Fly Fishing Setup For Beginners [Precise Guide]

Are you thinking about starting to learn fly fishing? If so, you are also thinking about doing something adventurous. Fly fishing is an adventurous sport, which many people also consider as a hobby. You’ll be catching fish with the use of artificial fly for getting started with this amazing sport. These artificial flies can be anything from invertebrates to several food organisms which lure the fish to strike on it for food. Fly fishing also enables you to understand nature and its components closely. In this article, we will be discussing the fly fishing setup for beginners to help you understand the beginner’s setup and precautions that you should take.

Some of The Best Fly Fishing Combos For You

Is Fly Fishing A Tough Passion?

If you are thinking about learning fly fishing, it might seem a lot tougher at the beginning, since you will have to know about several things which are totally different from the traditional way of fishing. To understand the exact meaning of fly fishing, you have to work hard every time you get ready for the journey to start fly fishing. You need to understand what it takes to lure a fish to strike on your artificial fly that could resemble several food organisms.

Sometimes…

You will be coming back home empty-handed when you are new to fly fishing. However, empty-handed doesn’t mean you will gain nothing. You will also be gaining a lot of knowledge about fly fishing and the necessary equipment every time you return back home from the journey of fly fishing. You will also be able to find out the good way to cast your fly properly as well as find better places to cast your fly.

Even though you aren’t able to catch any fish, you will also get to enjoy your time with the natural environment outside your home. Fly fishing isn’t just about catching fish, but it is also about learning new things and getting closer with nature. Who knows you could be doing fly fishing for your entire life to enjoy your time with nature.

Basic Fly Fishing Equipment

You will require a lot of different basic fly fishing equipment before getting started with fly fishing. These equipment are a MUST to start fly fishing. You can see professional fly fishers making use of other different equipment, but those aren’t necessary for you at the moment. You might want to use other extra equipment when you are starting to get bigger in the fly fishing industry. Here are some of the basic fly fishing equipment that you really need to have before starting your journey:

• A fly rod
• A fly reel
• Fly Fishing Line
• Few artificial flies

Fly Rod

Fly rod is one of the most essential equipment you need for fly fishing. You can get a decent fly rod from any amount above $50 depending on the quality of components included in the rod. Here are the major components in a fly rod:

• Handle
• Handle Extension
• Reel Seat
• Hook Keeper
• Ferrule
• Fishing Rod Blank
• Guides

Fly Reel

Fly reel is another essential equipment necessary for fly fishing. You can get different sorts of fly reels built with either plastic or metal. Getting a fly reel built with metal is a recommended option available at a reasonable price tag. However, you can get a plastic fly reel for a lower price range and with this lower price range, you will get a fly reel that can break down easily in a very short period of time. Similar to fly rod, there are several components included in a fly reel which are listed below:

• • Handle
  • Seat
  • Frame
  • Spool
  • Spool Release
  • Drag Set

You really need to purchase a fly rod and a fly reel of similar weight. There are several manufacturers which provide different fly rods and fly reels which match with each other in terms of weight, which is why we highly recommend you to get these rods and reels for a reasonable price tag including a discount.

Fly Fishing Line

There are several things included in a fly fishing line which are listed below:

• Fly Line, which is used for placing the fly over the water during the casting period.
• Fly Backing, which enables the other fly fishing line to connect with each other.
• Tippet, which keeps the fishing line hidden from the fish while the fly is placed over the water.
• Leader, which helps in joining the artificial fly and the tippet.

Artificial Flies

There are several types of artificial flies you might want to use for casting. Some of the major flies are enlisted below:

• Dry Flies, which resemble flying insects that can land and float over the water.
• Nymphs, which look similar to water animals like larvae and can float on the water surface.
• Streamers, which look like leeches and can also be considered as the major provokers for fish.

Besides these major equipment, you also need the following knots to start setting up for fly fishing:

• Arbor Knot, for providing backing to the fly reel
• Albright Knot, for providing backing to the fly line
• Nail Knot, to connect the leader with the fly line
• Clinch Knot, to connect the fly line with the tippet
• Surgeon’s Knot, to connect the tippet with the leader

With these equipment, you are ready to get started. However, you need to know some information about all these equipment. If you are a beginner in the fly fishing industry, you might want to spend very less money to purchase the necessary gears. But, when you are getting these equipments at a cheap price, some of the equipments start getting damaged or start degrading their performance. This might be a reason why you might think fly fishing is an overwhelming task. In fact, the reason why you think fly fishing is a tough task is all dependent upon the equipments you are purchasing. It is highly recommended for you to get multiple fly rods and reels in case you need a different fly line for fishing different kinds of fish.

If you purchase decent gears, fly fishing could be very exciting as well as you would be able to learn new things. You don’t need to worry about spending a lot of money to get the necessary equipments, since there are different manufacturers that provide well-functioning equipments for beginners at a lower price range.

Fly Fishing Setup

Now that you have known about all the necessary equipments such as fly rods and reels, fly fishing lines and artificial flies, it is time to get started with the setting up process of all these equipments for fly fishing.

This is the final step before getting started with fly fishing, and it is a little tougher. However, you can set up the equipments easily if you know how to tie the knots.

Now, we will be presenting you the fly fishing setup guide if you are a beginner in the fly fishing industry. Before getting started with the setup guide, you need to make sure that you have the proper information about all the necessary equipments and knots mentioned above.

You also need to make sure that you have read the instructions mentioned in the manual provided by the manufacturers of each equipment.

Fly Fishing Setup For Beginners-Guide

1. First, you need to connect the fly reel with the fly rod by sliding it over the fly rod. The reel will lock it into the rod properly.
2. Then, you need to pull off the backing around 30 meters depending on the size of the spool in the reel and the weight of the reel. What you need to do here is to enable the backing and the line to fill the arbor by spooling enough backing.
3. Now, you should connect the fly line with the backing with the use of albright knot by pulling off around a meter of the fly line.
4. Again, you have to pull off around 27 meters of your fly line and finally cut it off.
5. Now, you need to spool around 27 meters of the fly line onto the reel. Then, you need to do the same with the backing by spooling it onto the reel. Doing this will help you get proper backing.
6. With that being done, now you need to place the fly line or backing across the arbor by keeping the line taunt right after spooling in the above step. The fly line will automatically spool it from the lower part of the reel.
7. You need to continue spooling the fly line until it gets closer to the outer rim. However, you shouldn’t touch the fly line with the outer rim. When the fly line is close, you can cut off the remaining backing.
8. Now, you need to remove both the backing and the fly line.
9. What you have to do next is to connect the backing with the arbor with the help of an arbor knot.
10. You need to continue keeping the line taunt and spool it along the lower part across the fly reel by spreading the fly line.
11. Then, you should use a braid knot to create a loop along the ending part of the fly line. Creating a loop will help you perform further steps easily so that you can replace the leaders in the fly fishing line.
12. Now, you need to connect the leader with the help of a loop-to-loop knot.
13. Near the end of the setting up process, you need to use multiple surgeon’s knots to connect the tippet with the leader.
14. To complete the fly fishing setup process, you can finally place an artificial fly on the tippet with the help of an improved clinch knot.

These are all the necessary steps that you need to follow and implement to complete the set up process for fly fishing. If you are a beginner and have tied different knots before getting into the fly fishing industry, you will easily be able to complete the process.

You just have to do this once at the beginning. The next time you will be going for fly fishing, you won’t have to follow all these processes again since you can just replace the leaders to place other flies for casting. However, if you are thinking about changing the line weights as well, you have to perform the entire steps again.

Different Ways of Casting

When you have successfully completed all the processes required for fly fishing, you are ready to find out about casting. You can find different ways of casting, with their own benefits and difficulties. Here are the four aspects you need to look for before choosing the best way of casting:

• The location where you will perform fly fishing,
• The type of fish you are looking for,
• The casting distance you are planning to retrieve, and
• Your personal casting preference.

There are two different ways of casting for beginners you can find in the fly fishing industry. One of them is the Overhead cast, and the other is Roll cast.

Overhead Cast

If you are totally new to fly fishing, getting started with the overhead casting technique is highly recommended. To perform the overhead casting technique, you need to have all the necessary equipments as well as a larger area for fly fishing. In this casting method, the fly line is placed a little above the water surface, brought over your head, behind you and further cast forward in front of you.

The Overhead cast is further divided into two other casts. The first one is the Back cast, in which energy is loaded into the rod, and the next one is the Forward cast, which is performed just after loading energy.

Roll Cast

Roll cast is a casting technique which doesn’t involve any sorts of back casting technique as in the Overhead cast. You don’t need to stay at a large open space to perform a Roll cast, which makes it highly cost-effective. However, this method isn’t suitable for beginners. If you already have experience in the fly fishing industry, you will be using this method very less in your entire career as well.

To perform this cast, you need to bring the fly line facing backward slowly and hang it in a slack loop just at the ending of the fly rod. Doing this will result in the production of energy required to load into the rod to perform the cast.

Fly Fishing Casting Precautions for Beginners

If you are new to fly fishing, you need to be aware of several things while casting. Here are some of the major precautions you need to take while casting:

• You shouldn’t forget that the fly line doesn’t start or stop too quickly since the energy needs to be loaded into the rod while performing the Overhead cast.
• While performing the Overhead cast, you need to keep waiting until the fly line goes behind you to load energy into the rod.
• You need to make sure you don’t hurt yourself while the fly line is brought behind you as well as cast forward again during the Overhead cast.
• You shouldn’t move your wrist too much leading the fly line to not stay horizontal and prevent the loops from generating energy into the load.

Wrapping Up!

This marks the ending of our Fly Fishing Setup for Beginners guide. We believe this guide has helped you to know about the basics of fly fishing, the essential equipments, the steps involved in setting up the equipments as well as the different casting techniques you can implement while fly fishing.

You don’t need to worry about not being able to collect any fish at the beginning or even several times. Although you return home without collecting any fish, you will gain a lot of knowledge and experience regarding fly fishing and the proper way to use the necessary equipments. Over a period of time, you will establish yourself as an experienced fly fisher along with the excitement you feel while fly fishing. Finally, we hope you’d take fly fishing as a way to interact with nature and as an adventurous sport rather than just collecting fish.