 Overview I would like to begin by stressing the fact that flyfishing is not difficult. Unfortunately, this myth seems to be the main reason why people are reluctant to give it a try. With the appropriate equipment and proper instructions, you should be able to cast the line reasonably well within a few hours. Another misconception is that flyfishing is just for trout. This is simply not true. You can flyfish for bluegill, bass, pike, tarpon, stripers, or anything else that has fins. Now that we cleared that up, let's jump right in and get our feet wet. Since most people are familiar with spin-fishing, I will try and make analogies between flyfishing and spin-fishing to help you better understand what flyfishing is all about. When spin-fishing, you cast a lure attached to a very thin line with a spinning rod. The lure has weight and this loads the rod to propel it towards your target. The fishing line is just along for the ride. When flyfishing, you cast a flyline attached to a leader and fly with a flyrod. The fly is almost weightless. The leader it is attached to, which is usually around 9 feet long, is very similar to standard spinning line. This is attached to a flyline, which is usually about 90 feet long. The flyline is made of a flexible plastic and is much larger in diameter than spinning line and much heavier. This attaches to the flyrod, which is usually between 7 and 10 feet. When flycasting, the flyline provides the weight to load the rod and propel itself towards the target, with the leader and fly just along for the ride. It is very important to understand that you are casting the line, not the fly. The line and the rod have to be matched to each other in order to work properly. In spinfishing there is a large tolerance between what works and what doesn't. You could put 10 pound test on an ultralight and 6 pound test on a saltwater rod and they would both work. Flyrods and flylines have to be matched carefully, but I will save these details for a little later in the section titled Equipment. The whole purpose of all of this, besides the grace and beauty of it, is to cast almost weightless flies and present them in the most delicate manner. It would be impossible to cast most flies with any other kind of gear, and to match the delicate presentations you can achieve with a flyrod would be just as impossible. This is why most people think of trout when they hear the word flyfishing. The flyrod is the tool of choice for most trout fisherman, especially in streams. Trout in streams need to be fooled with realistic imitations of their usual diet. And most of their diet consists of small stream insects. So now you might be wondering why you would want to use a flyrod on something like a bass that likes a big meal? The flyrod can still be more productive in certain situations because of the delicate presentation, but most people do it for the challenge and the joy they get from using such a marvelous tool. |