School me on fly fishing

[75johndeere]

OK so I moved to western Montana last summer and worked thru them who fishing season but the other night a friend of mine that was moving to Texas gave me a reddington red fly rod so I have never fly fished before but want to try it so what do I need to figure it out ie type of reel books DVDs etc etc thanks guys

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[KopperBuck]

Get a hold of a local shop. A lot of times they put on classes/lessons. Same with the city, or college if you have one.

[JLS]

You can go with a pretty cheap reel, because for the fishing you are doing you don't really need a drag.  The basic Cortland, Scientific Angler, and Pfleuger reels are fine for trout.  All they do is hold the line.

Get a decent line, plan on 40-60 bucks.  If you are fishing more rivers you'll want a double taper.  If you are lake fishing a lot too you may want a weight forward line.  Put the braided loop connecters on the end of your fly line so you can quickly put on a new leader.

The local fly shops can help you with fly patterns.  Get on the water and learn.  Learn to cast, learn to double haul, learn to mend your line, learn to see a subtle take on an underwater nymph, learn to see what the fish are feeding on based on how they rise/surface/gulp, etc.

[75johndeere]

All the local shops want to sell guided trips I'll keep a eye out on classes but I'm not willing to spend 450 bucks on a guided trip to learn how. I'll be fishing the bitterroot Blackfoot and Clark fork rivers not a lot of lakes. Good to here on the cheap reel the poking around I have done at local shops they mostly have high end reels for 150+

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[JLS]

http://www.flyshack.com/DisplayCategory.aspx?CatID=503

Any of these would work fine.

You don't need to pay for a guided trip.  Take your rod to the park and practice your casting, then hit the water.

[Pathfinder101]

All great advice so far.  Yep, an expensive reel not required.  Unless you are fishing for something like steelhead, it's just basically a line-holder.  Yes, lessons are the best way to go.  If you try to learn it yourself you will likely just wind up getting frustrated and throwing your rod across the lawn. Fly casting is not really "throwing" the line, it is a balancing act where you lay the line out straight at the end of the performance.  That theory will take a little while to get used to. 
I would say that a decent weight forward floating line that matches your rod would be good to start out with.  Get some decent 9 foot leaders and a few dozen of the most popular flies.  If I could only have a half dozen flies in my box for Montana, they would be the elk hair caddis, the parachute adams, the bead head hares ear nymph, the bead head pheasant tail nymph, the wooly bugger and some sort of weighted stonefly nymph. 
 Don't go get a guide, any guide that wants to get a good tip will expect you to already know what you are doing when you get in the boat so he can concentrate on finding you the fish. 
Good luck, and be careful...this is more addicting than golf...

[7mmfan]

As an ex-fly fishing guide, I can't stress enough the benefit of going on a guided trip when you are first starting out. It may seem like a ton of money to pay to have someone take you fishing, but if everyone is on the same page, and the expectations are set that you are trying to learn how to do this, and not just chase a bobber down the river, then its definitely worth your while. You will learn more about not just how to fish effectively, but the entemology and bug hatches, and phases that make ALL the difference when fly fishing. You will learn on your own, but it will take you 10 times longer.

You've got your rod, and the advice on a cheap reel is basically right. Invest in a good weight forward line, they are way easier to learn to cast with then a double taper, and will work for more techniques as well. A Rio Grande is great all around line, as well as a Airflow Supple Impact. Stay away from Cortland lines, and most Scientific angler lines. Learn to "pick it up and lay it down" most fly fishing is not "casting". You can accomplish a lot by picking up 20' of line and putting it back down. The fish are in the water, not the air after all.

Once you can put your line in a hoola hoop at 30' consistently, and feel good with the rod in your hand, hire a guide and go for a float. Tell him you want to learn multiple techniques that you can use when fishing from shore, since that is what you will do mostly. Any guide worth his salt will slow down and teach you anything you want to know.

Feel free to PM me, I'll be happy to give you any advice I can give you.

[JLS]

As an ex-fly fishing guide, I can't stress enough the benefit of going on a guided trip when you are first starting out. It may seem like a ton of money to pay to have someone take you fishing, but if everyone is on the same page, and the expectations are set that you are trying to learn how to do this, and not just chase a bobber down the river, then its definitely worth your while. You will learn more about not just how to fish effectively, but the entemology and bug hatches, and phases that make ALL the difference when fly fishing. You will learn on your own, but it will take you 10 times longer.

You've got your rod, and the advice on a cheap reel is basically right. Invest in a good weight forward line, they are way easier to learn to cast with then a double taper, and will work for more techniques as well. A Rio Grande is great all around line, as well as a Airflow Supple Impact. Stay away from Cortland lines, and most Scientific angler lines. Learn to "pick it up and lay it down" most fly fishing is not "casting". You can accomplish a lot by picking up 20' of line and putting it back down. The fish are in the water, not the air after all.

Once you can put your line in a hoola hoop at 30' consistently, and feel good with the rod in your hand, hire a guide and go for a float. Tell him you want to learn multiple techniques that you can use when fishing from shore, since that is what you will do mostly. Any guide worth his salt will slow down and teach you anything you want to know.

Feel free to PM me, I'll be happy to give you any advice I can give you.

Out of curiousity, why don't you like Cortland 444 lines?

Agree completely on pick it up and lay it down.

[JLS]

I got a PM question about the braided connector.  Here is a link to the Orvis brand.

http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=1051

Here is a link to the Perfection Knot that you will use on your leader butt so you can do the loop to loop connection.

http://www.animatedknots.com/perfection/index.php

[7mmfan]

As an ex-fly fishing guide, I can't stress enough the benefit of going on a guided trip when you are first starting out. It may seem like a ton of money to pay to have someone take you fishing, but if everyone is on the same page, and the expectations are set that you are trying to learn how to do this, and not just chase a bobber down the river, then its definitely worth your while. You will learn more about not just how to fish effectively, but the entemology and bug hatches, and phases that make ALL the difference when fly fishing. You will learn on your own, but it will take you 10 times longer.

You've got your rod, and the advice on a cheap reel is basically right. Invest in a good weight forward line, they are way easier to learn to cast with then a double taper, and will work for more techniques as well. A Rio Grande is great all around line, as well as a Airflow Supple Impact. Stay away from Cortland lines, and most Scientific angler lines. Learn to "pick it up and lay it down" most fly fishing is not "casting". You can accomplish a lot by picking up 20' of line and putting it back down. The fish are in the water, not the air after all.

Once you can put your line in a hoola hoop at 30' consistently, and feel good with the rod in your hand, hire a guide and go for a float. Tell him you want to learn multiple techniques that you can use when fishing from shore, since that is what you will do mostly. Any guide worth his salt will slow down and teach you anything you want to know.

Feel free to PM me, I'll be happy to give you any advice I can give you.

Out of curiousity, why don't you like Cortland 444 lines?

Agree completely on pick it up and lay it down.

Cortland lines are stiff in my opinion and have a high memory, which isn't the end of the world, but it does affect your casting stroke and how you need to cast to accomplish certain things. They also tend to wear out faster. NOW, what I consider fast is inside a year with  100-150 days on the water. I've found the Rio lines and the Airflow lines tend be durable, supple, and very easy casting. They float well, and for the average fly fisherman, they will last at least a few years.

[7mmfan]

Also, most of the better lines these days come with welded loops on the end for a smooth loop to loop connection. Those braided loops are awesome if that is what you have to use, but they have been known to fail and are kind of a pain. Invest in a line that has one already.

[JLS]

Thanks for the insight.  I'm due to replace a couple of lines this year.  None of my Cortland 444's ever came with the welded loops

Maybe the TR2 would like a Rio

[ryanfam]

I started flyfishing the same neck of the woods that you are located. You may want to try some smaller streams that are not as intimidating as the larger rivers. Some suggestions are the two forks of the Bitteroot south of Hamilton,Rock creek, Lolo creek. Any of the small streams on your decent into the Big Hole have tons of brookies in them that are eager to jump on a well presented fly. That is the key to have your fly travel down the stream at the same rate as all the naturals. Learning how to mend your line will get you onto fish.

Good luck as you picked a great spot to learn how to fly fish.

[JM]

I lived in Hamilton for 7 months doing Instrument work at the GSK when it was being built and I fished fished almost every single day I was there. Since I don't see myself being able to go back, I will fill you in on some of the stuff that I learned about the area if you want PM me. I'm sure a guide would be a great idea, but I enjoy figuring things out myself. One thing that you should know is that there should be a March Sqwalla ( I think that's how you spell it) hatch starting up and if you hit up the east fork of the Bitterroot You'll get into some pretty amazing cutthroat fishing. Also don't worry about trying to get to hard to reach holes, because the ones off of the highway will produce just fine. Like I said PM me if want any info and wanna save $450

[75johndeere]

Ok we'll got rigged up today and even had some front yard practice. Ended up with my rod reddington red fly 9'6" 7/8 weight. A echo ion reel 4/5 weight. A airflow wf-5-f line and a dozen flys for what's hatching right now ill have to start learning about our local bugs because I had no clue what the guy was talking about when he was explaining what they simulate and what was hatching right now.( it's those wasquilla things jm was talking about. Thank you guys for the help and I'm sure I will have more questions but the plan is to hit the river on Saturday morning to try or luck.