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What You Need To Get Started With Fly Fishing

August 26, 2015 By John Walker

The question that I am most asked is what do I need to become a fly fisherman. The first thing that you will need is a good quality fly rod. This will be your most important investment when it comes to all of your fly fishing gear and, therefore, do not skimp on the price. Your fly fishing rod will be doing most of the work, and it is important to find a rod that has both finesse and power.

fishing from boatFly fisherman who begin should use a faster fly rod because it will not be as clumsy and will allow you to cast your line with more power. The term fast about a fly fishing rod means stiff but without a lot of give in the bottom portion of the rod. A soft tip will be important to prevent any of your tied flies from breaking off when using a light leader.

Most beginning fly fisherman have a few bad habits when it comes to casting. These bad habits have probably been learned while casting traditional spinning rods. The worst and by far the biggest bad habit for any beginner is that they “break” their wrist. An experienced fly fisherman will have his wrist locked and allow his arm to do the casting.

If you break your wrist, it will cause your cast to go all over the place, which will result in frustration. It will also cause your line to become tangled more often. This experience alone can hasten your fast exit from the sport of fly fishing. After all, who would enjoy a sport where the majority of the time is spent untying knots?

A good type of fly rod to choose would be a rod that breaks down into four pieces. True, there are many rods that only breakdown into two pieces but both are equally durable. Your four piece rod, however, will be more convenient to carry into hard-to-reach fishing spots. It should cost you an extra $30, but it will be well worth it.

Also, a four piece rod will be easier to bring on an airplane, pack into your car trunk, strap onto a backpack, or slide into a motorcycle saddlebag. You can purchase a four piece, nine foot fly rod for beginners with a 5 weight for about $200. This type of rod will usually have a lifetime warranty. There may be a few rods available like this for $100 but they will not come with a lifetime warranty.

waiting for a fish to biteThe next important purchase will be a fly rod reel. Reels can vary in price from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. Choose a reel that is balanced in weight with your entire fishing outfit. Reels that are too heavy can cause serious fatigue at the end of the day. Lighter reels are more expensive, but you should be able to get a decent real between $30 and $100.

After that, all you need are some of the basics such as a tippet, some light leaders, and a variety of flies. Now, you are all prepared to begin your career as a fly fisherman. Later, after you have learned the art of fly fishing you can venture into fly tying. Fly tying in itself is a wonderful hobby that will complement your fly fishing experience.

Tying your own flies will allow you to choose the perfect fly at every lakeside or river location. You will simply need to observe what type of flies or insects the fish are biting on and then tie a similar type of bait. It will add a whole new dimension to your fly fishing adventure.

Filed Under: Fishing Tagged With: Fly Fishing

Fly Fishing Tips

August 26, 2015 By John Walker

During each fishing trek, I discover some new information. It might be something that I get from a kindred fly fisher, something that I gain from committing an error, or it may be that a light all of a sudden goes on, and I understand that I have to begin doing something new or distinctive.

Of late, I have been keeping a scratch pad with me and jotted down things as they happen or as I consider them. Here are a couple of them:

fly fishing rod and reelFoam Is Your Companion

In law enforcement and in business, the key expression is “Always follow the money” – in fly fishing the expression ought to be “Always follow the foam”. The foam line will let you know two critical things: the first thing it lets you know is the place the fundamental ebb and flow creases or stream lines are.

Just in case the stream of the water is moving the foam along, you can be damn certain it is likewise moving food stuff along. We have a little jingle about where to fish: “Fish the edges, the edges and the foam by the stone”.

A Bit Of Floatant Is Everything You Need

Ideally, a one atom layer would be simply right. An old resigned histology teacher I knew verged on the ideal world. He disintegrated medicinal evaluation paraffin in toluene and kept it in a little jug. He would dunk his fly in the container and after that hold it noticeable all around for the toluene to vanish. His flies would buoy like stoppers as a result of a smaller scale layer of wax.

My experience is that the vast majority of us put much more floatant on than we require. Truth be told, we may overcome our motivation by including so much we keep our flies from riding appropriately on the water.

Try Not To Become Hopelessly Enamored With The Float

This propensity runs as an inseparable unit with the long cast inclination and is fairly pervasive in the individuals who regularly angle in crowed areas or have a particular beat to angle. When you have asserted your domain, you’re throwing length and float characterizes the limit. Long floats unavoidably begin with throwing more distant than required and wind up in line management issues. Under most dry fly circumstance keep your float to around six to eight feet long.

My general guideline is that my float ought to just be as long as I can shoot the line forward on my cast. Now and again I may let my float so long as I require one false cast to recover my fly where I need it. Be that as it may, I attempt to keep away from those circumstances by discovering a superior throwing position.

boat ready for fishingShort Floats Are Better

After these shorter floats, make two or three strides forward and begin the procedure once again. You will cover the same amount of water however your line management ought to be considerably less of an issue.

Keep Your Fly Dressed

There are truly two or three diverse yet related issues here. Verify after every fish you catch or miss that you pause a minute to “chip away at your fly”. Verify whether the wing(s) have turned out of position or the plumage is harmed. You’ll be shocked how regularly that happens.

Get Your Fly Dry

I’m somewhat of a clumsy person, so it doesn’t take me long to lose/dump/and so on, either drying precious stones or an Amadou drying cushion. In the event that you can stay informed concerning either, utilize one or the other after every fish, or you can do what I do and essentially blow on the fly and smudge it on your shirt sleeve.

Filed Under: Fishing Tagged With: Fly Fishing

Fly Fishing on the River Spey

April 1, 2015 By John Walker

Scotland’s River Spey is to salmon fishing as St. Andrews is to golf: the global heart of the sport. Each spring and summer, thousands of migrating fish travel up the 100 mile river to their spawning grounds. On their way, they are the target of hundreds of anglers, each of whom is as reverent of the river as they are of the fish. The Spey is known as much for its natural beauty as it is for the fat and flavourful fish that are pulled from its depths.

fly fishingNature In And Out Of The Water

Both salmon and sea-trout are native to the river and hundreds of each are caught each season. One type of salmon is known to be particularly exciting – the grilse. These are the first generation of salmon to return after their initial year at sea. Usually smaller, they are known to put up a tremendous fight and give every angler who catches one a special ‘fish story’ all their own. In addition, eight lochs feed the river, and many of those are stocked with farm raised trout.

Other wildlife abounds, too. At its upper level, the river winds through a bird sanctuary; at its mouth at Moray Bay are dolphins and seals. In between are miles of wilderness, home to red deer, pine marten and Scottish wildcats.

Unique Terrain Offers Variety

The Spey is the fastest flowing river in Scotland and it winds through both wide flats and narrow canyons. The diversity of its character offers a wide variety of angling experiences, all of which can be accessed at a number of beats along its banks. Fly fishing is the rule, and fly patterns with such colourful names as Gold Bodied Willie Gunn, Orange Flamethrower, Copperass and Blue Charm have been proven effective over the years. Due to the closeness of the scotch pines at rivers’ edge, Spey anglers developed the ‘speycast’, a side thrown cast that avoids the trees – a technique that has become one of the most utilised casts for fly fishers all around the world.

The beats themselves are both publicly and privately owned. They can offer single or double banks, and many offer both swift current and pool fishing challenges. Each beat is unique to itself, and some are limited to a certain number of rods.

Arndilly hut river speySomething For Everyone

Fisher-folk of all ages and skill levels are sure to find exactly the Spey experience they are looking for. Permits, boats, tackle and lessons are available for purchase or rental at most beats, or in one of the quaint towns up or down stream. The swift flow and cool water mandate both waders and life jackets. Boats can be anchored and let into the current, or managed by a ‘ghillie’ on the shore as the angler casts. A small stretch of the river provides wheelchair access to selected pools, and there are free permits available for wheelchair users.

The fishing season begins in February and runs through to September 30. The ‘freshest’ fish are pulled at the lower levels and can be found there early and late in the season. As the season wears on, the mid and upper levels offer excellent opportunity as the larger, stronger fish make their way up the river. May and June are regarded as the best months both for size and abundance of fish.

There are excellent accommodations for fisher-folk all season long, including hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and ‘self-catering’ units (whole house rentals).

Ensure your hotel is angler-friendly, has space to keep your equipment, drying rooms and freezer space for your catches. The Good Hotel Guide gives independent Editors Choice Awards for Best Fishing Hotels which we followed and were very happy with. The local tourist office can point you in the direction of suitable accomodation and there are a number of towns along the Spey. We stayed at one of the local hotels and found the owner particularly knowledgeable, and he had some excellent tips and contacts that made our stay more enjoyable.

Of course, it’s not just the angling the area has to offer as there’s always the finest whisky in the world to enjoy too, itself made from the sparkling water of the River Spey. No wonder the fish keep coming back!

Filed Under: Angling, Fishing Tagged With: Fly Fishing

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