The February 1997 issue of Fly Fisherman contained a summary of a study conducted by the American Sportfishing Association and the North American Fly Tackle Trade Association. This study showed that 50% of the fly fishers in the United States had been involved in the sport less than 5 years. Based on the number of new faces in the sport of fly fishing, there is no reason to believe the percentage of newcomers has changed. A member of this group trying to master the intricacies of the equipment, tactics and etiquette of such a complex sport sometimes finds the task daunting.

When you embark on the journey to master fly fishing, there is much advice to be found. Some of it is good, and some of it is not. Over these last 12 years, I have received some of each. This article will try to distill some of the good advice I have received and some of the lessons I have learned, sometimes the hard way. Most of these tips are ones which other gracious fly fishers and fly tiers have been kind enough to share in print, in video, or best of all in person. The tips are primarily focused on fly fishing for trout in moving waters. Some people will disagree as to the usefulness of these tips, but just as not every fly works every place, so too will some of these tips work better for some than for others. The tips are broken down into the following categories: Equipment, Flies, Wading, Fly Tying, and General tips.

EQUIPMENT:

• If possible, cast a rod before you buy it so that you can feel for yourself whether you like the action.

• Be especially careful with your rod when you are assembling it, disassembling it, and when you are walking with it, and you will greatly reduce the likelihood of breaking your rod. An unlimited warranty, can solve a lot of problems, but it cannot fully assuage the inconvenience of being without your rod, if even for a little while. By the way don’t leave the rod on the roof of the car either, you would not believe how many rods are cast on to the pavement this way.

• Clean your fly line often. A clean line lasts longer, casts farther and floats better. I like Greased Lightin’ as it cleans and treats the fly line in one step.

• To demystify the unexplained difference between leader and tippet, remember that the tippet is just the tip end of the leader and spooled tippet material is used to replace that mysteriously disappearing tip of your leader.

• To estimate the strength of the tippet or tippet material, subtract the X factor from 9. Example: 9 - 5x = 4, so 5x tippet is approximately 4 pound test.

• Until you feel comfortable tying knots, tie a surgeon's loop in the end of your leader(tippet) and add an appropriate length of tippet material to your leader by either tying an improved clinch knot in the loop at the end of your leader or by pre-tying surgeon's loops in various lengths and diameters of tippet material and connecting the pre-tied loops to the loop in the end of your leader.

• Speaking of knots, buy a book on knots and some cheap 8 to 15 pound test monofilament and practice tying your knots in your spare time, not during precious fishing time. For a little extra confidence until you master knot tying (and perhaps even after you do) try using some Loon UV Knot Sense© to keep those knots from slipping.

• Do not drive yourself to distraction by trying to reconcile the numbering systems in fly fishing equipment... you can't. Just remember, the larger the number of the fly, the smaller it is; the larger the number of the leader or tippet, the smaller and weaker it is; the larger the number of the fly line, the larger and stronger it is.

• To quickly add and remove weight from a rig with split shot already on it, add some moldable weight just above the split shot. This type of weight is easily added and removed.

• Do not lose your valuable tools by having your zinger come unpinned from your vest. After pinning your zinger to your vest, wrap several wraps of thin wire like floral wire or the core wire from a paper tie for trash bags around the pin and clasp.

• If you are using disposable chemical hand warmers, instead of opening them at stream side, open them in a warm area so that they can start heating up.

FLIES:

• Until, you learn the names of the flies, label the compartments of your fly box with the names of the flies in that compartment. Better yet, take up fly tying as you will certainly remember the names of the each fly you spent so much time tying.

• If you buy your flies, try to buy at least two of each pattern so that if you catch fish on a particular fly you will have another one to use as a model for tying or to show at the fly shop so you can buy more.

• Be careful about what kind of patch you use, the wool ones seem to hold onto your flies a little longer than you want them to, while the foam patches seem to fail at inopportune moments. I personally like the Fly Trap© (size regular) since it is vented and hinged and can be shut to protect your flies. I personally would rather lose my fly in a fish’s mouth instead of helplessly watching it unintentionally navigate my favorite stream.

• Do not put flies back in a sealed fly box while they are wet, the flies will rust. Better to lose a fly to a fish than to rust.

• Do not put your dry flies in a box which is too shallow, you will mash down the hackle.

• If you do manage to mangle the hackle on your dry flies, either put them in a colander and steam them and then dry them again, or wet the hackle on the flies, stick them in an old fly box, blow dry them, and put them back in an appropriate box.

• If you start missing fish on a particular fly, try sharpening the hook. This is especially important on nymphs of all sizes and flies size 18 and smaller.

• If you are having difficulty seeing your dry fly on the water, try using a parachute pattern, and try coloring the parachute orange; after all the color of broken water is white, the same color as the parachute on most parachute flies.

• If you are still having difficulty seeing your dry fly on the water, try putting a little brightly colored moldable floating putty on a knot in your leader 6 to 24 inches above your fly and then strike if a fish rises in that area.

WADING:

• Wear a wader belt! If you fall in, a wader belt will help make your waders more buoyant and will keep so much of that cold water from rushing into places where you do not want it.

• To find a leak in your waders, get a step ladder, a water hose, and a bottle of white typing correction fluid. Set up the ladder near the water hose, turn your waders inside out and hang them so that the feet are just touching the ground. Fill up one leg of the waders at a time. Do not fill up both legs at one time, or the waders may tear. After filling the area to be checked, look for a slow trickle of water. Sometimes you may have to squeeze the filled area a little to find the leak. Mark the leak with a touch of the correction fluid and patch it later. To check the seat, chest, or back of your waders, tie a loose overhand knot in one or both legs of the waders so the water is restricted to the area to be checked, then check for the telltale trickle of water.

• Cross at an angle to the main current instead of directly across it.

• If finances permit, buy stocking foot waders and wading boots instead of boot foot waders. Stocking foot waders fit better, are less clumsy, and you can buy different waders for different conditions while using the same wading boots.

• Consider studded soles on your boots, many people (like me) think studded soles give you better traction, especially on moss covered rocks.

• Use some kind of wading staff, you can make one or you can buy a collapsible one you can pull out only when you need it.

FLY TYING:

• When following a fly tying pattern, tie in the materials in the order in which they are listed.

• When you are dubbing material onto the tying thread, twist the material in only one direction; otherwise, you will be dubbing and then undubbing the material.

• Speaking of dubbing, start off by putting on a little dubbing at a time. It is easier to add dubbing than it is to take it off.

• When (not if) you use peacock herl, tie in at least two strands no matter how small the fly you are tying just in case one of the fragile strands breaks while you are wrapping it. You can also gently wrap the strands around the tying thread like dubbing and while holding the strands and thread together wrap them around the hook as needed.

• If you are going to bend down the barb of a hook on a fly you are going to tie, do it before you tie the fly so that if the hook breaks, you will not have wasted the effort of tying the fly first.

• For highly visible parachute flies, try using fluorescent orange or yellow material for the post instead of white material, or color the parachute with a waterproof orange pen after you tie it.

GENERAL:

• Be courteous. Yield to the angler upstream from you; do not ever walk through water someone else is fishing. Try to give the other fishermen around you as much fishing space as you would like to have.

• Practice playing fish from the reel so that when that big one comes along, you will be used to having the reel working for you to protect your tippet.

• Buy a pair of polarized sunglasses. You will see to fish better, you will see to wade better, and you will never believe all that you have not been seeing.

• To get a better drift when nymphing, raise your rod tip so that only the leader, not the fly line, is touching the water.

• If you are a beginner, and you are hiring a guide, ask if the guide is patient with beginners. Most guides are very patient with those who are new to the sport, but it is no fun to be with one who is not.

• Try to fish with more experienced friends, they can show you how to do something much easier than you can read about it, hear about it, or figure it out on your own.

• To find more experienced fishermen, join a local chapter of Trout Unlimited or the Federation of Fly Fishers.

In conclusion, one of the great pleasures of fly fishing and fly tying is experimentation. Have a little fun, try something different, you never know it just might work. If it works, then share it with a friend or two and everyone will be wiser and happier for it.