i self taught myself, and everytime i fly fish i have more and more to learn. i have had the chance to catch WA state record chum salmon on a 5 weight rod, and some monster trout in CO, along with some great bass, northern pike, and even walleye all of my flyrod. i am by no means a skilled fly fisher, and from time to time i go fishing, and will just sit and watch other guys and gals fly fishing, and see how they are pounding the banks in the hopes of learning somthing. i believe Tarpon Jims reply is a great start. i wouldent know being in germany ( 4 months till i come home for good) but a great place to start is a guide school. good luck and dont get frustrated, as PO’d as i get fly fishing, i stick with it!
The key to being a good fly fisherman has alot more to do with choosing the right fly and presenting it properly then anything else. You can have a box jam packed with flies and if you don’t know how to apply them you’re not going to catch much. You don’t have to have the prettiest cast right off to start catching trout with consistency, (though slapping the water with your line doesn’t help attract any fish.) You’ll hear lots of suggestions for flies to use and they all work but the size, profile, and color of the fly and how closely it imitates what trout are feeding on at a particular location is what makes particular flies the best choices at a given time. There’s alot to know and I don’t think a guide is a good way to learn because an eight hour crash course in twenty years of troutology will leave the average beginner frustrated. For $250 you’ll likely catch fish for a day, but not definitely because guides have no control over limiting factors such as bad weather or slow learners. Even if the guide starts hooking fish for you and handing you the rod, the next time you go out by yourself you’ll be lost. Guides are good for getting experienced fly fisherman that are visiting temporarily into the best available public and private water and then providing insight about places that they are familiar with and the right flies to use. Man, if I could afford $250 a day to be out with experts on the sweet spots I would normally be arrested for visiting and have a guy rigging my pole and feeding me lunch I wouldn’t be working as much as I do. Let’s face it, most people would love their services but most can’t afford it. I do agree with everyone else here that you should definitely buddy up with a fly guy.
Well I really do appreciate all the insight in which way to approach or take direction in fly fishing. If anyone ever feels compelled to teach a beginner. Feel free to send me a pm. Otherwise I will just attempt to learn on my own. I Certainly cannot afford a guide.
I agree with both tarponjim and FFG, in that yes it is not very complex to start off. the more you learn the more complex things get, and the more complex the waters you fish will be. When I started flyfishing 6 or 7 years ago I was 14, and the only flyfisher I knew. I went to the local fly shop, asked the guys what I needed to catch fish on the provo river, where I was living. They started asking me a lot of technical questions about droppers and floatants and all sorts of stuff that I had no idea what it was. Some flyflingers out there love to makethings more complex then they need to be.
The best advice I have seen here is either get a guide(not as much as you might think, money wise) or find someone, perhaps on this very board, and go fishing. Do not get too frustrated when you get a tangle trying to fling two tiny nymphs into the wind, it happens. just snip the tangle free and reset it. also go practice casting. you can read and read, and watch how to videos, but until you get out there and do it, it all seems very out of reach. practice makes perfect and by perfect I refer to that one cast that unrolls perfectly into that monster browns feeding lane, and you get the chance to see him slurp your fly.
a few flies that I always have, are wolly buggers, sow bugs, san juan worms, and parachute adams. I am a topwater flyfisher, but only one of the above flies is fished on the top, but if the fish are not rising, or you cant figure out what they are rising to, those are the flies that will bring you in fish.
I would have to say, above all other things everyone has said, the most important bit of advice is not to give up, and to go out with someone that can help you straighten out the learning curve. I have not fished with many people from this board, But I can tell you if you have the chance to go fish with flyfishinggodess, tubedude, or tarponjim, take it, you will surely learn more about fishing in that one day than spending several days on your own.
flyfishing is an art, and that perfect cast you see on a river runs through it takes time to develop. spend that time out there, and you will soon be so into flyfishing, nothing will keep you from flinging some feathers.
One last note, talk to people you see flyfishing on rivers or lakes, though there are some “prissy” flyfishers out there, that only want the fish to themselves almost all the people you see are more than willing to help you catch some fish, toss a fly thats producing your way and give you some insight onto how to fish it.
good luck out there