Fly fishing noob advice

I had a couple river trips in Idaho this year so I bought a non-res idaho liscence because the numbers worked out. I am floating the middle fork of the salmon soon which is a nice trout river – single barbless hook catch and release only. I have almost never fly fished before, and am bringing a cheap #5 fly rod and a tenkara and am planning to fish for fun.

Any advice would be appreciated as a newbie. Would like to have fun, land some fish, and most importantly not harm fish. Is a net necessary? I know nothing.

Mostly I use a hemostat. Grab the fly out of it’s mouth and the fish is gone. If your thinking of photos, I would use a trout net….and I have one that you could borrow. It has sentimental value to me, but you sure could use it.

I would recommend fly casting classes to get a jump start. It’s frustrating to learn when you know there’s good fish that aren’t biting most likely because a newbie is splashing up the water.

River Falls has a good instructor if you can’t find one closer.

Our in house fly-fishing expert is @rootski and I’m sure he’ll be along to give you a hand as well.

The middle fork of the Salmon is larger water and winds up and down the canyon are a hassle when fly fishing.

A 9-foot #5 is considered kind of the universal fly rod and I have fished this exact rod on 3 continents. However…

IMO a #5 is too light for a western trout rod, not because of the size of the fish but because of the wind and size of the river you’ll be fishing. Also, in general, the heavier-weight line will be easier for a beginner to cast farther, which can be important on bigger and faster rivers.

There is also a good chance you’ll want to cast larger terrestrials like hoppers and the various limitations (MadameX, Royal Wulff, etc). Again, these are easier to throw with heavier line weights because they are more wind-resistant.

If you’re buying a rod/reel/line for this trip anyway, I’d buy a 9-foot #7 with a good floating line.

This setup has been my windy day rod for decades and it also works well for chucking bass flies when you’re not in trout country.

Grouse

Grouse is spot on. A heavier weight fly rod can deal with the wind much better, and if you’re on a big river you don’t have to be as concerned about being delicate. A 7 weight outfit will cover a lot of situations, you could use it for everything from Trout to Crappies to Bass and have a lot of fun.

I would stop at a local fly shop or ask your guide about flies, it would be tough to predict what is working the best from here.

And finally Orvis has an extensive video library on their website with a lot of useful information.

SR

And get assortment of Wooly Buggers they will catch fish anywhere. DK.

I actually had a chance to fish the middle fork of the Salmon river back when I started fly fishing (part of the Frank Church Wilderness). I knew next to nothing. I think I was using an 8’3” 5-wt I bought at Burger Brothers in Roseville (which became Gander Mtn).

My recollection of the experience is I would wade out (wet wading) to a depth where I thought if I went any deeper I’d lose my footing. I just drifted a weighted hares ear nymph with no strike indicator. If the fly line started to drag I’d lift the rod. Caught both cutthroat and mountain whitefish. I want to say something around 14” might be representative of the trout I caught. I know my friend caught some bigger fish on spinning gear. It’s possible I also caught some small bull trout in the tributaries to the middle fork (I’m not sure if they have any stocked brook trout there). It’s probably been 30 yrs but Idaho is a place I want to go back. Didn’t happen this year but I have ideas 💡.

I don’t recall the cutthroat were that difficult to catch. Best bet might be to contact a local fly shop to get some intel on some fly patterns. Not sure when you were planning to fish. Sept may be towards the end of the hatch season. Maybe some smaller mayflies (BWO patterns?) but subsurface nymphs/streamers may be the way to go.

Thanks guys. I will look up some of those specific flies – seems like I have a few that at least look similar. For this trip I’m stuck with the #5. Due to some river chaos we have to fly in this year so we should have shorter paddle days and if we stop around noon some days we can often beat those strong afternoon canyon upward winds.

I spent some time this weekend at the inlaws lake cabin trying to cast – it is definitely a complicated art. This trip will be a crapshoot fishing wise, but it’s a start. I’ve spent so many years chasing whitewater on these amazing rivers and dialing all those skills and gear in – I’m feeling it is time to add fishing to the mix.

Have a great trip the 5 wt is fine a weight forward floating line is a must in the west. Depend ing upon manufacture and model of rod you can get a line the is 1/2 wt heavy. A lot of talk about wt of rod. Makes a difference for sure but rod action is a big part. In the wind we will use a sage “one”. 5wt 9’. Especially from a boat. Have 10’ 6wts for corks We are headed up to the snake in the park on the 17 th. Hopefully I will beat them starting to shut off the flows. It is a picture trip for the wife and hopefully I day on the snake I get her some pics of bears and moose all will be good in life. The fly in trip sounds great