Fly-Fishing! How to get started?

I got my first ever fly fishing rod, and am anxious to get started. I have never fly fished before, but I do know how to cast. Having said that I got my very first Fly rod for my b-day lastnight!! It came with a kit, with some wet line, and dry line, a stike sensor something or other, and the wife even bought me a bunch of flies, and popers. You are probably wondering why I am telling you all this, Well, here goes. The reel is empty. How/which line to I tie on, for fishing some pan fish this weekend? It looks to me that the wet line came with a mono liter, and some pins with barbs on them. What the heck are these? I need help at least getting the line, and a fly on, and I think I can figure out the rest. If not, I will ask further questions. Thanks for the help!

most likely you would want to use a floating line for pan fishing about a 7-9 foot leader and then a nymph fly or something like that. if that helps good if not feel free to ask more

and by the way, congrats on the birthday present

Hey FB, welcome to the world of fly fishing!

The little barbed spike deals are a way to tie the leader to the fly line. The idea is that you shove the pointy end up into the end of the fly line, and then tie the leader to the ring end. The problem with those things is that they rust, get weak, and break. If you do a little searching around you can find websites that show you the kinds of knots to use. To tie the leader to the fly line for example, they use what is called a nail knot.

For panfish I’d start with the floating line and about 4 feet of mono for a leader. The poppers work fine and it’s a lot of fun. You don’t catch the biggest sunfish with poppers but seeing them sneak up and hit on the surface is really a hoot. Before you know it you’ll be throwing that fly line all over the place like a pro. Check out this link for knots:

Knots

Good luck with this and have fun!

Rootski

i was just curious how long your floating fly line should last seeing is how i got a rod a couple of years ago for my birthday and wold like to get into it would it still be good or should i replace it

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i was just curious how long your floating fly line should last seeing is how i got a rod a couple of years ago for my birthday and wold like to get into it would it still be good or should i replace it

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from what I cansay and understand fly line doesn’t go bad like mono does. it will wear out makeing casting harder, after use. the best way to avoid this is to clean your line at least at the end of a day of hard fishing. you might want to do it more often if you are fishing really bad, dirty water. hope this helps

This is true. Even the very best lines get dirty and that makes them harder to fish with. I use armor-all. Yup, the same stuff you use on the dash in your car. They sell these armor-all wipes and that works pretty cool. Just pull one out and run it over your line and you’ll be surprised how much junk comes off the line.

I have one line I’ve been using for almost 10 years now and it still is in good shape.

Rootski

thats what I thought rootski. the only time I have ever “had” to change out one of my fly lines was the one that my cat chewed into little peices

When I started fly fishing I got a video and practiced in the yard. Poppers and panfish are a great way to get started. Don’t forget to match your line to the rod. I went to the Whitewater for my first cast with a dry fly. caught a 19 inch rainbow on the back cast. Don’t over look terrestrials [bugs]. they are often more productive than trying to match the hatch. Have fun.

Thanks for the help guys! Couple more questions. I have been doing some reading, and it says to lubricate the line? With what? Where do you get lubrication for the line? Rootski, would the armor all wipes clean and lube? How do you tie the line to the reel? Is it the same as any other reel? I know, stupid question, but I’ve never done it. Thanks again for the information.

This is my first year with a fly rod but here is what I did I tied some older heavy line musky line I believe for backing with the Arbor knot then tied that line to the fly line with a Albright knot then used the albright knot again to tie the tippet on.

they do sell line cleaners that have a lube in it. other wise armor all will work too, you just want as little drag on the line as it shoots through the line guides on you rod

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This is my first year with a fly rod but here is what I did I tied some older heavy line musky line I believe for backing with the Arbor knot then tied that line to the fly line with a Albright knot then used the albright knot again to tie the tippet on.

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that sounds about right to me. although a nail knot will pass through the guides better then a albright knot, even though a nail knot is harder to tie
and the backing helps alot as long as your reel has a big enough arbor to hold backing, I had one that wasn’t and after a year it got replaced

All I use to dress my lines is armor-all. They end up feeling slick and shoot through the guides very nicely. And you can get the stuff anywhere and it’s cheap!

I do something a little different about knots. I make a loop on each end of the fly line. To do this, I bend the end over and then wrap it with fly-tying thread. Smear on some epoxy and it’s ready to go. Then I make a loop in the end of the leader and just “loop the loops” together. If my leader gets damaged or kinked I can replace it in seconds. I should mention backing….backing is line wound on the spool under the fly line. Ideally you want to the fly line to just fill the reel up to the brim. This wraps the flyline around a larger diameter so it has fewer “memory coils”. And if you hook something really big and it runs more than the length of the flyline you have something left to keep fighting with. I use a loop like I described to attach the flyline to the backing. Backing can be an inexpensive braided line, 20 or 30 pound test. The easiest way to figure out how much you need is to wind the flyline on the reel first, then fill the spool up with backing. Then take the backing and flyline off and put it back on in the reverse order (backing then fly line).

And there are no stupid questions, OK? We all remember learning this stuff

Rootski

rootski that sounds like a great way of doing things
one thing how do those loops run out of the eyes? don’t they get cought up at all? normally I use a nail know to a short section of 25# mono then put a loop on the mono. then connect the leader to that mono useing a loop to loop connection.

i have also been thinking about trying a nail know for the backing to fly line connection. I have never had a fish run out that much, but I know that if one does I want to have faith that my know isn’t going to get cought up and allow me to lose that fish of a life

I’m thinking about updating my setup, and wondering what weight you guys would recommend? Just using it for panfish.
Thanks,
Gregory

i would say a 5 wt is all you would need for panfish, maybe a 6wt if you wanted to throw some smaller flies for bass or the like you could go lighter if you wanted too, but a decent 5 or 6wt should do cover just about everything for panfish and light bass flies

Thanks MNfishHunt!!!

i am just glad I can help someone out

Howdy,

Most of whjat I do is Bass fishng, and they don’t run far during a fight. So I haven’t had to worry about getting into the backing yet. But the loop idea originated with the Tarpon guys so it must work. It isn’t any lumpier than a nail knot or an Albright knot. And you can always goop it up with epoxy to smooth it over too.

thanks, rootski, I am going to have to remember that for the next time I decide to change things up a little. I know my last rod I bought was intended for fishing steelhead. so when I set it up I was ooking for a fish to “spool” me, so I tried to do everything by the book.

this is the reason why I love IDA. cause everyone helps everyone out with info that can only make you beter, thanks IDA