Beginners tips for River Flyfishing

[Paul Arden]

OK I'll start this off!

1. Don't just jump in without observing and reading the water first.

2. When trying to spot fish, first read the water to work out where to look.

3. Heavy footfalls spook fish as does walking along the banks downstream along water you intend to fish!

5. If it's not working, change the fly, if that doesn't work change the fish.

6. When it's happening fish hard, because it could switch off at any time. Conversely when it's not happening you could be getting on with the rest of your life, or investigating the river or trying something different.

(it's a list guys/girls)

[Aitor]

Amendment :

5. If it's not working... change angle, presentation or both. Then change the fly if necessary.

[foreignmuck]

Yup change fly as a last resort!

7. Trout face upstream and generally dont move around in rivers. If you haven't had a fish after a few decent casts into a likely looking spot move on as there was either never a fish there or you spooked him. Unless you can see a fish, standing in that really nice spot on the big pool with plenty of space for a back cast after the third or fourth cast is a waste of time generally. Move on.

[Born Again]

8. Fish that live under brushes/trees etc are used to food plopping into the water from above. In this situation, finesse is pointless and even counter productive, use a "plop" or "splat" delivery and hold on tight.

9. After you've been wading that cold river for half an hour, your legs will go numb and it won't hurt anymore.

10. When wading a chalkstream, at some point a big pike WILL make you jump. Have a Wooly Bugger ready just in case.

[victor]

Rule No 1 should be, first get your fly on the water and not tangled in bank side vegetation or the nearest bush ( from recent, bitter, experience).

Mike

[Aitor]

Rule No 1 should be, first get your fly on the water and not tangled in bank side vegetation or the nearest bush ( from recent, bitter, experience).

It is one of the problems that practicing on a manicured lawn can't solve.
In that case a partial solution is to use oval casts: if, instead of a fish, you hook a branch behind you it is easy to retrieve the fly. You'll probably go on hooking branches but at least you won't lose your stuff.

[Zoran]

11. If 1-10 doesn't work , see 12

[Zoran]

12 . Bring some nice , willing SheepGirl with you :whistling:

[Eric]

13) See rule 12.

14) A good drift (right at the same pace and direction as the bubbles) makes all the difference, especially with bigger fish.

[Rich Knoles]

15. If you don't lose a few flies, you're not on the bottom.

[jomeder]

16. Don't be afraid to use smaller flies when nymphing. The fish can still see them. When I first started fishing rivers I was using a lot of size 10s and 12s but not having much luck. When I changed to size 16s I suddenly started to hook fish. 95% of the fish I catch on nymphs are with size 16s. Size 10s and 12s look massive to me :-).

Regarding rules 7 and 14, a good drift can make all the difference when blind fishing. A number of times I've come across a spot I was sure a fish would be and have run a few average drifts by it with no luck. Then I get a really good drift and suddenly I've got a fish on. So I'll add one more:

17. Until you are confident in controlling your line on the water it's worth the effort to get into a position that helps you get a good drift. As you get more experienced you'll be able to cast across a current seam and mend so you still get a good drift, but until then it's easier to position yourself to cast up the current seam even if you need to make a bit of a longer cast.

18. You can get closer than you might think to sighted fish. When I got started I thought I needed to keep my distance at all costs, but since then I've caught lots of sighted fish that were just a couple of rod lengths away. Having less line on the water makes it easier to control and easier to strike.

19. A roll cast pickup is really handy for fishing rivers. A problem I had when I got started was the line coming downstream towards me and tangling round my legs and feet. A roll cast pickup allows you to keep the line away from you and also lets you pick up the line off the water without waiting for it to straighten out behind you. I almost always uses roll cast pickups when fishing moving water.

[Paul Arden]

or 17. Never cast across a current you can wade across / when sight fishing the place you see this fish is normally not the right place to make the cast.

20. In Spring and Autumn the best time to be on the river is during the late morning to late afternoon. In mid-Summer the best time is around last and first light and through the night. Usually.

21 When crossing rivers be sure to assess the situation correctly. Usually the tails of pools are easiest. Don't fight the flow in a big river, use it to get across. At some point you will end up going down one, go feet first and don't panic.

22. Fish usually have several different lies in a river, one is their usual eat a little and rest a lot lie, another is eat a lot and rest little and the third is panic under a tree. Big fish often move into the tails of pools to feed at night.

[Will]

23. (Where you can't see the fish). The ring of the rise usually isn't where the fish is. You need to cast above the ring to put the fly in front of the fish.

23a. Fish in slow water often patrol the stream - so beware of lining a fish that rises and then moves towards you.

[Rasmus]

24

A downstream presentation can be very effective because it often gives a very good and easy drift and makes the fish see the fly first and at the right (natural) angle... But it takes much more stealth and often a longer controlled cast (far and fine) compared to an upstream presentation.

[flyfishfairwx]

25. the saying - you can not step into the same river twice, is very true, related to Fly fishing the river, take into consideration the weather the night before, the weather today and later today, weather over the winter and spring last month, - you get it - that includes precipitation, pressures, and even if you have not been to a spot since the end of the season, the run off could have changed the river dramatically, this happened to one of my favorite sections of Mystery River O, new river now and that is great by me..