**Official Fly Fishing Thread**

[Ricky]

Pandering to the Goats tastes in hopes of a good quality response? Fucking right I am.

I have grown up fishing in Illinois. Not a lot of fly fishermen here.

I have done mostly the standard fare of bank poles and trot lines (shout out to slim T, I dun knowed that I aint the only cuntry boy that doned skinned a fish this week) bottom and bobber fishing, and as I got older, a lot of jigging. Up until recently, I had never heard of spey casting, and watching some videos on the subject makes me want to get my fly rod out.

Tine (or even BVS, differences aside BVS, fishing is serious fucking business), could you send me on the correct path for beginners? I have a standard cheap fly rod, and have been using small floating flys that have a cupped mouth that "pop" when worked. So far, fishing at home (I live on a lake) I have only caught bluegill with it mainly. I work it around lily pads that you could never cast in with a normal pole.

So, in Illinois, what should I be after in terms of fish, and are these cheap walmart flys worth fishing, or should I be looking for better gear (and a different state to fish in?).

I assume mastery of one-handed fly rods is a natural ladder rung to full-out spey casting?

This weekend I caught 11 yellow belly catfish, 2 channel cat (one was about 12 pounds) all on bank lines.

I then took the boat home, and "pretended" to fish my fly rod. I swear I had more fun practice casting.......catching nothing more than the glint of sunset in my eye.

Serious thread.

[badbilly32]

while i did actually break my fly rod out( i believe it's a starter like 6 weight..i will not be using it this weekend( i need backing and leaders and all new flys so ...)

that being said, it is opening trout season in pennsylvania! i will be making my annual track up to mercer county pa.(im pretty sure this is b.c.r.'s neck of the woods). i will be fishing the "little shanni" under various one lane bridge's up and down the river

tackle consists of a 4 foot ugly stcik with ultralight reel/2-4 lb test and #10 hooks, with corn(fukkin corn is a trout killer) and/or the smallest black rooster tail/panther martins i can find.

always a super good time, even though the trout (rainbow/brook/brown)are stocker's for the most part, and prolly avg 9-14 inches.they fight like a son of a bitch, on ultralight tackle!

of course you cant actually throw a line in the water till exactly 8am on saturday morning. i will find myself at the river by no later than 6am , to start a small fire, and drink a jug of bloody marys....i cant wait for saturday morning!

[sonatine]

Ricky, where are you fishing?

[sonatine]

ok glad i could help

[Ricky]

Ricky, where are you fishing?

As I said, I live in Illinois on a lake. The cove I live on has a tributary stream, and I have been fly fishing the mouth by casting up current, and letting it float over areas that I think fish are hiding. There are several eddys around bends in the stream, and I have also tried two of those, as I believe that larger fish favor the deep eddys, and I hope to tag one coming or going from the depths.

But, I have had fuck-all luck with the fly rod, with the exception of bluegill, and a couple crappie.

Was your post a way of telling me to put away the fly rod until I go to where the game is Sonatine?

If so, I reject that, because whipping that line around is fucking exhilarating. Its the adult version of your first snoopy pole. Making that fly land in a 6" gap between Lilly pads over and over, affords a feeling akin to the first time you ride a bike, or your first successful loop-T-loop playing with a yo-yo as a kid.

Its tits. Its really really fun.

Yo yo man FTW BTW.

[sonatine]

This is pretty much my last attempt to help you:

What part of Illinois?

Fly fishing in lakes is -EV to begin with, Im trying to find you a viable body of water to actually fly fish correctly.

[sonatine]

You can certainly catch anything on a fly rod, but a lot of your equity comes from the current, which lends itself well (not always) to presentation.

You can absolutely tie on a cork-body or deerhair popper and fly fish with it, youll often do well too. But Id prefer we teach you how to fly fish from the bottom up so to speak.

Some peripheral questions:

- what weight is your leader, how long is it

- have you cut open any fish to see what they are eating

- are you using a floating or sinking line

- are you willing to get out of your comfort zone and visit a stream or river

[Ricky]

This is pretty much my last attempt to help you:

What part of Illinois?

Fly fishing in lakes is -EV to begin with, Im trying to find you a viable body of water to actually fly fish correctly.

Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought you were giving me the fuckoff lol.....

I am in southern IL.

I have fly-fished a grand total of 12 times max, just got the pole last summer. I fear that my flys are loltastic.

[Ricky]

BRB with answers.

[sonatine]

so a couple of things jump out at me after a few minutes of googling..

- south il. stocks a lot of ponds, not so many rivers/streams.

- it does 'trout parks', which are basically combat fishing (youre shoulder to shoulder with other anglers). there is nothing fun about this. youtube "combat fishing" for examples.

so you may be on the right path just sticking with home turf.

[Ricky]

Some peripheral questions:

- what weight is your leader, how long is it

- have you cut open any fish to see what they are eating

- are you using a floating or sinking line

- are you willing to get out of your comfort zone and visit a stream or river

Sorry, had to pick up my kid from bus. Now...

1- Not sure on weight, but I would guess about 4-5lb, and the leader is about 20"?

2- No, and this obv tip is obv, except I am obv stupid. Will do this soon and report back.

3- Floating.

4- I have fished the small stream tributary, but have had better luck actually catching standing lakeside, and ninja popping/working the line in Lilly beds. I am willing to travel for a good fish this summer.

[Ricky]

No ty. I would be snagging nigs left and right, and be sent out of the creek on a rail.

[sonatine]

ill tell you point blank, if i was in your shoes, id fly to arkansas and fish the white river.

thats on my bucket list and im 100% serious.

[Ricky]

This looks amazingly fun.

[tommyt]

To me fly fishing is meant for streams and small rivers. Mainly fishing for trout. Where I live in WV fly fishing is great. But I pereonally just wade and use joe's flies and jigs for trout. Works about the same.

Fly fishing in the streams around me are catch and release (people mainly fish catch and release with fly fishing).

But game wardens are very strick imo. Don't get caught in these areas with a barbed hook.

Also for lakes, use the worms in saw dust ony one thread it up needle with a little left at end for movement. About a foot above that have a split shot sinker and a slip sink above that. But before you put work on thread (may seem crazy but it works) mini marshmellows. This way the sinkers will be at bottom of line and marshmellows will keep bait floating up.

[Bootsy Collins]

I did a snowboarding trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming and I heard that it is the spot to be during the summer to fly fish.

[sonatine]

Your leader is waaaaay too short. Leader should be 7-9 feet at least. Consider dropping down to 3lb tippet as well.

I dont know a thing about catfish on flys, I wouldnt bother since catfish arent site-feeders anyway. Id concentrate on bass, panfish, and trout tho. Try using a hairs ear nymph or a woolly bugger between size 10 and 16. A streamer might also do well. Largemouth/smallmouth tend to like big noisy meals so consider scaling up your poppers until they match a realistic frog size..

If youre serious about fly fishing then you will almost certainly start looking for trouty waters soon. Im hearing the Lower Ill. River is stocked with trout so you may definitely be able to find less populated sections on it. Also, I cant stress this enough, get friendly with a local fly fishing shop. Those nigs know the time. A fishless day is never wasted on the water but to a small extent, its certainly squandered if a 5 minute convo with a tackle shop employee can get you in the fish.

Oh and always remember to buy something when you get advice from them, its an unspoken rule and singles you out as a class act to a degree. Example, if the guy says woolly buggers are the nuts, pick up 5 of them in various sizes, plus some leaders, yada yada. It really helps.

Remember there are no rules with fly fishing; if you want to dead drift a salmon egg, dead drift a salmon egg.

One more piece of advice, pick up a small pair of pliers and remove the barb on your flys hook. The barb is useless for keeping a fish on, it damages the fish horribly, and it can turn a 10 second release process into a 10 minute release process. They arent worth it, seriously. And the first time you accidentally hook yourself (it happens) youre going to be real fucking glad there wasnt a barb.

[Ricky]

Your leader is waaaaay too short. Leader should be 7-9 feet at least. Consider dropping down to 3lb tippet as well.

I dont know a thing about catfish on flys, I wouldnt bother since catfish arent site-feeders anyway. Id concentrate on bass, panfish, and trout tho. Try using a hairs ear nymph or a woolly bugger between size 10 and 16. A streamer might also do well. Largemouth/smallmouth tend to like big noisy meals so consider scaling up your poppers until they match a realistic frog size..

If youre serious about fly fishing then you will almost certainly start looking for trouty waters soon. Im hearing the Lower Ill. River is stocked with trout so you may definitely be able to find less populated sections on it. Also, I cant stress this enough, get friendly with a local fly fishing shop. Those nigs know the time. A fishless day is never wasted on the water but to a small extent, its certainly squandered if a 5 minute convo with a tackle shop employee can get you in the fish.

Oh and always remember to buy something when you get advice from them, its an unspoken rule and singles you out as a class act to a degree. Example, if the guy says woolly buggers are the nuts, pick up 5 of them in various sizes, plus some leaders, yada yada. It really helps.

Remember there are no rules with fly fishing; if you want to dead drift a salmon egg, dead drift a salmon egg.

One more piece of advice, pick up a small pair of pliers and remove the barb on your flys hook. The barb is useless for keeping a fish on, it damages the fish horribly, and it can turn a 10 second release process into a 10 minute release process. They arent worth it, seriously. And the first time you accidentally hook yourself (it happens) youre going to be real fucking glad there wasnt a barb.

1-Will pick up a longer leader asap.

2- I caught the catfish on bankpoles, not fly fishing, was just trying to drum up interest in fly-fishing by searching for common ground with other fishermen by mentioning that (Slim T, I dun knowed u fish).

3- I feared this, because the exhilaration I get from simply fucking casting leads me to believe that I am on to something good. Guess I am off to find trout waters, hopefully within day-trip radius.

4- My gear is from fucking WalMart. Will take your advice and actually go to the local shop, I know there is a guy that sells his own flys.

5- Barbless, noted.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, while all of this info is readily available, I find the discourse to be preferable. Will report back some findings after the weekend.

Cheers.

[sonatine]

When I first got to Vegas I hadnt fished in a long time, and decided I wanted to take some baby steps, so I bought a rod/reel/line combo off amazon for about $150-$200. It served me beautifully and I still keep it around as a back up, even tho Ive been building my own rods for the last year or so. Point being, the bang-for-buck factor in fly fishing gear is hilariously +EV.

One thing you will probably want to sink money into first is your fly line btw. I splurged on Shark Skin #5 Fly Line and Id say the quality, distance, and ease of casts went up 100% straight away.

Hollar at http://www.allenflyfishing.com/ when youre ready to upgrade reel/rod. Especially the reel. These guys are peerless in terms of cost/value right now.