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?
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