Where to start

[RPM]

Morning all.

 

I am a regular coarse angler and love most types of fishing i.e. river lake millpond pike pole feeder etc etc.

 

Thing is, speaking to my unkle a few weeks ago, he mentioned that he had done some fly fishing in the past which I didnt know about and said that he would like to give me his stuff which he hasnt used for ages. He gave me a Shakespeare Rod, Reel (with two spools one floating and one sinking coloured black and yellow - not sure which is which), about 60 flies and a small holdall. With landing net and other stuff that I can grab from my other gear I think I am pretty much ready to go.

 

Thing is, I have only fly fished once before on a work trip and this was under supervision and none of my mates have fly fished either. So where to start...

 

The line coils so how do I straighten it. There are loads of flies to choose from, so which one do I use at this tme of year?

 

These are just two questions that I have. Thing is, I have just joined a club which has a fly lake on its complex where you can take a brace each week and would love to impress the missus and kids tonight by catching them their tea - something very manly about that, I think . I know this is a bit of a vague intro but any ideas and pointers for now would be appreciated.

[Sportsman]

Welcome to some "proper" fishing. Trout are one of the dumbest fish swimming and fly fishing was invented to make catching them a bit more difficult

Don't know how old your tackle is but it will probably do to start off with. I am assuming it was a matching set, ie line weight matches the rod. BTW the yellow line will be the floater.

Put the yellow line on the rod as this time of year it is probably the only one you will need and then take it somewhere with a bit of space and practice casting based on something like this.

 

http://www.flyfisherman.com/skills/lkaids/

 

When you can cast reasonably well head for the lake. Find a spot where it is clear all around, particularly behind. Attach about 10ft of 5lb or thereabouts mono to the end of the fly line in any way that seems to work and attach a bright coloured fly to the other end.

Cast

Let the fly sink for a bit ( I start with counting down to 10 and then increase until I find the fish)

Retrieve the fly with a variety of pulls and twitches at varying speed. You will know when a trout takes your fly as it pulls. When it does, pull back.

Repeat this process until you have caught enough trout

 

Now your hooked, go and spend a fortune on tackle, get some casting lessons and buy a pair of tweed plus 4s and your off.

Have fun

[RPM]

Well, had my first session yesterday evening and blanked ith only one fish showing the slightest of interest. Lost 3 flies though. Casting is so much more difficult than it looks. Oh well, we'll try again.

[Barry Kneller]

Well, had my first session yesterday evening and blanked ith only one fish showing the slightest of interest. Lost 3 flies though. Casting is so much more difficult than it looks. Oh well, we'll try again.

 

Whereabouts are you RPM? there may be someone in your area that would be prepared to meet up & give you a few pointers.

 

Cheers

Barry

[RPM]

Whereabouts are you RPM? there may be someone in your area that would be prepared to meet up & give you a few pointers.

 

Cheers

Barry

 

Nottinghamshire and any assistance would be more than gratefully received.

[Barry Kneller]

Nottingham's a bit far from my neck of the woods - Essex, dunno if there are any AN members in your area..............

 

If you get no luck here, try one of the dedicated Fly Fishing Forums - there's loads out there, just Google it.

 

Cheers

Barry

[nick]

One of the best fly fishing sites I know is sexyloops.com some good guidance on casting and correcting faults in casting.

 

But if at all possible get yourself an hours tuition from someone who knows what they are doing. Preferably a qualified instructor. It will make the whole casting experience so much better if someone has at least given you the basics "hands on". Expect to pay a minimum of £20 for one-to-one tuition.

[Janet]

I'll go along with that. See if you can find someone to give you some tuition before you develop any bad habits that'll be hard to correct in the future!

 

I'm only just starting out in fly fishing, and if I hadn't had some expert tuition I wouldn't have had a clue. I'm lucky in that I had mine for free, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate to pay for it. It means I've started off learning the basics properly.

 

Janet

[RPM]

I'll go along with that. See if you can find someone to give you some tuition before you develop any bad habits that'll be hard to correct in the future!

 

I'm only just starting out in fly fishing, and if I hadn't had some expert tuition I wouldn't have had a clue. I'm lucky in that I had mine for free, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn't hesitate to pay for it. It means I've started off learning the basics properly.

 

Janet

 

Thats not a bad idea. Someone told me a few days ago that perfecting a cast is similar to that of perfecting a golf swing and once the good (or bad) becomes hard-wired into the memory it is difficult to alter. I think that I will ask my local club if anyone would be happy to give me some coaching for an hour or so.

 

By the way, second night out yesterday and actually, casting felt that little bit better. Didnt lose any flies by snapping them off behind me as I did the previous night. Didnt catch anything again but having put on a large red lure fly almost caught a perch which I saw take it in the margins but it spit it out again almost instantaneously. Also, nearly caught the smallest pike on record. This thing was about 2 inches long and had a go at a fly half its size, very amusing watching it try and get it into its mouth - which of course it couldnt. Amazing.

[RPM]

This is getting very frustrating now. Third visit for a couple of hours this evening and still not a fish. My family would be getting very hungry by now.

 

The good news is that my casting is improving greatly and I just wonder what it would be like using some new and decent tackle.

 

There was one incident however on which I would welcome advice. There was definitely a fish interested. There was a large swell and I struck assuming that this was a take. Like pike fishing, do you always expect the line to tighten and then strike or do you strike when you think you have a take? I struck but nothing connected so very annoyed.