The Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Fishing Page 4
Be careful not to overdo the top layer, as the wader top breaks the wind. It’s surprising how light you can go under waders. A rain jacket is essential on cold days even if the sun shines all day, because the waterproof fabric of a rain jacket cuts the wind on the parts of your body not covered by the waders.
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What color clothing should you wear?
RED SHIRTS ADD A GREAT SPLASH OF COLOR AND contrast to outdoor photos, but you couldn’t pick a worse color for fishing. Most fish we chase with a fly rod are spooked when they see us, and blending in with the background gives you an advantage when sneaking up on the fish. For wooded streams, brown, tan, or green make you less visible, and it couldn’t hurt to wear that camo shirt you typically save for opening day of dove season. In salt water, where you are silhouetted against the sky or clouds, light blue and white are the best colors. Plus, these hues keep you cooler than darker colors under the hot sun.
Mosquitoes and other biting insects are strongly attracted to the colors red and black. Blue is slightly less appealing to bugs. Light tan and light olive attract less attention from bugs than any other colors, and because these colors also help you blend into the background, they’re good all-around choices for fly fishing. And you thought most of that clothing in fishing catalogs was tan and olive because fly fishers are just boring.
This orange hat and vest may not be the best choice of wardrobe for sneaking up on wary trout.
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What fly line should you use for starting out?
YOUR FIRST FLY LINE SHOULD BE A TAPERED LINE OF THE size called for on your rod. And it should float. When you look at fly line designations, you’ll see something like this: “WF5F.” The first two letters represent the taper, which is less important and is covered in the section below on weight forward versus double taper lines. The middle number is the line size, and it must match the designation on your rod. The last letter, F, tells you the line floats, which is what you want.
Why is a floating line so important if you won’t fish many dry flies? First, it’s much easier to pick up a floating line off the water when you’re casting than a sinking one, because you have to lift all of the line free of the water when making a cast, and getting a submerged line moving and above the water with a single back cast is difficult. Next, you can fish nearly every kind of fly—floating or sinking—with a floating line because you can use a weighted fly or weight on your leader to sink a fly, but you can’t fish a dry fly with a sinking line. Third, floating lines land much lighter on the water, and when you’re starting out, you’ll need all the help you can muster to keep your fly line from landing on the water too hard.
For trout fishing, I use a sinking line less than 1 percent of the time, and could probably live without ever using one. A floating line is also the basic line for Atlantic salmon, bonefish, redfish, and bass, so I’m not just suggesting this line for the novice. Unless you fish for saltwater fish in deep water or fast currents, or fish for trout in lakes in midsummer after they go deep, you may go for years without feeling the need for a sinking line.
Even in deep water, you can fish with a floating line by adding weight to your leader and adjusting your presentation.
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When to use a sinking line
FOR MOST FLY FISHING, YOU DON’T NEED A SINKING LINE. However, when you need one, you really need one, most often when you are faced with water over six feet deep in combination with fast current or tides, and when you want your fly to swim close to the bottom for as long as possible.You can fish quite deep when fishing with a floating line, but at some point the amount of weight you need to add to your leader gets cumbersome, and when fishing deep with a floating line, as soon as you begin a retrieve the fly angles toward the surface, which is not always desirable.
Here is a situation when I always fish a fast-sinking line. When fishing offshore from a boat for striped bass, the fish are often suspended over the bottom at twenty to thirty feet, hovering around submerged structure, ambushing baitfish. Here you want your baitfish imitation to sink quickly and to swim close to the bottom, showing the fly to as many fish as possible before bringing the line to the surface for another cast. Here you need a Depth Charge line (a fast-sinking line combined with an intermediate running line behind it), a full-sinking class V line (the fastest-sinking standard fly line) or a fast-sinking shooting head.
Another instance where you want either a sinking line or a sink-tip line (a fast-sinking head, typically about fifteen feet long, followed by a floating running line that makes line pickup and mending easier) is when fishing streamers in fast water. Even if you want your fly to run shallow, stripping a streamer quickly with just a floating line makes the fly skim across the surface, and in order to keep the fly under water you need a sinking line to help keep it down. I also use a fast-sinking line when fishing baitfish imitations over breaking fish in open ocean, because the sinking line keeps the fly running just under the waves if you begin stripping immediately after the fly hits the water.
When fishing the open ocean over deep water, it’s almost essential to have a sinking line onboard.
If you fish for trout or bass in ponds, you always hope to find them close the surface, but if their food is deep or if the water close to the surface is too warm, fish may stay deep throughout the day. The best way to fish for trout or bass in more than twenty feet of water is to use a sinking line using the countdown method. Make a long cast and count to ten or twenty (or your lucky number if you wish) before retrieving your nymph or streamer. If you catch a fish on the first cast consider yourself lucky. Now you know how long to let your fly sink. If not, increase your count until you catch fish or hang bottom. If you hang bottom on successive casts, decrease your count by a small amount until you stop hanging up, because fish can see a fly above them but won’t notice a fly that is below their level.
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What’s the difference between a weight forward and a double taper line?
THE MOST COMMON FLY LINE TAPERS ARE WEIGHT forward (WF) and double taper (DT). Both are the same for the first thirty feet of line, so if you never cast beyond thirty feet, the difference is irrelevant to you. Beyond thirty feet, weight forward lines taper for about six feet to a thinner portion called the running line, which is then level or un-tapered until the end of the line at ninety feet. Weight forward lines are best for distance casting because the thin running line offers less resistance to the wind and to the guides on the fly rod, so this line pulls extra line from your hand and propels it forward more easily. So a weight forward line seems to give you the best of both worlds—the same characteristics at a short distance as a double taper, plus the ability to make long casts beyond thirty feet.
A double taper line is perfect for roll casts, longer false casts, and mending line in tight spots like this.
A double taper line beyond thirty feet increases in diameter very gradually to a ten-foot level section right in the middle of the line, after which it begins to slowly decrease, ending in a mirror image of the first forty-five feet of the taper. Why, with all the advantages of a weight forward line, would an angler ever want a double taper line? The bigger mass in the middle of a double taper is easier to mend once on the water so it is helpful in tricky currents. When making long (over forty-foot) false casts with a dry fly, a double taper with its gradual increase is easier to hold in the air. A double taper line roll casts beyond forty feet better than a weight forward, which loses all its power if you attempt a long roll cast because the skinny running line does not offer enough mass to keep the line moving. And, finally, when the end of a double taper line gets worn out and loses its floating qualities, the line can be reversed so it will last twice as long. Thus for someone who fishes either small streams or mostly dry flies, a double taper line lasts twice as long as a weight forward.
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How to connect a leader to a fly line
CONNECTING A STIFF, CLEAR MONOFILAMENT LEADER TO a soft, flexible fly line requires
more than your average Boy Scout knot, although when I was first learning to fly fish, one book told me to use a sheet bend knot. It was thick and clumsy and did not hold well, so once I discovered the nail knot it was a revelation. A nail knot is smooth and very strong, and when tied properly the coating will come off a fly line before the knot fails.
To make the smoothest connection of all, cut the loop off your leader (if it came with a pre-made loop, which most do these days) and nail knot the leader right to the line. However, if you want to move from a seven-and-a-half-foot leader to a twelve-footer, you have to cut off the nail knot and tie another one. This is not something you want to do a couple of times a day, and you lose a small piece of fly line very time you do. Still, if I have a fly line like a 2-weight on which I know I will always use the same leader throughout the season, I’ll nail knot a leader to the line because it is the smoothest connection possible.
Nail Knot
Many fly lines these days come with loops already attached to the end of the line. The loop might be a piece of heavy monofilament nail knotted to the line, a hollow braided loop glued to the line, or the line may be made with a self-loop at the factory where the line is pulled around and fused to itself. With a permanent loop on your line, when you want to change leaders all you do is make a simple loop-to-loop connection. No knots, nothing to trim, and pretty slim once it’s cinched down. If your line did not come with a pre-made loop, just tie a six-inch piece of .023-inch nylon to the end of the fly line and tie a perfection loop on the other end.
Perfection Loop
Loop to Loop
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What is backing and how do you tie it to your reel and line?
IF YOU FISH FOR BIG TROUT OR SALTWATER FISH WITH a fly rod, sooner or later you’ll run out of fly line when a fish makes a powerful run. Fly lines are ninety or one hundred feet long, and some fish will run more than a hundred yards before you can stop them. Backing is your insurance. It’s thinner than fly line, so you can get lots of it on a spool. Backing comes in two flavors: braided Dacron and braided gel-spun polyester. Both are thin, supple, and strong, but gel-spun is half the diameter of Dacron in the same strength so you can pack more of it on the spool. It’s also much more expensive, but if you need two hundred yards of backing on a spool but can only fit one hundred yards of Dacron on it with the fly line you want to use, you’ll have to go with gel-spun.
Because most fly lines break at about twenty-five pounds, you only need twenty-pound Dacron or thirty-five-pound gel-spun (it doesn’t come any smaller) backing for trout lines. Some big-game fly lines have a stronger core, so you may see fifty-pound gel-spun offered for these special lines.
When winding on backing, it’s helpful to have two people—one to crank the reel and the other to hold the spool of backing on a pencil.
If you can, try to buy your fly reels already mounted with line and backing. Most fly shops have a special line-winding machine and will do it for you for free or for a modest fee. If you have to do it yourself it’s timeconsuming but no big deal. First tie the backing to the spool with a couple half hitches or an arbor knot. Chances are you’ll never get down to the backing and will never see this knot again. Then, get a helper to put a pencil through the center of the plastic spool that holds the backing and wind it on your reel, level-winding the backing slowly back and forth over the spool arbor so it doesn’t bind or cut into itself. Your helper should keep tension on the spool to make sure your winds are tight.
Arbor Knot
When you’ve wound all the backing on the spool, tie it to your fly line. The simplest way to attach backing to a fly line is with an eight-turn nail knot. It’s fine for trout fishing and for smaller saltwater fish. If you’re going for fish over twenty pounds, a fail-safe way to attach backing to the line is with a loop-to-loop connection. Tie a large loop in the backing with a surgeon’s loop (large enough to pass the plastic fly line spool through when you make the loop-to-loop connection). Then make a self loop in the fly line by doubling the line over itself for about two inches and then securing it by tying three separate nail knots over the loop with twelve- to fifteenpound-test monofilament. Now make a loop-to-loop connection and wind the fly line on your spool the same way you did the backing.
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What is a tippet and what do you do with it?
THE TIPPET IS THE LAST PART OF YOUR LEADER, THE PART where you attach your fly.When you buy a new knotless leader, the tippet is an integral part of the leader, not a separate piece. Over the years, fly fishers have determined that a leader made from 25 percent heavy butt section, 50 percent quick step-down taper, and 25 percent level tippet casts best. If you run your fingers carefully down a knotless leader you can feel these transitions. The level tippet allows your fly to land softly on the water.
Sooner or later, you’ll tie so many flies on the tippet that it will get too short.You’ll see your fly land with a big splat, which tells you it’s time for either a new leader or just a new tippet. So you can either waste a few bucks and tie on a whole new leader, or, if you’re smart, you’ll have spools of tippet material in your pocket so you can just tie on a new tippet with a surgeon’s knot. Two to three feet is standard for a tippet—any shorter and your fly might land too hard; any longer and the leader may not straighten completely because the tippet end is too air-resistant. In general, a shorter tippet is easier to cast in the wind and a longer one is better if you’re fishing in moving water with lots of conflicting currents.
You’ll need a spool of tippet in the same size as your leader, and one size smaller and larger in case you decide to fish bigger or smaller flies.
PART III
Casting
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How do you cast in the wind?
THE COMBINATION OF WIND AND FLY FISHING SCARES many people away, but with a few basic tips you can easily fish in winds up to about twenty miles per hour. Above that it does get pretty hairy. Here are some guidelines for casting on windy days:
Keep your casts short. Spend more time getting close to fish. Fish are not as spooky on windy days so you can afford to creep right up on them.
Cast side-armed instead of directly overhead. The wind is lighter closer to the water, and by casting at 90 degrees to the vertical you keep the fly and line farther away from your head.
With a tailwind, put more energy into your back cast and aim it higher, and put less energy into your forward cast. With a headwind, reverse the process.
If you have a crosswind, try to make sure the crosswind does not blow the fly across your body. Turn around and cast, or change positions.
Side-arm casting
Shorten your leader and tippet and try to use flies that are less wind-resistant.
On long casts with a light wind, I would rather cast into the wind that with it. I find that a wind behind me pushes my back cast below the tip of the rod and ruins my forward cast. I find it easier to let the wind help me on my back cast, and then I overpower the forward cast.
Turning your cast to the side on a windy day will give you better control of your line.
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How do you increase the length of your casts?
MOST FISH OF ALL TYPES ARE CAUGHT AT FORTY FEET OR less, but eventually you’ll need to reach out and touch a distant spot, especially if you do any fishing in salt water. The first thing to remember is that excessive false casts, which are the normal response to a long cast, are counterproductive. The more your line is in the air, the greater the chance you’ll eventually screw up. Take your time and slow down. Hold some loose line in reserve, either in big coils or in a stripping basket. Increase your false casts to about thirty-five or forty feet, which is where the rod really begins to flex and pick up energy. Make no more than three false casts. On the last one, release the excess line and aim your rod tip slightly higher than you would on a shorter cast, to help the extra line clear the guides on the rod.
Increasing your false casts to about forty feet and holding some line in reserve w
ill help you make longer casts.
Remember that as you increase the length of line you cast, your timing will be a bit slower because it takes longer for the line to straighten behind you.Also, raise your arm up above your head and increase the length of your casting stroke. On a short cast, the rod should move mostly up and down. On a long cast, you should add length to your stroke by moving the rod back and forth in addition to up and down. Yes, you will go beyond that sacred two o’clock position you learned from your uncle, but you need the longer casting stroke to move the longer line.
Most people can cast well up to fifty or sixty feet (depending on the rod and the caster) without adding a double haul to the mix. However, to increase your line speed (and the amount of line you can shoot on each cast) you’ll eventually want to learn the double haul, especially if you’re faced with wind. The double haul is simple in principle and difficult in execution. When you raise the rod into your back cast, you haul downward on the line with your other hand. The line hand then drifts back to meet with the casting hand as the back cast straightens, and as the rod hand moves forward on the forward cast, the line hand again hauls downward and then releases the shooting line.