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 #9: July, 2003.

"Summer time, and the fishing is easy. Fish are jumping, and the cotton is ..." well we all know how that goes.

Drink Water.
Take a bottle of water with you and sip it as you fish. It's all to easy to get dehydrated when fishing. Plus, when you are thirsty, you fail to focus on catching fish.

Sunblock.
Buy it and use it. This is a bit of a no brainer, but every summer I see 'lobster men' fishing for trout and smallmouth on many of southern Ontario's rivers. Remember that some sunblock products need to be on your skin for a good 20 minutes before they become active.

Productive Patterns.
Take a quick look at the Archive #8 for a full list of patterns. The trick is to go with smaller flies as the water should be low and clear. Caddis nymphs and caddis dries are always a good bet even in the hottest days of the summer. Remember, when it's all said and done, it is tough to beat a March Brown or a Hare's Ear Nymph. Try to stay away from beadhead nymphs in the summer. You don't need them in low water, and the glint from the bead will often spook fish.

Insect Repellent.
DEET is the active ingredient in many repellents. Unfortunately DEET will melt a fly line and render it useless. If you are going to use a product which is high in DEET, you should get all your gear assembled, before you apply the DEET to your skink. If you don't want to use DEET based products try the following tips.:
1. Avoid wearing aftershave and perfume or using soaps with scent in them.
2. Wear long sleeve shirts and make sure they are loose fitting.
3. Try wearing a mosquito net over your hat. They might look funny, but they do a heck of a job in keeping away the bugs. Bug jackets are a great investment.
4. When you are wet wading, wear long pants. Mosquitoes, horse flies, deer flies and black flies love to bite the sections of your legs which are not covered up by the water if you are wearing shorts.
5. Take a long sleeve shirt and spray it with insect repellent before you head out. Put it in a plastic bag and tie it closed. The repellent will permeate the fabric and you don't have to spray as much of the product onto the shirt to keep the bugs away. When you get to the river, simply remove the shirt from the bag and slip it on. It is a great way of keeping the repellent away from your gear. I also do this with my baseball cap.
6. Biting insects are most active about two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset. If you don't fish during these time slots, you can help prevent get chewed up.

Fishy Fly Refusals.
In the summer, fish are more likely to refuse your fly. If they do, these three simple things should help you hook up.
1. The fly is too big. You have the right pattern, but drop it down a size.
2. The fish saw the leader. Reduce the diameter of the leader and you can get them to strike.
3. Take another look at #1.

An Overlooked Pattern. (Shisss!)
One pattern which is often overlooked by Ontario fly fishermen is the cranefly adult. These are not complicated to tie, and there are oodles of dressings for them in books and on the Internet. Try using them for trout, smallmouth bass, carp and pickerel.

Summer = Static.
In the summer, many anglers will have the right fly, but they are fishing it far too fast. Slow down your retrieve and watch what happens. If you must fish a dry fly, try fishing them static. Static patterns will tend to produce more fish than those being ripped across the surface at breakneck speed. The same holds true when nymphing.

Summer = Small.
In the summer, smaller flies will fool fish much faster than larger flies. That's all I am going to say.