Fish-Hawk.Net

With Trout season opening this past weekend, thought I would give my Christmas present a try.

I have been reading feverishly for the past 4 months, how to cast, how to tie a fly, Caddis made easy, yadda, yadda.

6-weight rod – 8.5ft long, yellow 6-weight fly line, tapered tippet, and 4lb fluorocarbon leader. I decided to try, a fly I had made up, that resembles roe, not only is it easy to see, but it is soft, for when it hits me in the back of the head, (as I know it will).

Saturday is a perfect day, slightly overcast, slight breeze, as I wade out to the middle of the Grand River at Seneca Park. Water is cool, fast and about a foot higher than normal. No problem.

For the first hour, I try to cast to the south, as I normally do, to a few eddies, and holes that I know of. The fly zips back and forth, boy, this seems easy,,, but how do you get more line out? Moreover, just how do you get it to go where you want it to go? Fly hits me in the back of the head 3-4 times, always seems to be right on top of me, hey that breeze is blowing it towards me.

Turn around and cast to the north, things just got a whole lot easier. The Fly now travels back and forth about 6ft east of my head. Ok, I learned one thing to day; keep the wind on your non-pole side.

A couple of hours later, still flinging the Fly around like a mad man, but can not get it to take much line out, or put it where I want it. So I try a Streamer, let the current take the fly down stream, and strip in back, this is fun, but not really fly fishing, is it?

All in all, I had fun, and will try this again, would have been nice to see a fish, but I think I would have been toast if one had nailed a fly/streamer, and me all tied up with the fly line.

sounds like a nice day though SteveG.

I've been wanting to learn to fly fish too. I saw a guy giving leasons beside a creek one day and I've had a urge to learn since.

I think I'll wait until the water tempurature is a bit warmer though. I can see myself falling in a few times.

I love to fly! althought most of the creeks i fish are to dence for it!

Dave

Hey Steve, it sounds like you really gave a worthy effort for your first outing. Betcha understand now why alot of fly fishers wear the full big brimmed hats too.

To help you get more line out easily you could try a stripping basket. Any small basket you can attach to an old belt or something might be worth a try. Before starting into your casts you can strip a great length of line off the reel and have it sit in the basket. This will prevent you from having to strip line off the reel with each cast, it will allow you to throw more line on each forward cast (once you practice more) and this method will leave your reel arm less exhausted at the end of the day.

The same goes when in a float tube, but you don't need the basket. You can simply just pile line onto your lap.

Fly placement is something you'll only ever get better at. I'm sure Lefty Kreh still feels that the odd cast in a specific condition could have been better. The final forward cast that places the fly always needs revisions, especially with the dry flies. Don't worry too much about the streamers and nymphs because they are quite often movable in many conditions. Shorter leaders are quite often more easily controlled, but unfortunately the fish don't always take as well to these leaders.

Dr. Cooks world record brookie was taken on a minnow fished with a fly rod. There are plenty of ways to fly fish, but some folks may not agree that many subsurface methods count. Bull&^%. It's fun, rewarding, challenging and a never ending study, the world of fly fishing (and fishing in general). I'm sure in time you'll be bringing the hogs to your feet. You'll keep at it, it's addictive.

Have fun.

SteveG,

Fly fishing is a unique type of fishing. It can really fun and rewarding but it can also be fustrating, especially in the beginning. This is why some people view it as an art.

The number one thing your need to have when fly fishing is patience. You cannot rush a cast. The longer you want the cast to be, the more patience you have to be. What I mean is that in your back and forward cast, you need to wait for the line to straighten out. By waiting, you actually make the cast with less effort because you are using the rod. There is a reason why the fly rods are so much softer.

So when making falses cast (which is the process to get more line out there by extending the cast) you wait for a brief period on each back and forward cast. This period you wait for gets slightly longer the more line you get out. During these falses cast it is important you don't go past 11 o'clock on the back cast and 1 o'clock on the forward cast.

Finally when you are ready to get your fly in the water follow the line to the water on the forward cast with the rod tip. If you drop the rod tip too fast your cast will suck (sorry couldn't figure out a better way to describe it).

If you perfect the fly cast, the fly will actually be the first thing to hit the water )ahead of your leader and fly line).

Now, I haven't fly fished in a few years now so this is just off the top of my head. Hope it works for you.

Good luck,

Mike

Thanks for the tips everyone,

A basket for stripping the line would be a lot of help, as I was finding the line (stripped) dropped into the river, (and the river is pretty quick)pulling the line down stream. Thus reducing the length of the false cast.

Fish-hawk will need to come up with a full brim hat before I'll change....

And hey, Pink Lady, join me for fly fishing, and I'll give you my spare FH hat, instead of to Markus like I promised.

keep the tips a coming. I'm taking notes.

Steve:

Casting a streamer downstream and playing it in the current is definately fly fishing. Try this with a wooly bugger or muddler in Smallmouth water during bass season and hang on to your socks.

Don't get discouraged with the casting. The only casts you see on fishing shows are the good ones. If you are bullwhipping the flies off the line, just turn your head to see when the fly is in position to come forward then cast it. There aint no hard and fast rules. Get someone to show you the basics, then do what works.

Good luck: It's a whole different world.

Regards: Jigs.