, reel, line, and some terminal tackle then head down to your local pond and get crackin!

[woodscustom]

Here's WCR flyfishing on the Big Piney.





WC

[angelhelp]

MirkwoodWanderer thinks your casting technique is wonderfully smooth and practiced.