The idea behind this piece is to help the beginner fly fishing. The terms used and the basic methods employed in fly fishing may be unfamiliar to the beginner at fly fishing, so we will commence from the very beginning. So, if you are a beginner fly fishing person, please read on.
The instruments required for fly fishing are generally known as tackle, but if you want to be more specific about the sort of things you need, you can add the words “fly fishing”. So, you get the phrase: “fly fishing tackle”. Fly fishing gear basically comprises artificial flies, a fly rod, a fly reel and fly line. The set-up is: the fly is attached to the line, which is wound around the reel, which is attached to the rod, which is used to cast the bait (the fly).
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 kinds of fishing line, because a weight is used in other forms of fishing to obtain the same result. Furthermore, the artificial flies are available in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours to reflect real, live flies, depending on the type of fish the angler intends 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 location 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 think elsewhere.
However, there are classifications of flies too, although they fall into two basic general categories, which are known as ‘attractive’ and ‘imitative’. The imitative artificial flies resemble real flies, whereas the attractive flies only rely on colour or the reflection of sunlight in order to lure fish without necessarily resembling the fish’s usual diet.
Further sub-classifications are then used to sub-divide artificial fly fishing lures into: a] dry (resembling grasshoppers, dragonflies, etc. which float on or near the surface of the water); b] sub-surface (resembling larvae, pupae) and c] wet (looking like leeches and minnows and other small fish or fry).
The biggest distinguishing feature between fly fishing and non-fly fishing is that fly fishing relies to a great extent on the weight of the line to get the artificial fly to that part of the water where the fish are schooling, probably at some distance from the shore. The line is often camouflaged and hollow like electrical wire coating, so that it will float.
Non-fly fishing depends rather on the attached weight, usually made of lead, to draw the line off the reel and carry it forward to the correct spot, where the weight will also take the bait or lure down to the feeding fish.
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