Fly Fishing 101

The purpose of this piece is to assist the beginner fly fishing. The terminology and the basic practice employed in fly fishing may be unknown to the beginner at fly fishing, so we will commence from the very beginning. Therefore, if you are a beginner fly fishing person, please read on in order to become acquainted with fly fishing.

The things needed for fly fishing are generally known as tackle, but if you want to be more specific about the type of tools you need, you can add the words "fly fishing". So, you get the phrase: "fly fishing tackle". Fly fishing gear basically comprises artificial flies, a fly rod, a fly reel and fly line. The set-up is: the fly is attached to the line, which is wound around the reel, which is attached to the rod, which is used to cast the bait (the fly).

In order to be able to cast the fly as far as possible, the line needs to be a little heavier than other types of line, because a weight is used in other forms of fishing to achieve the same effect. Also, the artificial flies come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours to reflect real, live flies, depending on the sort of fish the angler intends to catch.

Generally speaking, an artificial fly is made of hair, plastic, feathers, fabric, fur and many other types of material in order to ensure the flies resemble, as closely as possible, the insect or fly most commonly eaten by the particular sort of fish in that particular month or at that time of the day. This means that each fishing spot requires that you select a certain type of artificial fly that will look like the insects living in the area where your desired type of fish frequent. Therefore, a type of fly employed in one part of the country may not be as successful as you'd expect elsewhere.

There are variations in the classification of flies too. They fall into two basic overall categories, which are referred to as 'attractive' and 'imitative'. The imitative artificial lures resemble real insects, whereas the attractive ones just rely on colour or the reflection of light in order to attract fish without necessarily looking like the fish's natural prey.

These classifications are then used to further sub-divide artificial fly fishing lures into: a] dry (imitating grasshoppers, dragonflies, etc. which float on or near the surface of the water); b] sub-surface (looking like larvae, pupae) and c] wet (resembling leeches and minnows and other small fish or fry).

The main difference between fly fishing and non-fly fishing is that fly fishing depends a lot on the weight of the line to get the artificial lure to that part of the water where your fish are schooling, probably at a distance from the bank. The line is often camouflaged and hollow.

Non-fly fishing depends rather on the attached weight, usually made of lead, to draw the line off the reel and carry it forward to the right spot, where the weight will also take the bait or lure down to the feeding fish.