Getting Started with Fly Fishing

Fly fishing looks simple from a distance. Someone standing in a river, waving a rod back and forth, occasionally catching a fish. What you don’t see is the mental chess match happening between angler and trout – and the techniques that make the difference between a good day and getting skunked.

Dry Flies: When Fish Are Looking Up

Dry fly fishing is what most people picture when they think of fly fishing – a floating fly, a rising trout, and that moment when the fish sips your fake bug off the surface. It’s visual, it’s addictive, and it doesn’t work most of the time.

That’s not pessimism, it’s biology. Trout feed on the surface maybe 10-20% of the time. The rest of their meals come from below. But when a hatch is happening and fish are rising, dry flies are unbeatable. Match what’s coming off the water, get a drag-free drift, and watch fish eat.

The Adams fly is the classic – a generic mayfly pattern that’s worked for a century. But spend enough time on one river and you’ll learn its specific hatches. Pale Morning Duns in June, Blue-Winged Olives in fall, caddis throughout summer. Knowing what’s on your water beats any universal fly.

Nymphing: Where the Fish Actually Eat

If 80% of a trout’s diet comes from below the surface, why do most new fly anglers ignore nymphing? Probably because it’s less glamorous. No explosive surface takes. Instead, you’re watching a tiny indicator twitch and hoping that means something.

But nymph fishing catches fish consistently. The basic rig is simple: weighted fly (or split shot), strike indicator set at roughly 1.5 times the water depth, cast upstream, and let it drift. When the indicator hesitates, moves sideways, or dips – set the hook. Most of those signals aren’t fish, but some are.

Euro nymphing (tight-line nymphing) takes this further. No indicator, just a direct connection through a long rod and thin leader. You feel the takes rather than see them. Steeper learning curve, but deadly once you figure it out.

Streamers: Hunting Mode

Streamer fishing is active. You’re not waiting for fish to come to you – you’re covering water, stripping flies that look like baitfish or crayfish, trying to trigger a predatory response.

Big fish eat streamers. That’s the appeal. A four-inch Woolly Bugger or Clouser Minnow attracts attention that a size 18 nymph won’t. Cast across and downstream, strip the fly back with varied retrieves – sometimes slow, sometimes fast with pauses. The take is usually violent.

Low-light conditions favor streamers. Early morning, late evening, overcast days. Fish feel safer chasing prey when they’re less visible. Throwing streamers at high noon in bright sun usually disappoints.

Reading Water

The single most important skill isn’t casting or fly selection – it’s knowing where fish are. Trout hold in current breaks, behind rocks, in seams between fast and slow water, in the shade of overhanging banks. They want steady food delivery without fighting heavy current.

Walk the bank before wading in. Watch for rises. Look for likely lies. That run along the far bank looks fishy for a reason – it probably holds fish. The featureless flat water in the middle probably doesn’t.

Polarized sunglasses help enormously. You’ll spot fish, structure, and depth changes you’d otherwise miss. Best investment in fly fishing isn’t a better rod.

Adjusting Through the Day

Morning and evening often bring hatches. Midday usually doesn’t. If nothing’s rising at noon, switch to nymphs fished deep or try a hopper pattern in late summer – terrestrials fall into the water all day.

Water temperature matters too. Trout slow down in water above 65°F and below 40°F. The shoulder seasons – late spring and early fall – often fish better than peak summer because temps stay in the sweet spot longer.

Fly fishing rewards paying attention. The angler who notices the subtle hatch, reads the water correctly, and adjusts tactics when something isn’t working will outfish the one who picks a fly at random and hopes for the best.