keep losing flies!

[smog7]

So far every time that I have gone out fishing I have lost a fly. Mind you I am a beginner fly fishermen. I've noticed that I lose them on my backcast, either on nearby bushes or rocks on the floor. I always check for bushes before casting, but it seems as though I always manage to snag on something. Is this fairly normal for beginners? What am I doing wrong?

 

[ant]

man, when i started I was going through a dozen flys and outting!:shocking:

but that will pass, just keep an eye on your surroundings to avoid snags. another thing to watch is during your backcast that you let the line straighten out before starting your forward cast. if the line still has too much of a loop in it when you start your front cast, you essentially crack the line like a whip and it will pop off flies(i speak from experience.) What works for Indiana Jones doesn't work for fish.

 

[simmons_j_m]

Ant is on the money answer... My first outing was 5 flies and I've progressively gotten better... I still lose about one or two an outing now due to some kind of snag... My first couple times out I was popping off the flies on the back cast.

Short answer: Yes, it's normal.

Justin

 

[Kerry Pitt]

I think everyone goes through this, but there may be something you can watch for besides the bushes.
If you are a new caster, you may sometimes get a "buggy whip" effect when you are casting.
If you hear a SNAP sound behind you, it is because you are dropping your back cast too much. This can snap your fly off if you are using a lighter tippet, it used to happen to me when I was first learning.
Good luck, it will get easier as time goes on.....Kerry

 

[jcw355]

You will get better. I tend to get sloppy on my casting and have to be mindful about it. Trees and bushes will still get some but so will the fish. It will happen.

 

[Walter1023]

Just keep in mind as a beginning fly fisherman......if you are nymphing and you DON'T occassionaly get snagged on the bottom and lose flies - you are probably doing it wrong. Meaning you have to make sure you have enough weight on your flies or leader so that flies are drifting off the bottom of the river - where trout do most of their feeding. Anytime you drift your flies and you realize you are never hanging up on the bottom...lengthen distance of your leader/indicator and/or add weight.

 

[webrx]

Smog, another thing that will keep your flies out of the bushes behind you is to keep your back cast at a slight up angle, and not let your wrist break too much in the back cast. It is easy to let your wrist go, which wraps your cast around instead of keeping it in a straight line. Back and forth on the cast, not up and around. Here is a link that explains it better then I do, it is not the best I have seen, but it gets the point accross.

I agree and disagree with the point about nymphing, when you are nymphing, I agree you need to have your fly near the bottom, but I beleive you need to not be "on" the bottom. I think a lot of people mean "ticking the bottom" when they say on the bottom. When I was first starting out, I lost a lot of flies on the bottom, and then was told by a friend who fishes a lot that you should lengthen your leader or add weight to get the fly down so you know you can get to the bottom and you know where the bottom is, then take a few inches off, or a little weight off, to that it is about 6 to 8 inches above the bottom and only occasionally (once or twice in a drift) touch the bottom. You will still snag on the plant growth, and occassionally still get stuck on branches, underwater limbs, etc, but you snag less, and I tend to catch more fish this way.

The belief is that trout don't usually feed on the bottom, they watch the drift, so the nymph needs to be at eye level or slightly above for them to most easily see it.

Dave

 

[Walter1023]

That is a good point to clarify. I used to be of the philosophy of keeping shot very close to my first fly.....mistakenly assuming my flies should be right on the bottom. In actuality - trout prefer to eat "up". ... meaning if you visualize a trout holding on the river bottom.....it makes sense that its more natural (and effortless) for it to simply lift his head up to nail passing items of food than it would be for it to actually eat something off the bottom. Experiment on your own. Also....if you get hung up almost everytime - thats a sign of too much weight...also not a good thing.

 

[FrankB2]

So far every time that I have gone out fishing I have lost a fly. Mind you I am a beginner fly fishermen. I've noticed that I lose them on my backcast, either on nearby bushes or rocks on the floor. I always check for bushes before casting, but it seems as though I always manage to snag on something. Is this fairly normal for beginners? What am I doing wrong?

Have you tried roll casting yet? This will help tremendously when bushes and trees are close to your back.

 

[Jeff's Nymph O]

Hey! First post here. My thanks to everyone for a great forum and a great source of info. I've been reading this board for a few years now and learned a great deal about fishing and tying.

Anyway, I would recommend to any beginner, or anyone else who doesn't already know how to, that they learn how to roll cast. With a series of roll casts I can easily get my line out 50 - 60 ft. accurately while standing with my back literally up against a cliff.

Like anything else, it takes practice and patience to learn but once you've mastered it the roll cast will become just as important as the basic cast when fishing small streams and rivers. It will also allow you to fish spots you wouldn't otherwise be able to. Riverbanks, brush, trees and even other fisherman become non factors when searching out new lies.

Once you've learned how to roll cast you can then integrate it into your basic casting. Say you have just finished a drift. You would now normally strip in X amount of line and begin your casting sequence again. With a roll cast you can leave all your line on the water, then roll cast your line into the air, go directly into a normal back cast, then just shoot your fly back upstream for another drift.......

Simple right?

BAWAHAHAHA.......

practice and patience......

Fly Fishing "Roll Cast" from The Angling Channel.com

---------- Post added at 12:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 PM ----------

......or, what Frankb2 said

damn, I type slow

 

[JoJer]

If you are having problems with hooking bushes behind you, especially for newer casters, the advice above on making the back cast in a more "up" direction than "back" is probably valid for you. Also, the "breaking wrist" advice: if the rod doesn't stop solidly while the backcast turns over, the loop will open up, the line slows down and drops, often into bushes you thought you were casting over.
Also, you don't have to back cast in the exact opposite direction of your target:The line will cast to where ever the rod tip is pointing last. If you have bushes and trees behind you, back cast parrallel to the bank, then turn the rod tip toward your "target" on the forward cast when you plan to release the cast.
Read Lefty Kreh. His instructions helped me alot.

 

[jcw355]

I also saw a tip where the guy said to make your back cast your front cast. In other words cast toward the bank so you can see and possibly avoid the trees and bushes. Cast it into the openings.

 

[troutslayer]

I still go for those not so elusive 'tree fish' and catch them quite often still. We get caught up in the moment and totally forget about that bush or tree we just walked past and thought, "I'll have to be careful about that" and then we forget and, well, you know the rest of that story. Time and practice and a learned alertness about what's around us. Try roll casting or shorten your line if possible. If it's way across that you're trying to get to and you have bushes or trees directly behind you, try goin gupstream and casting down. That way you'll have the river behind you.

 

[Jimmie]

I don't have enough experience to offer much advice. One of the things that I was taught and still find amazing is how many flies you can save by roll casting toward the bottom hang-up.
But yeah, I'm with you. Still lose some. I always take time out to try to save my fly, or line. I consider it paying my dues for being a newb. Sometimes it's more like punishment, lol.

 

[michigan_fisher]

I am currently having same problem to 2nd day fly fishing

 

[jaybo41]

There are days where I loose several flies in trees, brush, or other obstacles that line the stream. I often get hooked up on the bottom either in branches or rocks. It happens when you fish. Like others have mentioned roll casting is a solid technique to use when you don't have much room for a back cast.

If you're looking behind you before casting to check your casting lanes and still getting hooked up, it's possible you might have some casting issues to work on. I have been working on my casting more than ever over the past couple of years and it's still a work in progress despite nearly 13 or so years of fly fishing. If you haven't done so yet and the means to do so, take casting lessons and then practice a little bit as much as possible. I can't tell you how much one session helped me.

 

[kylebass91]

Have you tried roll casting yet? This will help tremendously when bushes and trees are close to your back.

Thats the best advise I can think of right there, Due to the size of the streams I fish I can roll cast all the way across at a 45 degree angle so roll casting is 90% of my casting and I have save countless flies I know it.

 

[ditz]

It is normal at first. My first time I lost almost every fly I had bought. That is when I decided to start tying myself. Didn't take me long. I seldom lose flies now mostly lose to stuff in the water. Fish, logs, rocks, etc. ..I fish small warmwater creeks with lots of tree canopy and I seldom roll cast. I mostly use the standard overhead cast. I use short rods and just love them. My long rods stay in the closet until I hit the salt or other big open water. My 6' rods work great. I still hang in the tree once in a while but the usually the fly is low enough to reach or it will come loose with a light tug.

If you are where there is some high weeds or brush behind you but nothing overhead you can actually throw the line up high on the backcast and miss all the standing trash. Keep your head up. It will get much better. Trust me! Check is in the mail!:teef:

 

[dabluz]

When fishing a stream or small river, you will be surprised at how short your casts can be if you use stealth to approach the areas where you think fish are holding. The closer to the holding area, the shorter will be your cast.

Think of fly fishing more as an act of hunting. Keep a low profile, don't make noise, no false casts therefore no movement and you should be able to just flip your rod a bit and your fly will land at least 20 feet in front of you. The rod is already close to 9 feet long and the leader is at least 4 to 7 feet long. If your fly is in one hand and the rod in the other hand....you can make a cast that is at least 18 feet long. If the fish is not spooked, it will take the fly.

Yes....it's difficult to add a couple of feet of distance to your cast when you are working with just the leader and 2 or 3 feet of fly line past the tip of your rod. If the stream you are working demands that you make 30 foot casts but there is little room for 1 false cast, there is a way to make things easier and that is by making the end of your fly line heavier. By a cheap double taper fly line and chop off a good portion of the front end. You will have the other end of the fly line to experiment with. This will give you some weight to work with. You can make a decent cast using just 6 or 7 feet of line in the air.

There are probably a few other things that I forgot to add but the reason is simple.....I rarely fish in close quarters...lol. Almost all of my fishing is on lakes or large rivers where back casts can be almost as long as the forward casts.

 

[michigan_fisher]

Today I only lost one and It was from a fish I also caught a medium to large size bass with it