Fly Fishing and the Different Types of Flies

When you think of fly fishing, two things come to mind – the casting of a fly line and the fly on the end of the line. Fly fishing flies are a unique aspect of our sport and are without doubt the most hotly debated aspect of fly fishing. Flies, typically fall into 4 categories, nymphs, dry flies, streamers and wet flies. Each of these types of flies have hundreds of variants that work in different situations, it would take an age to describe them all. So what we’ll focus on understanding is the key differences between the different types of flies.

Nymphs

Nymphs are a subsurface fly; they can be classed as either ‘nymphs’ or ‘lavae’ – they key difference between these two are that nymphs look a bit like the fly they will hatch into whereas larvae don’t. Trout feed on nymphs as they float downstream or up to the waters surface. The nymphs we tie onto our fly line imitate nymphs that are floating down stream after being dislodged by water pressure, a nymph that is moving to another food source or a nymph that is floating to the surface in order to hatch into a fly.

Fish feed heavily on nymphs, a trout, for example, can sit in on the bottom of a river and simply move toward the floating nymph, open its mouth and suck the nymph down. It’s easy food for little effort – that’s why fly fishing with nymphs can be so successful.

Dry Flies

A ‘dry fly’ is simply a nymph that has hatched into an insect with wings that sits on top of the water, or flies above it. The most common time for nymphs to hatch into flies, is during the warmer months. It is common to have a large hatch of flies on a summers evening, fish will feed aggressively at these times to chomp down as many flying insects as possible – this is the best time to fish with a dry fly. You’ll increase your chances of hooking ‘rising’ fish, if you ‘match the hatch’, or match the type of dry fly you use to the type of insects hatching on the water.

Purists often treat dry fly fishing as the only real type of fly fishing.

Streamers

Streamers are completely different to the two above types of flies. They are fished under water and represent a small batfish. Streamers are typically longer, larger flies that appear bushier; some streamers use bright materials which will often attract a hungry fish. Streamers are fished near the bottom of a lake or river. They are cast out, allowed to sink then retrieved; you’ll get some very aggressive bites or takes on a retrieved streamer as the chasing trout swims in and hits the fly by surprise.

Streamers are also a popular choice for fly fishing at night time.

Wet Flies

These flies, as you’d expect (and similarly to streamers) are fished in the water. Wet flies represent either small fish or larger swimming insects. Wet flies are commonly fished with a sinking line or intermediate line and are retrieved as they sink to the bottom of the lake or river.

Wet fly fishing is one of the oldest types of fly fishing and is quickly being overtaken by techniques such as nymph fishing.

The above types of flies cover the majority of all flies sold today. Each type has a huge number of variations or species, it can be quite daunting knowing which ones to choose for which pieces of water. The best way to decide on what fly to choose is to try and understand the aquatic life of the piece of water you’re fishing or even easier talk to someone and ask them what types of flies work well on that piece of water. Most fly fishermen will be happy to help you out if you are trying to learn to fly fish.

Preparing For A Weekend Of Fly Fishing

It seems that preparing during the week, for a weekend of fly fishing, heightens the anticipation and excitement of what lies ahead on the river come Saturday morning. It must be the ritual that I look forward to most, because it signals the start to another trip to the river. Even though the tasks may seem mundane, they hold promise for fly fishing.

It normally starts on a Wednesday night, over halfway through the week, when the weekend seems so much closer. Over the next few nights I’ll ensure that I prepare the following things:

Indicators
If you use strike indicators, then you’ll know how important it is that they float. Getting your indicators ready is an important task that can easily be overlooked. Combing out the indicator fibers will separate them and get rid of any loose fibers. Once separated, I spray the indicators with a floatant, this will help to keep the water out of the fibres and keep the indicator sitting high in the water.

Leaders
Tying up a couple of leaders can save you time on the water. I tie tapered leaders of varying length to ensure that I am completely prepared for all types of water that I may encounter on the trip. Gather each leader I tie in a looped bundle and put them into pockets in my vest, so when the time calls I can pull them out and tie them straight on.

Flies
This part of the preparation really starts to get the mind thinking of all things fishing. Trying to anticipate what fly will work on the river is always a hard task, so I ensure that I tie up a few loyal favourites and then a couple of patterns which have worked well before on the water I intend to fish. Often I’ll tie an experimental fly to try out when the fishing is a bit slow.

Plan of Attack
A plan of attack will ensure that you get maximum fishing time and minimal travel/downtime. I usually look at maps of the area I’m going to fish, photos, if I’ve fished it before, or articles on the area, if it’s new to me. The plan of attack isn’t exactly down to 15 minute blocks, but it gives me a general guide and ensures I’m ready to fish the water when I arrive.

By the time Friday night rolls around I’m in full fishing mode, little else occupies the mind and the anticipation levels are at an all time high. Through preparation I’ve just turned my two day fishing trip into a five day journey.

Choosing A Fly Rod

The first place to start when deciding to learn to fly fish is choosing a fly rod. The topic of fly rods is endless, everyone has different opinions on what works where, what rod suits what water, what rod will give you the ultimate distance, what size rod is best for what fish – but as a beginner there are a few key points that you need to understand before making a selection. Here I will address two of these: Rod Weight (including length) and Rod Action – these are the most important ones to get right!

Weight of a Fly Rod or ‘#’
The weight of a fly rod relates to the size of the fly rod, these are classified using a numbering system this ranges from 0 – 12 and above, but most rods will be within this range. The bigger the number, the ‘bigger’ the rod size i.e. a #7 (‘7 weight’) is a bigger rod than a #3 (‘3 weight’). An easy way to think of rod size is how much ‘power’ or how strong the rod is, this relates to the type of water you’ll fish, the types of flies you’ll use and the type of fish you’ll catch!

A 3 weight rod is a lightweight rod suited to smaller streams and smaller fish; you’d certainly struggle to control and land an 8lb fish on one of these! An 8 weight rod is suited to larger fish, such as an 8lb rainbow trout or steelhead, and larger pieces of water such as the river in the image. The important thing to think about when selecting a rod is, buy a weight that will suit the rivers/streams/lakes that you fish most often and the size of the fish in those pieces of water. For an ‘all rounder’ rod a #5 or #6 weight would probably be the one, but then if you’re mainly fishing for larger trout or steelhead a #7 or #8 would be better suited.

Length of the Rod
Rod length is not as critical to get right as rod weight. The most common rod length these days is the 9 foot rod; this seems to be the industry standard for most rods. However, for example, if you often fish in tight areas where overhanging bush is a factor, then getting a shorter rod would be a good idea.

Rods come in pieces, ranging from 2 pieces to 6, there is not great reason to select one over the other, it more a preference thing. Most of my rods are 4 pieces as they’re easy to carry around being more compact.

Rod ‘Action’
Rod action is a little more complicated than rod weight, but the easiest way to think about ‘action’ is how much the rod will bend (when under pressure from the cast). At a high level there are three groups of action, fast, medium (moderate) and slow.

A fast action rod is a much stiffer rod and will only really bend in the tip when put under pressure. These rods will enable you to get the greatest distance on your cast. A medium action rod with have a greater flex and will bend further down the rod when put under pressure – while it won’t enable you to cast quite as far as a fast action rod, it will be a little more forgiving on your presentation (placement of fly on the water). Slow action rods are very flexible; some will bend right over to the bottom of the rod – the softness of these rods give you great feel but are harder to cast and control for someone learning to fly fish.

Fly Fishing – the decision to start

So you’ve decided you want to learn how to fly fish, or at least look into taking it up – this will be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made. Fly Fishing is, without doubt, one of the most rewarding sports I’ve been involved in. It’s not just about catching fish, in fact far from it. Fly fishing has taken me to some of the most beautiful places in the world, just me, my rod and nature. It will take you to places that very few people in the world will ever get to experience and it will only cost you the gas for your car to get there!

So what is so great about fly fishing and why should you learn how to fly fish? Picture this, a crisp morning, you’re sitting beside a mountain fed river that has been there for thousands of years longer than you. The sun has not yet come up; you’re waiting for it to get light enough so you can see you’re line on the water. While sitting there you are contemplating what will be the result of your first cast of they day. Last night you spent hours tying flies, setting up your rod in front of the fire while having a beer with mates, talking through the prospects of the next day. The sky begins to brighten, you decide it’s time!

Standing in gin clear water you strip out line, preparing for your first cast of the day. You lift the line off the water, elevating the two flies you selected as you’re killer flies for the first part of the morning. You’ve got plenty of line in the air; you decide it’s time to throw the first cast onto the water, the line loops out on itself, softly cutting the water. You see the flies present themselves to the water, you’re now fishing…

You follow your line as it makes its way through its drift, waiting for the first chance of a strike. The sun is slowly starting to come up, you know it’s breakfast time for the rainbow trout you’re about to fool. You see an indication of your line going under the water, STRIKE and then the greatest feeling you can get on the water – tap, tap, tap on the end of your rod; the fish is on! You’ve successfully fooled your first fish of the day into swallowing the fly you tied last night using natural materials, a bit of thread and a hook. Adrenaline sets in; did I hook it well, where will I land it, how big is it, are thoughts that rush through your mind. You softly play the fish, it takes you back into the main flow, runs down stream and then runs toward you, it’s more of a challenge landing the thing! Eventually the fish tires and gives up, you’re able to net it, get your mate to take a quick picture then return the fish to the river to allow it to fight another day!

And as I say, catching fish isn’t just what it’s all about. Fly fishing offers so much on so many levels - I’ve taken dozens of first timers out on the water and every single one of them have loved it, fish or no fish, they’ve all appreciated the skill of the sport, the environment in which we’re lucky enough to practice it and the sense of accomplishment at even just getting the flies on the water.

In two minds about whether to Learn to Fly Fish? Didn’t think so; see you on the water…

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