New to fly fishing

[Solominotaur]

Just got a fly rod and was looking for tips from this awesome community. Not sure what flies are must haves in my tackle for rainbow trout. Also is there any difference between fly leaders and the many rolls of monofilament line I use on my spinner reels? And whatever tips and tricks anyone would care to share

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[mikeym]

fly leaders are tapered diameter. thicker at one end that you tie to the fly line and thinner at fly end. this makes it easier to cast the fly and to get it to turn over and land on the water without a big splash. also a lot less breakage if you just use a thin constant dia line. some people do make their own leaders by tying togather various thickness of line to get a taper, but considering how inexpensive leaders are why bother.
tippet and mono line are basically the same. you tie the tippet between the leader and the fly, i usually use about 2 - 3 ft of tippet. this is so when you start changing flies or break off, you are just losing some tippet and not the leader. tippet just comes on small spools compared to mono for ease of carrying around. lots of people just use regular fish line and spool onto the smaller spools.
as for flies must haves are elk hair caddis in a variety of colors (yellow and orange for sure) orange stimulators in a few different sizes, ant patterns, blue wing olives, adams, prince nymphs, beadhead nymphs and in fall some hopper patterns.

good luck
Mike

[Solominotaur]

Thank you, tried going to wholesale sports and never anyone in the fly department to answer my questions. Appreciate the response

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[sedubius]

Cabellas is the same, if you want advice from a LFS goto The Fishing Hole there is always someone in the fly fishing dept.

The hardest part of beginner fly fishing is casting technique. I am constantly watching and re-watching instruction videos on Youtube. Check out Pete Kutzer videos. Start with this one and never stop learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDJJ6W23gHw&t=37s

After that its all about fly selection, but worry about casting first.

Once you get good you will never pick up a spin rod again.

[Solominotaur]

Thank you really appreciate it. No-one I know fly fishes so been an uphill battle forsure with no-one to learn from

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[vital shok]

Always concentrate on size of flies and what's flying around and the drift make sure your constantly mending your line when fishing rivers.It is really hard to answer questions on the internet but if you want you can pm me with some questions and I will answer them or if you need you could even give me a call basically we just need to know what your fishing for and in what river lake creek ect and your target.there is a ton of hatch charts for local rivers of Alberta online and you should be able to base your fly selection off of that.

[Dr.Shortington]

Originally Posted by vital shok

Always concentrate on size of flies and what's flying around and the drift make sure your constantly mending your line when fishing rivers.It is really hard to answer questions on the internet but if you want you can pm me with some questions and I will answer them or if you need you could even give me a call basically we just need to know what your fishing for and in what river lake creek ect and your target.there is a ton of hatch charts for local rivers of Alberta online and you should be able to base your fly selection off of that.

I would add to stay persistent too. Rivers are tough to learn (especially the bow). Never give up, keep learning new things, and ask guys at the fly shops for some info. If I were you I would pop into Bow River Trout Fitters, Fish Tales, Out Fly Fishing, Iron Bow, all the damn time. Talk to the guys, buy a few flies, and gain some knowledge, they are all willing to help.

Oh, and once you have found some success order your flies online from Ickyflyworks. Its quick and a whole lot easier on your wallet!

[Solominotaur]

Originally Posted by vital shok

Always concentrate on size of flies and what's flying around and the drift make sure your constantly mending your line when fishing rivers.It is really hard to answer questions on the internet but if you want you can pm me with some questions and I will answer them or if you need you could even give me a call basically we just need to know what your fishing for and in what river lake creek ect and your target.there is a ton of hatch charts for local rivers of Alberta online and you should be able to base your fly selection off of that.

Appreciate the advice, basically I'm just sticking to trout ponds around edmonton because I don't know many fish bearing rivers well enough to even stand a fighting chance haha. But I was hoping to get out a few hours of edmonton and attempt some divers just hard to figure out where to start

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[Solominotaur]

Also I meant too add I'd love to target more than just trout.. Never caught pike before and heard it puts up one heck of a fight

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[Solominotaur]

Originally Posted by Dr.Shortington

I would add to stay persistent too. Rivers are tough to learn (especially the bow). Never give up, keep learning new things, and ask guys at the fly shops for some info. If I were you I would pop into Bow River Trout Fitters, Fish Tales, Out Fly Fishing, Iron Bow, all the damn time. Talk to the guys, buy a few flies, and gain some knowledge, they are all willing to help.

Oh, and once you have found some success order your flies online from Ickyflyworks. Its quick and a whole lot easier on your wallet!

Thanks for the advice for fly ordering. Looking to get some more flies....lost quite a few on my first trip

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[Flieguy]

feel free to ask in the fly fishing section anytime, or PM me if you'd like.

unless I'm fishing dries I'll just use regular flat monofilament or fluorocarbon for leader and tippet, 6lb is pretty standard.

for stocked ponds:

first thing I try is a leech usually, under a bobber or retrieved (vampire leech, ruby eye leech, and wooly buggers all work well). Chironomids under a bobber also work wonders once you get them figured out.

for small streams, try a small heavy streamer or a dry. Floatant on the dry will help quite a bit. Cone head buggers in size 8 or 10. Royal wulff, stimulator, and elk hair caddis dries all destroy.

in bigger rivers you'll probably have the best success nymphing: set up a heavy nymph or series thereof under a bobber a bit deeper than the water actually is since they will never sit straight under it. Jimmy legs, prince nymph, and pheasant tails.


if you want to try for walleye, goldeye, pike, etc, PM me and I'll give you more specific tips