# New to fly fishing.



## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

Yesterday I got a fly rod and reel. Nothing special. I have about 0% experience. On the rod it says 9'0" Line 5/6. Any idea of what kind of flies to throw? I saw a video of some guy using something that looked like a popper and was catching bass. Is that the size lure I want to throw on this setup? Like I said I have no clue of what to do. The videos I have watched didn't help me at all. I tried yesterday and that was a failure, I tried using the flies that came with it. If I can't get used to fly fishing I'll just trade it for a nice baitcaster, if anyone is interested . Anyone in the Akron area willing to help me out? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.


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## toobnoob (Jun 1, 2010)

If you don't have anyone around to help get you started on casting, look up a video on youtube for begining fly casting. Take a junky fly and cut the hook at the bend or a very small piece of yarn (pinky nail size) and tie it to the end of your leader/tipit (piece of line you tie to the leader). Watch that video a few times then go out in your yard or a field and practice how they do it until you can at least get 20 or 30 feet out with your forward cast and a basic roll cast (look that up on youtube also). After that find a pond with some open space to cast and see if you can catch something. Don't discouraged, it takes practice to get the feel of it.

That being said, it will go faster if you have someone there to help you.

For a 5/6 weight rod you won't be able to throw those big monster bass bugs. start with very small poppers as they will be easier to learn on.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

Ok thanks. I did have one popper I was TRYING to use. How do you pop it? Do you use the line that's in your hand and pull it? That's what I was doing but the line was pretty slack. Windy day.


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## toobnoob (Jun 1, 2010)

Casting with a good wind is tough for everybody, the better you get casting the better you'll be able to punch through wind.

After you cast out take up and slack on the water with your line hand and point the rod at the fly. Make it pop by striping 4 or 5 inches of line quickly. let it pause often as well. Also keep the line running under your index finger on your rod hand so if you get a strike you can keep the line tight to the fish.


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

toobnoob said:


> Casting with a good wind is tough for everybody, the better you get casting the better you'll be able to punch through wind.
> 
> After you cast out take up and slack on the water with your line hand and point the rod at the fly. Make it pop by striping 4 or 5 inches of line quickly. let it pause often as well. Also keep the line running under your index finger on your rod hand so if you get a strike you can keep the line tight to the fish.


Ok thank you. I will definitely try that next time I go out. When I fight the fish I fight it with the line right? Not the reel?


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## toobnoob (Jun 1, 2010)

That depends on the size of the fish. Small fish you can just pull them in with your line hand. If you hook into a big one, as they say "get the fish in the reel" ASAP. Basically you'll keep some pressure on the fish (don't just let go of the line) and let the line slip out till all the slack is taken up and you can use the drag on the reel to tire the fish out to get it in.

When i got my first few big ones on the fly rod (steel head) i would get too excited and clamp the line down on my grip and most of the time they would break off. Just takes a bit to get the feel of keeping the line tight but still letting the fish take line. You can practice on the smaller one to get used to it.


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## Guest (Aug 29, 2011)

http://www.myoutdoortv.com/shows/scott-linden-fly-fishing-tips

watch this whole short-segment series. this guy is full of easily-explained information.


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## steelheader007 (Apr 8, 2004)

Well hello fellow Akronite! There is an awesome lake for Pan fishing called Mogadore! This lake offers amazing access "it used too when I fished it" very wadable and lots of dumb bass and blue gills! You will need to learn how to cast overhead also. Take a fly remove the hook point and go beat the grass to death after watching several hours of you tube vidoes! Smaller rods are meant to fight the fish from the line IMHO larger rods are meant to fish the fish from the reel! Get comfortable with your cast learn the basics and tell Akron I miss her!..lol..


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## JSykes3 (Oct 14, 2010)

Ok, will do. I have never fished Mogadore before. Been thinking about trying though. I'm sure Akron misses you!


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## copperdon (Jun 3, 2011)

There's one thing every fly angler shares and that's that there was a time when none of us knew what we were doing. 

Casting is tough, but like anything else, the more you do it, the better you'll get at it.

Good recommendations from other members here regarding practicing with a piece of yarn, hitting local ponds with little tree or brush cover behind you, and yes, avoiding that head wind - especially while you are learning - will make it more productive.

In the beginning, don't concentrate so much on distance as you do on _accuracy_. Many fish can be caught within 5 - 10' of where you stand anyway, so there's no point in trying to cast 50 feet in the beginning.

If you are fishing a stream, get used to how the current effects your line.

Make sure that the weight of the line matches the weight of the rod, try to avoid using a 6-7 weight line on a 4-5 wt rod - and in my opinion, you might want to start with a WF or "weight forward" line, as opposed to other tapers... at least in the beginning until you get the hang of it. This "WF" will be printed somewhere on the fly line package.

Also, one of the biggest mistakes that many first time fly anglers do is to have too much line out. Pick the spot you want to target, and have that much line, plus just a few inches more looped in the hand you would reel with.
Having too much line can cause many problems with hang ups, twists, etc.

As far as flies go, it's really about what the fish are hitting at that time, and where you are fishing. If you see rises (these are little splashes that tell you that fish are hitting on the surface) then you might want to try a dry fly of some kind. Safe bets for productive dry flies in Ohio are Elk Hair Caddis and other tan or light colored midges and flies.

Wet flies, which are flies that mimic insects just below the surface of the water, can also be productive if the fish aren't coming all the way to the surface.

Nymphs are flies that emulate the pupal stage of flies coming up from the bottom of the lake or stream to hatch near or on the surface. Many can be recognized by a bead head (gold, silver, brass) and can be fished by feel or under a strike indicator of some kind.
Popular nymphs include flies like the pheasant tail, the copperjohn, and stoneflies.

other patterns, like streamers - which are meant to emulate baitfish, leeches, caterpillars, etc are also quite productive. Olive or Brown colored Woolly Buggers are one of my favorite go to's, not just for trout but for LM, SM and crappies as well.

If you start tying your own, start with easy patterns - like the elk hair caddis - and use a bigger hook in the beginning (like a #10 or #12) while you are getting used to the process. After you get good at a bigger hook, you can then scale down to something smaller like a 14, 16 or 18.

Don't get discouraged... it's not easy at first, but if you keep at it, and, as mentioned previously, can get with someone a bit more experienced to help you, you'll find it becomes easier with time and patience.

Welcome to the religion!


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## jhammer (Jun 13, 2011)

Copperdon hit the nail on the head with everything he said. 

I would start with the elk hair caddis and panfish poppers for surface flies, and woolly worms/woolly buggers for subsurface flies. Then, a prince nymph and a hare's ear nymph for your nymph flies. Most of the fish in Ohio can be caught on those six flies. I've caught everything from crappie to gills to catfish on them. The other guys probably have other flies they would use as a basic set, but those are what I started out with 15 years ago and I've had great luck. 

However, this time of year is great for cricket/grasshopper patterns as well. I'm working on some size 12 foam crickets at the moment. 

It takes time to get into the swing of things, but it's definitely worthwhile and very addicting.


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## nitsud (May 22, 2010)

My latest fun thing to do in the yard is to just put a leader on and try to whip the hanging plants on the front porch. The key thing with this is to not do it in front of your wife, who will likely yell at you for screwing with her plants...

Do not even consider trying to whip your kids if the wife is around. 

As far as flies, clouser minnows (



) are generally good.


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## flylogicsteelhead (Oct 4, 2006)

My advice is hookup with someone who knows what they are doing. I feel for me it was the fastest way to shorten the learning curve. I've taken out a half dozen or so guys and put them on fish and taught them a lot, just as many have taught me.


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## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

JSykes3 said:


> Ok thanks. I did have one popper I was TRYING to use. How do you pop it? Do you use the line that's in your hand and pull it? That's what I was doing but the line was pretty slack. Windy day.


For any kind of active stripping retrieve (as opposed to letting the fly "swing" or drift downstream), I not only keep my rod tip pointed at the fly, but also keep my rod tip as close to the water as possible. I even put the tip a few inches in the water most of the time when I can. This keeps a slack-free system during the retrieve. 

To see the difference, get your fly 15-20' out and watch it as you strip it in. Try it with the rod tip 2' above the surface, and then with the rod tip just barely below the surface (1-2" only). What happens is that since fly line is "heavy" (esp. compared to mono or braid on traditional gear), it will sag and pull the fly toward you, introducing slack. You can tell because the fly will move twice--once when you pull, and once again when the line sags. Triple bonus: keeping the tip in the water keeps the fly line wetter so it will move through the guides more smoothly, and less slack means a better hookset. 

Working the popper then is a matter of quick, accelerated pulls (strips) with the line hand, typically 1' or so with small FW poppers. You can experiment with the spend and length of the pull.


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## Davidd (Jan 23, 2011)

thanks for the post


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## benjaminrogers (Jul 11, 2011)

Being new to fly fishing also this is some of the best info I've gotten so far!! Thanks guys!


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## SweetFeet (Aug 7, 2006)

I'm in the Columbus area, so I can't really point you directly to a place, but here we have the Mad River Outfitter retail store that offers some free beginner's classes on fly casting. Never been, but I would imagine those types of events would be a great place to start.

We also have the Columbus Metroparks, who offers fly fishing clinics for free at the Clearcreek Metropark.

And the DNR-Wildlife often has clinics that are sponsored by TU groups.

Not to mention YouTube! and Vimeo, amongst a wealth of other online resources that can give you the basics of casting, flies, hatches, etc.


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## Yanky (May 7, 2008)

Im also new to fly fishing and having seen others mention learning from someone else actually out on the river/lake, would anyone be interested in a day out learning/fishing experience? Id be more than willing to buy you lunch or provide a six pack for the effort, plus you get to fish. Im not talking about a full on "show me everything", but for those of us that sort of have a grip on things from videos but are still starting, its invaluable to see someone do it and bounce questions off them as we flail around like fools. 

What does everyone think? Any takers? Akron area for me but am willing to travel.


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## mcoppel (May 21, 2011)

Also fairly new, But anyone around Columbus that wants to help teach me better, or who think they can learn from my small experience can contact me. I love just getting together and trying to fly fish.


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## flylogicsteelhead (Oct 4, 2006)

I would be happy to, I'm mostly a steelhead guy but if someone wanted to tag along that's fine. We would just have to figure out schedules.


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## Yanky (May 7, 2008)

Im totally down. I did a little steelhead fishing with my fly rod last year but thats another aspect of things to learn. At least I have somewhat of a grip on that, having drifted with a standard spinning setup the year before. Id also love to learn standard fly fishing techniques, like those not necessarily used while drifting for steel.


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## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

I'd be happy to help out any beginners willing to meet up in Cincinnati. Doesn't help you guys up north considering it's 3.5 hours one way, but if you are ever in the area with your gear, get in touch. We'll hit a local lake & then river.


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