De-mystifying Fly Fishing
By Cameron Larsen, Thu Dec 8th

I remember the first time I saw someone fly fishing. I think Iwas five years old. My father, my sister and I had back packedto a remote alpine lake. My trusty Zebco with the closed facepush button casting reel, cork bobber and jar of Puatzke’s,among my gear I couldn’t live without. Positioned on a logvigilently eyeing my bobber for movement, a one-man raft paddledpast, and in no time the occupant was making wild movements withthe longest fishing pole ever. Mesmerized, I watched hisgraceful movements like he was a black belt martial arts expert.When my father came to check on me, I asked about him, my dadsaid he was fly fishing, a couple of other fishermen gathered todiscuss this exotic art. All agreed it was a superior art formrequiring more time than any one of us had to learn, let alonemaster. I tried to study my bobber with earnest after that, butit never seemed to hold the same pull it once had.

Fly fishing indeed is beautiful to watch. After all these yearsI still enjoy watching a caster that is genuinely skilled. Ialso enjoy watching fly fishers with unorthodox techniques. Somepeople haven’t read all the books or taken lessons, but insteadhave learned their skills on the water, and some people havetruly unique, yet effective habits. Anyway this article is tode-mystify for those of you that want to learn, thisis a starting point from which your new passion will take off.(OK I am hoping)

Two Basic Types of Fly Fishing

I remember a friend said to me “Looks like good drywater, right downstream,” as we were floating down the DeschutesRiver. A novice looking downstream saidquestionning. “Dry water?”

My friend was referring to dry fly fishing. Thereare two basic techniques. Dry fly and wet fly. Dryfly refers to fishing your fly on top of the water,traditionally used for trout fly fishing, now most species arebeing fished with a dry fly of some kind. Dry flies usuallyimitate adult insects that return to the surface to lay theireggs back into the water. It is at this time they are veryvulnerable to being eaten by fish. After mating and depositingtheir eggs, the insects then die. Commonly called ‘spinnerfalls’ fish tend to lay and gorge themselves during these times.Dry flies are also used during hatches. When the flies areemerging from the water. ‘Match the Hatch’ refers to fishing animitation of the predominantly hatching insect of the moment.Dry flies can also be insects that get blown into the water suchas grasshoppers or ants. Many bass flies or bass bugs actuallyimitate drowned rodents or frogs.

Dry is what most people think of, when they think offly fishing. Some fly fishers use many false casts to dry theirofferings or to place their offerings directly over a risingfish. It is this technique that I observed all those years ago,also made famous by the movie ‘A River Runs Through It.’

Fishing sub-surface involves using heavier flies, that willsink. Often times sinkers are added to the line above the fly tosink your offering quicker. Sub-surface involvesusing nymphs, wet flies, and streamers. Food that is availableto fish below the surface. Flies imitate every bug or nymphavailable under water. They also imitate worms, leeches, eggs,crabs, virtually everything available to fish to eat.

While dry gets all the attention,   truth be told,fish consume up to 90% of their diet under the water. So you areapt to catch more fish using ‘wet flies’, then you are dry flyfishing. Especially if you are just beginning, fishingsub-surface is going to result in more fish being caught. Whilefish are feeding on the surface they are very skittish, and veryselective. Almost any fault in technique, rigging, or flyselection will result in scaring off the fish you are trying tocatch.

Equipment

There are some basic pieces of equipment that you must have orborrow to first try fly fishing. The first is a fly rod, (nevera pole). The instrument you use to fly fish with is a rod. Wehave written a whole article on ‘Choosing a Fly Rod’, that willgive you enough basic information to at least be able to askeducated questions when shopping. The second is a fly reel, wealso have an article called ‘Choosing a Fly Reel’. If it wereme, and budget is of concern, (and when you see the prices offly rods, it probably will become one), scrimp on the reel andnot the rod. Casting a quality fly rod is a thing of joy,sometimes I can become so lost in the rhythym of fly casting Iactually forget about the fish. I fished for years using aPflueger Medallist. If you were to poll fly fishers over 40 andI bet over half have owned one of these.

The next thing you will need is the fly line. If you are topurchase just one, get a floating line, you can always addweight to the leader and sink the fly. But it is virtuallyimpossible to float a sinking tip line. Fly line is very thickand it is what you actually cast. Unlike other forms of fishngwhere the bait and weight are casted. After the fly line comethe leader and tippet and finally the fly.

Waders and wading boots are also mandatory, if one is planningon wading. With perhaps the exception of summer, when wet wadingcan be a relief from the heat. Anymore decent Neoprene waderscan be had for around $60, and felt soled wading shoes for aboutthe same. Although these aren’t top of the line, and comfort andperformance suffer somewhat, they will be more than adequate.

The idea behind is to show the fish what theyactually feed on as naturally as possible. The first time I flyfished, I was amazed at how much more I actually fished. Youdon’t need to reel in and cast out again, just lift up and castagain. More time with your fly in the water equals moreopportunity to catch fish. The actual motion of simple flycasting is easy enough to pick up, it is much like the motion ofhammering. Accelerating on the downstroke. In an afternoon ofpractice you could easily master the motion well enough to havea reasonable chance of catching a fish.

There you have it. While can become unneccessarilycomplicated. In it’s essence I believe it is the simplest formof fishing there is. So basic is its form, and so exact is therole of its instruments, you could call it perfect. And thereare times when one can get caught up in the act of exercisingthis perfection, that the entire world fades away, until it isjust you and the

About the author:Cameron Larsen is a retired commericial fly tier and fly fishingguide. He now operates The Big Y Fly Company.http://www.bigyflyco.com/flyfishinghome.html He can be reachedat info@bigyflyco.com. This article will appear in the Big Y FlyFishing E-Zine atHttp://www.bigyflyco.com/Bigyflyfishingezine.html