Practice Needed to Learn to Fly Fish

One of the toughest things about learning to fish with flies is casting the bait onto the water so that it lands where the fish are swimming around, looking for food. Understanding how the equipment works, as opposed to traditional fishing equipment is an important step to learn to fly fish, and figuring out how to cast the line instead of a lure can be challenge. Most flies feel almost weightless and the tendency is to cast the fly and let the line trail. When you learn to fly fish you have to learn to cast the line and let the fly follow it to the water.

A large open field or grassy area is the best place to learn to fly fish as casting will take a lot of practice. Casting your line onto a driveway of concrete, blacktop or stones can destroy the line as it rides over the rough surface. It is also not necessary to attach a fly to the line to practice, as the idea is to cast the line and the added weight will not affect your control of the cast.

You may need to learn to fly fish with different types of rods, reels and fly line if you plan to fish in different areas. Different weights and flexibility of rods are typically used for different types of fishing.

Use A Rod Designed For Your Type Of Fishing

Fly fishing rods are made in essentially three weights, with those designated as one through five usually used for accurate casting. These are excellent for casting from around shrubs or trees and when you learn to fly fish for these conditions, using a lighter line will also help the casts be more accurate. Rods weights of six through nine are generally used for longer casting, specifically into lakes where obstacles are not a concern.

Trying to hook heavier fish on flies requires larger rods, such as those rated 10, 11 or even 15 to be able to withstand the weight of a hooked fish. If you learn to fly fish using larger rods and line there will be a transition period if you switch to lighter equipment for smaller fish in smaller bodies of water.

While you can find numerous resources about equipment and flies and when to use them in which climates, when you learn to fly fish you will want to devote most of your outdoor time with the rod and reel, figuring out how to get the line to land exactly where you want it to go.