The idea behind this piece is to help the beginner fly fishing. The terminology and the basic practice used in fly fishing may be unknown to the beginner at fly fishing, so we will start from the very beginning. Therefore, if you are a beginner fly fishing person, please read on.
The instruments needed for fly fishing are generally called tackle, although if you want to be more specific about the type of tools you need, you can add the words “fly fishing”. Therefore, we use the phrase: “fly fishing tackle”. Fly fishing tackle, or gear, basically consists of artificial flies, a fly rod, a fly reel and fly line. The set-up is: the fly is affixed to the line, which is wound around the reel, which is attached to the rod or pole, which is used to cast the fly or other bait.
To be able to cast the fly as far as wanted from the angler, the line needs to be a little heavier than the other types of fishing line, because a weight is used in other kinds of fishing to achieve the same effect. Furthermore, the artificial flies are available in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours to reflect real, live flies, depending on the sort of fish the angler wants to catch.
Generally speaking, the artificial fly is made of hair, plastic, feathers, fabric, fur and other materials in order to make the lure as closely resemble as possible the insect or fly most commonly eaten by the particular species of fish at that particular month or time of the day. This means that each fishing spot requires that you choose a definite type of artificial fly that will look like the insects living in the area where your desired type of fish frequent. Therefore, a type of fly employed in one area of the country may not be as successful as you’d expect elsewhere.
There are variations in the classification of flies too. They fall into two basic overall categories, which are referred to as ‘attractive’ and ‘imitative’. The imitative artificial flies resemble real flies, while the attractive flies just rely on colour or the reflection of light in order to attract fish without necessarily looking like the fish’s natural prey.
These classifications then further sub-divide artificial fly fishing lures into: a] dry (looking like grasshoppers, dragonflies, etc. which float on or near the surface of the water); b] sub-surface (imitating larvae, pupae) and c] wet (resembling leeches and minnows or other tiddlers).
The biggest distinguishing feature between fly fishing and non-fly fishing is that fly fishing depends to a great extent on the weight of the line to carry the artificial fly to that area of the stream where the fish are swimming, probably at some distance from the angler. The line is often green and hollow like electrical wire coating, so that it will float.
Non-fly fishing depends rather on the attached weight, often made of lead, to draw the line off the reel and carry it forward to the right spot, where the weight will also take the bait or lure down to the feeding fish.
If you are keen on fishing and would like to read more, please go along to our website called http://fishing.the-real-way.com