Fishing Frenzy

The purpose of this piece is to assist the beginner fly fishing. The terminology and the basic practice used in fly fishing may be unfamiliar to the beginner at fly fishing, so we will start from the very beginning. So, if you are a beginner fly fishing person, please read on in order to become acquainted with fly fishing.

The things required for fly fishing are generally called tackle, but if you want to be more accurate about the type of instruments you need, you can add the words "fly fishing". So, we use the phrase: "fly fishing tackle". Fly fishing tackle, or gear, basically consists of artificial flies, a fly rod, a fly reel and fly line. The way it works is: the fly is affixed to the line, which is wound around the reel, which is attached to the rod or pole, which is used to cast the fly or other bait.

To be able to cast the fly as far as wanted from the angler, the line has to be a little heavier than the other kinds of fishing line, because a weight is used in other kinds of fishing to get the same effect. Furthermore, the artificial flies are available in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours to reflect real, live flies, depending on the sort of fish the angler intends to catch.

In general, the artificial fly is made of hair, plastic, feathers, fabric, fur and other materials in order to make the lure as closely resemble as possible the insect or fly most commonly eaten by the particular species of fish at that particular month or time of the day. This means that each fishing spot requires that you select a certain kind of artificial fly that will look like the insects living in the area where your desired species of fish frequent. Therefore, a type of fly used in one part of the country may not be as successful as you'd expect in another.

There are variations in the classification of flies too. They fall into two basic overall categories, which are referred to as 'attractive' and 'imitative'. The imitative artificial flies look like real insects, while the attractive ones just rely on colour or the reflection of light in order to attract fish without necessarily looking like the fish's natural prey.

These classifications then further sub-divide artificial fly fishing lures into: a] dry (imitating grasshoppers, dragonflies, etc. which float on or near the surface of the water); b] sub-surface (resembling larvae, pupae) and c] wet (looking like leeches and minnows or other tiddlers).

The main distinguishing feature between fly fishing and non-fly fishing is that fly fishing depends to a great extent on the weight of the line to get the artificial lure to that part of the stream where the fish are schooling, probably at a distance from the shore. The line is often green and hollow, so that it will float.

Non-fly fishing relies rather on the attached weight, often made of lead, to draw the line off the reel and carry it forward to the right spot, where the weight will also take the bait or lure down to the feeding fish.