You
You
Isn't that nice
That's a beauty she's a peach
Oh
There there is the big
Okay
Yes
Okay, nice
Nice nice nice
So
Hi, i'm jim watt
Welcome to the wide and wonderful world of fly fishing and i'm kelly watt fly fishing is one of the most satisfying and rewarding pastimes
You may ever pursue
Steeped in tradition fly fishing is a combination of physical skills and psychological pleasure where men and women old and young
All may participate with equal joy
Fly casting isn't brain surgery. It just takes a little more time to master than other kinds of fishing
But the rewards are disproportionately greater in fly fishing
Just the beauty of casting a fly line and presenting it on the water with some degree of accuracy is satisfying
The actual taking of the fish is a wonderful addition to an already beautiful activity
Fly fishing isn't limited only to trout either bass panfish and many saltwater species eagerly take the fly
And you're not limited to small fish either
This 100 pound plus sailfish took a popper on the surface and was subdued in less than 15 minutes
Not of course without some heart-stopping real screaming runs and jumps
No less exciting a beautifully presented dry fly sipped in by an aggressive trout on the san juan river in new mexico
The beginner's guide is brought to you by the sustaining sponsors of fly fishing video magazine in alphabetical order
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Okay, so what's this fly fishing all about?
Well, first let's define some of the parameters of fly fishing
In spin or bait casting the weight of the lure plug or bait is essentially what takes out the line
Projected and launched by the action of the rod in response to the power you apply
In fly fishing the weight of the line along with the action of the rod initiated by you carries the fly to the fish
In both kinds of casting the rod simply serves as a more efficient tool to make the cast
In all kinds of casting the motions are similar in that the rod must come to a stop point on the back cast
Then move forward to a stop point in the front cast
The only difference is you apply equal power in fly fishing to the back cast and the front cast
Fly reels come in many sizes. The purpose of the fly reel is to store and dispense the fly line
They may cost as little as twenty dollars or as much as one thousand
It all depends on how many features you wish and how much you wish to spend
Most modern fly reels designed for larger and stronger fish have sophisticated drag systems, which help the angler subdue the quarry
Incidentally, you may reel with whichever hand seems most comfortable
Jim and I cast with our right hand and reel with our right hand
Because we feel that our right hand is more agile and can control the reel faster
Many others not the least of which is Billy Pate cast with their right hand and reel with their left hand
It's simply a matter of preference
Come on
Fly rods come in many lengths made from a variety of materials
But graphite fiberglass compounds are the most popular components of modern rods and they're manufactured with an extremely high degree of precision
Each is designed to efficiently cast a particular line weight
Most of the rods sold in the united states are seven and a half feet to ten feet in length
They range in price from less than one hundred dollars to more than a thousand for a fine handmade bamboo rod
Fly rods are made to cast a specific weight of line and range from the lightest designed to cast a one weight line
To heavier models that cast with ease a 13 weight line
Fly lines therefore range from a one or two weight, which is very small in diameter to a 13 weight
Which is larger in diameter
In many cases, but certainly not always the size of the line is fairly proportional to the size of the fish
Conditions of wind and size and weight of the fly will also influence line or rod size
But this will all be covered in later more advanced videos
Fly lines are designed with various tapers for different fishing conditions on this chart at the top
It's a double tapered floating line
It's tapered on both ends with a long belly section and when one end wears out you can switch it and use the other
That's a terrific feature when you're spending 30 or 40 or even 50 dollars for a fly line
This is the most versatile of the fly line and as its name indicates it floats on top of the water
This will probably be the first line your fly shop will recommend that you buy
Next on the chart a weight forward floating line good for longer casts into the wind which uses more specialized
Next is a bug taper floating line
The shorter faster taper makes casting a bass bug or other large wind resistant flies with fewer false casts much easier
On our next chart a sinking tip and a full sinking line
Both designed as their names indicate to take your fly to varying depths below the surface
Another line designed for distance casting is a shooting taper
It's a 24 to 30 foot shooting head attached to a level small diameter running line
These heads come in either floating or various sinking density models
Each line is designed to serve a specific purpose and you'll learn more about them as you progress in the sport
But since this is a beginning tape we use a double taper line and for the purpose of demonstration
We picked a seven weight line which is suitable for many kinds of fish and fishing conditions
In the early days of fly fishing in the late 17th and 18th century
Fly lines were made from the hair of various animals horse hair seemingly was the most popular
Then came silk lines in the 1800s. It could be dressed or greased to float from which the term greased line evolved
Dacron core pvc lines first appeared on the market in 1953 and quickly took over the market from the more fragile and expensive silk lines
The pvc line actually was a refinement of a rather short-lived dacron line
Manufacturers simply added a pvc coating to the dacron line
In 1987 paul burges a scientist from wales developed the first line made from a totally different polymer than pvc
This new line had a kevlar core
As a result this line had no stretch compared to the 15 or 20 percent stretch found in the pvc lines on the market
This was a revolutionary advance in fly line technology and created quite a stir in the industry as well as in
conversations among fly fishers
Fly lines vary in length
But in general are 80 to 100 feet long and since some fish run further than that
The inner core of the reel is filled with 50 to 100 yards of 20 or 30 pound test dacron line as backing
The backing is attached to the fly line with a nail knot which looks like this
If you buy your fly rod and reel from a fly fishing pro shop more than likely
They'll put the backing and your fly line as well as your leader on for you
But it is something you should know how to do and to more easily demonstrate it so that you can see how it's done
I'm going to use a piece of rope
Wrap the rope around the arbor of your fly reel twice
At the end of the backing tie a small overhand knot very close to the end
Then hold the two pieces of line together parallel to one another
Wrap the tag end of the backing around both pieces of line
Making two turns
What we're making here is a slip knot
Now you've formed a small double loop
Take the tag end of the backing and run it up through the double loop parallel to the main piece of backing like so
Tighten the slip knot that you've created
Up against the overhand knot that you tied in the end of the backing
Once it's tight
Tighten the slip knot that you've formed down around the arbor of the reel securing it tightly to the arbor
And then reel your backing on to the reel
Now you must attach your fly line to the backing to do that
Here's world champion fly caster Steve Raja to show you his version of a nailless nail knot
Since I was about 10 years old I
Tried to tie the nail knot without any tools and it wasn't too long after I tried to do that
But I managed to to do that
I call it a nailless nail knot
And I start by taking my tip it or my butt section in this case the blue line
I wrap it five or six times on the fly line
With the tag line that i've wrapped with I
Circle around and make like a little circle out of it and I hold it here near the tip of the fly line end
What I will do now is unwind these spirals these twists over the top of the tag so that it'll be buried underneath
and to do that I just pinch it here on my left hand as a
Starting point and I unravel the twists around the tag end one
Two
Three I'm unwinding the spirals
Four
Five and six I finished unraveling and I pull on my main leader piece here as always
A little short tug there and I have a nail knot without a nail
That's a very simple version of a nail knot and
I like that for when i'm dealing with trout leaders and something fairly light
But any opportunity where I have the opportunity to pull a lot of pressure saltwater fishing or salmon fishing
Or even with various lines where the tendency is the coating comes off easier
In that case, I like to do a variation on that
What I do is I still start off by winding the tag six times around the fly line
But what I will do next
Is to take the tip of the fly line and I fold it back over
And in essence what i'm going to do is make a nail knot over a loop
And also this achieves an effect of what is called the albright knot in the saltwater tippets
For the shock tippet junction in some cases, but I fold it over the fly line now. I still make my circle around
And then I will still unwind my twist over the top of both my tag and the folded over piece of fly line
So now I'll unravel the twist over both
And now I've completed the unraveling part I pull on my main leader here
And I have a little nail knot over the top of the loop
And I will sort of draw on the either the tag end of the fly line or the main fly line just to shrink down
The loop a little bit closer before I fully tighten the nail knot
So now I have in essence an albright and a nail knot all in one
That way I've got my line locked in and I won't peel off the coating on some of the
lines that have that tendency
And uh, I've got a much stronger knot for dealing with saltwater tippets
Another method we use quite often in tying a nail knot is with this handy tool called a tie fast
Take your fly line and lay it down in the groove
And lay your thumb on top. Incidentally, there's a little tag that tells you which end to put to your reel
Take the backing and lay it down in the opposite direction
And leave yourself plenty of room on the tag end because you're going to need it to make a wrap
around your tie fast tool
Anchor it with your index finger and make three more wraps around the tool working up toward your thumb
Then take your tag end and run it down the channel you've created
And as you pull that backing tight you pull your knot off the tie fast tool
And you're pulling your backing still anchoring it with your thumb up here and pull it tight
Drop the tool
And pull the backing tight tighten your knot and then the fly line to the backing pull nice and tight
Then clip your tag ends nice and tight
Clip your tag ends nice and tight so that it'll slip through your guides easily
And there you have a nail knot once you've tied the nail knot
Reel the fly line onto the fly reel and when you get to the end
You'll notice it's still too big to fit through the eye of a hook
That's when you tie on what we call a leader an almost invisible piece of monofilament that connects the fly line to the fly
There are two basic types of leader a braided monofilament combination and all monofilament
One of the advantages of braided leaders is that they come in a variety of densities from floating to very fast sinking
The very fast sinking acts like a very short fast sinking sink tip
Braided leaders go on the line
Like a chinese finger knot. This is the end of the braided leader and this is the fly line
You just start slipping
The braided leader onto the fly line
By increasing
Its diameter and work it on until it has about three inches of braided leader over the fly line
We actually prefer the braided leaders
Because they turn over more quickly and they come as I said before in a variety of densities
So if you decide
You want to switch quickly?
From a floating leader
And a dry fly to a fast sinking leader and a wet fly
You can do so very easily without changing lines just by changing your leader
You slip it on about two and a half three inches and then
There's a small plastic sleeve that comes with them. They come in either clear or in this case
This one's bright red and works well as a small strike indicator
Slide it down
Over the end of the fly line
Kind of put your finger and thumb over so you can't really see
Slide it down to the end of the leader down to where it just comes over the end of the braided leader
And that holds your leader on
Then when you decide that you want to change leaders you slip the plastic sleeve off
Back down the leader
Push on the chinese finger knot that is the leader and it comes right off and you can change leaders very quickly
now
The braided leader comes in a variety of lengths, but this one is about six feet long
Down at the end of the braided leader
We attach a piece of monofilament leader
Tip it material in this case
It goes for another three feet
To attach the tippet to the braided leader use a surgeon's knot
To demonstrate that so that you can see it a little more easily
We have two pieces of rope
The white rope is the monofilament leader material and the blue rope is the braided leader
Take the opposite ends
And put them across each other like that
Then make one
Overhand simple overhand knot
And go through a second time
Through the same hole with both pieces of material
And so you have something that looks like this a circle going through three times
Then pull all of the pieces of leader material together smoothly
Moistening if you were using real leader material and then you have a surgeon's knot
Clip off your tag ends very close
And you have a very strong junction between two leaders
This also works very well with two pieces of monofilament leader and it's very easy to tie and quit
Monofilament tapered leaders come tapered ready to attach to the fly line using a nail knot
With all leaders the smaller the fly the longer and lighter the leader and the greater the taper
On the other hand leaders for streamers like this half and half steel head pattern tied by joe butorik
Are often short and not tapered at all
Tapered leaders come in various lengths seven and a half nine and twelve feet being the most popular and are rated from zero
X to seven x which indicates the diameter of the tippet which is the very last section to which the fly is attached
Each manufacturer rates each diameter differently, but they are all fairly close
Here is a chart of one manufacturer's leaders to show the corresponding diameters with a corresponding rating in pounds
Before we go on to flies. Let's show you how to attach your leader to your fly
For demonstration purposes. We're going to use a piece of rope as your leader and a large screw eye as your fly
We'll start with an improved clinch knot pass a leader through the eye of the hook
And leave yourself plenty of tag in
Put your finger in the middle there. So you create a loop
And twist the line around the leader four times
When you've gone around four times take your tag end and put it through the loop that you created with your finger
Once you put it through there bring it back through the other loop you just created
So that it comes back the same direction as your leader if this were a real leader you'd use saliva to help reduce the friction on the on the line
And you just work it down closer to the eye and there you have an improved clinch knot
Another good knot for attaching fly to leader is the uni knot
Take the rope, which is the leader through the screw eye which represents the fly
Pass it through and then in the tag end make a small overhand loop like that
Put it next to the leader and then pass it through and then in the tag end make a small overhand loop like that
Like that
Put it next to the main section of leader
And then wrap the tag end around both pieces of leader and take it through the loop four times
one
two
Three
Tighten the knot
Down onto your fly pull it tight
And
Then slip it down on your fly making a slip knot in a very effective connection to your fly
This is also a valuable knot in connecting two different sizes of leader together
You tie one knot
On one piece of leader the larger piece
And then thread the smaller piece of leader through here and tie another uni knot on the other side pulling them both close together
And then clipping them off another use for the uni knot for streamers and larger flies
The uni knot can be tied slightly differently
You slide the fly through here
Forget about the fly
Then you make an overhand loop
Like that
In the tag end then bring the remainder another piece of the leader up here
Parallel so you have one loop here and one loop here
Wrap the tag end through around both pieces like this
Four times
Then pulling them all tight bring it up and tighten like so
Now you have a noose down here which you will tighten
Until it's just large enough to slip your fly through then slide your fly down
Slip it through the noose like so
Then tighten the noose onto the shank of your fly
After you've done that
Pull the rest of your leader through this
And clip off your tag end and you have a very strong secure junction for your fly to your leader
Now on to flies
I assure you that if you pursue this avocation for line you'll acquire many
And in order to carry them and other items to the stream you'll need a vest
There are nearly as many vests as there are streams. So you'll have a wide variety from which to choose
Jim and I prefer the streamline vest
The one thing about fly fishing is there is a never-ending supply of gadgets
But some of them are very important like this pair of forces
You can use it for bending down the barbs in your fly as well as releasing fish bending down the barbs incidentally makes releasing fish much easier
Also getting that arid hook out of your skin in case you happen to make a mistake
Another important item a pair of clippings with which you can nip the ends of leader or even trim flies
On the other end a small needle for cleaning head cement from the eye of your fly
And most anglers carry nets with them to help making landing fish easier. That wasn't the case here. This is what not to do
Nice fish Jim
I like
Don't pull out
He went between my legs and
He went between my legs caught the dropper on my way
I think i'll go back and get the net. Oh man
Yes
This is just the beginning but that's part of the fun of fly fishing is learning about all of the stuff
Now to flies in the most simple terms
There are flies that float on the surface called dry flies like the royal wolf that was tied to represent the shape
Many different kinds of insects floating on the water
There are poppers that float on the surface and create a disturbance that entices a fish to strike them
Just like our casting and spinning popping lures
Then there are nymphs which are fished below the surface and imitate a stage in the life of an aquatic insect before it emerges
On the surface and becomes an adult and flies away
There are wet flies that imitate other forms of insects as well as crabs fresh and saltwater shrimp and a host of other subsurface life
Last but definitely not least streamers are flies that are fished below the surface that
represent small bait fish or leeches
Sound a little complicated. Well, yes and no the wisest fly fisher from novice to season
So we'll consult the local fly shop and find out what the fish are currently taking and it does change from day to day
So that's why we check
That's the easiest and surest way to catch fish as you learn more about fly fishing and entomology
You'll have a better understanding of what the fish may be eating at any given time by observing their actions, but that's for a later lesson
Eventually many fly fishers evolved to tying their own flies a very rewarding and satisfying experience to catch a fish on a fly you tie
This is a prominent new york doctor gary sherman tying a sailfish pattern on the way to dakar in western africa for sailfish
Fly fishing does often become an obsession. So forewarn is forearm
Before we move on to casting a safety note
We never fish without glasses or near someone else without glasses because your eyes are precious
And the protection of a good pair of polarized sunglasses just makes good sense
Not only in the case of an errant cast not going exactly where you intended
But polarized lenses like these from pasta del mar allow you to penetrate the glare that is always present when fishing
Now for casting but before we get started, we've got to get the line through the guides
Make a u in the line and it'll pass through the guides more easily
Tie on a short practice leader with a piece of yarn at the end
This is a generally accepted manner in which to hold the fly rod shake hands with it
Placing your thumb more on top of the handle so the rod becomes an extension of your arm
Strip out about 20 feet of line and use the action of the rod to wiggle out the line beyond the tip of your rod
Okay
Now you're going to straighten out your line and make your first cast
The most basic cast the roll cast. This is what the cast will look like when you follow along in a moment
To make a roll cast bring the rod slowly to a position just past vertical
A position we consider to be one o'clock and stop
Tuck the angle of the rod off a few degrees away from your body
And you'll notice the line has formed a curved shape behind you
Now push the rod forward sharply stopping at 10 o'clock
The force of your hand combined with the action of the rod sends your fly line out in a fairly straight line in front of you
Then let the rod settle to a position relatively parallel with the ground
Okay, now here it is again in slow motion
Okay, now here it is again in slow motion
See how the hand moves parallel to the ground on an even plane and there is almost no wrist action
Remember bring the rod back slowly and stop pretend there's a bush behind you and to avoid hooking your fly on it
You must come back slowly
This is a cast designed exactly for that sort of situation when you have no room to back cast
You'll find you use it often
After the rod stops push forward sharply and stop at 10 o'clock
See how the line follows the path of the rod at first then launches past the rod bringing your fly and leader with it
After the stop let the rod continue down to a position parallel to the ground
Practice that with different lengths of line until you feel you've mastered it then move on to the next cast
Which is what we call for lack of a better term the pick up and set down cast
It's the next basic cast in fly fishing. This is what it will look like when you follow along
Okay, again with 20 feet of line or so out the tip of your rod with the line pressed against the cork under your index finger
The rod tip pointed straight at the line on the ground slowly begin to lift gradually accelerating the rod and thus the line
Eventually stopping at the one o'clock position behind you
Count one two to yourself then accelerate forward and stop at the 10 o'clock position
Now you're making your second kind of cast
Watch this cast in slow motion
You start the cast with the rod tip pointed at the line close to the ground
Slowly begin raising the tip
Accelerating as the line begins to lift from the grass or the water
Notice most of the acceleration is from the point at 11 o'clock to the one o'clock position
At one o'clock count one two. So the line will have time to straighten behind you
Now begin your forward cast saving most of the speed with a move from 11 to 10 o'clock. That's when the rod is in front of you
As you come forward stop the rod sharply at 10 o'clock
And then let the rod settle to the nine o'clock position
Practice this cast for a while with different lengths of line until you feel you've mastered it
Then move to the next step shooting line with the cast
This is what the cast should look like it is identical to the lift up set down
But at this position when you stop at 10 o'clock
Count one two then release the line from your left hand
In theory if you've done it correctly the line at your feet will shoot out through the guys
Okay
Fold the line in your left hand with about 10 or 15 feet of line at your feet
And 20 or 25 feet out the end of the rod
Begin raising the rod in the exact same manner you did for the previous cast
Accelerate at 11 o'clock stop at one count one two and begin your forward cast
Remembering to begin slowly then accelerate at 11
Stop at 10 count one two then release the line from your left hand
Notice jim's left hand stays right along with the rod as he makes a back cast and goes along with the rod on the forward cast
Until it's time to release the line
Looking at this cast in slow motion you can see the stop at one o'clock and the line unfolding in the back cast
That's why you wait two beats in the back cast to let the line straighten before moving the rod forward
Once the line straightens move forward to make the cast stopping again sharply at 10 o'clock
Waiting two beats again before you release the line from the left hand
This one two count gives a line time to come forward under the tension of the rod before it shoots
Point your rod at the line and strip in the 10 extra feet of line and make another cast
Practice this with different lengths of line until you feel comfortable
In each program of our series fly fishing video magazine
We have a segment called angling tips the host of this segment bill martz often offers solutions to casting problems
The next few minutes is a sample of just a few of bill's suggestions
What are we going to learn today bill
Well oddly enough we're going to learn how to do a wrong cast
How to do it wrong, okay
I do that all the time
But if you can know how to do it wrong, it's very easy then to correct it
In fact, one of the ways of knowing how to do something correctly is to know how to do an incorrect
So we're going to learn how to do a tailing loop
the
problems that all
Fly fishers have at one point
Either learning or after they've learned to fly fish
You're having that tailing loop
That fly will come underneath right there
Right there tie a knot in the line and that's what causes those wind knots he gets that I get so often
Just like that now what happens?
Is
Is when that starts occurring all the time most people will then try harder and harder and harder and the harder they try
To cast and overcome it the worse it gets
More like that it's worse yet even but they'll get gone
And a few smooth casts then they want to go on the last cast and they'll just
Punch it out there and there it is right in the pile just like that
I know it happened to me for years since I didn't know what was causing it. Therefore. You don't know what stopped
Well, what causes it or one of the things that causes it?
Because when i'm coming forward on the forward stroke, they also happen on the backstroke too
But when i'm coming on this forward stroke here
instead of a nice smooth application of power
And smooth acceleration i'm jumping i'm dumping it
somewhere during the stroke
And shocking rod tip i'm making that rod tip instead of going nice and smooth and bending back like that. It's going
And bouncing like that
I'll show you
Okay
Clear my line here
Okay back cast nice smooth stroke you can see they're going they're not tailing
Just hit me in the ear. That's all
They're not tailing
Now
See what happened when I just bumped it right there there there it is now there's a fly on there
I'm glad too
Like that, okay, it didn't seem to take much of a dog. It doesn't it just it can be very subtle even
And still being it can be right when it first starts. We'll do it
Or it can be right at the end and do it or anywhere in between those places. All it takes is just a little
Increase sudden increase of power like that make that rod tip bounce and that line will foul up like that
And then knowing what causes that when you see it happen
Usually but someone that's been cast a long time. It's when they're tired
Trying to reach out winds blowing particularly bad day or something like that and it starts happening and happening
You know what causes it that's the thing you can do is just say okay calm down
Slow nice and slow and easy cast wide loop cast so that there's no problem with it
tailing and then if you're feeling better and you get your timing down then you can narrow that cast down again and start
You can't escape. Okay. So what you're going to do is learn how to do it wrong so that you'll know how to do it, right?
Okay
Make a few nice smooth casts no tailing loops nice smooth application power. That's it easy going
Nice smooth cast easy cast
Okay
Okay. Now I want you to shock the tip anywhere you want to right in there. That's it there now fly been on there
So what are you going to show us today?
I'm going to look at downstream dry fly fishing
Sometimes it's necessary to to get a dry fly to float long distance downstream and be ready for the strike at that time
It'd be nicer if you could get up close to the fish
Close to the fish weight in close make a nice short little task you're very controlled drift and such but sometimes it's just not possible
So we're going to look at a couple methods of downstream dry fly fishing. We want to keep
Drag out of the line. That's the most important part of dry fly fish is make that dry fly go right down the river
Just like it's a natural not going slower or faster than the current with the traveling and what makes it go slower or faster?
is drag
Either caused from the line or the leader
Possibly the wind blowing on the river could blow a large fly around but mostly it's from the leader in the line
So we have to work at controlled slack
That's putting some slack in the line
But controlling it so that it's not out of control and just drifting anywhere it wants to go and if this hits you have no
Control you have to take all the slack out
But just enough so that you the fly can drift free and if something happened the fish strikes you can react to it. Okay
Current obviously running this way. I'm gonna make a cast. I want to fly the land downstream of my leader in my line first of all
so
Look at the cast here
I've got a lot of slack pulled out right here
And i'll just show you how to make that long cast down there keep that fly floating
flies downstream
Right here. It's floating
I'm letting the slack come right up like so i'm not throwing so much into the water that I can't control it
so
Pulling the slack up behind me now anytime it should hit I have a very little bit of line
I'm not letting it tighten up like that
That's when you know you're starting to drag so i'm letting that keep that drag just
It's like the last inch of line is all you're keeping out of it now. We're coming into it
There's where the fish is you let it tighten up and swing over out of the feeding lane
And then bring it in if you didn't take him do it again up here
There is a little bit of a problem obviously when you have 80 or 90 feet of line out
And a fish hits there is so much slack in that line that sometimes you're just not going to be able to hook it
But you're looking at a situation where you have no other choice
So you've got to make a good presentation get the hit first. Okay, let's go get once more bring this up
Cast out here. I've got the slack worked out here laying on the line laying on the water here
Here
Flies downstream from the line
With that initial cast out here now i'm just gonna make sometimes you might want to throw a mend in too to keep that line
Directly upstream from the fly just like so
Picking this out
This is not a terribly fast current here if it was going really fast
You'd be really moving that out there, but it would be taking the slack out that fast too
Although it looks like you have miles of slack out there. It's really not
It's taking up very quickly
Okay, you've got one eye on that flatly you got one eye up here just to kind of see what's going on with your line
You start raising off the water like that. That's drag setting in
There's slack
The line's laying there now there's you see your line lift up like that
Now if you're nymph fishing you look at that
That could be caused by fish and that's raised up like that. That's drag, too
Okay
Bill what are you going to show us today?
Well kelly, I thought we would talk about
Casting on lakes and some of the problems that come up
We had a good breeze here a second ago, but it's gone down
But it reminded me that so often the wide open spaces you have a wind blowing very hard to cast
So an ideal situation
In casting with the wind to have that wind blowing from your line side
This side blowing this way so it blows the fly down wind from away from your face away from the rods
It doesn't hurt it
But there are ways you can get around that to make it still easy to cast and keep it safe
Why don't you come over on this side now and we'll give this a try
Okay
Very simply what happens if I make a cast coming up on the standard side like this the wind will blow
It's coming from this side
Worst way to blow this fly sometimes right into my face or into the rod
Possibly break the rod or break fly off or stick in my face
Which is a good reason to wear the glasses
So what we can do very easily
Just keep your arms straight just like your regular cast only poke your elbow bring it out to the side like this
And your arm makes the same movements as you were casting before except now it comes across the face like this
Very easy to cast very simple this way the fly is blown down wind
And it's away from the rod and your head your face and everything else so it's very easy
And in making this kind of a cast is just exactly the same as bringing it up overhead this way
Except with the wind blowing this way
It'll blow the fly down wind from us away from our face away from our head and away from the rod
Do you want to give that a try?
Good good don't hold don't hold
Easy easy, that's it. There it is. Nice smooth start. That's it smooth start
What i'm using here is a sink tip line the first 15 feet
Sink and this one happens to be a fairly fast sinker sinks down below the surface and the rest of it floats
It's very good for river fishing. It's also good for certain lake and salt water applications
The floating line is very easy to handle maneuver on top of water then the sinking line can get the fly down for the fish shark
But people first start using sink tips or sinking lines for that matter
They have a problem in picking it up and making it ready to cast and this is what happens
You're pulling it in pulling it in and they get to the amount of line that they normally have with the floating line
And then want to pick it up off the water and what happens?
Is it the pressure on that that sinking portion?
Overloads the rod. I mean sometimes you can't even pick it up out of the water
And then the line will fall down here at your side instead of making a nice back cast
So what you have to do
Is do a little roll cast
And you keep roll casting until that that sinking portion comes all the way up out of the water
Lays down on the water then as soon as it lays down on the water
You don't want to sink down
You don't want to go down below the water because then you'd be in the same position you were before
As soon as it touches down
Make your back cast
And make the regular cast
You can see how this is sunk down here now way down. Okay, we'll bring it up
up
up
And you get right to this point what most people do will try to roll cast too quick
They'll come up like this at this point and then
Hit it down and you see how that
Right, see how that came back like that. That's exactly what happens
What you want to do to avoid that is to come up and just stop for just a second
And then come forward it didn't come all the way out of the water like that and pull
And then bring it back stop for just a second there
There just hit the water bring it up
out
up
And make your cast, okay
Do it one more very quickly then you can try it bring it in sinking portion is down
I'm going to raise it up
You brought up the question before you do want to wait and wait until this line
Here from the tip behind the rod just here and you wait till that time
Then when you come forward on the rod this way
The line back here will then load up the rod properly
Do that again here
Bring this line up
Sinking portion is now sunk down a lot of pressure on it
Bring it up up up slow
Let that line come back behind the rod and forward make the stop lift the top with the back cast. It's forward cast
It's done
Okay, okay
Bring it back
Okay with this line it doesn't do very well not right there yeah
Perfect
Okay
Bringing it in bring it in just like retrieve now you're stripping in
Unfortunately, no fish hit it. So now you're going to bring it up slow pause make the roll cast hits the water make a back cast
forward cast
And crash into the rod
Okay
Bringing it in bring it in
No fish hit bring up slow pause roll cast. Let's hit the surface bring in a back cast
forward cast
Great. Perfect
What I like to talk about is is turning over long leaders 12 18 feet long where you have to get a fine presentation to fish
Very spooky very smooth clear water
Usually presentation is everything in a situation like that
Assuming we have the proper leader to turn it over you need the right leader to turn over the right fly
We'll work on the casting end of it
What we have to remember in making a cast like this is that we need a
tight loop
A loop that goes out that's not very wide not catching a lot of air. It's very narrow
We'll cut through the air and we'll continue that loop right through to the end of the fly right through the leader
That's why it's important to have the right leader
Where that's controlled is right here in your wrist
A lot of people think casts are made
Using no wrist just straight arms straight back and forth very mechanical
But there is wrist movement in here and the amount of wrist that we use during the cast when we're coming forward
Right at the very end of the stroke make that stop and close our wrist
I call it closing the wrist and then open it on the back here
So close my wrist this way the amount that I close it during the stroke
Will determine
The width of that loop going out
First of all, let me make a cast. I want to use a lot of wrist and we'll see how wide that loop goes out
there, okay
I'll wave that board real wide there real wide there
It's like throwing balloons against the wind it just doesn't quite
Make a long cast doesn't transfer energy. Well, it doesn't go through the air very well
It's very good if the wind's behind you then it catches it like a sail and just just shoot right on out there
But for this cast we want to make sure
That that leader will turn all the way over so it has to have a tighter loop so
Uncurl all the way to the end. Okay, the way we do that is using very little wrist
I'm gonna use just a little less wrist than I used before and you can see this as I false cast you can see this
Loop go from wide
narrow, okay
We are wide
Waving that wrist now you won't use quite as much you can see it still wide but it's it's narrowing down
I'm going to use less
Less
Less
So it's almost as if the least amount of wrist movement
Gives you the tighter loop, right?
And the bigger the wrist movement than the bigger the right during during the stroke
That wrist movement comes in very small very tight loop will come right at the end of the stroke now in slow motion
You should be able to see
How the wrist movement makes that loop how it forms that loop?
I'm going to start again with wide loops using a lot of wrist through this whole stroke
And then gradually tighten that up to hardly any wrist movement at all, okay
Real wide loops
I'm closing this through the whole forward stroke make that real wide loop there now i'm going to use a little bit less
A little bit less
Hardly any
You see how that loop is tightened up considerably makes a big difference. Oh it makes an awful lot of difference
We're going to talk about keeping the drag out of the line when you're dry fly fishing
Or even them fishing too across stream and downstream the key is in
Controlled slack we talked about it before and we'll probably talk about it again. It's in controlled slack
You can
Put the fly down if I were to cast straight out like this drag sets in almost immediately
Because the line is straight right to the fly and the current sweeps it down
The fly is going faster than the current then if there's drag or if it's going slower than the current that's being held back
If the fish was coming up straight downstream from me
And I put it out straight like that as soon as it hits drag sets in because the fly is sitting still
And the current water's going fast, right? So we have to overcome that and we can do that
For short distances right in the cast itself so that it lands with the slack in it
That'll let that fly float drag free. There's a couple ways of doing that
Okay, and we can also look at not just downstream. We're going to cross stream too work both ways
Okay, I want to cast kind of in the middle here going straight
Quartering downstream here. Okay
Get the cast working here. We're going to work with one that works very well, especially
Downstream a little more when there's no wind and all i'm going to do is cast up high in the air
And then when it falls on the water, see it just falls and twirls like that
If there's no wind blowing knock that fly off course
you just
Put it in the direction you want it to go in line with the your target
Cast up high and then as it settles it
Geez, I almost had another one there as it settles it falls in nice nice
Relaxed coils on the water these fish are distracting my attention here
I've started throwing rocks in the water
Really?
Okay, let's show that again
I'm just i'm making my casting plane go way up high in the air going down a little low up here way up high
And just stop it
And then falls down relax like that. I can get probably out of that cast
You know 10 feet of drag free drift in this situation here right now is when it sets in
Okay, so that much time is all drag free that's one way
Another way to do this is to make your cast
Closer to the surface. This is there's a little wind
And just overcast real hard and it hits and bounces back
You have a little bit of an upstream breeze. That's why it's blown up there
Make the cast
Wow it bounces back at it like that
That throws coil not only in the line but in the leader and all the way down through there and that that works
Extremely well working straight downstream with a target with that fish is is within a very narrow lane
As he's feeding in they cast just over the top of them
Let it bounce back and it comes right over the top of them drag free and then let it drift right off to the side
Of them again, and there's one other method you could use too and that's we talked before
And again, we'll probably talk talk a lot more about it line control is throwing the curve right in the line
Now it's very important. You keep a nice tight loop and cast right at your target, but you have
All two to three feet more line
Than necessary. Okay, if you were to let the cast come right down
You would have passed up your target by two or three feet. Okay, we'll come back on that
As soon as you started your cast right there, you've made the stop and the fly's on its way
You can do anything you want through the line. It's not going to affect where that fly is going to go
Stop it and then throw those little
Flaves in there that fly will land right on target
You'll have all the slack in your line. It's going still going there drags that in so that's how much just that little bit
right
There put into it
That's probably the most effective of all right there. It's got the best accuracy and the most controlled slack and put it on
This is only the beginning there are many advanced fly casting videos on the market and they will help improve your casting ability
Many fly fishing pro shops offer two or three day seminars in the basics of fly fishing
We highly recommend that you sign up for one
Incidentally one of the more enjoyable aspects of this sport in addition to all the others is releasing fish
This is the green river and a beautiful rainbow brook trout hybrid gave kelly quite a beautiful fight after eating her royal wolf
Seeing the beauty of which will turn even the most macho angler's eyes a bit
That's a brief introduction to a few of the elements of fly fishing to learn more about the vast opportunities in this wide beautiful
World of fly fishing
We have more than 24 different one hour long programs about fly fishing around the world in our series fly fishing video magazine
We release a new one every other month. That's six new shows a year
This is a spectacular reference video library information instruction and entertainment all in the same program
Our concept the fish are the stars and the local guides who fish the water every day are the experts in these videos
The variety of fishing situations instruction and location is nearly endless if trout hold a fascination for you
How about this recent show on the Dolores River in southwestern colorado and the San Juan River in northern, New Mexico?
Spectacular action and you will learn the secrets to fishing these rivers from the real experts the guides who fish them every day
Oh my god
Yes, okay nice nice nice nice don't pull it out
Let him have it except if he wants to go under all the weeds over there
Now we're having fun
Oh my gosh
If saltwater interests you the Florida Keys area is definitely mecca for flats fishing
Imagine facing a pot of carp and coming toward you none of which are less than 80 pounds and they might even eat your flock
Now
For the real screaming runs of an eight pound bone fish hooked in less than eight inches of water
Look at that little son of a gun go
This is incredible
You
Want even bigger adversaries
Then costa ricas pacific coast is the ticket for one of the most exciting game fish in the world on a fly
The pacific sailfish lots of them
They eat the fly with gusto and with these new big game fish fly rods from g lumis and sth's terrific grand slam reels
The average fight is only about 15 minutes
Wow
How about trout in new zealand the kiwis have a totally different method of fishing from ours here in the united states
They walk along the bank until they see a fish then they start presenting a flock
None of this casting all day and hoping the fish find your flock
On the south island. There's practically no one else fishing and the fish are huge
In a moment, we'll tell you how you can get more information on our series
Woo
I hope our brief introduction to fly fishing is helpful on getting you started in this beautiful sport
Kelly and I hope that we'll see you in some of our travels sometime. Thanks for watching so long
On
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