Fly fishing is a fishing style I never even heard of until I was in my mid 20s but once I did and was shown how to bring it all together I stopped all other fishing styles and only did fly fishing for a long time, it was that addictive.
Fly fishing is a different style of fishing. Rather than using a rod and spinning or bait casting reel using lures that have enough weight to throw them out good distance we use artificial lures called flies which usually weight to little to cast with a spinning or bait casting reel and rod.
Instead the fly fishing system includes a fly rod, fly reel, fly line and leader and tippet.
The Rod Casts The Line Not The Lure
Unlike the spinning rod and reel system where the weight of the lure carries the line with it the fly fishing setup using a thicker and heavier line which is used to get the fly or lure out there so it’s quite different.
If I were to take a lure from my spinning rod and give it toss using my hand I could throw it a long distance however if I tried the same thing with the artificial fly it would likely just drop in front of me or maybe it might go the length of my arm and then drop as it’s far too light to cast using it’s own weight.
My brother-in-law was the one who showed me how to cast a fly on the water. When I saw him making a cast I just knew I could never do that. It looked like a form of art it was so smooth and landed so lightly on the water. Not like the plop or splash are spinning lure makes.
He assured me that he could teach me in less than a half hour, yeah right. The challenged was on and I really expected to be able to say ‘I told you so’, but never had the chance as I was casting in about 15 minutes and actually caught my first trout after only a few casts.
Okay I will admit it wasn’t very pretty and it didn’t look like art but I was able to cast a fly using a fly rod in no time flat. I have gotten a lot better since those day and get as much fly fishing in as I possible can.
From Fly Fishing To Fly Tying
Shortly after learning how to fly fish I wanted to learn how to tie my own fly fishing flies which use all kinds of light weight items like feathers and yarn. I can still feel the excitement I felt the first time I hooked into a big ole trout using my own flies. So now I have a The Joy of Fly Tying blog as well as The Joy of Fly Fishing blog.
I started with a few simple trout fly patterns and soon moved into tying some Atlantic salmon flies. That was a blast the first time I hooked into a nice size salmon on the fly rod with my own flies.