Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing How did you learn flyfishing?

Guys thinking about getting into it. Seems like fun and I have the opportunity to do fresh and saltwater here. Just gotta figure this all out. Fishing is not new to me but the flyfishing is totally new. Curious how you guys got into it and how you learned. Thx

One cast at a time...seriously.

I started not long after getting married. My FIL does and asked if I wanted to learn. For the first year or two I spent time casting in my back yard and the school yard. Read what you can and hit the water as often as you can.

FWIW I still consider myself a novice and I started almost 20 years ago.

I took up the sport 25 years ago when my son, who was in high school at the time, wanted to fly fish. I purchased he and I both an outfit from Orvis and we when after it. We read some and tried to put into practice what we read and in 10 or 15 trips (plus some practice in the yard) we got to where we now understood the cast mechanics enough to now start to get good.

I would highly recommend paying someone who teaches to give you some one on one instruction for a day or two. This will get you up to speed months ahead of where we were when we had months of self taught time spent.

Some who teaches fly casting can have you casting as good as 60% of the fly fishermen on the river in no time, and where you take it from there is up to you. At least you will be enjoying fishing and not becoming frustrated.

It will be money well spent

A silver haired mentor, and a lot of time in/on the water.

And if one can cast 1 to 2 rod lenghts of line, he's adept enough to be fishing. To date, I have hooked and landed 3 steelhead that took flies while I was actually holding the leader in my hand.

The greatest frustration, however, is selecting the right fly for picky slow or dead water fish. There there are the impossible beaver ponds.

Well I took up the sport over 50 years ago now, mostly self taught- the first 15 or 20 years was a lot of fusstration and trial and error, then I gotten some lessons and a fishing buddy for a while( he was hard to get along with)! These days casting instruction is available- spend the money and in less than a week you will be a good 15 years ahead of the curve if you go the trial and error route I did! Also the rods lines leaders and tippets are so much better to day than in 1963 when I started, even bargain priced stuff is light years better than the top end stuff back then! Its not hard, with some good instruction you will be catching fish with in an hour!

40 years ago my Grandfather gave me a copy of Trout Madness by Robert Traver. I was an 11 year old in northern IL and there wasn't a trout within many miles of me. I saved my money and bought a Medalist reel and a 7 weight fiberglass rod. I started tying flies with pheasant tails from birds my dad and I had shot and sewing thread on eagle claw hooks I cut the snell off of.

I caught a lot of bass and bluegills from a local sod farm irrigation pond and borrow pits. I learned a lot of things wrong but it worked and I have worked my way from rock bottom to being slightly below average in the following 40 years.

Lots of resources out there to avoid all the mistakes i made.

50 years ago, well before vhs/dvd"s and computer videos I read books. after that trial and error. the fish will tell you when you are right if you listen. 1minute is right, if you can accurately cast 20 to 30 feet of line you can catch some fish.

Self taught, with an entry level how-to book, on an Orvis split bamboo 5 foot for a five weight (the old Mighty Mite model). Initial results were laughable, but the trout soon taught me the errors of my ways.

Might be why I tend toward short-ish rods today.

My first fishing rod of any kind was a telescope rod, reel was a cheapo Pfleuger with the retention screw missing, line was a "D" level. Leaders at that time were the kind you had to soak to be flexible. Flies were such as: grey hackle peacock, yellow may, brown hackle yellow, etc.. Cost was in the neighborhood of 15 cents a piece.

Small feeder streams were the most fished. To have any success one had to develop technique, mostly by trial and error. At that time I had no mentor. Trout mostly were native cutthroat, rainbow.

Did finally acquire some passable quality gear. I Minute is correct on the casting distance.

One of my big joys in life was me being able to mentor my oldest grandson about fly fishing. I started him off with a balanced good quality outfit and passed on to him my fly tying out fit and material.

I promised him a fly fishing trip to Montana if he made the Babe Ruth All Stars in baseball. He did and we had a great 10 days in Northwest Montana. He caught the most and biggest trout...Rainbow and Cutthroat. Also brought back a shed moosehorn he found near the Yaak river.

Initially took a couple fly casting lessons (with a group) and a fly tying class. Started with some basic all-round patterns and progressed from there. Several years later got an early graphite rod which helped with distance. Mostly have fished for trout with nymphs/wet flys though I did hit Yellowstone a few years ago and had a bit of success with a hopper pattern! Just got back a week ago from a bit of beach fishing for salmon (pinks) which are a lot of fun on a 6wt. I will never get too deep in entomology and my fly tying is pretty basic (eyes are struggling) but it has been a lot of fun. Most fun for me is stream fishing, probing little runs and pools.

Must have started when I was 9 or 10 with my dad's bamboo rod and some old flies.. Bluegills and bass.. Later I got a couple Fenwick Fenglass rods that I still use today.. Have some of the newer rods, but put them in the attic, the old ones do all I need to do.

Today, as others have said, I would get some good instruction from a class, a good rod or pair of rods, and have at it..

I learned at 8yrs old. My paternal grandfather tried teaching me to cast with only my wrist, and showed me how to waste at least the first 30 minutes on a stream getting his line dressed and anything else he could think of to waste time. He had a 50's era Fenwick glass rod and Pflueger Medalist reel, and a Wheatly box which I'd ask to fondle every time we visited his house. He'd take me to a local casting pond for a session of casting, followed by feeding the ducks stale bread.

My dad bought my first rod and reel, which closely mirrored the Fenwick/Medalist my grandfather had, just later production. Ironically my dad never had the interest to learn flyfishing..............not surprised actually.

I learned a lot more about casting from a friend of my dad. He was self-taught also, and wasn't great hindsight, but at least he passed along the fundamentals. He also kept me supplied with flies, which were like gold for a young boy. Within a couple years he started teaching me to tie my own flies.

Fortunately for me, flyfishing was (relatively) unpopular in Oregon in the mid-70's, so I had pretty good success pursuing uneducated trout. The rush of a trout rising to a dry fly immediately got in my blood, and I'm glad it did before life got increasingly complicated as I got older. There's no going back to the early days/feelings, but it lays a strong foundation for today.

I now have my grandfather's rod and reel, and his replacement Wheatley (sadly the original was stolen), along with my Fenwick, Medalist, and Thompson A vise.

222, what wt are those old Fenwicks.. I have several 6 wts. one 8, and one 10.. I have seen 5's, but nothing lighter..

It turns out mine is at my folks but IIRC it's an 8' 6wt. I'll call 'em later and get a model#. I've got my grandfather's in hand, and it's a model 325, so 8' 7wt.

Thanks!!

I'm on the phone with my pop right now, and he's too lazy to go dig in the back of the closet to check for me.

I'm still new to fly fishing, but I view it like golf. You can go out and try to figure it out by yourself and have some success, or you can get someone that knows what they are doing show you the right way to do it. Saves time and prevents bad habits.

I tried the "self-taught" method early on. Got frustrated at the lack of success and put it away for many years. I now have a colleague who knows what he's doing with a fly rod and he took me out for a day last month and gave me some tips. By the end of the day I had 8 brown trout under my belt. Since then I have added a couple rainbows and a smallmouth bass.

Proper casting technique and knowing what flies you should start with is 75% of the battle. The remainder is reading water and breaking it down.

BTW, I tried to teach myself golf too and it shows!


SS

You have the method Sam.. If I could start over that is exactly what I would do..

I am self taught as many others but I would highly recommend finding a fly casting instructor in your area as 20 years later I still have bad habits in my own casting.

I went to a class where I purchased my first rod and reel. It was an Orvis Dealer. We learned everything from setting up some basic line and leaders to casting to retrieving. Best thing I ever did. I had a buddy that got into it the sametime I did and he never went class. He never really understood the fundamentals so he never really ever got too good. He is painful to watch. I practiced just about everyday for a year as well as fished in saltwater every weekend for years. I need to get back into it.