Fly fishing and fly casting

Fly fishing may not always be the most effective way of catching fish but to me it is the most challenging and rewarding. To try and deceive a fish into taking an artificial imitation of a fly or insect by different methods of casting in all types of weather has to be one of the most demanding and exciting methods of fishing.

I have found that fly fishing transcends all of the social barriers of age, sex, status and wealth. To gain complete enjoyment of fly fishing, it is better to study all of the areas that make the sport so fascinating. Basic entomology looking at what insects the fish feed on is of enormous benefit if we are to be more consistent in catching fish

Studying the habitat of the fish and being able to read the water is also a great advantage to catching fish. Good fly casting will most certainly enable us to put the fly just where the fish expects to see it. Fly casting is a joy on its own and the devotees can spend many hours perfecting the different casts to enable them to cover more water. Fly tying is also an art and gives the angler the opportunity to catch fish on their own creations, something that has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

For some there is great satisfaction in the study of rods reels and various equipment. I have many friends who delight in the collection of fishing books and tackle such as old reels and fly boxes. Fly fishing is an art form to be enjoyed not only for all the different elements involved but for the sheer beauty of the surroundings that you will encounter. It might be a deer that suddenly appears and crosses the river. A kingfisher that sits and watches you or the otter that suddenly appears on the opposite bank. Sit and watch the insects hatching and the fish rising.Appreciate the peace and quiet and the sheer joy of being out in the open.

Too many people are now coming into the sport thinking that they have to get their limit every time they go fishing. It's great to catch fish but there is a lot more to fly fishing, so try and enjoy the experience as a whole.

Let's take a look at how it all started and how new technology has helped the modern angler.

If you can, imagine way back in about 200 A.D. anglers watching the fish as they rose to take flies floating down the river. Not content to just catch fish, it was decided to try and catch them using imitation fly's. They constructed fly's out of bits of wool wound around a hook with a hackle near the eye. As a method of getting the fly to the fish, the hair from a horse tail was attached to a small branch of wood and swished onto the water.

Most probably, the fly was permanently attached to the horse hair and the fisher would cut a suitable rod from a branch whenever it was needed. The rod was about seven feet in length so the length of horse hair would have been about the same. This would have restricted the cast and made it more difficult for the angler to be out of the fish’s vision. Centuries later, longer rods came into use but still without a reel and using the same method of making the line out of strands of horse hair tapering down from five or six strands to one or two. The angler was measured in stature as to how many hairs they tied down to.

The fish was played by the bend in the wood and if the fish was not kept under the curve of the rod, the line broke. Look at old photographs and you will begin to understand what it must have been like. I have tried this method and it is an experience to say the least. The introduction of the fly reel allowed the angler to use shorter rods and from there on, things just got better and better.

Today we have the most modern rods made out of space age materials giving us a choice of actions to fulfill our every need. We have reels that have the finest disc brakes and also keep our lines memory free. The horse hair and silk lines have long been forgotten and the market is full of the very best PVC coated fly lines. They will not only float we can also choose how high they float.

If we want them to sink we can decide at what rate we want them to. I think the Roman Centurions would have been impressed, especially with all the modern fly patterns that we now have available. The study of the history of fly fishing is well worth the time and effort and I have provided some links on the links page for any interested party. Just spare a thought next time you are out fishing and imagine you are using a rod like Isaac Walton and have just spent hours preparing your fly line before you even set foot on the river bank.