Posts Tagged ‘Fly Fish’
5 Types of Fly Fishing Flies
Although most flies represent water insects, a terrestrial fly is made to imitate a land insect that has fallen into the water. The two most common terrestrials that are imitated for fly fishing are the ant and the grasshopper.
Although there are hundreds of types of flies used for fly fishing, most of them fall into five specific categories, or types. These types are dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, streamers and buck tails, and terrestrials. The main purpose of the fly is to imitate an insect that the fish wants to eat.
A dry fly imitates a natural insect that is floating on the top of the water. Fish are very sensitive to any motion of their water and how currents move the insects they want for food. In fly fishing, if a dry fly is moving even slightly against the current, the fish will have nothing to do with it. The fly may look like something the fish recognizes but it is not acting the same an insect would. The fish recognizes it as something foreign in the water and leaves it alone.
In fly fishing, a wet fly is imitating a drowned, or drowning, natural insect and is fished below the water surface. No one is sure if the wet fly is seen as a drowning adult insect or a nymph from the perspective of the fish. Most fly fishermen today seem to believe that it is seen as a nymph. Because of this less and less wet flies are being sold. Wet fly fishing is the oldest form of fly fishing. It dates back to descriptions of the early Macedonian people.
A nymph is the stage between an egg and the adult in the life cycle of an insect. In fly fishing, flies that resemble nymphs are growing popularity. The nymph fly is just below the surface of the water. When a fish bulges the water without breaking the surface, he is nymphing. This means that the fish is eating the natural nymphs just as they are emerging from their shell. This is what a nymph fly imitates.
Streamers and buck tail flies do not imitate any part of the insect’s life cycle. These types of fly fishing flies are much larger and represent small bait fish such as sculpin minnows. The main difference between theses two types of flies is that streamers are tied with feathers, and bucktails are tied completely with hair. Fly fishing that uses these two types of flies generally requires more rod and line manipulation. The movements are supposed to duplicate the motions of the little fish.
Besides these basic five categories of flies, there are many other kinds of flies that are used for fly fishing. Some of them are a combination of one or more of the basic categories and some do not fit into any group. The most important thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter how the fly looks to you, the fisherman. It matters how the fly looks to the fish.
By: Kolawole Olambiwonnu
About the Author:
Although there are hundreds of types of flies used for fly fishing, most of them fall into five specific categories, or types. These types are dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, streamers and buck tails, and terrestrials. The main purpose of the fly is to imitate an insect that the fish wants to eat.
A dry fly imitates a natural insect that is floating on the top of the water. Fish are very sensitive to any motion of their water and how currents move the insects they want for food. In fly fishing, if a dry fly is moving even slightly against the current, the fish will have nothing to do with it. The fly may look like something the fish recognizes but it is not acting the same an insect would. The fish recognizes it as something foreign in the water and leaves it alone.
In fly fishing, a wet fly is imitating a drowned, or drowning, natural insect and is fished below the water surface. No one is sure if the wet fly is seen as a drowning adult insect or a nymph from the perspective of the fish. Most fly fishermen today seem to believe that it is seen as a nymph. Because of this less and less wet flies are being sold. Wet fly fishing is the oldest form of fly fishing. It dates back to descriptions of the early Macedonian people.
A nymph is the stage between an egg and the adult in the life cycle of an insect. In fly fishing, flies that resemble nymphs are growing popularity. The nymph fly is just below the surface of the water. When a fish bulges the water without breaking the surface, he is nymphing. This means that the fish is eating the natural nymphs just as they are emerging from their shell. This is what a nymph fly imitates.
Streamers and buck tail flies do not imitate any part of the insect’s life cycle. These types of fly fishing flies are much larger and represent small bait fish such as sculpin minnows. The main difference between theses two types of flies is that streamers are tied with feathers, and bucktails are tied completely with hair. Fly fishing that uses these two types of flies generally requires more rod and line manipulation. The movements are supposed to duplicate the motions of the little fish.
Besides these basic five categories of flies, there are many other kinds of flies that are used for fly fishing. Some of them are a combination of one or more of the basic categories and some do not fit into any group. The most important thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter how the fly looks to you, the fisherman. It matters how the fly looks to the fish.
By: Kolawole Olambiwonnu
About the Author:
Kolawole Olambiwonnu is the Publisher of Niche-Newsletter, a collection of well-researched articles. For more information on this title, download Fly Fishing Mastery Now!
Duff
Fly Fishing – The Feeding Behaviour of Trout
Fly fishing, in all it’s variations and sub-areas (casting, fly tying, etc), centres around a single goal – To successfully tempt a fish (Most commonly a trout) to take an artificial fly as a food item. Sighting, hooking, playing and landing the fish are also important parts of the successful fishing experience, not to mention being able to get the fly to the fish in the first place, by the unique casting methods utilized solely in fly fishing.
However, along with all that work, and the practice of the skills involved in bringing it all together at that crucial moment, comes that pivotal element of convincing the fish that what they are considering is indeed food-like in nature. Without this key element, we can forget the rest, and this is the one step of the exercise which is dependant upon the decision of the fish, rather than ourselves.
In this, fly fishermen spend untold amounts of time researching, studying, and imitating countless insect types in aid of presenting a believable decoy to their quarry. We tie our flies, the fish takes it, our efforts paid off, right?
But is everything as it seems? Did we deceive the fish for exactly the reasons we thought?
Although there are many factors involved in getting that fly to a timid fish, and fly fishing itself was obviously designed around overcoming all of those obstacles, considering it’s significance, understanding the ‘Feeding behaviour’ of the trout has probably taken somewhat of a back seat, compared to some of the other areas or skills of fly fishing, we fishermen often seem to focus our efforts on.
The feeding behaviour of trout is the sum of two main factors:
Firstly, through the fry and fingerling stages of development, the identification of specific ‘Food Recognition Keys’ are ingrained resulting from the repetitive feeding pattern of their natural survival instincts.
Secondly, as they get larger, they can manage larger diet articles. Supplementary behaviour is then learned out of a reactive response to the local fauna they find in the area where they are hatched or released. Local knowledge is naturally beneficial here and this is normally what we focus on when fly fishing.
The behavioural patterns of trout vary significantly between the species, the size and the circumstances in which they are found. Trout habits also change through different times of the day, and again depending on weather conditions. Feeding habits and behaviours also change between faster and slower waters, and so on.
As in most types of fishing, there is not just one single or simple answer. If there was, it would have been made common knowledge, a long time ago. What this does tell us, is that to increase our odds of convincing the trout of the validity of our fly, it’s going to be far more beneficial to concentrate on presenting specific ‘Recognition keys’, which remain consistent, rather than the far more subjective; ‘Circumstance-specific learned behaviour’ which will often vary greatly from fish to fish, and particularly from place to place.
There are many pieces to this puzzle. The more pieces you can find, understand and put together, the more it multiplies your fly fishing results. What this methodology does do for us especially, is simplify and sharpen our learning curve by quite an incredible degree.
Therefore, instead of studying dozens, even hundreds or more, of insects and the flies designed to imitate them, I’ve found that in nearly all circumstances, you need only a few fly patterns, each designed to do a specific job in the varying circumstances found on the stretch of water you’re fishing.
Trout Flies then induce fish ‘Takes’ by the use of food ‘Recognition Keys,’ rather than by intended imitation. For this method then, local knowledge becomes relatively irrelevant.
This means flies do not need to imitate anything to catch trout. What!?! Say that again.- Flies do not need to imitate anything to catch trout. Certainly nothing specific anyway.
Flies can then be tied to counter stream or water conditions, or to counter, and or take advantage of, various aspects of trout behaviour. This, then (Not being restricted by specific imitation), opens up possibilities for us to incorporate the use of innovative strategies, tactics and trout fly construction, to give ourselves a far greater edge than previously thought possible.
The more time we have spent fishing with incorrect or insufficient knowledge, the more time you have spent developing the mindset that the trout is a vastly superior, cunning and unpredictable adversary, and results like mine become seemingly unattainable, and without such knowledge becoming available, the practical reality remains precisely that.
Normally it takes years of studying these fish, trial and error with different fly patterns, different fishing techniques, different innovative designs and methods with the right focus to get to a place where you understand these creatures adequately for the outstanding results we normally only see the Pro’s achieving.
Fortunately, with the right focus, we can now be achieving much greater success in much shorter time frames by understanding and taking advantage of these ‘Recognition keys’, combined with other behavioural patterns of the trout species we are targeting and just some basic skills of fly fishing.
By: Wayne Smith
About the Author:
However, along with all that work, and the practice of the skills involved in bringing it all together at that crucial moment, comes that pivotal element of convincing the fish that what they are considering is indeed food-like in nature. Without this key element, we can forget the rest, and this is the one step of the exercise which is dependant upon the decision of the fish, rather than ourselves.
In this, fly fishermen spend untold amounts of time researching, studying, and imitating countless insect types in aid of presenting a believable decoy to their quarry. We tie our flies, the fish takes it, our efforts paid off, right?
But is everything as it seems? Did we deceive the fish for exactly the reasons we thought?
Although there are many factors involved in getting that fly to a timid fish, and fly fishing itself was obviously designed around overcoming all of those obstacles, considering it’s significance, understanding the ‘Feeding behaviour’ of the trout has probably taken somewhat of a back seat, compared to some of the other areas or skills of fly fishing, we fishermen often seem to focus our efforts on.
The feeding behaviour of trout is the sum of two main factors:
Firstly, through the fry and fingerling stages of development, the identification of specific ‘Food Recognition Keys’ are ingrained resulting from the repetitive feeding pattern of their natural survival instincts.
Secondly, as they get larger, they can manage larger diet articles. Supplementary behaviour is then learned out of a reactive response to the local fauna they find in the area where they are hatched or released. Local knowledge is naturally beneficial here and this is normally what we focus on when fly fishing.
The behavioural patterns of trout vary significantly between the species, the size and the circumstances in which they are found. Trout habits also change through different times of the day, and again depending on weather conditions. Feeding habits and behaviours also change between faster and slower waters, and so on.
As in most types of fishing, there is not just one single or simple answer. If there was, it would have been made common knowledge, a long time ago. What this does tell us, is that to increase our odds of convincing the trout of the validity of our fly, it’s going to be far more beneficial to concentrate on presenting specific ‘Recognition keys’, which remain consistent, rather than the far more subjective; ‘Circumstance-specific learned behaviour’ which will often vary greatly from fish to fish, and particularly from place to place.
There are many pieces to this puzzle. The more pieces you can find, understand and put together, the more it multiplies your fly fishing results. What this methodology does do for us especially, is simplify and sharpen our learning curve by quite an incredible degree.
Therefore, instead of studying dozens, even hundreds or more, of insects and the flies designed to imitate them, I’ve found that in nearly all circumstances, you need only a few fly patterns, each designed to do a specific job in the varying circumstances found on the stretch of water you’re fishing.
Trout Flies then induce fish ‘Takes’ by the use of food ‘Recognition Keys,’ rather than by intended imitation. For this method then, local knowledge becomes relatively irrelevant.
This means flies do not need to imitate anything to catch trout. What!?! Say that again.- Flies do not need to imitate anything to catch trout. Certainly nothing specific anyway.
Flies can then be tied to counter stream or water conditions, or to counter, and or take advantage of, various aspects of trout behaviour. This, then (Not being restricted by specific imitation), opens up possibilities for us to incorporate the use of innovative strategies, tactics and trout fly construction, to give ourselves a far greater edge than previously thought possible.
The more time we have spent fishing with incorrect or insufficient knowledge, the more time you have spent developing the mindset that the trout is a vastly superior, cunning and unpredictable adversary, and results like mine become seemingly unattainable, and without such knowledge becoming available, the practical reality remains precisely that.
Normally it takes years of studying these fish, trial and error with different fly patterns, different fishing techniques, different innovative designs and methods with the right focus to get to a place where you understand these creatures adequately for the outstanding results we normally only see the Pro’s achieving.
Fortunately, with the right focus, we can now be achieving much greater success in much shorter time frames by understanding and taking advantage of these ‘Recognition keys’, combined with other behavioural patterns of the trout species we are targeting and just some basic skills of fly fishing.
By: Wayne Smith
About the Author:
Wayne Smith, author of the acclaimed ‘Fly Fishing For Trout – A Quiet Revolution’ which can be found here:
Fly Fishing
Find Great Resources here:
Fly Fishing
Fly Fishing
Find Great Resources here:
Fly Fishing
Carol
How much should I spend on beginning fly fishing equipment?
runninghottie1500 asked:
I’m a 17 year old girl and I want to learn how to fly fish. How much should I spend on equipment (a pole, string, leads, flies, etc.) Would it be better to buy one of those inexpensive, complete kits that come with everything needed to start?
Carter
I’m a 17 year old girl and I want to learn how to fly fish. How much should I spend on equipment (a pole, string, leads, flies, etc.) Would it be better to buy one of those inexpensive, complete kits that come with everything needed to start?
Carter
Crappie Fly Fishing – Can You Catch Crappie That Way?
Are you a fan of fly fishing wondering if you can catch crappie that way? Or maybe you are an avid crappie fisherman and want to know of new methods and techniques for catching these favorite fish. Either way, crappie fly fishing is becoming more and more popular and if you’re interested, you can learn how to do it for yourself.
Crappie are some of the easiest and most popular fish to fish for in the United States. There are two main species: the white crappie and black crappie and both types are found in different parts of the country.
Time has brought us many new tools and techniques for catching crappie. There are also many new lures that work great at enticing the crappie to bite. Fly fishing is a great way to present your bait to the crappie and entice them to bite. It’s smoother and less likely to scare the fish than other types of bait casting. If you like the idea of crappie fly fishing, you’re going to need to learn to go about it the right way. Here are some tips and ideas to try to help you.
Preparing for Crappie Fly Fishing
Before you can play a fly fishing crappie trip, you need to have the proper supplies. If you don’t already know how to fly fish or have a fly fishing rod, you’re going to want to take some time to try to learn this first. Get some lessons, practice on your lawn or whatever you need to do to get in the groove before heading out on a crappie fishing trip. Once you feel confident enough to try fishing in the real waters, you need to pack your tackle and supplies. You also need to learn about the area you are fishing at. Here are some ways to prepare.
So how can you get ready for a crappie fly fishing trip? Just like any other crappie fishing trip, you need to prepare by learning as much as possible about where you will be going and the weather and more. You can get fishing reports of the lake or body of water you are fishing in if possible to help you prepare. If you’ve been to the body of water before it will help you plan for the best spots to try some fishing. Crappie fly fishing is different from deep water crappie fishing so you need to try to go at a time and season when the crappie will be fishing essentials to the list but this is a great place to start.
Crappie fly fishing is probably most easily done in the spring when the crappie are spawning and easily biting and when you can wade in the water at comfortable temperatures for you.
Techniques for Crappie Fly Fishing
If you’re going fly fishing for crappie, you need to know the proper techniques to help you reel them in every time. The unique thing about a fly rod is that it allows you more opportunity to gently place the bait where you want it so that it does not upset or startle the fish.
By: Daniel Eggertsen
About the Author:
Crappie are some of the easiest and most popular fish to fish for in the United States. There are two main species: the white crappie and black crappie and both types are found in different parts of the country.
Time has brought us many new tools and techniques for catching crappie. There are also many new lures that work great at enticing the crappie to bite. Fly fishing is a great way to present your bait to the crappie and entice them to bite. It’s smoother and less likely to scare the fish than other types of bait casting. If you like the idea of crappie fly fishing, you’re going to need to learn to go about it the right way. Here are some tips and ideas to try to help you.
Preparing for Crappie Fly Fishing
Before you can play a fly fishing crappie trip, you need to have the proper supplies. If you don’t already know how to fly fish or have a fly fishing rod, you’re going to want to take some time to try to learn this first. Get some lessons, practice on your lawn or whatever you need to do to get in the groove before heading out on a crappie fishing trip. Once you feel confident enough to try fishing in the real waters, you need to pack your tackle and supplies. You also need to learn about the area you are fishing at. Here are some ways to prepare.
So how can you get ready for a crappie fly fishing trip? Just like any other crappie fishing trip, you need to prepare by learning as much as possible about where you will be going and the weather and more. You can get fishing reports of the lake or body of water you are fishing in if possible to help you prepare. If you’ve been to the body of water before it will help you plan for the best spots to try some fishing. Crappie fly fishing is different from deep water crappie fishing so you need to try to go at a time and season when the crappie will be fishing essentials to the list but this is a great place to start.
Crappie fly fishing is probably most easily done in the spring when the crappie are spawning and easily biting and when you can wade in the water at comfortable temperatures for you.
Techniques for Crappie Fly Fishing
If you’re going fly fishing for crappie, you need to know the proper techniques to help you reel them in every time. The unique thing about a fly rod is that it allows you more opportunity to gently place the bait where you want it so that it does not upset or startle the fish.
By: Daniel Eggertsen
About the Author:
Dan Eggertsen is a fishing researcher and enthusiast who is committed to providing the best crappie fishing information possible. Get more information on crappie fly fishing here: http://www.askcrappiefishing.com/
Alsandair
What are good methods of fishing for trout other than fly fishing?
Guitars_Cigars asked:
The hiwassee soon with zebco.
Arndt
The hiwassee soon with zebco.
Arndt
Can I use 45 lb test backing for fly fishing for lighter fish?
gravvyboat asked:
My setup or should throw in the box 45 lb line need backing thanks.
My setup or should throw in the space of 125 yds of 125 yds of 125 yds.
The box 45 lb line need backing thanks.
Adolfo
My setup or should throw in the box 45 lb line need backing thanks.
My setup or should throw in the space of 125 yds of 125 yds of 125 yds.
The box 45 lb line need backing thanks.
Adolfo
Opinions on fly fishing, why or why havent you tried it ?
shon42073 asked:
The most diffucult yet most rewarding thing have done.
For trout if you never have why not what are some of your preconceived notions about it awhile and its the most diffucult yet most rewarding thing have done.
The most diffucult yet most diffucult yet most diffucult yet most rewarding thing have why not what are some of your preconceived notions.
Bernhard
The most diffucult yet most rewarding thing have done.
For trout if you never have why not what are some of your preconceived notions about it awhile and its the most diffucult yet most rewarding thing have done.
The most diffucult yet most diffucult yet most diffucult yet most rewarding thing have why not what are some of your preconceived notions.
Bernhard
Patagonia Fly Fishing- Fish Eye 3: Big Bow with Mikey Wier
patagoniavideo asked:
Head out on Mikey Wier’s overland adventure in pursuit of one of the biggest wild rainbow trout ever caught on a fly in California.
Caspar