other equipment and flies

[dholschuh]

First off I would like to thank everyone who respond to my first post. As you may I have read I'm relatively new to fly fishing. I read from several sources that I need backing and tippets.What kind are size of backing or tippets should I have ? I bought some bass leaders from cabela's a few day ago along with some new line. Besides tying your own flies or buying your flies from a fly shop.Are they any catalogs out there for fly fishing besides cabela's? Are there any ISA members who sell flies? Thanks again fellow buggers and looking forward to your responses.

 

Dustin

Smallies on the Rock

[Greg C]

Do a Google for Rainy's Flies. They have some nice bass flies there. A few of our members sell flies for smallies, myself included. Other companies that sell flies & related items are...

"The Fly Shop" and "Feather Craft" come to mind, but you can also visit a fly shop. There are a few in the Chicago area, and there is a fair amount of fly fishing related gear at Gander Mountain, if you don't live near Chicago.

 

 

 

[jude]

You can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. I keep it simple. (Suits my brain.) I'm sure you'll get other opinions on this, and I'm no expert, but I don't even use a tippet. I tie a nine foot piece of mono onto my fly line and tie my fly directly to that. The Bassbuggers may kick me out for this, but I even use a tiny snap to make it easier to change flies. The smallie flies I throw are big enough that it works for me. Would a tapered leader and tippet improve my presentation? Probably a little. Do the fish care? Not that I can tell.

 

P.M. me your address and I'll send you a few Jude Bugs and Clousers to get you started.

[Mike Flyrodder Miller]

There aren't as many dedicated flyshops in the Chicago area as there used to be and some are better than others. Some are helpful and some just have an attitude at times. You have to try them and see which ones suit you. As for big box stores, there are more than there used to be in the Chicago area. There is a Cabela's in Indiana and in the northwest Chicago suburbs. There are three (3) Bass Pro Shops in the Chicago area - Gurnee, Portage, and Bolingbrook. I work part time at the fly shop in Bolingbrook and we are offering free workshops this spring. One is an introduction to flyfishing basics and is going to be offered March 19, April 23, and May 21 starting at 7 pm and will be about 1-2 hours. Another is flyfishing knots for freshwater ans saltwater being offered on March 26, May 7, and May 28 starting at 7 pm and will be about 1-2 hours. There is also going to be the Great Water Fly Show at the Renaissance Center in Schaumberg Feb., 20-22.

FWIW

[John Loebach]

Come to the Blowout 3/7 raffle will include boxes of flies from the members swap & others as well as gear. Also mark your calender for the Flies of the ISA on 4/4 an all day tye along with at least 6 patterns demonstrated. This event is aimed & timed to get new members out, & its FREE - if you don't tie now you will have by the end of the day.

[Stuart_Van_Dorn]

Things about setting up your fly reel. I've been using Power Pro as backing material for some time. It's available at nearly every fly fishing/tackle/fly shop around. Your reel should have come with instructions on how to do some of the basic things like changing spools. reel care and how much backing to put on. You can put it on yourself. Backing is mostly there to keep your fly line from spooling up too tight around the spool, provides a bit of a cushion, depending upon how the fly line is attached makes it easier to change out fly lines with a loop to loop connection. There's some excellent references out there how to add backing. Any of the line manufacturing companies is a good place to start: Scientific Anglers, Cortland, and my favorite, RIO. Or you can have the local fly shop set your reel up. Some shops charge for this, some don't. Call and ask their policy.

 

Flies, like Jude says, pretty basic. Top, subsurface and bottom. Sounds like Jude and John have you covered there. There's a smorgasbord of flies out there and some work well on our streams and rivers depending upon time of year and forage base. You'll eventually develop a confidence in what you fish with.

 

I'd suggest that you also check out casting websites. The important thing to remember is that fly fishing, as a friend of mine reminds, "The worst way possible to go fishing." And I tend to agree with him, right after I pummel him with a marabou feather. What makes fly fishing enjoyable is casting. What makes it terrible is the same thing. I always suggest that people go to their local pond and practice their casting. Practice making a good backcast and good forward cast. Don't try for distance. Work on form and technique. It doesn't take long, it just take some time. Find flies that you can cast with your set-up. There's nothing worse than having a clouser minnow whack you in the back of the head, get stuck in your shoulder or rip your sunglasses off your face. Ask me how I know.

 

As far as leaders and tippet go. I know that I am about to get crucified for saying this and skewered by my trout buddies. but Jude is right. I use whatever my buddy has on a spool for tippet. A short piece if I'm using a sinking line, a rod length or so if I'm using floating lines. The only time I use tapered leaders is when I'm throwing dry flies on a 3wt. For bass I don't worry about taper. Mostly I worry about abrasion. Any brand name line is good. I've even used yellow Stren!

 

And Jude about that swivel thing. Actually I'll use a small swivel when casting big poppers or big bugs with wings. Also, just to make sure that I get kicked off the trout snob list, I've been know to tie on a 00 spinner rig. You can get them at Do-It yourself. You do need an 8 or 9 wt to cast them and you'll be black listed but smallies like to smack them.

 

Hopefully some of this stuff will help. Try not to be discouraged when the line puddles in front of you or wraps itself around your head. Or you aiming at a spot and it lands in the next county. Or you decorate the trees around you.

 

So hit those free workshops, come to the flies of the ISA, and look for a box of flies from Jude. Show up at flies at the ISA and I'll drop a few in your hat. It's fun!

 

 

 

 

[John Loebach]

Stuart has some good suggestions. Made me remember if you come to the Great Waters fly show there are free one on one casting lessons by certified instructor sponsered by the FFF all day all 3 days. I'll add the same offer as Stuart , see me and I'll give you some samples of my favorite flies.

[bjensen]

Here are the links to all the places I do business with. Just go to their websites & request catalogs.

 

http://www.feather-craft.com/ (If they don't have it, you don't need it. In St. Louis, free tying lessons on Saturdays.)

 

http://www.kaufmannsstreamborn.com/ (Another full-service shop that has been around forever, but is way out west)

 

http://www.huntersangling.com/ (High-quality fly tying materials, Best deal on marabou)

 

http://www.mrfc.com/MadisonRiverMontanaFishing/Default.aspx (Great people to do business with GREAT closeout sales!)

 

http://www.orvis.com/store/home_page.aspx?bhcp=1 (Well, its Orvis.....Duh)

 

Echoing what some of the other folks have said, make sure you get to the Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo in Schaumburg the weekend of February 20-22. Cancel whatever plans your wife/girlfriend/significant other might have planned for you and GO! Plan on spending the entire day and get with one of the certified casting instructors there for instruction. This show, with all its dealers, casting instructors, and seminars, is something I look forward to all year long.

 

I don't know what weight rod you have, but the gold-standard backing material is 20 lb. Dacron. Cortland, Scientific Anglers, Cabela's, all make it, all fly shops have it, including Gander Mountain & Bass Pro. For leaders, all I use are Rio, 10 lb., 6 ft. Bass Leaders with about 2 feet of 2x or 3x tippet. I've also made some homemade furled leaders (6 ft.) that cast like a dream. Feather-Craft sells furled leaders. Using straight mono for a leader will work ok for streamers, but I've found it difficult to cast dear-hair poppers with it. A heavy, tapered bass leader turns them over much better.

 

Call me a fly-snob, or whatever you want, but I don't like the idea of metal snaps. They add needless weight and, if you hang-up a fly in a tree or underwater snag, you will loose it along with the fly. The time savings is negligable. Learn to tie good knots (Don't get in a hurry, this is a basic skill which proves useful in other areas besides fishing). With bass, the main knot to know is the "non-slip loop knot". Orvis has an excellent animated knot-tying tutorial on their website, or go to this website - One of the better videos out there on all the basic knots:

http://flyfisherman.com/skills/jb4knots/index.html

 

As for flies, I stay away from Cabela's & Bass Pro's flies. Most of the time the quality leaves something to be desired. Get 'em from a fly shop. Most of the time they will be Umqua flies....top notch.

 

Well, thats my 2 cents worth....

 

Brian

[asherman]

Dustin,

 

Based upon what you have said, you have pretty much what you need with the exception of some backing. You can use Power Pro line or fly line backing, as the backing doesn't make much difference. Cabelas Bass leaders will work just fine. I use them because they work well and they are inexpensive. For tippet for smallies, you can use 8 or 10 pound test mono line or fluorocarbon line. I buy 200 yard spools of Fluorcarbon fishing line and spool that onto smaller spools. Fly fishing tippet in 2X or 3X will work, but it is more expensive and depending upon the brand can be softer than what I prefer to use for tippet.

 

Once you get rigged up to test cast and to fish with some basic flies like clouser minnows, wooly buggers and some Sneaky Peats, which you can buy at most the places/sites that have been talked about in this thread, I wouldn't buy too much more stuff until you actually start fishing. Once you are out fishing with a fly rod, you will quickly figure out what your really need/like. That might help to prevent you from buying a bunch of stuff that you end up not using later on.

 

You might want to consider attending the Great Waters Fly Fishing show on February 20th through February 22nd in Schaumburg. There will be plenty of opportunities to learn about fly fishing there and the ISA will have a booth there. There will also be vendors selling flies, too. If you attend, make sure to stop by the ISA booth. Here is the link to the show: Great Waters 2009"]Great Waters Show[/url]

 

[Mike G]

Dustin,

 

You are getting buried with advice. As I see it. As a beginner here is what you need.

 

Leader and tippet: Use a piece of mono in 6 to 10 pound test a little shorter than your rod. You can add tapered leaders once you feel the need.

 

Flies: A couple of floaters like Jude's bug, a couple of wolly buggers for mid depth, a couple of clousers for deep. 2-3" length flies will be easy to cast and big enough to attract bass instead of panfish.

 

Backing: For our kind of fishing, you need backing to fill the spool under the fly line so that your fly line comes to within 1/4 to 1/2" of the rim of the spool. If the line already comes that far, you don't need backing. This gives you a margin for error in case the line is not wound evenly. Personly I am leary of using a skinny braid like P-line since these superlines slice like a razor. Lots of stories out there. Braided dacron 20-30# designed to be used as backing are a lot easier on the hands and not as expensive.

[ronk]

Tapered leaders should be used over level leaders which are really just 9' of tippet.They make casting easier and safer(less likely to bury a big bass fly in your head) because their thicker butt section more closely approximates the flyline's diameter thereby making for a smoother more seamless transfer of energy from the line to the leader and ultimately the fly.The difference increases as casting distance increases.Leaders are cheap and can last a long time by simply adding a loop to the butt section where it tapers to the3-4' tippet and adding tippet as needed.Use 2-3x tippets in clear water 1x in murky.

The only time I ever used a snap is when I was having trouble with #2 Sneaky Petes twisting the leader.Had to use the smallest size to not affect the action of te fly.Even though I used an interlocking snap the cast's torque would open it up.I wound up permanently attaching it to the fly by epoxying the snap shut.Happily the twisting problem was short lived and I quit the snaps.I guess they're ok as long as you still retie often to keep from losing a fish to a "tired" knot. It's always the big ones that get away.