Fly Fishing Rods – Getting The Bends

Picking a fly fishing rod is a tricky endeavor. Do you go with your ego, expected fishing environment or something else? While length is a factor, the bend or action of the rod is a key factor.

Flexibility

Fly fishing rods are often defined by their flexibility. In laymen’s terms, flexibility means how far the rods will bend when the same casting effort is used.

Minimal Bend

A fly fishing rod that has minimum bend is often called a “fast” rod. The lack of bend lets the angler get lots of speed on the cast. This speed allows you to cast very accurately and farther away than rods with more bends. While these benefits may sound great at first glance, a fast rod can be frustrating. There is no room for error when using the rod. If you are going to use one of these rods, you need excellent motion and timing. Generally, only anglers with a lot of experience should have a go at using fast rods.

Moderate Bend

The next step down from a fast rod is one with medium flexibility. These rods tend to have good flexibility, but the bend is restricted to the top half of the rod. The rod requires less perfection of motion and timing, but is fairly accurate. If you’ve been angling for a while and have the basic techniques down, a moderately flexible rod is worth a try.

Slinky Bend

If you are just taking up fly fishing, you should use a rod with maximum flexibility. While others suggest a moderate bend is better for beginners, a “slinky bend” rod gives you a lot of leeway when it comes to learning to cast.

Fly fishing is relaxing and enjoyable. Pick the wrong rod, however, and it can quickly become frustrating and stressful. If you use your brain, not your ego, when picking a rod, you will have a blast.

Dale
http://dalesblogs.blogspot.com/
http://unityblog1.blogspot.com/
http://unityberrytree.blogspot.com/
http://www.MyBerryTree.com/bt53423

Tying Fly Fishing Flies – The Frankenstein Fly

You can buy flies for fly fishing, but you’ll want to tie your own at some point. Undoubtedly, your first fly will be the Frankenstein Fly.

Of Flies…

There is a particular fly for every fish, location and situation. There are basic flies like the Woolly Bugger and millions of exotic ones. You can buy thousands of them, but it will set you back a pretty penny. So, it’s time to tie your own.

The first step in the fly process is getting some educated advice at the bookstore. You’ll need to browse the fishing section for the hundreds of books on the subject. You’ll see books like “Flies for Idiots”, “Be One With The Fly”, “I Fly, You Fly, We All Fly” and other mythical titles. Pick the one that seems tailored to your needs, buy your tools and supplies and head home.

One of the first flies most people try to tie is the Woolly Bugger. It can be used for most situations and seems fairly simple to tie. Since this is your first time, you’ll actually be tying the Frankenstein Fly whether you realize it or not. This is true regardless of the specific fly you try to tie.

With the Woolly Bugger, you’ll use a jam knot, a fluffy piece of marabou, lead wire and so on. You’ll follow the directions in detail. You’ll wind. You’ll strip fuzz. You’ll wrap like you’ve never wrapped before. In the end, you will have followed every step in agonizing detail. As you finish the last step, whip finishing your fly, you’ll step back to admire the best Woolly Bugger.

At this point, you’ll look at the book and your masterpiece. Then you’ll jump on the Internet and pull up pictures of Woolly Bugger flies. Then the neighborhood will shake with a piercing scream. Yes, you’ve created something that faintly looks like a Woolly Bugger, but strikingly like Frankenstein.

Congratulations, you’ve tied a Frankenstein Fly. Welcome to the league of mad tie scientists.

Have Faith

Tying flies is definitely an art. You will almost never get it right the first time. Don’t be discouraged. Keep at it. Who knows, maybe the fish will find your Frankenstein Fly to be a tasty treat.

Thanks Dale
http://dalesblogs.blogspot.com/
http://unityblog1.blogspot.com/
http://unityberrytree.blogspot.com/

Guide to Fly Lines, Rods and Reels

Buying your first fly fishing rod and reel is an exciting prospect. Knowing WHAT to buy, however, can be a bit daunting.

You need information to help you buy the right rod and reel and have the right line for the kind of fly fishing you want to do, where you want to do it, and what kind of fish you want to fish for. All of these things matter a great deal. There is no one-size-fits-all.

Fly fishing rods are specified as a length and an 'AFTM' number. The AFTM relates to the weight of fly line that the rod is designed to be used with.

Casting a line heavier than the rod is designed for can cause the rod to break, under loading it makes casting very difficult, since the light line will not flex the rod enough to make it cast properly.

It is vital that you purchase a rod that is suitable for your uses, and that you match that rod to the correct weight of fly line.

More Information:
http://www.landbigfish.com/affiliates/welcome.cfm?SiteID=1739&LinkID=2

The reel has to have the capacity to hold your fly line plus 50 feet of backing. That's all it does. It's simply a line carrier and it has no other use.

Some people try to play their fish on the reel, you'll see them, they're the ones that run backwards for 20 yards when they hook a fish in order to get a tight line between reel and fish.

Don't bother, it's much easier to hold on to the line that you were retrieving, and play the fish in, just dropping the spare line at your feet.Because you are only looking for a line carrier, you don't need to spend a lot of money on a fly reel.

More Information:
http://www.landbigfish.com/affiliates/welcome.cfm?SiteID=1739&LinkID=2

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About the Author:

Mick Hunt is a retired school teacher and an avid fisherman. After retirement he spends time on the river doing what he likes best…fishing. He also has created a rather significant income online to support his “habit.”
http://MickHunt.net


Dale
http://dalesblogs.blogspot.com/
http://unityblog1.blogspot.com/

Bamboo Fly Rods

A well built bamboo rod is one of the finest rods available. A classic bamboo fly rod is not a simple bamboo pole.

The rod is made from split sections of bamboo, planed into tapered sections that are then glued together to form a hollow, tapered rod.

The type of bamboo used for a bamboo fly rod is called Tonkin cane (Pseudosasa amabilis). This bamboo has very straight canes with high quality wood.

There are a number of books available on building the rod. The tools needed are probably more difficult to make than the actual rod.

Luckily, Yagers Flies sells bamboo rods. The bamboo fly rod is experiencing something of a revival as people look for a classic, handmade fly rod.

More Information:
http://www.yagersflies.com/elbaro.html

Each bamboo fly rod is a handmade artifact. In the early days rod builders were extremely secretive about how they built their rods.

There were no books available and information was very difficult to come by. The men who built these rods had to go through an apprenticeship and were naturally reluctant to see the knowledge of rod building become generally available.

With time this changed and today there is a lot of information on building, restoring, and collecting bamboo fly rods.

Up until the 1830's fly rods were made of wood. These were very long, over 10 feet. They were fairly easy to make but had problems with warping and breaking, especially near the tip. They were also heavy.

Some builders tried laminated wood for the tips and later, laminated bamboo strips. They used a type of cane from India called "Calcutta Cane".

This was an improvement and with time the entire rod came to be built with laminated bamboo. At first just two strips were used but eventually the six strips we see in today’s rods were used and by 1870 this was the accepted form used in most fly rods.

More Information:
http://www.historyofflyfishing.com/?hop=bunker1313

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About the Author:

Mick Hunt is a retired school teacher and an avid fisherman. After retirement he spends time on the river doing what he likes best…fishing. He also has created a rather significant income online to support his “habit.”
http://MickHunt.net