Thread: So I'm Learning to Fly Fish

The two most important rules of flyfishing are

1. If it isn't a dry fly it's not really fly fishing.

2. If you sweeten the fly with a small wiggling red worm, it will catch a lot more fish.

Originally Posted by PapaBull

2. If you sweeten the fly with a small wiggling red worm, it will catch a lot more fish.

You mean "garden hackle"!!

Originally Posted by PapaBull

The two most important rules of flyfishing are

1. If it isn't a dry fly it's not really fly fishing.

2. If you sweeten the fly with a small wiggling red worm, it will catch a lot more fish.

I've been reading everything and appreciate all the information.

PapaBull brings up something of interest for me in his first rule ---- the thing that makes me want to learn how to fly fish is because it allows you to present a dry fly (or popper) in a very --may I say -- elegant way and I can see the advantage of this ---but I can't see the advantage of using fly fishing for sub-surface fishing , streamers and such. It seems to me that bait casting covers this better and aside from just wanting to fly fish with streamers I can't see the advantage (especially for Louisiana fish)--- Am I missing something?


Justin

Originally Posted by ScottS

You mean "garden hackle"!!

garden hackle

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

I've been reading everything and appreciate all the information.

PapaBull brings up something of interest for me in his first rule ---- the thing that makes me want to learn how to fly fish is because it allows you to present a dry fly (or popper) in a very --may I say -- elegant way and I can see the advantage of this ---but I can't see the advantage of using fly fishing for sub-surface fishing , streamers and such. It seems to me that bait casting covers this better and aside from just wanting to fly fish with streamers I can't see the advantage (especially for Louisiana fish)--- Am I missing something?


Justin

For bass, and some other species, a good spin fisherman should consistently outfish a good fly fisherman. Fly fishing is essentially useless in water deeper than about 10 or 15 feet.

For trout in streams, I'd say its a tossup, but the flyfisherman has to be good.

Subsurface fly fishing really creates many opportunities to catch fish. Trout do 90% of their eating underwater. Opportunities to fish a dry fly are best when there's natural dry fly activity and the fish are actively rising. When there's zero surface activity, a fly fisherman is SOL unless there are more tools in the toolbox. Nymph fishing is an absolutely killer way to present a very natural looking nymph to a trout if you're good at it. Wet fly fishing is how fly fishing (well, all fishing with an angle) started, and it can be a wonderfully effective way of covering a ton of water very quickly, and its a very laid back lazy way to fish compared to dry flies and nymphs. Streamers can be very effective for your biggest trout-- the cannibals that hunt after dark, for example. Where with most other types of fly fishing, you have to get the fly in the right place, the streamer is very visible, and the trout will cross water to get at it. A few drifts and strips across a pool, though, and if there isn't an interested trout in the pool, you'll know it and you can change flies or move to a different pool.

There's also just something that feels right about fishing and tying streamers, and related spey flies. They can be absolutely beautiful:

Thanks Scott, a couple of weeks back, I spent a good bit of time fly fishing (learning to fly fish) in central Texas in what is commonly called a "tank" ---some people call them gravel pits, but they are basically dug out ponds for keeping cattle well watered.
The rod and reel I was using was a 9' , 6wt Orvis Clearwater setup that I purchased for my father a couple years back (hoping we could eventually do some fly fishing together). It is funny to a Louisiana boy, but it is common in Central Texas for people to want to stock their tanks with almost exclusively catfish and they don't mind if you can rid their tanks of bass --now we fish for catfish in Louisiana but bass fishing is the tops for most and if you want me to fish for bass all day I will. Of course you can get a big head fishing for bass in such isolated ponds as the bass are easy to catch (haven't learned yet to ignore that lure) and over a few days time (fishing only in the evening) I caught 15 or so bass. I was using a bass popper but had a hard time casting with it so I bought a few dry caddis (elk hair) just because I wanted to actually cast a dry fly and because they might look a little like the thousands of locust that cover Central Texas this time of year. I think the flies were about size 12 and the improvement in casting was dramatic and the feel was just right. I caught bass ranging from about 2 inches long (no joke) to about 1 pound and it was a blast. I tend to like the idea of finesse fishing for little fish than big clunkers (but thats fun too) and presenting a dry fly is a beautiful thing especially when you are use to using bass and saltwater casting rigs with 20-30 lb line and sizable lures ---it was really a nice change.

At first it was like two monkeys f--king a football as I didn't know how to handle the line to play a fish but I soon was catching on and making reasonable casts in some fairly tight situations with overhanging trees to the front and high bluffs to my rear.
The wind was pretty strong as well --- so it might have been not the best place for a beginner to try to learn but baptism by fire I suppose.

I learned quickly that you have to do some false casting to keep your dry fly dry as they do not float for long if you don't and that the weight of the fly means little but the fluffiness (air resistance) of a fly can hinder your casting ability.

I still have a lot to learn for sure but it's all fun.

Justin

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

I learned quickly that you have to do some false casting to keep your dry fly dry as they do not float for long if you don't and that the weight of the fly means little but the fluffiness (air resistance) of a fly can hinder your casting ability.

I still have a lot to learn for sure but it's all fun.

Justin

I used to tie a fly my first Fly Tying instructor called a "Humpy". It was tied pretty much, entirely with deer hair. It's been quite a while since I tied one, but essentially you cut a section of deer hair long enough for the tail and approximately three times the length of the body. First you tie on the tail section(use red thread), being sure to make it 1-1/2 times the gap(the distance from the point to the shaft) - dry fly proportions are important. You then wrap remaining hair forward toward the head leaving enough room for wings. You now wrap back toward the tail stopping where the tail was tied off. Take the remaining section of hair and fold it back over the hair you just wrapped on the shaft(forward toward the head), and tie it off(I hope this isn't confusing). Trim that as short as you can. Now tie in wings with two tuffs of deer hair tips, add two white feather sections, do your head with black thread. Finished! You now have a very buggy dry fly that has a hump of deer hair on the back + a red body underneath that will float like a cork. Deer hair is hollow, thus enableing this beauty to float so well.

I used to fish the Sierras, in perticular the McLeod River, before all the good spots got overrun by the multitudes of people in California. This fly has always been a killer. Its kinda like putting a live grassopper on a hook (a difficult thing to do) - which is an almost guaranteed of a trout every cast.

Ironey: I grew up fishing in California always looking for that great fishing spot and fighting the crowds of people. I moved to Idaho 12 years ago and I have never fished here. Hummmm!

* There is a downside to tying this fly: it is very hard to tie in smaller patterns! #12 is about it, but if you're good, it can be done with practice.

Regards,

Steve

Thanks Steve -- appreciate the info.

Justin

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

Thanks Steve -- appreciate the info.

Justin

One additional note:

Even though this, #12, seems to be a rather large pattern for dry fly fishing (I am a small river and stream fisherman), it works well for all sizes of whatever venue you choose to fish. It's so "BUGGY" looking.

Steve

Justin -
I stumbled across these videos and thought of you and your new pursuit - while they're not specifically about fly-fishing, there are still some real lessons to be learned from this guy. (He's got a weekly T.V. show)

Bill Dance Outdoors

or this one