Need guidance

[querorz]

Hi guys,

I am Fatih, from Turkey. I am trying to learn fly fishing with a great appetite but in my country it is impossible to find any source and guidance, since Fly Fishing is not popular at all. I seriously need your help.

I have thousands of questions in my head but i will start with a couple of them.



First of all i need to buy some gear i guess. I read some articles about that and i decided to buy:

5 WT 9 Feet long fishing rod

5 WT Fly reel

5 WT Fly line Floating

4x or 5x Leader line(I don't know how you call that. This is the line placed between fly line and fly ) .


I don't know if these are identical for a beginner. Please note that i want to go fishing both for freshwater and saltwater. Especially in saltwater i might need to cast my fly really far.

I haven't appreciated being able to speak English so much before. Information is so precious. Being able to ask you to share your information with me is priceless.

Thank you very much.

 

[Ard]

Hello Faith,

Welcome to the forum, there will be many different opinions but I believe the gear you are describing will make a good starting set. You will need to search for You Tube or maybe DVDs to show proper casting technique.

It is not impossible to learn alone, I did it.

Do you read in English? If so this book Fishing Fly Fishing Fly Fishing by Tom McNally 0060128682 | eBay

If you read English I believe this to be the best basic book for instructing all proper casting, knots, and many other aspects of fishing for a beginner. It is old but the information is ageless.

Ard

 

[querorz]

Hello Faith,

Welcome to the forum, there will be many different opinions but I believe the gear you are describing will make a good starting set. You will need to search for You Tube or maybe DVDs to show proper casting technique.

It is not impossible to learn alone, I did it.

Do you read in English? If so this book Fishing Fly Fishing Fly Fishing by Tom McNally 0060128682 | eBay

If you read English I believe this to be the best basic book for instructing all proper casting, knots, and many other aspects of fishing for a beginner. It is old but the information is ageless.

Ard

Thank you so much Ard. I appreciate your help . It will take weeks to get a book ordered from another country. So i am looking for books which i can buy in PDF format, or read online.

As far as i see this book is not available in PDF or online readible. If you have any other advices i will appreciate it.

Now , i want to clear some question marks about fly fishing. Because right now there are lots of things that don't make any sense for me about fly fishing

1- Why do people not use just coarse fishing equipment to do fly fishing? Just use a transparent bobber with your fly and you can cast it to a very long distance. This way you won't need any extra equipment too. I hope you get what i mean? To someone who doesn't know about fly fishing, it looks so weird...

2- Fly fishing line is so easily distinguishable by fishes. Does it not scare them? Why don't we use a transparent line?

3- Is it possible to hunt ground level fishes with fly fishing? I mean you know, some fishes will be on surface, and some will be in deep spots and never come up. Is it possible to get your fly to deep spots? Is that gonna be effective?

4- I know that it is possible to catch saltwater fishes with fly fishing. But is it worth to effort you spend?

I mean which one is true? a- Fly fishing is very effective and useful in saltwater or b-Fly fishing can be used in saltwater but that's not the best way to do it. It works but it is not worth to use it just because it works in saltwater.

5- Can i hunt any fish with fly , if i use right fly?


Sorry about keeping you so busy with my questions . Thank you very much.

 

[itchmesir]

I will try to answer your questions for you..

1) Some people do use normal fishing gear to throw flies.. There is a product called a casting bubble.. which is just a clear bobber basically.. which adds weight to the line to be able to cast small flies

2) Fishes often encounter unusually items floating around them all the time with how filthy humans are.. and stream fish always have things floating by them constantly so as long as the line falls delicately to the water surface.. it will not disturb the fish.. especially if the water is not crystal clear.. they do make clear lines but there is often issues with their performance.. salt water lines are often blue/grey/seaweed in color to help camouflage the line as well.. and freshwater lines also come in dull/drab colors to help camouflage them as well.. but often from the fishes view point the line just looks like a shadow or grey as long as it's floating on the surface of the water

3) Fish can be caught in any depth within reason.. obviously you won't get a fly to go 50' deep... It's all a matter of how heavy the fly is.. The fly line used... As they make sinking line and sink tip line in which the first 15' of the fly line sinks at a given rate of 1 inch per second.. 3 inches per second... and so on.. Speed of current can also play a factor.. Fast rivers require heavy flies to get down fast

4) Effort spent worth it? I imagine if you are looking into fly fishing that you already enjoy fishing.. Fly fishing has a learning curve and there can be much frustration.. But as long as you stick to it and look at resources such as books... internet(youtube for example or forums like ours).. and DVDs.. But overall fly fishing can be very rewarding.. In my honest opinion and I'm sure many others.. The fight a fish puts on a fly rod is beyond words.. It's amazing.. It's addicting.. No comparison to your normal fishing gear in my honest opinion

5) Learning proper release techniques will increase chances of mortality for any fish caught.. whether it be with a lure or a fly

If you need anything else cleared up feel free to ask

 

[madjoni]

Hello Fatih,

Ardy said it,you can learn by your self,no problem.Of course it would be much easier if there is some one to show you,but if you like it you will learn it.
Now about questions I will answer how I see it:

1-From first question I see that you never did it.I mean you never tried fly rod and never felt fly line.Fly fishing is not about getting all fishes anytime everywhere by all means.If you think about your bag being full of fish stay with coarse rod and live baits.Fly fishing is not about fly rod,fly reel and not even about artificial flies,it is all about fly line and casting fly line.When that rhythm of casting front and back get into your bones you will never ask this question again

2-on rivers you dont have to think about this,line is not scaring fish,and you can find if you like even transparent fly line

3-yes

4-I dont fish salt so I will skip this one but I will go for b

5-yes

 

[fredaevans]

Very good answers above so not much that I could add to same. Only thing I might add is a 5wt fly rod may be on the light side for salt water fishing (fish size dependent). If you do use your equipment in salt water be sure to really clean every thing off immediately there after with lots of fresh water.

As far as accessing equipment, here's the link to the ''Mother Board" in the UK. Many very good 'Trade Members' there that can easily supply anything you may need/want. http://www.flyforums.co.uk/ If memory serves, your sign in information here should be the same thing there. I even purchase from them on a regular basis and I'm 8 time zones to the west of the UK (lots of stuff you just can't find here in the United States).

Fred

 

[mcnerney]

Hello Fatih,

There is a lot of information on YouTube about fly fishing, get on there and do searches, for example, search for "fly casting instruction". One of my favorites is by Tim Landwehr from Tight Lines Fly Fishing Co.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLfJBTctA4Q]Tight Lines-Learning to Fly Cast Part 1 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AcG4XkgG9c]Tight Lines-Learning to Fly Cast Part 2 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSKa6Pt3R0]Tight Lines-Learning to Fly Cast Part 3 - YouTube[/ame]

Also checkout the Orvis Learning Center, it has a lot of great information for the beginner to learn fly fishing.
How To Fly Fish For Trout, Bass & More | Learn Fly Fishing With Orvis

Best of luck and keep asking questions, we will try to help the best we can.

Larry

 

[fredaevans]

Great links Larry, great links.

fae

 

[ditz]

Welcome Faith!...Your english is really good and you probably are a better speller than I. I am quite poor actually. There are many books about flyfishing and there will be many more written and none of them are comprehensive. I believe your choice of a 5wt is excellent. If you do have access to the salt you will find that a heavier outfit will work better for you in the salt. Larger flies and larger fish and more wind will dictate a heavier outfit. An 8 or 9 is probably the best but a 7wt with a lot of backbone would get you started.

An excellent web site for learning about casting is"Sexyloops". It gets into many aspects of casting methods with videos. You can spend many, many hours there. Enough said...

Sometimes flyfishings is by far the most productive way to fish. In some situations there are other methods that are much better. I have almost exclusively gone to flyfishing because I enjoy it.

 

[querorz]

First of all guys, i thank you all so much. I have been struggling with log in problems for like a day. So i am a little late. Sorry about that.

It is incredible to see how many members you have here, willing to help. I am telling you, in Turkish forums there are about 200 threads about Fly Fishing in total and that's all .

" itchmesir" , "madjoni" , Fred, Larry and "ditz" thank you all. I assure you that i read every post , at least twice. I watched the videos you gave me . I took a look at websites you suggested me.

Ditz, my english is not better than yours at all . I don't even know what "comprehensive" is . Haha.

I wanna move forward with my deeper questions now guys .

1- Is the only difference between dry fly fishing and wet fly fishing, the kind of fly line? Or are flies we use are different too?

2- In fly fishing do we need to give action to our fly?

3- Can i use human and cat hair(my poor cat ) to tie flies? Why is bird feather so precious in fly fishing?

4- You know, there is a product called floatant spray that you use when your dry starts to sink in the water. We don't have this spray in Turkey. I heard that olive oil can be used instead of this. How effective is this solution? Do i have to have that spray? Is it so necessary?

5- What do you think about Dam Revolution equipment? I know it is not high quality but is it all right?

Here are my options for Rod and Reel.

http://www.spotbalik.com.tr/Fly-Kamislar,LA_3485-2.html
http://www.spotbalik.com.tr/Fly-Olta-Makineleri,LA_2953-2.html

 

[silver creek]

Back in the 1990's, I wrote a series of FAQ's (which are answer to Frequently Asked Questions) for Flyfish@, the first internet fly fishing group. It might answer some of your basic questions.

Henry's faqs menu

My nymphing FAQ still comes up as a popular hit on Google

[ame=http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=nymphing&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8]nymphing - Google Search[/ame]

 

[querorz]

Thanks Silver. I am reading it now. This is a real good source. Thank you.


My friends, in case you don't see my questions, i have 5 new questions at the end of the previous page. TY

 

[madjoni]

First of all guys, i thank you all so much. I have been struggling with log in problems for like a day. So i am a little late. Sorry about that.

It is incredible to see how many members you have here, willing to help. I am telling you, in Turkish forums there are about 200 threads about Fly Fishing in total and that's all .

" itchmesir" , "madjoni" , Fred, Larry and "ditz" thank you all. I assure you that i read every post , at least twice. I watched the videos you gave me . I took a look at websites you suggested me.

Ditz, my english is not better than yours at all . I don't even know what "comprehensive" is . Haha.

I wanna move forward with my deeper questions now guys .

1- Is the only difference between dry fly fishing and wet fly fishing, the kind of fly line? Or are flies we use are different too?

2- In fly fishing do we need to give action to our fly?

3- Can i use human and cat hair(my poor cat ) to tie flies? Why is bird feather so precious in fly fishing?

4- You know, there is a product called floatant spray that you use when your dry starts to sink in the water. We don't have this spray in Turkey. I heard that olive oil can be used instead of this. How effective is this solution? Do i have to have that spray? Is it so necessary?

5- What do you think about Dam Revolution equipment? I know it is not high quality but is it all right?

Here are my options for Rod and Reel.

Fly Kam
Fly Olta Makineleri Fly Fishing Olta Makaralar

Tell us what species of fish you are going for.That will help us answering

 

[Rip Tide]

This is a good book.
The LLBean Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing. (Whitlock, Talleur, Lord)
It's a free PDF download that I didn't actually try

The L.L. Bean Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing PDF.pdf download - 2shared

 

[querorz]

Madjoni i will hunt trout, freshwater mullet, salt water mullet, perch, pike, sea bass, carp, Scardinius erythrophthalmus... I guess these species don't form a certain group . If you can just give me general answers that will be great.

Rip Tide, thanks so much. I am on it right now.

 

[madjoni]

Well Fatih,for beginning I strongly recommend to choose one kind of fish as target and after you do others
Now about new questions:

1-I use same fly floating line for wets and dries .Main difference in this two styles are the flies.Wet flies goes under surface and dries stay above

2-Sometimes we do.Usually not,except with streamers

3-I guess you can use that hair but from my point it is odd On second part question I want answer and I will ask you are you really beginning into fly fishing with zero knowledge(or you making jokes with us ) and if that is case why you wont it,or to rephrase,what provoked you to start with ff?

4-Forget olive oil

 

[querorz]

Madjoni, thank you sir. Your answers are really really helping.

1- I know that there are sinking fly lines. So what is the point? Why do you use it? If a wet fly can go under surface by itself, so why do we need a sinking line?

3- Sir i guess i couldn't tell you Turkey's situation about Fly Fishing clearly.

1 Sentence will summarize the situation i guess : I have never seen a fly rod or a fly reel !

Here is the 2nd Bomb : I have never met one who has ever done fly fishing in his life !

We have 60 million living in here and i don't think fly fishers are more than 100-200 people.

There is no website or forum that is about Fly Fishing. There are 2 brands of fly fishing rods and reels. They are mostly out of stock...

What seduced me to learn fly fishing was the capability of fly fishing to hunt any fish. That sounds more awesome than anything about fishing. And creating your own lure with your hands is another great thing. If you have a success, your hands will have a share of that success. That's great man.

I hope i proved that i am not making a joke or i am not asking those because i am an idiot .

 

[madjoni]

Well Fatih,please dont cal me sir.I am not that old and definitely not some aristocracy so we can address each others as equals .

Now then,situation you described and balded in red is same situation I had as boy in late 80-is growing up here and learning flyfishing on base of few fishing articles.Here was no single one fly fishermen.I started on my own and you my friend have big advantage.Now you have internet ,have many ,even to many videos to see how ff is in real.I had to imagine all of that and noone to ask and you have us
So,I know what you going trough and my advice is go and find someone who is fly fisher in your country and see things in flesh.Maybe you not made for fly fishing.Some guys are simply not just like some guys are born for it.You must try it.Theoretical knowledge is always good thing but proper thing is when someone is learning both,theory and practice in same time.
If you can come to my country,it is not that far from yours I will gladly show you everything I know.
If you can not come and can not find someone in your country to show you then keep asking but you must focus on specific target .There is to many things in fly fishing to learn all advance.I suggest for start floating line, dry flies and one freshwater fish you have the most in your area.Focus on that and in no time you will be good

 

[ditz]

[quote I don't even know what "comprehensive" is . Haha.][/quote]

I am sorry....it means "all"....No book can or will ever be able to tell everything about flyfishing.

I almost never use any line except a floating line. It is much easier to cast and manipulate. Dry flies float and wet flies, nymps, and most streamers will sink below the surface. Fish feed mostly below the surface so subsurface flies will be effective much more ofter and some fish almost never feed on top. There is definately a place for both. I understand your position because when I started the area I lived in was empty of flyfishermen so I had to learn all on my own. You are in much better shape because of the internet. The is much, much more information out there today and more available than there was 45 years ago.

Fly floatant substitute could be some sort of silicone spray or maybe some sort of wax melted into a solvent of some sort and the fly soaked in it. It is best used before the fly is wet. I personally tie a lot of flies with closed cell foam and they float without any floatant and you can fish one all day without it sinking. It sounds like you may end up tieing your own flies which many of us do anyway since you have no fly shops to go buy flies.

I would suggest you only get a floating line to start with and learn to cast with that before even considering a sinking line. A sinking line only adds difficulty to the learning process. I would also encourage you to stay away from heavily weighted flies. They also make for difficult casting for even the experianced castor. A little bit of weight is OK and will get the fly down in a lot of fishing conditions. Even unweighted flies will sink if you use the correct materials while building the fly.

 

[silver creek]

What seduced me to learn fly fishing was the capability of fly fishing to hunt any fish. That sounds more awesome than anything about fishing. And creating your own lure with your hands is another great thing. If you have a success, your hands will have a share of that success. That's great man.

I am going to help you learn to fly cast without a real fly rod. We are going to make a home made version of an Echo MPR (Micro Practice Rod). You can use the upper half of a spinning rod as the the "rod.".

The for the fly line, you will need some Macrame cord, which is a thick braided polypropylene yarn that comes in rolls like this:

If you can find some Tow Yarn for wrapping gifts, it will work by itself as a fly line or with the macrame cord (see below).

If you can find one or the other or both we can fashion a fly line out of it. You will need a section of macrame cord and tow yarn and you can make a fly line like the Echo MPR use, or you can use a 30 foot section of macrame core and melt the ends so it will not unravel. If you have the yarn alone, tie a knot into each end. This will be your fly line.

Here are photos and a video of the MpR so you can see how it works. You can see that the Macrame Cord and the Tow Yarn will duplicate the fly line.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_e7djaYzyg]Echo MIcro Practice Rod Instructions - YouTube[/ame]