Fly Fishing

[Acid House]

In my opinion you are approaching fly fishing in the best manner possible.

I must have heard dozens of course fishermen say that they had a go once and never took to it. Even twenty quids worth of tackle is a waste if it never comes out of the shed.

You can however catch fish with the simplest of equipment. The rod is important but the reel is only for storing your line so spend on the rod. With a few other bits and a box of flies the size of a fag packet you can have a lifetime of fun (but you ‘will’ spend a fortune).

Do try a lesson but not yet. If you can’t hit a golf ball then going to the club pro wont help. He can’t improve on nothing. Same with a casting lesson, your better learning a simple cast by studying utube and then spending £100 on improving your technique rather than £100 on how to stand.

Fly choice is a little less important than you may think but presentation is everything and can take a time to perfect but that’s life.

 

Before you start try a little experiment to get the fly cast principle right in your head.

Think about pinging an elastic band across the room from your thumb. (Bear with me).

 

Now set your rod up. Pull 20 foot of line off your rod and allow it to coil at your feet.

 

Hold the rod in one hand and hold the line in the other about two feet from the end of the rod. Trap the line so no more will come off the reel and bend the rod away from you and ping the line away from you just like the elastic band. The line should unfurl in the direction of the ‘ping’.

 

Practice this a few times bending the rod less and less until the whole 20 feet of line just manages to lay out in the direction of the ping. You may be amazed how little the rod has to bend to create enough power. Please note you must not move the rod at all but rely on the spring of the rod to move the line. KEEP THE RUDDY ROD STILL.

 

Once you can do this its time to transfer this principal to the cast. The principal is that in the cast you only have to load the spring then stop the rod dead in the air. This allows the rod to release the spring and launch the line either backwards or forwards.

 

When casting on the water you lift the line off the water slowly (quietly). As the rod gets almost vertical the action is sped up to load the rod. As the rod passes over the vertical you stop DEAD. The spring in the rod will throw the line backwards and as the line uncurls behind you and you can feel a little resistance its time to load the spring forwards and STOP………..DEAD

 

I’m sure you get the idea.

 

Hope you have a ball and all the very best and don’t forget;

 

If your soggle is niptin the bant, reverse the wingle earlier making a double grint tipple up.

[Lord Geordie]

The Reel arrived today and I took a drive to the local tackle shop to have a word about rod choice etc.

 

I purchased a WF7 line to practice casting with today and hope that will be here soon and tomorrow I am off again to have a look in another tackle shop to see what they have in stock.

 

I am looking at another rod as I have been told the 60s fibreglass Brown March rod will be useless. I have been looking at a Carbon 9.6 foot rod today and may take the plunge as it's only £25 second hand.

 

Tomorrow I hope to find some backing and perhaps a Fly box etc? Time and funds will tell lol.

 

Back to work at 6pm though and work through till midnight

 

Friday will be spent fitting shelving at the girl friends house as well as other tasks and perhaps Saturday I will have the Rod?

 

Sunday back to work and monday then the next chance to have a look about will be Tuesday as I am off then

[highseas]

to be honest the only reel i have with backing is my salmon reel and that never been used! why not use heavy mono as backing? does the same job

for a fly box most of mine are ole tobbaco tins with eather foam in them or just lefy blank

[craftycarper]

Any bootsales round your neck of the woods? if so give em a try, found a couple of nice fly rods myself at them. Day tickets are costly. I remember a few years back going to one of them hole in the ground trout lakes stuffed with fish, bought a two fish ticket which i think then was about £12 or more got down to the waters edge and the fly just dipped in the edge literally 12 inches from the bank and bang fish on....needless to say two fish in 20 minutes and your times up...not a lot of fun and on your way home luckily i upgraded and got a sporting ticket for catch and release. Get yourself over some fields or park for some casting practice, shouln't take long to pick up. When you do wander out into the fishery scene take it easy at first, pick easy open bank swims at first until your confident with casting etc around trees and the like. Also get out in the summer (if we have anymore) local fisheries and rivers because its not just about trout...theres some great surface fishing to be had on the fly rod with carp,chub,rudd and pike....tight lines

Edited July 21, 2011 by craftycarper

[Lord Geordie]

Will try a few booties and see what I can MUSTAD up

 

I got a Daiwa carbon 9 footer and a Leeda Rimfly reel today and a box of flies too.

 

Tomorrow I am off to get my 9 foot 6 Shakespear odyssey carbon rod to go with the reel I got the other day then all I need is Line and Practise

[craftycarper]

for line you can try the mill ends from John Norris, nice and cheap and do the job. As for reels don't go expensive, they're just a carrier to hold the line and that's it

[Lord Geordie]

Well this morning I took a trip to collect my new Fly Rod (shakespear Odssey 9.6 carbon) and decided when I got home I would take a look at the other rods and compare them.

 

The old 60s Brown March is like a lead pipe compared to the Shakespear and the Daiwa is nice and light too but half a foot shorter than the Shakespear.

 

I also found a nice packet on the doormat on my return (my fly line) so got my new reel out of it's box put on the backng and then followed the knot instructions to tie on the fly line and all went spot on. I was quite amazed at how the knot in the braid holds onto the fly line and the strength of the know is good too.

 

After much faffing about and untangling the line I eventually got it spooled on the reel and was very happy with my efforts!

 

I then put on my coat and took a trip round to the field and had a bit of a go with the fly rod

 

From the start I had noticed a gritty feel to the line with the Daiwa as it was passing through the rings. You could feel an ammount of drag as you tried to retrieve by hand and when I took the rod to bits later I noticed that one of the eyes has been bent (looks like someone has taken a pair of pliers and squeezed the eye shut). Off to the tackle shop for a new one next week. I am thinking of having the second eye converted to a lined one too as most modern rods are now so I may as well bring it up to date.

 

 

 

With the wind in my face My initial casts were short abrupt and messy just coiling up at my feet for the first 4 or so attempts.

 

I decided to extend the back stroke and hold it till the line had almost fully unfurled behind before bringing the rod back through. The casts were improving and I was hitting about 15 feet so extended the line further and further until I had a string of good casts into the wind and the longest was about 15 yards so I was quite chuffed with that and was MORE chuffed by the fact the line was straight and not coiled and the last bit of line to hit the ground was the tipping end.

 

I then got to thinking!!! (dangerous I know) but I thought of the scenario in the lakes Surely I would be looking for a more sheltered corner so the water surface was flat so the fish could see the dry fly so surely that would mean I would have no wind to cast into so turned 45 degrees and tried casting again and got a cast just under 20 yards and again a nice straight line B)

 

I think on Monday afternoon after work I shall have a go with the Shakespear and see how that one goes while I wait for the new eyes to be fitted to the Daiwa

 

Think I Will keep practising for a little while and I want to also practice a few knots for the tipping loop on the fly line etc. I know a load of the other knots as they are knots I already use but there are a few I Need to learn so I Had better got used to them sooner rather than later.

 

I have flies now and all I need are a Landing net and some of that stuff to keep the line in good nick and a floatant for the flies etc.

Edited July 23, 2011 by Lord Geordie

[Delbert]

I always have a tin of Mucilin line grease in my waistcoat and the Mucilin floatant that comes in the

bottle with a brush the alcohol type difficult to obtain these days.

[craftycarper]

Nice one LG, keep at it and also practice picking up and rolling it out after youve cracked the basics

[ack-ack]

Glad to here that you've got a handle on it LG. Its not difficult when you've mastered the basics. If you're going to start pinging flies about don't forget your eye protection and preferably a wide brimmed hat. Yes you will look like a **** but you'll be glad you've got them on when you get your first fly in the ear / eye scenario especially if its a lead head. Its like been hit with a .22.