Fly Fishing Basics | How to Get Started !

[Music] you got a double header Tom that's a steelhead welcome to the Orvis guide to fly fishing I'm your host Tom rosenbauer and for the next 13 episodes we're going to show you just how easy it is to catch all different kinds of fish on a fly rod we're going to take you to some great places across North America we're going to have some fun along the way and I hope you do too a nice fish that fish has already refused that flight and you're going to have to try it just a slightly different pattern the roll cast pickup is a great cast to use in a lot of fishing situations this is a beautiful wild Trout from a small stream just a gorgeous little fish hit that bank let's go to that grass bed [Music] the Orvis guide to fly fishing is supported by Orvis fly fishing [Music] Algoma country [Music] destination Ontario [Music] main office of Tourism Yellowstone Teton territory rainbow Ranch tourism [Music] adipose Boatworks [Music] Global rescue trout Unlimited [Music] fly fishing has a special appeal to many people whether they're young old man or woman fly fishing appeals to many because it's artistic relaxing fun and exciting and it's a great way to connect with nature but some people believe fly fishing is really Technical and far too difficult to learn nothing could be further from the truth it's really quite simple to master anyway can learn to fly fish best way to start is on a local pond filled with small bass or Sunfish I took my friend Sophia Amelia and Julia to a local pond to show them what fly fishing is all about you'll see that they catch fish just like you can we started out the way all kids should begin fishing with live bait and a bobber since it was grasshopper season we caught some live Hoppers which was half the fun for all of us got some grasshoppers here so we're gonna put a grasshopper on the bobber okay excuse us grasshoppers we need another one excuse us we need another volunteer there we go there's a volunteer press the button and go there you go perfect okay let's see if anybody really didn't ruin you got one you got one there he is it's a largemouth bass all right wow look at that now that's a baby largemouth bass and the way to land these is you can just put your thumb right in here they don't have any real teeth they just have little teeth see those little teeny tiny teeth they feel just like sandpaper want to feel it feels just like sandpaper good job then we replaced the live grasshopper with an artificial grasshopper fly we still we stood a bobber and push button Rod to show them that an artificial fly is just another way to catch fish it looks like a grasshopper got let's see it's got legs it's got Wings it's got that little red stuff and it's got a fat head it doesn't look like a hopper yeah just like what that real grasshopper we can't throw this very far so we can't just put it on that line right right we gotta have some weight to get it out there what so what's the weight that's going to get the bobber the bobber okay so I'm gonna tie on this fake grasshopper twitch it okay stop there's one looking at it oh he got it you got him on a fake grasshopper what do you what do you think huh pretty cool yeah [Music] you want to see another way of fishing a fake all right we're gonna put this down and we're gonna use a different kind of rock finally we replace the push button rod with a fly rod the most efficient way to get a small almost weightless lure like a fly out there so here's the deal we don't need a bobber either you know why why because this is the way you cast oh this is a long skinny bobber and what I can do is I can take this thing and go like that and I can put that fly out there just with this all I do is flick it and it goes out there and the Grasshoppers um didn't want to go in here but we volunteered them yep up up he's looking at it okay so you've just seen the difference between fly fishing and all other kinds of fishing the line provides the weight to get the fly to the Target not the lure itself what a what a nice jump you know why they call them a largemouth right uh we caught in a fake grasshopper a real a real bass on a fake grasshopper what do you think nice job Amelia and off he goes and the girls went fishing with their dad Randy it was great to see them use the fly rod interchangeably with the push button Rod not treating it like some kind of mystical way to fish anyone can do it you just have to learn the basics wow next we look at the origins of fly fishing and help explain why this outdoor activity has been steadily increasing in popularity fly fishing has been around for quite some time it began in the Middle Ages but people noticed fish eating small bugs they were tough to keep on the hook as bait early fly Fishers didn't do much casting and didn't use a reel their methods were very similar to a Japanese method of fishing called tenkara which has become increasingly popular around the world at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century fly rods got better and fly Anglers learned to cast longer distances than they added reels to store line they also began catching bigger fish that would make long runs this new equipment helped increase the interest in fly fishing in the second half of the 20th century fly fishing became more popular with everyone from presidents to movie stars to ordinary Anglers who were looking for more of a challenge when they were fishing fly fishing was suddenly the new and exciting way to catch fish best of all the sport expanded from being just for trout to saltwater fish and warm water species like bass and Pike at the American Museum of fly fishing in Manchester Vermont the history of fly fishing is well chronicled if you get a chance to visit the region I highly recommend you spend some time in the museum it really is fascinating all this old equipment is really neat to see but what do you really need today to get started in fly fishing [Music] you know I think one of the things that intimidates people about fly fishing is a vision of a fly angler with waiters and vests and creel and and all these gadgets hanging from the vest but you don't need all that stuff what do you need what are the Bare Essentials you need to get started in fly fishing well you need that basic rod reel in line outfit in one form or another you need a ride you need a reel you need a line and you need a leader what else do you need what are the Bare Essentials that you need you really only need a pair of snips to cut your line you need a box of flies and it doesn't have to be a fancy box it can be the box that you get for free when you buy the flies in the store and you probably are going to need a couple different spools of tip of material that's all you can Wade wet which means just in a pair of sandals and a pair of shorts you can fish from Shore you can fish from a canoe or other kind of boat you don't need to get dressed in waiters right away if you don't need them so when you get started in fly fishing keep it simple at first you'll find lots of uses for those gadgets later on but you don't need them when you're starting out you need a rod a reel and line just like any other kind of fishing but a fly rod bends in a specific way so they can put the fly where you want it but also to play a fish without breaking your leader for much of fly fishing The Reel is simply a device to store line and you retrieve and otherwise manipulate the line with your hands sometimes when a big fish is hooked the Reel takes over to provide a mechanical drag and a retrieve line between runs a fly line has weight because the line is what casts the fly a fly line can float or sink but for now we'll stick with a floating line which is by far the most common type between the line and the Fly is a leader made from regular monofilament fishing line that has been specially tapered to present the fly properly [Music] you'll see scores of different fly fishing knots but for most fishing you need only two one to tie the fly to the leader and another to tie two pieces of leader material together to tie a Fly to Your Leader for trout bass and panfish the easiest knot to use is the clinch knot and it's one of the best the clinch nut which you may already know if you've done any kind of fishing you go through the eye of the hook wind the tag or short end around the standing part of the leader pass the tag end back through the loop right in front of the high and then tighten by pulling on the Fly and the standing part of the leader to tie on a new tippet to the end of your leader or to tie two pieces of leader material together you can use a triple overhand also called the surgeon's knot is just a simple triple overhand knot where you pass both ends of the leader including the tag end through the loop three times the line and later are tapered to make your presentation better fly rods and fly lines are rated with a number system that ranges from 1 through 12 with one the lightest and thinnest and 12 the heaviest and thickest lighter lines are more delicate heavier lines are needed to throw bigger flies and to cast farther especially when you have windy conditions luckily fly rods made for light lines are more flexible to protect light leaders and heavier fly rods have enough power to make long casts and enough Reserve power to fight big fish trout and panfish is size four or five rod in line is about right Rod's lighter than a four weight I use for small fish or very delicate presentations and are really considered specialty rods for a good all-around rod for both trout and smaller bass size 6 is often used for bigger Bass smaller Pike steelhead salmon and smaller salt water species a size 8 is the most popular size for very large flies and very heavy fish a size 10 11 or even 12 might be used don't forget a fly rod should always be matched to the correct line size otherwise it won't perform at its best [Music] you can see popular lures to flies they both do the same thing both try to imitate Bait fish and other forage like frogs the only real difference is that fly patterns are virtually weightless in comparison to lures the weight of Allure is how an angler propels it to the target with fly fishing we Propel a feather light fly pattern to the Target except we use the weight of the line the simple mechanics of physics help us cast virtually weightless flies using a Long Rod combined with a weighted line and of course the actual casting is part of the magical appeal of fly fishing next we'll learn some basic casts that will help you get started no matter where you fish casting is one of the great aspects of fly fishing many find the rhythmic motion is relaxing and even therapeutic like other activities such as golf or tennis you need to learn the essentials in practice in order to achieve success but the key is that it's easy to learn foreign I can't think of a better person to introduce the basics of casting than my friend Pete kutzer Pete's an instructor then has taught thousands of people to cast a fly rod he truly loves teaching and his enthusiasm is infectious [Music] hi I'm Pete kutzer from the Orvis fly fishing schools and if you really want to catch fish the First cast you got to learn how to do in fly fishing is a reverse double mocha spiral cast [Music] all fly rods basically meet three things in order to uh to work the first thing they need to do is they need to bend when that Rod bends we call it loaded it's loaded with energy essentially the next thing that Rod needs to do is come to a very abrupt stop that's going to transfer the energy from the rod into the line getting that line to roll out when we cast we need to make this Rod Bend and stop twice then in stop Bend and stop once behind us and then once again in front of us the third thing we need to get this fly rod to do is we need to get that Rod tip that I'm pointing right at you to move in the straightest line possible straight to the Back cast and straight to the Forward cast if I get that Rod to move straight back and straight forward the line is going to travel straight back and straight forward if I travel in an arch come up then down up then down that's going to send that line down into the ground or into the water and down into the bushes behind you so just think Bend and stop Bend and stop and travel in that nice straight path when we're traveling in that straight path to a stop on that back cast and that straight path to a stop on the forecast we have to make sure that we pause in between those two casts and let that line roll out behind us just as that leader is about to straighten out that thin clear piece of line then we can begin our Forward cast when we're casting though we can move in a straight path virtually wherever you want you can make a straight path up over your head this is kind of a classic trout style of casting you can make that straight path more out to the side this is more common in some salt water situations or let's say you're in a tricky situation where you have to cast underneath the bush or underneath the tree we can make a low angle cast down here and get that fly out underneath something so that straight line can be at any angle we want around our body when we make that straight path back and that straight path forward we have to stay in that same straight plane what we don't want to do is get a curl around our body behind us or around our body out in front of us we want to stay almost as if there's a wall out there to the side in that nice straight line back and forward when we're making that cast we want to start off with a good grip you want that thumb on top and a nice relaxed grip and that Rod relatively in line with your forearm we're going to start nice and low and we don't want to go too far back when we make that back cast we're going to bring that Rod up using a little bit of forearm then a little bit of wrist and we want to stop somewhere you know across from our shoulder or across from our ear not way back like this if we come back too far that usually sends that line down and back and it's going to end up getting stuck in the trees or in the bushes so Rod tip low thumb on top smooth acceleration to that stop smooth acceleration to that stop I think pop to a stop if you will and then when you stop on that Forward cast think stop then drop stop the rod first that's going to allow that line to roll out and straighten out in the air once that line straightens out gravity takes over then we can lower that line back down to the water and get that line back underneath your index finger because now you're fishing [Music] sometimes when we're casting we have very limited Back cast space we can't make that complete Back cast and send that line behind us we might have an obstacle behind us like a tree a rock some bushes maybe another angler and in that situation we want to do a cast called the roll cast now the roll cast is a great cast but we kind of want to use it on the water we need to set up an anchor point and what we call a d-loop this is very common you'll hear this a lot in spay casting the d-loop is this little bit of line here behind me right here and the Anchor Point is that line touching the water we need some line touching the water and we want our hand up kind of near our ear across from our shoulder from this point then we can just make a nice forward flick of the wrist or a nice Forward cast and that's going to send that line out so we just lift this line up and come back nice and slowly dragging that line across the water stop right across our ear I like to tell people it's almost like you're talking on a telephone but if somebody really obnoxious or you're holding the phone away from your ear again and then from this point just a nice flick to his stop or pop to a stop if you will around eye level and that's going to get that line to roll right out [Music] [Music] when we shoot this line we want to have good timing we want to make sure that we're releasing that line at just the right moment and there's a couple different ways you can do this you can see it or you can feel it to see it what you're looking for is that nice Loop rolling out in front of you as soon as you see that Loop that's your visual indicator on when to shoot the line see the loop then you can release that line and start to shoot it if you want to feel it you can feel that Rod come to that good abrupt stop come to that nice stop then release that line so you can see it or you can feel it if your timing is off if you release that line too soon what can happen is that line can wrap around your arm wrap around your rod and it won't shoot out very nicely so we want that good timing and release that line after we stop make sure when you're releasing that line that you feather it through your hand you don't want to just let that line go and then strip it back in before that line gets straight so just think open that bail hold that line and your other hand your non-casting hand make that nice stop feather through your hand back underneath that finger closing the Bale then we can strip that line back in remember keep that Rod tip nice and low [Music] every other cast you hear about in fly fishing is a variation of either the pickup and lay down cast or the roll cast as we've seen here and you'll use these casts more often than any others practice these as often as you can and you'll have a lot more fun fishing with a fly people love fly fishing for many reasons for some it's a connection they feel with nature whether it's waiting on a mountain stream casting from a boat on their local pond or fishing in a mountain river fly fishing helps them get into the outdoors for others fly fishing is a means of relaxing unwinding and clearing their minds but there's one common thread among all of them and that's that fly fishing is a fascinating way to fish fly Fishers have to completely clear their minds in order to focus on the task at hand which is fooling a fish you have to forget everything about home worries about money life or full-time job this in turn helps you relax and even solve difficult problems because you've cleared your mind don't be intimidated by fly fishing it's just another way of fishing some people make it complex because they enjoy it that way but you want to keep it simple at first you could even catch trout with a simple outfit like this you've just seen how easy fly fishing can be and the principle is really the same whether you're fishing for trout bass bluegills Pike Bonefish or even Marlin or sailfish you've got a rod a reel a line in the fly it's just another form of fishing I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that it's the easiest thing you've ever done but I bet it's a lot easier than you think so keep it simple at first concentrate on basic techniques and worry about all that extra gear later just get out there and catch some fish in a local pond and see how much fun fly fishing can be the Orvis guide to fly fishing is supported by Orvis fly fishing Algoma country [Music] destination Ontario foreign office of Tourism Yellowstone Teton territory rainbow Ranch tourism [Music] the post Boatworks [Music] Global rescue [Music] trout Unlimited [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing

Views: 113,453

Keywords: orvis fly fishing, tom rosenbauer, the new fly fisher, brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, trout, how to, fly fishing, trout fishing, fly fishing tips, fly fishing for beginners, bass fishing, fly rod, mad river outfitters, fly tying, brown trout fly fishing tips, dry fly fishing for brook trout, dry fly fishing for trout, fishing fly, fly fishing for trout, fly fishing for trout for beginners, how to fly cast, learn to fly fish, small stream trout fishing

Id: NIDi3Kvt0Us

Length: 23min 55sec (1435 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 29 2023