Fly Fishing Education 101:

Yeah, I know. Is this really necessary?

There is a SHITLOAD of info available in all sorts of media to get yourself educated on this sport/pastime/gay ass artsy activity. What ever you want to call it, it isn’t like its brand spankin’ new and if you’re at a loss to figure it out, there are ways to get a leg up on the clueless, get smart, and get the most from your next trip. Whatever the situation, a local stream or lake or a weekend excursion, there are no excuses for not knowing what to be prepared for. If you’re gonna do it, make the most of it for yourself and rely on your learned knowledge versus that of the person that took you to where you’re fishing for the day or weekend, or, if your lucky, the week. Chances are, that person that took you there wants to just go fishing just as bad as you and wants to do it without having to keep tabs on you. Sure, there are exceptions, first timers, etc… still… even the “noobs” should do thier homework. What are you going to do to prepare for that next outing?

Let’s start with the basics:

BOOKS and MAGAZINES.

What are you looking for? Its easy… Search for it. Find it. Buy it. Borrow it. Steal it. Just get it. Its that simple.

All it takes is a little forethought and a few pages before bedtime for a few weeks before you go that will help you get educated before that next trip. Are you gonna be an expert after a few books? Of course not. Don’t be an asshole and think that either. Trust me on that.

It should be no surprise that there are books that will cover just about every facet of this sport. Rivers, lakes, ponds, fresh water, salt water… Even if you have nothing planned, it never hurts to fill in the gaps between what you already know and what you would love to do in the future. Yeah reading about the basics, gear, rigging, etc… is pretty dry but at the very least you can go knowing what “tippet” is and how it is important that your leader has the balls to “turn over” your fly. Plus, the next time you are hanging around with your fishing pals that already know this shit you won’t be the guy or girl asking the dumb questions about what size tippet you should use with “X” fly in”Z” situation and/or if you should be fishing a floating, sinking, or intermediate line. Even if you already know the basics about rigging etc…  pick up a book about baitfish or entemology or one on what your target species is. Learning a bit about your quarry will pay off on the water as will knowledge on how to read the water your on. It will tell you a lot. You just have to know what you are looking for.

DVD/Video.

This option is better than it has ever been.  Even our library in Toledo, OH has videos and DVD’s on fly fishing (along with books). Sure, they’re not holding Hustle and Fish or any of the AEG films but they have DVD’s and videos you could learn from and they span a variety of water types (fresh or salt). If your library sucks and you need this form of media to learn then I would suggest you hit your local fly shop or Google.

The Interwebs…

Ahhh the Interwebs… Probably the best source of info you’ll ever find. Sorry print media but its true. I love print and I would never carry a laptop to the shitter. But you should know that while your reading this there are others watching You Tube vids on fly tying or fly casting and those folks will use what they learned to out fish you.

Probably the best gig on the interwebs is the USGS Real Time Water Data. Hands down the greatest cheat sheet for what your river is doing at the moment and the recent past. USGS gauges are the next best things to being there. The trick is to learn the patterns and log what you see at any given flow for clarity and fish-ability. For example, you were on such and such river and the visability was at just over a foot at 340cfs. You can usually find some info on fishing forums to help out with this too. Once you get this part down, you’ll be hard pressed to ever waste a drive to find that the river is blown or just still muddy from the last blown out. Super important tool for steelheading the Great Lakes. Its easy to figure out. Go to your state, click on the river you want to see and presto. You get the flow in cubic feet per second, the height (at the gauge), and sometimes temp and other neat stuff like amount of dissolved oxygen. Hardest part is finding the river you want because they aren’t labeled at first glance but if you put your mouse on one of the dots it should pop up the name of the river.

YOUTUBE:

Great source for casting tips, fly tying, fish porn… Obviously lots of stuff there.

Blogs:

Just like the one you are reading right now. There is a wide variety of them out there and most are not aimed at how too’s but if you took the time to comment and maybe ask a question you might actually learn something from these people. Just remember that the blogger’s home base is internationally anywhere so the knowledge base is huge. We like to get hits on our blogs so asking us a quick question is perfectly acceptable. We reserve the right to publicly “flame” you though if you ask something stupid.