Hello everyone,
I'm new to fly fishing and have only ever used dry flies such as royal wolves, and bug matches. I have been told that wet flies work much better. I have only one reel for now but am going to buy a new one to put sinking line on, my currant one has dry line. I was wondering if it would be wise to strip off the dry line and put on my sinking line that I have? Also how do you fish wet flies, I have some basic minnow patterns like Mickey Finns and other things, I also have a small assortment of Wooly Buggers. As far as nymphs, I have a set of Bead head phheasant tail and some other ones I tied myself, any help to get me on the track to catching fish would be useful. Is it possible to fish a wet fly on a dry fly line, just sinking the taipered leader down with the fly? And my final quiestion is, how do you use a strike indicator?>
Please feel free to e-mail me!

Thats a biggie!!!

Well Matt if you are doin mainly lake fishing then go ahead and strip off the dry line, till you get the new reel. Then you are assured of seein a bigtime hatch happenin on the surface next time you fish!
Seriously though, there is alot to learn about flyfishing I would recomend htting a library and checkin out a book on it. Also type flyfishin into a search engine and you will find all you want. I know sportfishinbc has some excellent articles on chronomid fishing and virtualflyshop is another good un.
Right off the bat when you speak of "wet flies" I think of soft hackle flies that are "tumbled" down rocky areas of rivers. To me they are a different category then nymphs (pheasant tails, gold ribbed hare's ear, etc.) and streamers (wooly buggers, muddlers, etc.) I say this just to avoid confusion with some. Where you thinkin of fishin? C

Matt

Since I don't have an extra 35 hours to respond, let me be brief.

Leave the floating line on for now. Even when going wet, I usually use my floating spool and drop a nymph off a dry fly as the indicator, or use a corkie and drop two nymphs off of it.

It goes like this (for me)-

DT4F flyline nailknotted to a one foot section of Amnesia line.
Amnesia line, looped at the loose end to a leader (typically 5x, 9-12') that also has a loop tied into it and interconnect the 2 loops. About 18 inches to 2 feet of tippet surgeon knotted to the leader.
First fly, dry or wet, whichever way you choose.
If dry, tie another section of tippet onto the hookbend of the dry that is long enough to put your dropped fly near the bottom. If wet, I usually drop off the hookbend about 12 to 18 inches and adjust the depth of both by adjusting the corkie on the line above them (pegged with a toothpick to secure it in place)
Add little split shots or twist-ons as needed to get down in time, depending on the current.
Tippet in this case is 5-7x, depending on water clarity, depth, flow, sunshine, # of beers I had, etc.

Hope that helps. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions.

Steve

[ 05-14-2001: Message edited by: Saltine ]

I have had great success by finding a mentor to work with and go out with a couple of times. I also spend most of my personal time flyfishing instead of other methods. I really suggest finding a mentor. It would be nice if those who are not only good fly fishermen but good stewards of the sport passed on their habits instead of people picking up bad habits.

Get "Morris & Chan on Flyfishing Trout Lakes." That book is chock-loaded with information. It's written in clear and simple English and with a good sense of humor. Since Chan is an entomologist working for the B.C. government, the information you get is backed up with good science. To say the least, this is an excellent start.

I've got that book and feel the short section on "retrieve speeds" is very good information

Matt,

the Morris and Chan book is bound to be good. I can also recommend Dave Hughs book, "Strategies for Stillwater". It has a very good section on gearing up for lakes. It helped me get started on lakes.

In BC they often fish deep with a dry line by using a long leader, upto 25 feet. Of course it takes time to get the fly down and your retrieve has to be slow in order to keep it down. You can also weight your flies or you can use split shot to get the fly down faster and to help keep it down.

Hooking up with someone to fish with is a good way to go, too. You might also check the library for some videos to help you get started.

ACE

There are only 2 depths to lake fishing. The top few feet, and the bottom few feet. In the rest of the water, its sheer luck that you will catch anything.

Are you sure that your reel does not have interchangable spools? If so, you can probably buy a spare spool and load it with your sinking line.

If I had only one line to fish, I would fish a floating line, and stay off the lakes in mid-day, or fish the dingier ones.

One additional book that I just got is "Stillwater Trout" by John Merwin. One other thought is that constrained to a floating line, you might think about fishing rivers and streams for trout. Fly fishing lakes is a masters level class.

Matt,

Listen to Rob, I think he's given you the best advice yet.

If you can get on moving water holding cutthroat you can have a lot of success without too much technical skill. They'll take almost anything on top and they're a great fish. Do you get over to Idaho at all? There are several great cutthroat rivers in the State that would provide both enjoyment and experience.

ACE