Where do I begin with fly fishing?
Posted by admin on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
I really want to get into fly fishing. I have spin fished since I came out of the womb and never really gotten into casting flies. I have zero knowledge on it. I have zero gear and no idea where to start. I am going to attend a beginner’s class at my local Orvis outfitter’s store and I expect them to tell me a ton. I just can’t wait for the class in a week. Anyway, any and all info welcome! I need some lists of rods and reels, line, and any other gear I should know about! Thanks!
Filed in Fly Fishing Rods | 7 responses so far
Sagefisheron 16 Feb 2010 at 4:14 am 1This may seem like a bit of an overload, but I have attached some of the answers I have given in the past that refer to getting started in fly fishing.
To begin with, you are starting in the right direction by taking casting classes from a professional. As you will read below, there are also some great DVD’s that can help you in your efforts to learn casting.
Fly fishing is a great sport and a relaxing one. But, you have to learn how to cast first. Do not go out and start fishing without knowing how to cast. If you don’t know how to cast, you can become so frustrated that you may stop trying to learn fly fishing, and that would be a shame.
Practice your casting once you have been given some proper instruction. Buy yourself a starters kit to learn how to cast, there is no need to spend a fortune on gear when you are just beginning. That will come with time as you get hooked on fly fishing ïŠ.
Read through some of the below articles and see if any of them help you in your effort to learn fly fishing.
Good luck.
Larry
Beginning fly fishing:
After you have made the decision to try fly fishing, you need to locate a place that will teach you how to cast. A couple of 1 to 2 hours lessons and you will have the basics down. I can just about guarantee your biggest problem is going to be casting with your wrist rather than your arm. Wear a long sleeve shirt or coat that has a fairly tight wrist area and tuck the butt end of the fly rod into the end of the sleeve. You have just eliminated the ‘weak’ wrist problem for now. Cast a while that way, then take the rod out of your sleeve and try casting with a semi-locked wrist.
After learning how to do the basic cast, you need to buy some equipment. Decide what type of fish you are going to go after and that will determine the amount you are going to have to spend for an introductory outfit. In other words, if you are fishing for small to medium sized trout, a 9 foot, 5 weight rod would be good. You don’t need an expensive reel with them, even the basic ‘click and pawl’ reel would work great, or an inexpensive disc drag.
If you are going to be casting some heavy or large flies, then I would suggest a 6 weight rod for trout, the 6 weight handles the heavier flies better.
However, if you are going after largemouth bass then something along the lines of an 8 weight or 9 weight rod would be good. For smallmouth bass, a good fast action well made 6 weight, or better yet a 7 weight rod would do the trick.
If you are going to fish in the saltwater, then you will need to spend more on the reel. It will have to be saltwater safe and have a very good disc drag system. Expect to lay out a few hundred. The rod will also have to be bigger, depending on what species of fish you are targeting, however, remember that the saltwater is huge and there are big fish out there.
After you have decided what you are going to fish for and have purchased your fly rod and reel and line and leaders and tippet, you will need to buy some flies. Minimize your flies and don’t spend a fortune on them. You don’t need every fly in the world.
Again, decide how you are going to fish. Dry fly or Nymphing or Streamers. That will decide what flies to buy.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to join a fly club. The members will be more than happy to have you go out on fishing trips with them and also to spend some time with you on learning to cast better. Try to join a club, even if you have to drive 50 miles to get to one. It is well worth it.
Good luck fishing.
If you come up with specific questions, feel free to ask.
On DVD’s for fishing:
There used to be a fantastic show on TV called Fly Fish TV. They were shown on PBS stations and I loved the show. It was very down to earth, no hopping into your private jet to hit a river for a few hours. Just good fly fishing.
A couple of years ago, PBS stations had to start charging huge prices for airing shows and FlyFishTV had to stop. Last year they sold the programs they had already produced in monthly DVD’s. That was really nice because then you got a full hour of the show instead of a cut down 1/2 hour. I really looked forward to getting those every month.
I called them this morning and they still are selling DVD’s.
Give them a call at 1-800-FLYFISH (3593474)
or check them out at http://www.flyfishtv.com Go down to the bottom of the page and click on “how to”. That takes you to a page of instructional DVD’s.
I suggest you buy two DVD’s.
1. Fly Fishing Trout Streams by Maggie Merriman. This covers the fundamentals of dry fly fishing and nymph fishing techniques. Length is 1 hour. Cost is $24.95
2. Nymphing By The Numbers by Kelly Galloup. This is “A complete and systematic approach to
nymphing with lessons on presentation”. Length 2 hours. Cost is $34.95
They ship any two DVD’s for $5, so the total cost of both of these DVD’s should be $64.90.
Considering the amount of money you are going to be spending on your fishing trips, this is a worthwhile investment.
Previously I have suggested fly casting DVD’s, Joan Wulff’s to be precise. Without a local fly shop or club to go to, that would be the best bet for learning how to cast a fly line.
Larry
On Rods & Reels:
I was wondering when you would get around to rods and reels and line. All three are important, but the least important for regular trout fishing is the reel.
Some of the first fly reels came with a drag system called Click & Pawl. Some reels are still made that way today as it is an effective drag system for smaller fish, like your average trout. Most of the time, trout will end up fighting the action of the rod and the drag of any line still in the water. They won’t strip out a lot of line, if any at all. So, when they do manage to grab a little line off the reel the Click and Pawl system will work.
The more modern version of reels for trout come with a Disc Drag system, however, not all disc drags are the same. When you get into larger fish and the reel starts to scream as the line goes out, some disc drags will be over matched and will burn up or seize and freeze the reel. Neither is a good thing to have happen. Some disc drags have a smoother transfer of drag, so the leader isn’t stressed when a fish makes a sudden run. Some disc drags have a sealed system keeping sand and junk from getting into the drag, others have exposed drags that can get contaminated. A rule of thumb is the more you pay for a reel the better grade of reel it will be, but shop wisely.
Most likely, the reel that came with our $100 outfit can last you a long time if you only fish for trout.
Not knowing the type of reel, I will assume it is not a large arbor reel. If you ever do decide to upgrade your reel, you may want to consider going to a large arbor, because of the speed that you can get the line back on the reel as compared to a regular reel, 3 to 4 times faster. Some large arbor reels do have a drawback, they won’t hold that much backing and there are times when you need backing. Naturally when you get a huge fish and it takes off for the ocean but also when you snag your leader onto a rock or a tree and you are going downstream in a boat. It is handy to have some backing to allow the boat operator to stop the boat.
Enough on reels.
Rods. What a major topic that is. Personal preference has a lot to do with what brand of rod you buy. But, if you are brand new to fly fishing, how are you going to have a personal preference? I usually suggest to people who are just starting out into fly fishing and still don’t know if they are really going to stick with it, to buy an outfit like you did. You know the rod and reel and line are not the best in the world, but you accept that and you use the outfit at first to learn fly fishing, and down the road, you bring it along as a back up system.
I know of several instructors who have a saying, “A standard fly rod is a 5 or 6 weight 9 foot fly rod, all others are specialty rods.”
You have an 8’6″ rod, sort of a specialty rod, but still very usable especially for smaller rivers and streams. The shorter rods are handy when fighting brush and trees to get to a fishing location. Also your rod is most likely a 2 piece rod. Again, handy for moving in brush as you can break your rod down in half with out doing anything with the line, keep your rod rigged up and break it down, move thru the brush and put the rod back together. You are ready to fish.
2 piece rods tend to be less expensive that 4 to 6 piece rods because the manufacturer only has to have one ferrule, so it doesn’t take as much time nor labor to build a 2 piece. 2 piece rods are harder to store. They tend to take up the whole back seat of your car, so for that reason they are not a user friendly as the 4 to 6 piece rods.
When you decide to buy your next rod, first decide if you want a 2 or 4 piece, or more.
That is a small decision to make when it comes to rods.
Not all graphite rods are built the same. If all rods used the same graphite material things would be different, but they don’t. You have grades of material, it’s composition, how it is produced and many other factors. As a rule of thumb, the more expensive rods will be built with the better grade of graphite. But, you are just learning to fly fish, so don’t worry about that, yet.
Another thing you don’t need to worry about just yet is the action of the rod. Right now you are going to cast with how ever the rod you have was made. First learn to cast a fly line, then when you decide to get a second fly rod, that is when you should consider the action of the rod.
Most graphite rods are built with a medium-fast to a fast action. There are a few medium action rods, I own one, a Sage VPS Light 5 weight, which is a true medium action rod, but they don’t make them anymore. Then there are some ultra fast rods, very much a specialty rod and you don’t even want to get into those at this point.
For dry flies, a medium-fast rod is great. A fast rod can tend to snap the fly off if you are not careful.
What is a medium-fast as compared to a fast rod? When you cast a line with a rod, the line is what is going to carry the fly to the target. In spin fishing, the lure carries the line to the target. A fly is so light that you can’t even throw it with your hand, at least not very far. So, the line carries the fly. It is the rod that powers the line. As you cast both forward and backwards, the line is pulling on the rod, that loads up the rod.
Think of the rod as a bow and the line as an arrow. As you pull back on the arrow, the bow bends, or loads up. If you pull back just a few inches and let the arrow go, then the arrow will drop to the ground right in front of you. If you pull the arrow all the way back, it will shoot out a long distance. But, if your bow is made of a very flexible material, you will be able to pull it back it ease and while the arrow will fly, it won’t fly as fast or as far as an arrow shot out of a bow made of really stiff material that takes a lot of power to pull it back.
A rod does the same thing. The line causes the rod to bend and depending on how the rod was made, it will flex and load up with power that it transfers to the line when you stop the movement of the rod. When you stop, all of the power built up in the rod goes into the line.
A medium-fast action rod bends or loads farther down the rod than a fast action rod. The transfer of power is a little slower with a medium-fast rod than it is with a fast action rod. The medium fast rod will be a little more forgiving of your casting mistakes than a fast action rod. Another way to put it is the bad habits you have in casting will be emphasized more with a fast action rod than with a medium-fast rod. For many people, a medium-fast rod is all they need.
After you get your casting down to a decent level, and you want to buy another rod, go to a fly shop and talk to them about the differences between the medium-fast and fast action rods. They should let you cast both so you can see and feel the difference. If you do that, then please buy a rod from that fly shop, don’t go to them and then buy one at a wholesale store where you can’t test the rods.
There are hundreds of companies out there selling rods. When you decide to buy another rod, set a price in your mind as to how much you are willing to spend then look around at the different brands and buy the one you want. I would really be to your advantage to buy one after you try it out, if you can do that.
You can buy an entry level Sage, the Launch series for around $175, and it is made in America and guaranteed for life. Redington, which is also owed by Sage, sells imported fly rods, but they are good rods and again, guaranteed for life. The Redington rods sell for $80 & $130 & $230 and their top of the line is $299. What you will get from either one of them is consistency and a fantastic guarantee. No matter which company you buy from, check out their guarantee or warranty and buy a rod that fits the type of fishing you want to do.
I could write on book on rods, in fact, many people have.
Enough on rods.
You also asked about lines.
Fly lines are very important. Not all fly lines are made the same, not all fly lines cast the same. Not all fly rods cast the same with different fly lines that are supposed to be the same. I know, it sounds confusing because it is.
Stick with a name brand and plan on spending around $55 to $70 for a decent line. Most dry fly lines are weight forward styles, but they still make double taper lines. The double tapers are supposed to work better for dry flies, some say, and they do have the advantage of being able to turn the line around if one end gets damaged. They may not cast as far as weight forward lines, depending on our casting style. However, most lines are weight forward and will give you the greatest distance you can cast. They also will cast a heavier fly, like a Woolly Bugger or other streamers better.
Another fly line that is nice to have is an intermediate sinking line, in a clear or a camo style. It will take your fly under but not allow it to sink to the bottom, except in shallow water, as long as you keep the line moving. If you cast it and let it sit for a long time it will sink to the bottom but they have a slow sink rate.
The sinking tip lines also come in handy for certain types of fishing, getting down deep fast depending on the sink rate you need, like a 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or greater. The higher the number the faster the sink rate.
Rio makes good lines and Sage bought them a little while ago. Scientific Angler also makes a decent line. There are a number of companies out there, go for a quality line, it is important.
Hope this helps and wasn’t too confusing.
Larry
On: About Sage Fly Rods and Types of rods
My nickname isn’t Sagefisher by accident, I fish with Sage fly rods. I am a little prejudiced towards Sage, but then they make an excellent array of fly rods. They are all handmade made here in the United States.
There are a number of good fly rods out there. Sage is one of the best. Winston is also one of the best, but it’s low end rods are now made overseas. Thomas & Thomas was just purchased by an English company so I don’t know what they are going to do with their rods. Hardy is an English company and I am not familiar with their products.
Personally, I say buy Sage, you can’t go wrong. The lifetime warranty is great, but then a number of other companies have had to start lifetime warranties as well, to try to keep up with the top of the line rods.
As for which Sage, that does depend on how much you want to spend and more importantly, your level of casting skill.
Sage breaks their fly rods down into three groups: Premium Fly Rods; Specialty Fly Rods; and Value Fly Rods.
The Specialty Fly Rod is the saltwater rated Xi2. This is a great saltwater fly rod, they make them from 4 weights to 16 weights. They are made for serious saltwater fishing.
The Premium Fly Rod is the area you may want to take a look at. They have a wider selection of rod actions and sizes.
In this area you have the very technical and extremely ultra fast action TCR fly rod. Unless you are a master caster I wouldn’t consider this rod.
The new Z-Axis fly rod is their fast action rod, which replaced the XP series (I love the XP rods). The Z-Axis casts very well and is an excellent fly rod. Remember it is a fast action rod, great for nymphing and casting large streamers. I use an 11 foot 6 weight Z-Axis for nymphing and I love it. If you are going to be doing a lot of casting of small dries with really light tippet, I would not get this rod, but rather I think the SLT would be better.
If you are going to do a lot of dry fly fishing, especially smaller dry flies, then you may want to get a medium-fast action rod. This rod will handle the larger streamers and heavy dries yet allow you the ability to cast small dries using a 7X tippet.
The SLT series is an excellent medium-fast rod and great for virtually any fresh water fishing. That would be my choice for a dry fly rod.
They do make a TXL rod, a medium-fast action in a short rod (7′ to 7′ 10″) in 000 to 4 weight sizes. Great for smaller fish and brushy creeks or streams. This is more of a specialty rod and not to be used for your usual lake or larger river fishing. You would not use this rod for casting large streamers or huge dry flies or heavy nymphing rigs.
If you did want to save a little money, you could go for a Sage value rods.
The Launch series is their lowest priced rod. It is a medium-fast rod and casts decently.
The FLi series costs a little more and is a fast action rod.
A consideration to be made, is what are your fishing needs? Are you going to be doing a lot of small stream fishing, or just larger creeks and rivers and lakes? Are you going to be doing a lot of small dry fly fishing or casting mostly large streamers and heavy nymphing outfits?
If you bought a 9 foot 5 weight Launch rod for dry flies and a 9 foot 6 weight FLi for streamers, you would have two rods for two different needs, or even buy an additional Launch rod in the 7 foot 3 weight for small streams, you would be spending just about as much as you would for their high end rods. That is a great way for a beginner to have a nice selection of rods.
However, if you have been fly fishing for a while and cast decently, then I would go for the higher end rod. You will appreciate the way they cast and handle the fly line.
For large streamers and heavy nymphing rigs, I would suggest a Z-Axis. It may be a fast action rod, but it is very sensitive and you can really feel the fish while fighting it.
For a lot of dry fly fishing, I would suggest the SLT in a 5 or 6 weight 9 foot rod.
Have fun selecting a rod. Have even more fun fishing with it.
For more on Sage rods, go to:
http://www.sageflyfish.com/default.asp?p=6
Larry
On Rods:
If you have never fly fished but you want to give it a serious try, I would suggest buying a combo outfit, but, you want to buy a good brand.
If you go to the Cabela’s catalog at:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat600591&id=0029862319108a&navCount=2&podId=0029862&parentId=cat600591&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat600591&hasJS=true
you will see that they offer a Sage Launch fly rod (an entry level rod). This rod is guaranteed for life. For you I would suggest a 8′ 6″ 5 weight fly rod. They sell this rod with a fly line and one of three different reels, a Prestige reel for a total of $235 or a CSR reel for a total of $270 or a SLA (large arbor) reel for a total of $360. Most likely the Prestige reel combo would do very well for you if you are fishing fresh water and not going after trophy sized fish.
The Launch rod is a medium fast action rod, a good one to start out with.
Or you could buy a Redington (owned by Sage but imported. They are guaranteed for life).
I would suggest the medium fast action Redington Crosswater rod. They make the 5 weight in either 8 feet or 8’6″. Either would be great to have. Maybe the 8 foot would be better for a new person starting out. They sell this in a combo or outfit. The 8 foot Crosswater rod and outfit only sell for $99 at Cabela’s. Check it out at:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat600018&id=0044179319587a&navCount=7&podId=0044179&parentId=cat600018&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat600018&hasJS=true
These links are really long. If they don’t work, then go to their home page at:
http://www.cabelas.com/
click on Fly Fishing over on the left side of the page. Then in the list in the center of the page click on Redington and/or Sage and continue to click to get to the models I suggested.
Hope you enjoy fly fishing.
Larry
How to set up a fly rod:
How to set up a fly rod————–
Can you go to a person who knows what they are doing to get help? If so, I would strongly recommend it. Otherwise, give this a try. You need to learn it anyway.
Did you buy a package deal, that gave you a rod, reel, backing, line, leader and flies?
Or, did you buy separate pieces.
If you bought the package deal, then everything should match up, however I have seen some all-in-one outfits that were not fit to be called fly rods.
If you bought separate pieces, then I hope someone guided you through the purchases. Like is the fly rod the size (as in the weight of the rod, not the actual weight (yes, here is where you start scratching your head trying to figure out what I am saying) but the indicated weight of the rod. Like is it a 5 weight or a 6 weight, or did you buy a specialty rod, like a 2 or 3 weight or a 8 or 9 weight?
What kind of fish you are going for, is the determining factor in what size rod to buy.
Then your reel has to match up fairly close to the rod. Reels are sold with designators indicating that they are for a 5 or 6 weight or a 7 to 8 weight or a 2 to 3 weight rod. This is important. You can not use a 2/3 weight reel on a 6 weight rod. The line will totally fill the reel and there will be no room for backing or anything else. Also, the reel helps balance the rod while you are casting. So, if you have an ultra light reel on a heavy rod, the balance of the reel is going to be way up the rod somewhere, not down at the cork handle you are holding on to. That means you will have a hard time casting and wear yourself out faster than you should.
So, let’s hope the reel matches the rod.
Eric is right, use the Arbor knot to tie on the backing to the center spool of your reel. But first, do you want to reel this in with your right hand, thus holding the rod with your left hand, or do you want to reel it in with your left hand holding the rod with your right hand? I am going to assume you are right handed, if not the question simply needs to be reversed.
With small fish you can get away with casting with your strong hand and then switching the rod over to your other hand to reel in the line when you have a fish on. However, if you are going after big fish, then it is best to hold the rod with your strong hand and reel with your other hand, since it is your strong hand that has to hold the rod during the fight. Your muscles and mind-hand coordination are better with your strong hand.
Stop right here: You want to have at least one guide to put your backing through before you tie you it to the reel, so make sure you thread the backing and later the line through a guide. Some rods require you to put two pieces together to get a guide to use.
The line has to come off the bottom of the reel. Let’s say you are right handed and decided to reel in with your left hand (best choice). Tie the backing on so the line comes onto the reel from the bottom front and wraps up behind the reel then back out the top front, tie your arbor knot.
Reel in all of your backing if it is a complete outfit, otherwise you will have to play around with finding the right amount of backing. The papers that came with your reel should tell you how much backing in 20 pound Dacron or 30 pound Dacron your reel will take, but how are you to know how much you have reeled on? (I usually take my reel to my local fly shop and have them load it for me).
The backing serves two purposes. First, it helps fill the reel with line so your fly line does not have to be wound up in such small circles (that really causes a problem with the line). Also, if you hook into a big one or hook a tree or rock then you have some extra line to play with to get to shore or back up to where you snagged up the line. Fly lines are expensive and you do not want to be loosing those.
Eric is right, the nail knot is an excellent knot to use to tie the backing onto the fly line. In fact, once you learn to tie the knots, then you can tie two nail knots in a row onto your fly line. If the first nail knot should fail, the second one should hold.
Below are some websites you can go to in order to learn to tie the knots you need to learn. Practice with some string, two different colored ones if you can, and learn how to tie the knots we mention.
You now have the backing tied onto your line. Usually there is a little tag that mentions which end should be tied to the backing. If not, then if you are using a weight forward line, the backing gets tied to the end that has the really long and slender line. The other end has a very short slender line then very quickly thickens up, then slowly thins back down. That is the end you tie your leader onto.
So, tie your backing onto your fly line and now you need to reel it in. I prefer to take a small long box and punch a pencil or small 1/4 inch dowel through one side, push on your lines plastic holder then push the pencil out the other side. Now your line will come off the spool nice and straight and not twist on you.
Once you have reeled in all the line, now you will find out if you used too much backing because your line will not fit smoothly onto the reel. Best bet, strip your line out, and then take off some backing, cut it and tie the line back onto the backing and reel it in again.
Now you come to your leader. It has a loop on it you said. That makes it handy, but then you have to have a loop on the line or you can not use it. Some lines being made now have loops built into them. If you do not have one of those, then the best thing you can do is tie a short piece of mono onto your fly line then tie in a loop at the other end.
For now, use the nail knot to tie the mono to your line. The thicker the leader, the fewer the wraps you need to form a nail knot, but the rule of thumb is 4 or 5 turns. You can buy a nail knot tool, I would strongly recommend it, and it makes tying nail knots super easy with just a little practice. The key to any nail knot is to pull the tag end of the leader quickly and smoothly. If you go slow you end up with a horrible looking knot. If you practice ahead of time, you will tie a good looking nail knot.
For a short piece of mono I have often just cut off a foot of my leader, the thick end, and tied it to my line, then tied in a small loop using a Perfection Loop knot. If the leader came with a loop, then you have a built in loop, but you will then have to tie a Perfection Knot loop back into your leader.
It is important that this short, 4 to 5 inch piece of leader be just about as thick as the line, you can not use a real limp and small size piece of mono. If you do you will not be able to transfer the power of the cast into your leader.
If you are going to tie on a tippet to the other end of the leader I suggest learning the Blood Knot or the Improved Surgeon’s Knot. The blood knot may be the best one to use.
When putting the rod together, line up the guides and push the pieces together with an equal amount of pressure from both hands. The guides have to line up for proper casting. After an hour or so of casting, make sure you test the sections to keep them from slowly coming apart.
Now tie on a small piece of yarn and learn how to cast.
Here are three sites you can go to and learn about knot tying for fly fishing. I really love the Animated Knots by Grog site, the first one listed.
Good luck.
Larry
http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com
http://globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/knots/table.php
http://www.flyfisherman.com/skills/lkknots/index.html
leadwing2on 16 Feb 2010 at 4:14 am 2Hello fellow fisherman. I was in the same boat you are in. I met a guy on a creek that i fish reguarly and i wasn’t catching nothing on little rooster tails,and he walked by me with a stringer of brook trout. I asked him what he was using and he said a wet fly.to make a long story short we talked and he persuaded me to go get a fly rod. The gentleman at the fly store told me to buy a cheap combo deal, that way if i didnt like flyfishing i wouldn’t be out a lot of money. when i was leaving the store his last words were “have patience is the key”. I also bought books on how to cast and what flys to use. So the bottom line for you from me is
1.buy cheap rod
2.buy books on how to flyfish (very helpful
3.patience
4.use floating line and dry flies
5.if you love flyfishing then go buy a decent rod and reel combo.(i have 3 scott rods and i love them, 2-4weights 1-3weight)
6. tie your own flies if you want. i tie my own flies and i love doing it.
7. have fun doing it thats the main thing
I hope i helped you, good luck and good fishing.
leadwing2.
Janickon 16 Feb 2010 at 4:32 am 3Whoah there sagefisher nice info but dont get confused, just go to your local fishing store and ask them what you need to go flyfishing. i did the same thing at Dick’s sporting goods and they supplied me with an amazing rod, reel, and line combo. i did attend a class like you did and it helped a ton. i later purchased manny books and then i bought a fly-tier kit which now i tie my own flies with!!
List
Rod (prefer a Flueger prestige)
Reel (Redfly reel)
Backing(optional)
Line(floating, sinking etc.)
Small box of flies
Vest(optional)
Net(optional
Pliers
line cutter
dry fly substance
there are a ton of other things that AREN’T essiantial to fly fishing, but when u get more experianced you should purchese
tight lines and good luck!!
jduck1979on 16 Feb 2010 at 4:50 am 4First off, an EXTREMELY good book to help point you in the right direction is “John Bailey’s Complete Guide to Fly Fishing”
http://astore.amazon.com/wormdanglecou-20/detail/1580112331/102-7265848-8374509
Rods….. most books recommend starting off with a 9ft or 9ft 6″ rod with an AFTM rating of 5-6 or 6-7, which can handle anything from a thumb sized trout up to an 8lb Salmon / Steelhead / Sea Trout.
Here’s a selection that fit the bill:
http://astore.amazon.com/wormdanglecou-20/detail/B00030AIWM/102-7265848-8374509
http://astore.amazon.com/wormdanglecou-20/detail/B000KNLHPY/102-7265848-8374509
Reels, it doesn’t matter too much about as all they really do in fly fishing is provide somewhere to store your line when you ain’t using it, with the line you’re casting / retrieving mostly dangling round your feet – because of this I’ve found it’s a good idea NOT to wear clothes with drawcords on them, otherwise they get tangled up with the line everytime youre trying to cast.
check out these reels:
http://astore.amazon.com/wormdanglecou-20/detail/B000LDTIRC/102-7265848-8374509
Line……. first off you’ll need FLY LINE BACKING…. usually about 75yards of the stuff to put on the reel first….. to which you then attach the flyline…. I believe an AFTM #6 “Weight Forward Floating” (WFF) should be ideal for starting out.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat602041&rid=&indexId=cat602041&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=4&parentType=index&parentId=cat602041&id=0011213
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat602041&id=0011376311515a&navCount=4&podId=0011376&parentId=cat602041&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat602041
Leader material………. I just use plain old monofilament, used to link the flyline to the fly… the flyline being way too thick to tie the hook tarted up to look like a insect directly to it.
An absolute must is some sort of cap + polarised sunglasses, largely for safety reasons…… particularly to avoid hooking yourself in the head / eyes…. which can be all too easy to do when fly fishing, especially when there’s a bit of a wind.
Apart from that, all you really need is a small selection of flies to get you started, and a box to store them in…….. and perhaps a pair of forceps to help unhook the fish with.
James Gon 16 Feb 2010 at 5:32 am 5post on a forum or two and see if you get anymore tips. http://www.fishntell.com
AIRFLOon 16 Feb 2010 at 5:55 am 6well that sounds like a good idea i would go for a 9 ft middle to tip action rod and also i would say you need a 7wt to start ou with also a floating and intermediate line…when it comes to line buy the best you can afford as for rod action middle to tip action is excellent
martin fon 16 Feb 2010 at 6:03 am 7for abu garcia fans
http://abugarcia.blogspot.com