In the Part One I started with a little introduction of fly fishing, and whether you can apply this method to the local species in Malaysia, and what species you can target. In this Part Two i will go a bit into the gear needed to get you going fly fishing.
A lot of people ask what is the difference between fly fishing and other methods of fishing like bottom fishing, casting or jigging. In bottom fishing the bait is natural fish, squid or shrimps presented on the hooks attached to a line and sinkers, casting involves using artificial lures to imitate bait fish swimming to induce strikes from the fish, while jigging is using a piece of metal with hooks decorated to look like a bait fish retrieved vertically either slowly or very fast from a boat or pier. All these methods can share the same rods and reels either spinning or baitcaster, unless you want to buy the specialized gears for jigging.
Fly fishing is very different from the above methods in that there are no weight involved in the bait itself and no sinkers are used. The bait is the fly made of just the small hook and weightless feathers and thread. So how do you throw a very light fly to a distance of 40 to 60 feet away to the target fish? This is where the fly line comes in. The fly line is the weight required to help cast the lure away to the fish. The fly rods were designed to help cast the fly line by using a few techniques depending on the situation and surrounding of your fishing grounds.
THE FLY RODS
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My new four pieces #5wt fly rod
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The rods come in various lengths from 7'6" to 13'0" and classified according to weight number from 0 up to 14. These weight numbers correspond to the fly line weight number that you use to get the right balance during casting. So if you buy a standard #7 rod you should match it with #7 fly line and #7 fly reel. However, some do uplining by one weight to #8 or downlining to #6 to get better casting performance to suit the rod characteristics or one's style of casting or under some specials conditions like strong headwind. There are no rules, no laws and you can try whatever works for you.
There are many types of rods from fast action rods (end of the rod curves), to moderate action and slow action(curving throughout the rod) made of various materials of fiber glass, graphite or the traditional bamboo. The most common are the ones made of graphite which is light, strong and reasonably priced while the ones made of bamboo are very expensive as they were handmade. The ones made of fiber glass is very durable but heavier than the other two. Most rods were made in sections of two or three, but the ones meant for traveling were made in sections of four or five.
I have four fly rods of which two are Scierra 9' & 10' #7 for freshwater, and the other one is a Scierra 9' # 10 for saltwater. The fourth rod is a 9' four section #3 rod for freshwater bought together with a reel and #3 WF floating fly line less than a month ago from the Tacklebox Adventure shop. I figure i got every type of fly fishing covered with these three rods; #3 for small flies for small fishes in small streams or ponds; #7 for medium size flies or poppers for medium size to big fishes in medium to big size streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and dams; and #10 for saltwater fly fishing from a beach, rocks or boats. When i gave up fly fishing the last time i converted my #7 fly rod for bottom fishing at sea with a spinning reel and 20lb line and it was fantastic fighting those small to medium size fishes i caught. I do not want to own too many fly rods in case i lose interest again, besides most of them are very expensive.
However, lately i ordered a cheap China brand #5 four pieces fly rod complete with a travelling tube and a set of free #5 floating fly line on Ebay for US68.00 which is not a bad deal. Since i could not afford a Sage or Hardy rod it will do for now until i get really serious on fly fishing. Based on what i read on the net the #5 rod is very versatile for any kind of freshwater fishing for small to medium size fish.
The fly line is the replacement of the weight used to cast the weightless flies away toward the target fish. They are sold in various lengths with the front 30-40ft being the weighted section while the remaining length is the running length which will be tied to the backing line in the reel. The fly lines are rated according to weight of the front sections equivalent to weight of grains. The weight number is from the lightest #1 to the heaviest # 14.
The fly lines with the weighted section only in front is called weight forward line (WF) which used for most situation, while the ones with the weighted sections are at both ends of the lines are called double tapered lines. Then there are floating lines, slow sinking lines, moderate sinking lines and fast sinking lines. The sinking lines are used in situation when you want your flies to sink at certain depth of the water where the fish are located. The rate of sinking is based on feet per second.
You can get lost in choosing the right fly line for your set so a lot of reading on the net or watching tutorial videos on YouTube helps. If you have outlets specializing in fly fishing with instructors in your neighborhood go to them for advice before buying your line. The fly lines also come in various colors like white, yellow, green, pink, light blue, orange, brown and some even come in two tones. I use #7 WF yellow floating and #3WF green floating fly lines. I like to use the floating lines to avoid it getting tangled with underwater vegetation.
I think i will end up with another reel with a sinking line eventually to be paired with my Scierra #10 fly rod for saltwater fly fishing. Most species at sea are at lower column of water so to get the fly deeper to them you need a sinking line. Sinking lines comes in weight like 200, 250, 300grains with different sinking rate in foot per second.There are so many fly line brands out there with Scientific Anglers and Rio being the popular ones.
THE BACKING LINE
The backing line is needed since most of the fly lines are short less than 100 feet. When you are hooked up to a big and strong fish that never stop stripping your line off your reel you will appreciate the amount of the backing line you have in your reel. The backing line is even more crucial when you do fly fishing at sea where the fishes are big and strong and they can strip your line very fast going in any directions. You can use braided lines or mono lines for your backing to tie to the fly line. Braided lines are better since they do not have line memory or coil issue. I used to use 30lb mono line for my backing but i did not like it as the thick mono line had a memory problem.
The diameter should not be too thin, a 20lb or 30lb braided lines will do. The length of the backing line could be between 75yards to 150yards depending on the size of your reels. Another reason to have the backing line is too increase the retrieve rate(inches/turn) when you are fighting the fish. Since fly reels do not have gears in them to give you a ratio of say 1: 6, meaning 1 turn equal to 6 turns of the spool, every extra inches of retrieve rates during tense fight will help to bring the fish in. In most fly fishing situations at small to medium size streams you will probably never use up to the backing lines when fighting a fish but you will reel the fish faster with the backing line in your reel. I use nylon and braided lines as my backing in my reels. I use Spiderwire and Power Pro braided lines for my backing.
THE REELS
The reels in fly fishing are used just to store the lines. In the old days the reels did not come with drag system. What they had then was click and paw reels meaning they used their paws to pressure their reel spool to increase drag when a fish made a run or they just let loose the fly line through their left hand when the fish pull was too strong to avoid line snap. Then they used the rod to pull back the fish and at the same time pull the line with their left hand to retrieve it. It was pure angler skill and brawn versus the fish fighting for survival.
Nowadays with the advance in technology for drag system, almost any fly reel sold on the market today is provided with a good drag system made of either cork disc, carbon or Teflon. Some drag system are not water tight especially for the power range reels while the reels meant for saltwater fishing are water tight. It is good to get a watertight drag system because almost all anglers will at some point submerge their reels in the water, either because they slipped while fishing or during taking picture of their catch.
The reels are also rated to match the rods rating to give a good balance to set. It will be a good idea to test the reel that you intend to buy with the rod that you intend to pair it with to get a good feel or balance. The center of the balance should be at the point that you hold the rod so you do not get the issue of front heavy or back heavy. The saltwater reels are bigger to hold more lines for big fish and also for faster retrieve rate.
For beginners i would recommend to buy cheaper reels with reasonably good quality and drag system. Most reels nowadays are made of CNC ( computer controlled) machined aluminum blocks or cast aluminum which used mold. The CNC reels have better quality and more rigid since they have less components, however the cast aluminum technology is catching up with the CNC and can produce shapes where the CNC cannot. China factories produce a lot of affordable CNC aluminum reels which are really good especially for beginners and some of them are OEM(original equipment manufacturer) for some branded ones sold in the Western countries. As a matter of fact i just ordered two size 5 CNC aluminum reels from Ebay at a price of less than US50.00 each with delivery. I just received one on yesterday (14/10/16) and i was impressed with the design, quality and a spare spool for a price of US48.00!! The reel can be changed for left or right hand retrieve by changing the direction of a screw inside. Please see below.
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| My new Chinese made #5wt fly reel from Fairyland for US48.00 on Ebay |
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| Spooled with wt7 floating fly line |
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| My new 5wt Chinese made fly reel costs US50 on Ebay. |
Other reels that i use are a Tica S107 and an unbranded (probably Chinese-made) one came with the #3 rod that i bought.
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| Tica S107 |
If cheap and lower priced reels are not your cup of tea and you prefer to be seen by fellow anglers with top of the line gears, you can buy Abel, Tibor, Lamson, Orvis, Sage, Reddington, Ross or Loop reels which can put a dent in your bank account. You can also try for lower price reel like Piscifun. Whatever it is the most important is to get reels with quality, good backup service and warranty. You must remember one thing though not necessarily expensive reels will catch you fish but your skills in fly fishing will determine your success.
THE LEADERS & TIPPETS
The fly line is very thick and can be seen by the fish if it were tied straight to the fly and spook them away. So the we need a transition line that is almost invisible from the end of the fly line to the fly . This is where the leader and tippet come in. The leader is the thicker mono-filament line connected to the fly line which is about 4 to 5 feet long and rated in pound which connects to another about 4 to 5 feet long thinner line which terminates at the fly. In the old days anglers tie their own leaders and tippets like a 4 feet of 30lb plus 15 feet of 15lb line or 20lb plus 10lb line and so on. However, nowadays tapered leaders are available which are knotless which can avoid tangles during casting. The tapered leaders are good to channel the energy of the fly line to the end during casting. Tapered leaders are rated in xX from 0X being the thickest to 8X being the thinnest. Most fly shops sell branded ready made tapered leaders usually come in 9 feet to 12 feet lengths. The size of the leaders you use will depend on the size of the fly you use, for delicate presentation for small fly to small fish you would use either 6X or 8X, while bigger fly for bigger fish you might use a 3X or 1X.
THE FLIES
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| An assortment of flies bought from a shop |
The flies are what attract the fish to strike resulting in a hook up and you catching a fish. What i like about the whole fly fishing thing is the art of creating a fly to imitate real life insects. It also involves studying the life cycle of insects from beginning until adult stage, their forms, colors, texture and then try to imitate them by using various colored fibers, feathers, hairs, beads, wires etc.
When you are not using imitated flies you use lure flies imitating baitfish, streamers etc. which can still be made using the same materials.
There hundreds types of flies with so many different names in the market which you can buy if you do not have the time or patience to do yourself, just buy at the fly shop or order on line and you are good to go. I started out by buying some flies from a fly shop since i did not have the tools and materials to make them my self. Then i bought some basic tools to make my own flies like the vise with clamp, bobbin, threads, beads, copper wire, glue, fake 3D eyes, dumbbells and feathers. I bought a few books for reference on how to tie my own flies. I have to admit it was tricky first and my flies turned out very crude, but with practice it is getting better.
Recently i bought a portable Terra fly tying set since the first one i bought was lost during moving house. It was not that expensive around RM220 a set. Of course if you want to save some money you can make your own tools by buying some from a DIY shop and some by being creative. I did that first (below picture) but after some time it is better to invest in better tools to produce good end product.
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| My homemade bobbin using part of old rod, paper clip wire and thread. I abandoned using this as the tube edge was rough and cut my thread too often |
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| Cheap clamp to replace a proper vise. Very flimpsy not advisable. |
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| First attempt at making a hopper fly |
I have been practicing tying different kind of flies at a rate like 2 or 3 a week depending on my mood and free time available.
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| My version of a frog popper using cut foam, rubber band legs, weed guard hook and flash strips tail |
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| My first nymphs. The small one managed to get a strike but no hook-up. |
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| My version of a deceiver |
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| These two flies are 6 inches long to be used with my #7wt & #10wt rod |
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| This one for saltwater, a Mackerel imitation |
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| I call this one Green Ballerina Deceiver |
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| A baitfish imitation fly |
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| A Red Head Baitfish fly |
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| A Shad Fly |
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| A fly made of Turkey tail feather |
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| A split tail fly, Black & White and White Bugger flies |
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| My Pink Wooly Bugger with weed guard |
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| Maggots fly |
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| Worms Fly |
The above are just some samples of the flies i have managed to do during my free times and i am sure i will be doing a lot more in the future. One thing for sure making them was a lot of fun and very satisfying, but catching a fish using my own tied flies will be a lot more satisfying.
In Part 3 i hope i will able to show some pictures of the fish i caught using my own tied flies, until then happy fishing. Cheers.
