Basic flyfishing Essentials

This blog will be about the things that you should have in you tackle box/fly box or bag, whatever you use. There are many things that you will need and more that you will need over time. The basics that i recommend are as follows.

1-Rod and reel
The rod /reel combo that you purchase should be balanced, for example if you have a #5 rod you should have a #5 reel. I would suggest for the newer fly fisherman to pick up a #6 or #7 rod . This is a little stiffer and i have found that it is much easier for the beginner to cast with.

2-Main Fly Line
Your main fly line should also balance to your reel, so if again you have a #5 rod/reel combo you should use a #5 line. Now lines are a very indepth subject because there are so many different types. I will go thru a few for the beginner, but if you want to know more there are books on the market on this subject.
If you are new to this sport i would suggest going out and picking up 2 lines, 1 full floating and 1 medium sink. For the floating line i would make sure that you pick up one of good quality such as the Cortland 444 or the Cortland 555, these are not cheep they run around $60 for the 444 and $90 for the 555. For the sinking line for the beginner i would go and pick up a good intermediate sink like the Cortland 444 Intermediate or the Cortland 444 Full sink. They also run around the same price as the floating lines. If i were to go a little cheaper i would do that on the sinking line, make sure that you buy a good quality floating line. There are many other lines that you will buy once you are more familiar with the sport but for now i would stick with the 2 line i have explained.

3-Tapered leaders and Tippet
Tapered leaders are the lines that you attach to your fly line.They are called tapered leaders because they are Tapered. The fat end of the line attaches to the fly line Via a nail knot as shown below. These come in many different lenghts and sizes, the one i would recommend for the beginner would be a 4lb 9or 10 foot tapered leader. Tippet is another one that will become over time personal choice. I remember when i started i used Dragon Fly tippet but for the last few years i have found that this brand is OK but not as strong as i once thought. The newer technology in tippet has come around and it is far superior, this is called fluorocarbon and this has taken the place of the old style mono. for the last 3 years i have been using Frog’s Hair fluorocarbon and have found it to be far superior. The fluorocarbon cost much more than the old Mono, but when it comes to strength Mono can’t compete. In flyfishing you want to use the thinnest line that you can so to fool the fish, the fluorocarbon gives you that. A 6lb fluorocarbon line has the diameter of a 2-3lb Mono giving you the strength you need in a smaller dimension.

4-Other gear
There are many other things that you will need for starting out in this sport, i will try to list as many as i can, but there will be some that you will want that i do not list. you will need to get some dry fly floatant, pick up a good brand, i have found that the cheaper brands tend to sink the fly after a while. Next pick up a good hemostat (thin pliers) seen here on the right. you will find that they are an invaluable tool if you want to practice catch and release. The next thing would be strike indicators, this is only if you want to try Chroinimid fishing. For the the beginner i strongly recommend that you fish with a indicator until you have a few seasons behind you. You should also have some weights in your bag, the kind of weight that i use is called soft weight. This weight like the name is soft so you can form it on your line or the head of the fly. This will help if you are trying to fish deeper than you fly line will go. One more tool that you will need is a good quality clipper. This is so that you can cut off the excess line that you will have once you tie on your fly. Pick one up that also has a pin in the end of it, this is used to clean out the eye of the fly, the eye’s can get head cement in them and will not allow you to put your line thru. If you plan on doing any night time fishing i would also pick up a small flahlight that can hook onto a hat ar your jacket.

5-Fly Boxes
Fly boxes are again a personal choice. if you always fish from a boat i would suggest that you pick up one large fly box that can store all of your flies. If you are in a tube/pontoon or on land i recommend that you buy several different boxes. I have one for Chronimids, one for dry flies,m one for wet flies and on for river flies. On top of these boxes i still have a large double sided box that has the bulk of my flies, all i do is make sure that i keep all of my smaller boxes stocked with flies before every trip onto the water.

I hopr that this is enough info on this for all of you. As i have stated you will end up picking up more things as you get better and wish to explore this great sport further. If you have any questions on gear please leave a comment with your e-mail and i will try to answer all.

Wishing everyone tight lines and tons of fish.

NEXT: Fishing the Skagit River

If i fail to do another blog by Christmas. i would like to wish eberyone a happy and merry season and a great new year!!

Chronimids ( The stillwater undulator)

Chronimids are probably the most abundant of all the insects available to trout. The trout target this insect as soon as they can. Chronimids are so abundant in some lakes that the surface of the lake is like a dust storm. I have been to some lakes in June that i have had to wear something over my face to stop from eating them. The chronimid goes thru many different stages in it’s life cycle, i will try to explain the stages as easily as i can so as not to get to in depth. I will go into more detail on life stages of insects in a future blog. Chronimids are fished from ice off until freeze up and are available for trout to feed on thruout the water column. The trout usually don’t hit them hard they more often than not just sip the in, so when using these flies you will need to pay attention. Sometimes the slightest bit of movement of your line or your indicator can be a strike. For the beginner i suggest that you start fishing chronimids by using a strike indicator. A strike indicator is a small float or small piece of yarn that will float on the surface and as the name suggests, indicate if you have a strike. I fish chronimids with a indicator if there is chop on the water and fish without one if it is calm, but i still find it much easier to see a strike using a indicator and i have been fishing with chronimids for almost 15 years. You start by finding the place you want to fish and anchor you craft, if in a boat you should anchor both the front and the back of the boat to stop it from turning. Once you have found your spot and anchored, you can find out the depth of where you are fishing. I use marks on my anchor rope to find the depth. Once depth has been determined, set your indicator at 2-3 feet from the ground and tie on your fly. Cast your line away from the direction of the wind so the the line will stay tight on the water and you will be able to see the strike. Once your line is in the water you will need to wait until the fly has sunk all the way before starting your retrieve, this may take several minutes depending on the depth you are fishing and the type of chronimid you are using. Once your fly has made it to your set depth you can start a slow, and i mean slow retrieve. The most common type of retrieve is the figure eight. With this you slowly and loosely wind the line in a figure eight around you hand. The retrieve should be very slow and you should take a 20-30 second pause from retrieving every once and a while. Keep a close eye on your float, if it moves in any way ( unless there is waves) set your hook. The strike can be as little as you float moving slightly sideways or as large as your float going right down under water. If it is not a strike you will need to let your fly sink down again. This can be a extremely affective way of catching trout, but it can be very slow and frustrating also, so you will need to be patient. Chronimids come in many different colors and sizes and there is not room to explain them all here, if you want to learn more you should go pick up a book on the subject. I have a fly box that is dedicated to chronimids only and it has around 200 flies in it. You will need at least 4 different sizes and at a minimum 4 different colors. They are black,green,brown,and red (bloodworms) and this is at a minimum. I would say that you will need to have 4 flies of each size and color and you should have color variations of each of these colors also,( dark green,light green, etc…). The sizes vary from lake to lake but a safe bet would be to have sizes #12,#14,#16,#18. This would be a good start to your chronimid fly box. Again every fisherman has personal faves mine is the black body with red ribbing and a snow cone bead head, i have found that this is the best fly, but again it depends on what they are targeting, the fish can be very choosy with size and color. If you have on a #14 olive green because that is what you see in the water they might be hitting on a size #14 light green, like i have said it can be very frustrating. To the left on this page are just a few of the examples of the chronimids in different colors and styles. I will go into more detail on life cycles of chronimids and other insects on a future blog, For now i will just stick with explaining on how to fish the different types of flies.

Like i have said, this can be by far the most productive type of fly fishing there is but you will need to learn about it and be patient. GOOD LUCK.

NEXT: FLYFISHING BASIC TACKLE AND ESSENTIALS.

Wishing eveyone tight lines and tons of fish.

DRY FLY PATTERNS

Dry fly fishing is the most exciting aspect of fly fishing. The reason i say that is because you see the strike and the violent splash and this really turns on the adrenaline. Once you have learned to cast there is nothing more exhilarating. The dry flies that i will list will be for lake use, not to say that they cannot be used in rivers,but for now i will concentrate on lake fishing.

1-Sedges. Sedge fishing is by far my favorite type of fishing, the strike can be explosive. Fishing a sedge is done on a full dry line so that the sedge will float high in the water. Once you have tied on a sedge you should apply some fly floatant to help it ride nice and high. Sedge fishing is sight fishing (kinda) once you see a rise you cast in that direction. I have found that when the sedge hatch is on and the fish are targeting them your cast does not have to be exact. The fish go a little loopy and a heavy cast usually does not scare them off. Cast your sedge in the direction of a rise, then wait 5-10 seconds then start retrieving with sharp 2-3″ pulls. I have found that if there hasn’t been a strike within the first 15-20 pulls there usually won’t be one, pull in and re-cast. Sedges will usually start there hatch mid day, but i have found over the years that fishing from 6pm until midnight is the best time for this. After dark you will need to listen for the rises and cast toward them, once your fly is out there if you hear a splash in the direction of you fly try to set your hook. Now this might not be a strike at your fly, it may be a fish going for a real on, re cast in the same direction as quick as possible and start again. Sedge fishing is usually best from Mid June thru until Sept depending on elevation.

2-Tom Thumb. Tom Thumbs are another one of those flies that represent many insects. They represent sedges,may flies,adult midges (Chronies), along with many others. It is probably the most versatile fly in your box. It can be fished in many ways, you can fish them like you fish the sedge, you can fish them on a dry line with a very slow twitch style retrieve. Another way is to troll,yes troll them on a dry line with lots of line out. I found out about this by accident, i was casting my tom thumb into a shoal without much luck so i decided to move. I left my line out and kicked to the next spot and bang Fish on. I thought that it was B.S luck so i tried it again and bang Fish on, from that point on i have always trolled my Tom Thumb when moving from spot to spot.

3- May Flies. May flies are another summer time staple for trout. Like i have said before every fisherman has their favorites, this is not one of mine. Mayflies are a very productive way of fishing, but for some reason i have not got into them. I do know that the retrieve is very very slow and perhaps this is the reason i do not like to fish with them. I am one of those guys that isn’t the most patient in the world. I suggest that you try to us these, but you will have to read up on techniques on how to.

I hope that i have givin you some insite to the world of dry flies. Good luck all.

NEXT: Chironimids

Wishing eveyone tight lines and tons of fish.

Basic Flies that the Begginer should start with

There are some flies that all fly fisherman will have in their box. Some fisherman will have many of these and some will have only a few, we all have our personal choices. The flies that i am going to list off are the Staples that you will need when fishing the lakes of B.C. I will start by listing off wet flies.

1- Leeches. Leeches are one of my favorite flies to use, they are a year round staple of trout in B.C. lakes. There are many different ways to fish a leech, the 2 most common are by trolling (slow) and casting and doing a slow but jerky(2-3″ pulls) retrieve. Usually the fish will hit this fly very hard so hang on to your rod. You should have a few different colors in your box( black,Red, and Brown)

2-Scuds (shrimp). Scuds are another staple of trout in B.C lakes. This bait is available year round for trout. Scuds are fished similar to leeches, only you will need to make smaller twitches on retrieving them(1-2″ )

3-Dragons. Dragons are yet again available to Trout all year long. Dragons are by far my favorite fly to use, i find the the fish seem to not be able to swim by these juicy morsels. Dragons hang out on the bottom of the lake and when ready to emerge they usually head toward the shore where weeds are available for them to climb onto. The Trout will hit these flies very hard ( I think because they can bite back) and will take off like a rocket. Dragons are fished by very very slow troll or by casting and doing a very slow irregular retrieve ( 1-3″ long pulls)

4-Damsels. Damsels are again a year round staple of Trout. They also hang out at the bottom and have similar habits to the Dragon. Damsels can be trolled but i have found that casting is way more affective. Damsels are dainty and they act like it in there movements. Best ways to fish damsels are to cast with a wet line and do a slow retrieve(1-2″) pulls or to fish them almost like a Chronie off a dry or sink tip line with very very very slow figure 8’s around your hand. This is a very common retrieve with Chronies and will be explained in the books that i recommended previously.

5- 52 Buicks , 1\2 backs & Spratlys.These are flies that don’t really represent anything, they are what we call search patterns. They are good way to sweep the lake and look for weed beds drop off’s and shoals. 1\2 backs and 52 Buicks are a olive green in color Spratlys come in many colors (Black,red,brown,green,and even yellow) I usually troll these on new lakes,or until i get a fish. once i get one i will usually pump their stomach to see what they have been feeding on.

I hope that this helps you with the start of your Fly Fishing experience. At first i recommend that you buy your flies, after you get to know the sport a little better you should tie your own. I always have my field fly tying kit with me when i go to a lake. You never know, you might ask a fellow fisherman what he is using and you don’t have it in your box, this way you can always tie up a few.

NEXT: Dry Fly Patterns

Wishing everyone tight lines and tons of fish.

More Flyfishing tips for the beginner !

In this blog i would like to try to help those who are just starting out with Fly fishing. I have done one general blog on this subject, but in the next few i will get a little more in depth on the subject. As i said on my first blog on this subject, Read up on the subject as much as possible. I recommended for you to buy the Gilly but there are a few more good books that i would like to mention.

1- Morris & Chan on Fly Fishing Trout Lakes
This is a Great book, it will help any fly fisherman new or veteran with many different subjects. For those of you that are new to the sport, concentrate on the basics, how to read lakes, equiptment and basic fly selection. Once you have read this go on to the next chapters.

2-Fly Fish Trout Lakes with Jack Shaw
This is another Gem of a book, Jack Shaw is another Guru to B.C. Fly Fishing. This book again will go over the basics and more. All of the books that i have recommended have many of the same subjects but they all are different. The way that the authors look at things is very unique and you will learn from all of them.

3-The Gilly
As i already said this is the book to get if you only want to buy one book on the subject. This is the Bible of Fly Fishing in B.C. The book is written in many chapters and each chapter is written buy a different author. All of these authors are legends in the Fly Fishing world. It will help you with every aspect of Fly Fishing and is still something i read at least 1-2 a year. As i have said more than once this is the book to buy,it will help you in so many ways.

Once you have read some of these books, i recommend that you take what you have learned and go buy a rod and some basic flies. Go out and practice( don’t have a fly on your line for practice just cast with the line), This way you won’t end up with a hook in your ear. I still recommend that you try to take a basic fly casting course, this will stop you from forming bad casting habits. After this go to your local lake and try your luck and see how you do. Most of all don’t get frustrated, it can be a little frustrating to learn how to do this,also don’t try to compare your cast to others. The i wish i could cast that far and that good sindrome will do you no good, the lenght of your cast and the quality of your cast will come in time. I hope that this helps you, and come back to check out the next Blog on Fly selection and identification.

NEXT: Fly selection and identification
Wishing you tight lines and tons of fish.

Peter Hope Lake

Peter hope lake is located just off hwy 5a just before the south end of Stump lake. This lake is 116 hectares and at 3550 ft in elevation. There is a fairly large forestry campsite on the north side of the lake closer to the west end. This lake can get quit bust so if you are planning to stay the weekend get there early, and even earlier on long weekends. The lake use to be a great place to take family and have a nice semi rustic camping experiance, but in the last few years development on the south shore has made the lake busy and not quite as peaceful. If i can i try to camp at litte peterhope lake, which is conected to big peterhope buy a shallow channel. The channel between the 2 lakes is usually passible with a cartop boat but can dry up during the summer. Fishing at peterhope has declined in the past few years due to the development but can still be quite productive. One thing about this lake is that it does take some time to learn what works on it,the fish can be very pickey and you could have a hard time getting any. There are BIG fish in the lake if you can locate then(up to 12 pounds). There are large marle(sp?) shoals all over the lake and both east and west ends have large weed beds. There is a large sunken island in the middle of the lake that comes up to 8-10ft in depth and the entire west end of the lake is one huge marle shoal. The lake has one very deep hole just off the campground that is close to 100′ deep.I have found that the western end of the lake near the weeds is very productive in the morning and the east end is more productive in the evening. For people that would like to troll try the south side of the lake starting at the western most cabin and trolling east to the large bay that leads to littlte peterhope. The bay at the channel entrance is another great place to do some casting, i have had good fishing in this bay at night(6pm-1am) using sedges in the second week of july. Other good flies at this lake are 1\2 backs,leeches,52 Buicks,chronies,and in mid-late september Boatmen.
Good luck to all who fish this lake as it can be moody, but if the fish are on it is one of the better lakes of the interior.

NEXT: More begginer flyfishing tips.

Wishing you tight lines and tons of fish.