Fly-fishing has lots of allure—and heartaches too
Summer is for fly fishing.
The thrill of a fish exploding out the water and slamming a lure in all the fierce ferocity that only a hungry trout can muster, is something difficult to describe.
It had been a peaceful day spent working the shoreline of Glade Creek in Raleigh County and watching trout spread circles in the calm currents. Peaceful snow-white clouds rose against a brilliant blue sky. Bright golden flashes and splashes of finny prey contrasted with songbirds, trilling and quavering, working the water’s edge.
I knew from the way my dry flies were dancing alongthe surface that it was going to be a good day, a day for giving and taking with the finicky gamefish.
Adherents, and they are legion, claim fly-fishing is the most artistic form of fishing.
It has been depicted as mysterious and difficult, often defamed as a form of snobbery, but those who love fly-fishing cherish it, for it requires skill, practice, and the development of an expertise as in any other sport.
A person doesn’t learn to play horseshoes, slug a baseball, or throw darts without developing coordinating skills. In contrast, some forms of recreation, including dragging a line behind a boat, require no skill; nor is a lot of practice required to impale worms on fishhooks.
Flyfishing is unique in two basic ways. In all other forms of fishing, the weight of the plug, lure or bait enables the angler to make a cast.
Flyfishing uses the weight of the line to offer an almost weightless fluff or feather and hook.
Fly rods are flexible poles of various sizes, with guidesand a base for attaching a reel. A 9- or 10-foot rod suffices for saltwater fishes such as drum or albacore.
For freshwater fish such as trout, small and largemouth bass, red eyes, and sunfish, a 7- or 8-foot rod will best fit your needs.
The line must float, and it must match the rod. Either too light or too heavy will quickly discourage most any angler. Lines come in three basic forms: level, torpedo,or weight forward. I prefer weight forward because I think it adds distance and performs better in windy conditions when it’s hard enough just to stay vertical.
The next item is a leader roughly the length the of rod. Tapered leaders are available, but you can create your own by attaching a 12- to 15-pound test to a fly line and then extending another section of 4- to 6-pound test, using a surgeon’s knot before tying on the lure.
Reels are almost unimportant; they simply store unused line.
If you can’t find an experienced instructor, stand in the middle of a fair-sized opening. Strip perhaps 15 to 20 feet from the tip. Using the rod tip, lift the line overhead to just past vertical; pause long enough for the line to “load up” and pass overhead, then smoothlybring the rod forward, pausing before it reaches the horizontal, throwing line, leader, and lure gently ontothe water.
It requires practice. So, please don’t get discouraged. A fellow fly-fisherman once told me when I started out, “Fly fishing is a school you’ll never graduate from.” He was right, for there are subtleties and nuances to the sport that can humble even the most adroit angler in a matter of seconds.
Start with short casts to learn how the rod whips the line into a smooth casting roll.
There are thousands of lures available; wet and dry, nymphs and wooly worms, bugs, and other air-borneimitations by the score. Some days, trout will hit your yellow poppers, and some days they won’t strike at anything. When I came up short with the wily trout and other gamefish, it was usually because of something that I did, simple mistakes that cost me, like allowing my shadow to creep into the water, or presenting a fly line that was too heavy, simply because I didn’t take time to make it thin and transparent.
I’ve made every mistake anyone can make, yet I still had fun, even while I came up empty at sunset.
When I think of all the lunkers that got away after I hooked them, I can only marvel at nature’s mockeries, the ways in which she outwits us with her sly and crafty genius but keeps us coming back for more.
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Top o’ the morning!