Hints for Improving Your Fly Fishing Skills

Tips for Fly Fishing

Tips

April 2002

1. When accessing and fishing water that others are or will be using, be careful not to cause distractions that will spoil the peace and harmony of the experience.

2. To discourage biting insects avoid wearing clothing that is black, navy blue, yellow, red or white because these colors can attract mosquitoes, black flies, deerflies and gnats.

3. Since most fish you catch flyfishing have sensitive mouth and gill parts and often some form of sharp teeth, avoid putting your fingers into their mouths to hold them or remove the fly.

4. Larger predator fish are always less cautious and much more aggressive when the light levels are low, such as during stormy weather, sunrise, sunset and after dark.

5. To make nearly any knot almost 100% strength, coat it with Zap-A-Gap cement before you tighten it completely.

6. Unless you are extremely patient, think twice before attempting to teach your spouse how to flyfish. It's usually best to have a friend or instructor do so if you truly want them to learn to love the sport.

7. To tie neater and stronger flies, use the smallest practical tying thread, as few wraps as possible and apply only small amounts of cement to the hook materials and thread connections.

8. Fish detect your presence as much or more by hearing than by seeing you, so walk or wade slowly and softly, and wear soles that don't emit harsh sounds against gravel and rock bottoms if possible.

9. At the end of a natural drift with a nymph, soft hackle or dry fly, allow your fly to swing around and hang in the current for 30 seconds … this often brings a bonus strike.

10. If ice builds up in your guides, apply a generous coat of fly floatant paste to your line, this will prevent that ice formation.

October 2001

1. We strongly recommend knotless tapered leaders over knotted tapered leaders for most fresh water fly fishing because you will have fewer casting tangles and your leader won't catch on structure and debris in the water.

2. The weight-forward floating flyline is the most practical and versatile choice for your first flyline and a weight-forward sinking tip flyline is the second line that you will probably want to own.

3. A new subsurface fly will catch more fish if the human and chemical smells are deodorized by rubbing it with underwater plants or muck.

4. Polarized glasses and a long-billed or wide-brimmed hat are two of the most important items you can use as a fly fisher to improve your fishing and your personal safety.

5. Fish fear movement above the water much more than they do below the water's surface.

6. The Duncan Loop Knot (also called uniknot) is the most functional knot we know for tying most types of flies onto the leader.

7. When accessing and fishing water that others are or will be using, be careful not to cause distractions that will spoil the peace and harmony of the process.

8. To release a fish with minimum harm to it, use a barbless hook and try not to remove the fish from the water as you remove the hook.

9. To approach fish you will be casting to without alerting them, avoid wearing clothes that are brightly colored or contrast sharply with the background.

10. More flyrods are broken by doors than by fish or casting!