Fly fishing Tips You Can Use:
Fly fishing advice from one of the top Grand River fly fishing guides in Ontario. Fly fishing tricks and fly fishing tips which you will use, not only on the Grand River in Ontario, but across Canada. This is the original fly fishing Tips and Tricks Page on the Internet. Don't be fooled by imitations.

Here Are the Fishing Tips:
Archive #1: May 2000.

A few tips and bits I guarantee will get you more fish. I am often asked the same question, "How can I get more fish?" The answer is far easier than most anglers think. The following tips should help you catch more fish. They have been working for my clients for over 15 years. I will be updating this section of my website on a regular basis. So stay tuned!

Buy a rod case.
... and transport your rod in it every time you head out fishing. If you don't want to buy an expensive case, a section of plastic plumbing pipe or a chunk of down spout with a rag stuffed into each end will work just fine. Most rods get busted in transit of when they are getting set up or taken down. At the height of the season you don't want to be waiting for a manufacturer to send back your pole. A rod's best chance for a bust up is just when you need it most. And you might want to take along a back up rod (and reel) just in case there is a major malfunction with your equipment - SNAP - at three in the morning when the fish are becoming suicidal and you are miles away from the nearest store.

Buy a hook sharpener ... and don't be afraid to use it. In fact, buy two and keep one stashed away in a vest pocket for that special moment when you are chest deep in water and have dropped the first one you brought. A hook sharpener is as essential as your rod and reel. Sharpen the fly before you start fishing with it (even those that are straight out of the box) and more importantly sharpen the fly every time you get snagged but manage to free the fly. Dull hooks won't catch fish. Dull hooks won't catch fish. Dull hooks won't . . . you get my meaning!

To check if a hook is sharp, lightly run it across your thumbnail. If it scratches the nail or sticks as you move it GREAT! If the hook point slips across the nail leaving no trace, good luck, that is exactly what it will do when you try and "set it" into the jaw of the biggest fish you've ever had take your fly. A dull hook is a great tool for releasing a fish, just before you manage to get it to a net or grab it for a photo op.

Get Knotted!
Practice tying knots before you go fishing. Keep a small spool of mono, a pair of snips and a fly with the point removed in the car glove compartment, or in your briefcase or backpack. Good times to practice tying knots are; when you're stuck in traffic, when there is nothing worth watching on TV - lots of opportunity there, waiting in the departure lounge for trains and planes, traveling in trains and planes - not if you're driving -, and the ever popular waiting for laundry or during dull meetings or lectures.

I never let a client tie the fly to a line. Why?
1. I don't trust anyone else's ability to tie a secure knot.
2. I don't want to hang about for half an hour while they faff about, especially when it's 10 degrees or pissing rain.

In the words of the crusty old Scottish guy who taught me to fish, "If yir faffin' aboot 'n yir fly'z no in the wattir, yi canna catch fish, kin yi?" Translation: "If one is mucking around with the terminal tackle and the lure or fly is not in fact in the water, then there is little or no chance of hooking a fish because the thing that may be attracted to the fish is nowhere near the spot where the fish were located."

Still knot convinced? Okay, think about this. Just suppose you take two minutes to tie a fly onto a tippet. If you bust off five or six flies an hour, you have just lost 10 to 12 minutes of ACTUAL FISHING TIME for every hour you are on the water. On a day on the river, you could be "knot fishing" for about an hour! Think about the DOWNTIME if you take three or four minutes to tie a fly to a tippet. Eeeeeek! Ho, I almost forgot, another little bonus to practicing knot tying is that you get to know which knots work best for different leader materials.

If you tie a fly to a tippet and there are small kinks in the line just before it enters the knot, CUT OFF THE FLY AND DO IT AGAIN. Kinks in the line are a good indication that you have weakened the mono. Guess what's going to happen when the fish of your dreams latches onto the fly? "@#!!*$!"

Size matters.
When you have a fish follow a fly but it turns away at the last minute, you have the right pattern but it is one size too big. Switch down a size or two and you will probably convince the fish to have a go. Now is the time to start stockpiling all those time consuming deer hair bass patterns. Hopefully you will have most of your trout flies you will need for the season, done up before the opener. When the trout fishing "gets good" you will be too busy fishing to work on summer bass flies. So, start them now. When the bass start biting you want to be fishing and not sitting at your bench making flies. Plus, at this time of the year there are always good chunks of deer hide to be found in stores. Who thinks about buying deer hair when trout has just opened?