Fly-fishing

 
 

For those who have never fly-fished, its difficult to simulate the feeling of landing your fly gently onto the water, seeing a nice rainbow rise to the surface and hitting it with a splash and the ensuing fight that ends with a lunker in your net.   Perhaps some of you may have seen the early 90’s movie A River Runs Through It starring Brad Pitt - although it certainly doesn’t do justice to actually getting out there and doing it yourself, it does provide a glimpse of the fantastic adrenaline-rush found in fly-fishing. There is just something about the entire process of mimicking the flies to rigging the rod and then casting and landing a fighting trout that is unlike anything you will experience with spinning or bait-casting, which is the reason fly-fishing has been enriching the lives of fisherman for centuries.  Nevertheless that movie was one of the reasons i started fly-fishing and for one of the few times in my life, watching a movie actually provided a future benefit.
While it can take several years to become a highly skilled fly-fisherman, it is very possible to start catching fish after only a couple hours of practice. If you have never fly-fished before, it is a good idea to find a local expert to help you get the hang of it. Often times for those without experience, its best to hire a guide for a one-day fly-fishing expedition that will bring you up to speed very quickly and provide some helpful tips for the specific area which you are fishing regarding what kind of flies to use, how to rig your rod or various other tips.  In addition, you can also sometimes find free or inexpensive lessons at various times throughout the year provided by park officials or fishing gurus just by checking the local sports section of your newspaper.
 
The most ideal time for fly-fishing is in the time of a hatch, meaning a cloud of insects/flies have recently hatched and taken to the surface of the water, causing a feeding frenzy for the trout. Often you can see and hear the trout feeding on the surface of the water. In these cases, fly-fishing will never be better. If you are able to differentiate the type of insect in the hatch and apply your flies accordingly, your success is almost guaranteed. However, even without pinpointing the exact type of hatch taking place, you can still have great success with like-sized flies of different varieties. At this point, many of the flies used for spinning or bait-casting are too heavy and bulky to really mimic the hatch, meaning the true fly-fisherman have a leg up.
 

There are a variety of different types of flies that can be used for different situations. Dry flies such as mayflies, stoneflies, caddis flies and midge flies are designed to imitate the adult stages of the various water insects. Many fisherman prefer dry flies since you can see what is hitting and know where your fly is at, at all times. Wet flies such as hackle flies, feather wings or wooly worms mimic insects that may have drowned and can do well in quicker currents that would immediately sink the dries. Nymphs have become one of the best flies available for many fly-fisherman. They work well regardless of the season or stream conditions because the flies that they are impersonating are always plentiful and available to the trout. They represent the immature forms of the same water insects as the dries. Streamers can also be productive options for catching bigger trout. Often they are used along with natural baits and can work better than some of the other flies when the water conditions are murky.