Fly BlogFly BlogMusings on fly fishing, fly rods, and rod building. Articles
Going Naked with Nymphs
2008-01-09 02:51:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com I don’t know about you but I have always had a bit of an aversion to fishing heavy flies on leader with a strike indicator (notice we’re not allowed to call it a bobber). It seems too much like fishing with a bamboo pole and not enough like trying ...
Nymphing with a Fly Rod
2008-01-07 21:29:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com A nymph is the immature form of an insect, which undergoes incomplete metamorphosis before reaching its adult stage; unlike a typical larva, a nymph’s overall form already resembles that of the adult. In addition, while a nymph moults it never enters a pupal stage. Instead, the final moult results in ...
Are Large Arbor Fly Fishing Reels Worth the Extra Cost?
2008-01-06 18:24:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com It used to be that manufacturers produced multiplying reels. These reels took up more than one revolution of line for every turn of the handle. The idea was to allow the fly fisherman to reel in faster when a fish was running toward you. These reels were complex ... More About: Fishing , Cost , Worth , Fly Fishing , Reels
The Secrets of Choosing a Fly Fishing Reel
2008-01-04 21:01:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com The reel is the piece of gear that holds the fly line and backing while not in use. It also provides drag to slow down a running fish. Major differences in fly reels comes in the areas of construction and strength, arbor size and width, and drag system. ... More About: Fishing , Secrets , Reel , Fly Fishing
Fundamentals of Fly Casting - Air Resistance
2007-12-28 18:48:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com A significant influence in casting distance for fly fishermen is wind resistance. Since casting a fly line is like unfurling a rolled up carpet, the resistance presented by air is primarily on the front edge of the curl or what fly fishermen call the loop. The fatter the loop the more ... More About: Casting , Resistance , Amen , Dame
Fundamentals of Fly Casting - Fly Line Taper
2007-12-26 00:02:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Fly lines taper from a thicker section (called the belly) to a thinner section. The thicker section of the line is usually made of braided mono filament nylon. The braids are surrounded by hollow spheres that help the line float or by solid dense spheres that help the line sink, depending ... More About: Casting , Line , Amen , Dame
Fundamentals of Fly Casting - Fly Line Weight
2007-12-24 17:49:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com The fly line performs the same function that a weighted lure in spin casting performs. It provides the weight needed to pull running line through the guides and get the fly to the fish. The structure of the line has a lot to do with how a rod casts. Characteristics ... More About: Weight , Casting , Line , Weigh , Amen
Fundamentals of Fly Casting - The Fly Rod
2007-12-22 19:45:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com This blog is a follow on blog in a series on fly casting technique and fundamentals. The last blog posted on this is on what makes fly casting what it is . You can view it at http://www.flycatcherinc.com/flyblog/?p=8 1 The fly rod is basically a leaf spring with a single ... More About: Casting , Amen , Dame
Fundamentals of fly casting
2007-12-20 17:38:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com For some time I’ve wanted to delve into the uniqueness of fly casting and help break down some myths and confusion about the entire system of delivering a fly to a fish (rod, reel, fly line, leader, tippet, and fisherman). I am going to dedicate a number of daily blogs to ... More About: Casting , Amen , Dame
Fly fishing pocket water
2007-12-19 21:16:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Pocket water is a run of water that is marked by fast water, boulders and rocks. The rocks are sufficient that the water currents are highly varied with rock created seams overlapping from rock to rock. At first, pocket water may appear to be a terrible place for a trout to ... More About: Fishing , Water , Fly Fishing
Fly fishing the flats
2007-12-18 17:55:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Recently I wrote about the different kinds of water you are likely to run into fly fishing out on the river (see http://www.flycatcherinc.com/flyblog/?p=7 7). One type of water is flats. These are ’slower moving water, gradual change in elevation?like through a meadow’. Because flats are flat, ... More About: Fishing , Flats , Fly Fishing
Fishing out the riffles
2007-12-17 17:49:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com To most fly fishermen a riffle is just a good place to cross a river but to the experienced fishermen it is much more. Most riffles are too shallow and too fast to be good trout holding water. Riffles are the places where insects live. ... More About: Fishing
Not that riffle, that riffle?
2007-12-16 18:07:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com I met Phil through a friend at a local Starbucks. Nice chap, he was and better yet Phil turned out to be a fly fisherman. So, it wasn’t long before Phil and I hit the water together heading for the north fork of the Skykomish searching for winter Steelhead. I knew ...
Rod building tip #8: How to apply fly rod blank manufacturer decal to their
2007-12-13 23:11:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com One of my customers emailed me yesterday asking how to apply a manufacturer’s decal onto the rod blank to make it look good. He had put a coat of Flex Coat on the rod before applying the decal and he was telling me how bad it looked. He wanted ... More About: Building , Blank , Manufacturer
The right backcountry, small stream fly fishing rod
2007-12-12 18:45:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Getting out into the back country to virgin water on streams lined with willows is a fisherman’s dream come true. But most people are not aware of the factors involvement in choosing a rod for a situation like this. For our purposes here, we’ll call a small stream any moving body of ... More About: Fishing , Small , Stream , Fly Fishing , Backcountry
How do fly fishing rod reel seats vary and why?
2007-12-10 19:10:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Reel seats are interesting devices. They range in price from perhaps $10 to $60 or even more. One might question why it would make sense to put that much money into a reel seat if an inexpensive one would do the job. Let’s take a look. The reel seat is ... More About: Fishing , Fly Fishing
How to read those fly line codes
2007-12-09 19:10:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Fly fishing line variations include color, length, weight, shape, and density. Coding standards for fly lines were developed by the American Fishing and Tackle Manufacturers Association (AFTMA) in 1961. These standards deal with line weight, shape and density. Line weight refers to the weight of the first 30 feet of the ... More About: Read , Codes , Odes
What are you going to do if your leader breaks?
2007-12-08 19:41:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com I recently reported on the best way to connect a fly line to a leader and what kind of knots to use on both the fly line and on the leader. Today I want to explain how to tie this knot. Many leaders come already knotted these days ... More About: Breaks , Leader , Goin
Fly fisher?s magic: Pliobond
2007-12-06 18:27:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Ever hang up a knot on your fly line guides? Wish that wouldn’t happen? Here is a simple way to overcome the problem. A simple way to keep your knots from hanging up on rod guides is to seal them with a coating that is water resistant, lightweight, and ... More About: Magic , Fisher
Fly fishermen: know your Oncorhynchus mykiss
2007-12-05 19:00:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Fresh water rainbow trout (not to be confused with the anadromous steelhead which is the identical fish that differs only in that it migrates from saltwater to fresh to spawn) are the most widely reared fish in the world having been introduced in over 50 countries over the past century. ... More About: Fisher
Fly fishing streamers
2007-12-04 18:08:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com A streamer is a type of wet fly that can be used to mimic injured baitfish, such as minnows or menhaden. Streamers are not always imitations of real baitfish; in many situations they are attractors. Examples of attractors are wooley bugger, marabou muddler, and mickey finn. Bait fish imitations fall ... More About: Fishing , Fly Fishing
Changing out fly line leaders quickly on the stream
2007-12-03 19:24:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com One of the best ways to tie a fly line to leader is to use a loop to loop connection. Indeed, many fly fishing leaders come preformed with a loop connection on the butt. A loop to loop connection lets you change out leaders quickly to change weight, length or ... More About: Changing , Stream , Line , Leaders
How water level affects fly fishing tactics
2007-11-30 17:53:00 You can tell high water by examining a river or stream. High water will be characterized by narrow banks and streamside weeds being under water. High water typically means fast water and fishing in the middle of the water is futile. Fish are not likely to rise to dry flies because of the water speed, ... More About: Fishing , Tactics , Water , Fly Fishing
Underline your fly fishing rod and surprise yourself!
2007-11-28 18:20:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Should you always use the line weight recommended by the fly rod or rod blank manufacturer? When might you want to move down to one weight lighter than recommended? Fly rods generally work great with the recommended fly line when you have the recommended 30 feet of line out. (Fly ... More About: Fishing , Fly Fishing
Small fly fish hook eyes hard to thread?
2007-11-27 17:26:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Ever wander why they make the hook eyes on small lightweight fly fishing flies so doggone small? And so doggone hard to thread? Here is a piece of trivia for use with your fly fishing buddies. As flies get smaller the wire and point become thinner. Manufacturers don’t ... More About: Eyes , Fish , Small , Hard , Thread
Fly fishing nail knot for tying loops in fly line
2007-11-26 18:32:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Several blogs back I suggested that fly line be attached to fly backing using a loop to loop connection. I also suggested that the loop in the fly line be made using a couple of nail knots. Now I am going to show how to tie a nail ... More About: Fishing , Fly Fishing , Loops , Line , Nail
Fly fishing for water temperature
2007-11-25 23:14:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Trout are cold blooded animals that need oxygenated water to survive. Water that is too cold drops a trouts body temperature making them sluggish. Water that is too warm is less oxygenated making a trout sluggish. Water below 50 degrees F will slow trout down and push them into deeper water. Fishing ... More About: Temperature , Fly Fishing , Temp
Tricks to fly fishing weed beds
2007-11-22 18:15:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Weed beds create unique micro-habitats in a river. It very likely is home to minnows, fry, and damselfly, dragonfly, and mayfly nymphs. If the water is slightly alkaline it may hold scud as well. Trout will live within the weed bed and will often lie just ... More About: Fishing , Tricks , Fly Fishing , Beds
Fly fisher?s guide to reading the river floor
2007-11-21 17:27:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com A fly fisher can tell a lot by reading the bottom of a river. It holds a lot of information about the existence of trout. In some areas, especially in older geology like in the Eastern U.S., stream beds may have eroded down to bedrock. ... More About: Reading , River , Guide , Guid , Floor
Fly fishing a high gradient river or stream
More articles from this author:2007-11-20 18:06:00 by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com We’re all taught to look for seams in the river, under water boulders and sunken obstructions. But do you know how to fish a high mountain stream or river? High gradient streams offer fast moving water with waterfalls, splash pools, and exposed boulders. This kind of environment ... More About: Fishing , River , Stream , Fly Fishing 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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