special from Orvis

[JCW355]

Got any suggestions to start? I am such a newbie on this, I don't know what questions to ask.

I bought a combo from bass pro for around $85, rod and reel. It has been on sale in the $60 range. You can get alot tied up in fly fishing though. I have the redhead neoprene waders for colder weather and bought some lighter weight waders for warmer weather. They were around $100. The neoprenes were cheaper. I use stocking foot waders with seperate boots. They have felt bottoms with studs, way better traction on scum covered rocks. Flies can be expensive so deals like what was posted above are good. I also bought a dvd and watched it. I would recommend the dvd for a newbie. I'm by no means anywhere close to an expert, just enjoy trying something new and challenging.

 

[J.P.]

Tying your own flies is one way to go, and you can get starter setsups for that as well, but eventually it gets as expensive as you wanna make it.
I just don't have time to tie flies anymore so I buy whatever they are hittin on at the local waters.

Waders are a must for Trout streams.....that sh!+ is friggin' cold!

 

[J.P.]

Tying your own flies is one way to go, and you can get starter setsups for that as well, but eventually it gets as expensive as you wanna make it.
I just don't have time to tie flies anymore so I buy whatever they are hittin on at the local waters.

Waders are a must for Trout streams.....that sh!+ is friggin' cold!

I'm tryin' to think of a decent book or video to recommend for learing to fly cast....
I've got an LLBean guide penned by Dave Whitlock that is a pretty good source...the best thing to do is go to the local fly shops for advice and instruction unless you know someone who can help.
I think there is a group called tulsaflyfishers or something like that and IIRC they meet at Red Castle.....might look into that.
D&B outfitters on Mingo, and the Gadget Company on 15th st, are the only shops I know of in town....they can tell you where the meetings/seminars are etc.

 

[dennishoddy]

I think there is a group called tulsaflyfishers or something like that and IIRC they meet at Red Castle.....might look into that.

That is a good group to get into with. I think they put on seminars for new fly fishers.

I use a 6w rod thats medium priced. Works for my early skill level.

CONFESSION TIME: I've been pretty much self taught, and not very good but I tried to learn from the internet, and so on.

This spring the wife and I went to Broken Bow and fished the Lower Mountain Fork just before the floods and record releases.

I hired a local guide to "teach me how to really fly fish".
It rained like holy heck during the 1/2 day trip, but I didn't care. We put on our rain gear, and started at the evening hole, working our way below the park. As the water got cloudy, we moved to the side that wasn't cloudy. I would have left, but thats not how streams work. I really didn't care if we caught fish or not....just needed to know how to do it and what it took to catch them.

My recommendation is to do just that. He taught me how to "mend" , how to cast longer, how to cast accurately, how to cast with trees/grass behind you, stripping a streamer, and a whole bunch more. If your a "died in the wool" bass fisherman like I was, it will negate every thing you know when trout fishing.

I was taught to keep the rod high on bass to let the rod take the shock. The guide had me point the rod to the streamer, and keep the tip on the water while stripping the line, and then raise the rod on the strike.

I have lots of practice to do

 

[gillman7]

I think there is a group called tulsaflyfishers or something like that and IIRC they meet at Red Castle.....might look into that.
D&B outfitters on Mingo, and the Gadget Company on 15th st, are the only shops I know of in town....they can tell you where the meetings/seminars are etc.

I will check out the group at Red Castle, I am looking at joining out there soon.

I actually drive by D&B everyday, I live over that way. I didn't know they had fishing equipment, I will stop in this week and ask some questions.

I like Ultra light fishing. I like bass fishing also, but do not have a boat, so most of mine is wading and bank fishing, and I get more action fishing for perch, crappie, and really like to trout fish. That is what I am looking for in fly fishing. I did a little, (about 3 times) up in Colorado, and a couple of times in Missouri, and loved it. Not great at it, but to me it is one of the most challenging, and still relaxing ways to fish.

 

[J.P.]

Yeah, fly casting is all about three things:
Timing, Timing, and Timing....knowing when to apply power to accelerate the line, when to wait, and when to stop.

A lot of people fisrt starting out do not understand the arm/line/rod relationship and they try to force it to work.
The overpower the rod by slinging it hard in the direction they want to go.....this will never work with a fly rod.

With a fly rod, you are casting the line, not the lure, because the line is the only thing that has any weight in the tackle chain....you're ignoring the lure.
(as opposed to a standard rod/reel fishing where you are casting the weight of the lure and the line doesn't play much of a role)

In most cases, particularly with Trout, you are looking for a finesse presentation regardless of how the wind/weather is cooperating with your casting.
If you're fishing for something like Bluegill you can slam the line down, splash it, crash the fly hard...they don't really care.

There are basically 5 steps to your basic fly cast:
-The pick up
-The backcast
-The "pause" (while you wait for the line to unroll)
-The forward cast
-The laydown
It looks more like two steps when viewing it unless you know what you are looking at, especially when watching someone who is very smooth.

After removing excess slack from the line (and with the rod pointing low and straight ahead) you start your "pick up" where you raise the rod hand up to about eye level (11:00)...your rod will "load" due to the weight of the line and it's resistance on the water.
At that point you transition smoothly into your back cast where you begin moving the rod slowly up/backward over your shoulder to about the 1:00 position (your head being 12:00)
While you do this, you are increasing the rod spedd from slow to fast in a smooth accelration...until you reach the 1:00 position where you instantly STOP.

This backcast is probably the single most important element of your casting stroke.
It all starts with a good backcast, and without a good backcast you will not have a good cast in any regard.

Then you pause and wait for the line to unroll behind you (straightens all the way out). You can watch this happen but it is very important to notice the "feel" of the line when it's straight so that you can progress to casting without having to look.
After the line is straight out behind you, you begin your forward cast.
To do this you apply the same slow to fast acceleration and then abrupt STOP as you did with the back cast.....but you stop at the 11:00 position.
The line will unroll stright out in front of you just like it did behind you with the previous back cast....once it's straight, you simply lay it down on the water.

When you are starting out, keep your elbow tucked in close to your body.

Take a lightweight book and hold it to your body with the elbow of your casting arm....your forearm basically moving 90 degrees from parallel to the ground to straight up and down....don't let the book fall out.

Also you want to keep your wrist straight and locked...never allow it to bend either forward or backwards at any time during the cast.
(you can get into that later after you have the basiscs down)
This keeps the rod tip traveling in s straight line direction throughout the cast without allowing the tip to "dip" or "waver"...which will wreak havoc on your line loop.

What you are looking for is a nice tight/even "loop" in your line as it begins to unroll....not too wide....and not so tight that it hits itself.

Another tip is to always try to practice casting on the water whenever possible, even if you are using a swimming pool or otherwise unfishable body of water.
This is important because as I mentioned above the resistance of the line on the water is what helps to "load" the rod. You can do it on dry ground but you won't get the same effect and you'll likely need to compensate.


Eh...I *think* I covered it about as reasonably as I can on here.
Hope this helps a little bit.

 

[LBnM]

Cool, I ordered a card of them, thanks!!

That is one of my goals is to learn how to fly fish. I do not have a pole yet, so suggestions are welcome. I want one to learn and grow with. Not top end, but do not mind paying for quality equipment.

Fly fishing is a great sport....and you can spend lots of money at it. I learned in SE Oklahoma over 50 years ago. Taught by a neighbor who was a pioneer down that way then. It's been in my blood ever since. When in the Army I lived in Colorado for several years and that just made the itch worse.

You can also spend very little to learn the sport. I have high end and middle of the road rods and reels but when I wanted to teach my grandchildren how to fly fish I didn't want to let them use my stuff. I ordered a very inexpensive Eagle Claw fly rod and they learned with it. It surprised me that it cast as well as it did and I eventually caught several nice trout and bass on it. I don't recall where I ordered it from or the exact price but this is the rod (7 ft)
http://www.troutlet.com/Eagle-Claw-Featherlight-Fly-Rods-P217.aspx

I have all sizes and my favorites are 3 and 4 weights. However, for a newby I would go middle of the road for everything when I bought my first quality rod. Mid-flex, 8-8.5 ft, 6-7 weight. You can do anything with that rod. And don't worry, you will soon have everything from 2 or 3 wt up to 9 wt.

I took a very nice bass last fall on my 8 ft Diamondback fiberglass 4 wt and a tiny home tied dry fly that didn't look good to anyone but that fish. Fly tying is next. Taught my grandson how to tie a beadhead wooly bugger for a cub scout project. Took him about 10 minutes to get it down.

Enjoy!

p.s. there are a lot of prima donnas in this sport - don't become one.

 

[LBnM]

For all that are interested:

One of the best (if not the best) mail order fly fish shops is

http://www.feather-craft.com/

If ever in St Louis visit them - not too far from the airport.

 

[J.P.]

but to me it is one of the most challenging, and still relaxing ways to fish.

This is absolutely true!
After I started fly fishing I didn't think I'd ever go back to traditional gear. (but often it's logistically impossible)
To me it is very rewarding...everything from the lay of a perfect cast to landing a nice fish.
The esoterics of fly casting are as fulfilling to me as the actual fishing part of it.

When I decided I wanted to try fly fishing I went and bought an el-cheapo K-mart combo setup...it was a total POS.
Anyway, I really didn't even know how to put the thing together...the line/leader/the various knots/etc., so I took it into the Gadget Company for help.
I had been in there previously just browsing a bit, and I kinda' got the impression that they were a little on the 'snooty' side.

So I took this mess down there and asked the owner to help me get it set up.
It was such a crap setup...and he was trying to be nice about it...and I explained to him that I'd never fly fished (obviously) and that I was going to give it a try, and if I ended up liking it that I would come back and buy some quality gear.
He was very understanding and helped me set it all up at no charge and even gave me a few pointers.
He did explain that things would be easier on a halfway decent rig, but he didn't try to laugh at my setup or put me down, and never tried to push anything on me.
So after I took it out, learned to cast (as good as it would allow), and started catching fish, I returned to the shop and purchased some high-end gear from them....customer for life!

While I've had mostly good experiences at D&B (old location), there were a few times where the guy at the counter seemed to have a "too good for you" attitude. It may have just been a misunderstanding on my part or whatever...or maybe he was just one of those people.
Like I said tho', that was more the exception than the rule and I haven't had the occasion to visit their current location.

 

[J.P.]

BTW, one of the boards I frequent is:
www.flyanglersonline.com
There is a metric ton of useful info within.