Getting started

I think it must be tough to get started fly fishing today. What seems to be a logical first step, taking a look on the internet, overwhelms one with the amount of advice. It really gets bad if you happen upon a fly fishing forum. Ask what you need to get started and you'll be sure to receive something along the lines of - You'll need a $700 graphite rod, $400 disk drag fly reel, a 70lb vest full of flies to catch fish, go big or go home. (Just for the record, when I started I fished for multiple decades with equipment that most people would now consider pure junk, but you know what, I caught fish and had fun.)

One nice thing about getting started with Tenkara, philosophically the set up is pretty simple and straight forward.

So once you have rod in hand, the best way to start catching fish is to spend time on the water. If you can find a mentor, that's great, it will help shorten your learning curve. If you can't find a mentor, don't worry, you'll figure things out.

The flies you are using are great flies to use, don't spend time worry about that, it just a matter of putting them in the right place, at the right time, in the right manner.

Just a couple suggestions, during the majority of the year, on my waters, fish (and bugs) tend to be most active in the lower light periods of the day (i.e. early morning and late evening). I see alot of people just coming on the water after the fishing slows down in the morning, and leaving to go home just before fishing picks up in the evening. Granted, you can catch fish all day, so fish when you can. But if you have a choice, try to optimize your time on the water.

Here is one thing to try, when I fish, I try to concentrate on current seam lines. This is where a ribbon of faster water meets a ribbon of slower water. Like alot of people, fish like to eat as much as they can, while expending the least amount of energy. Rivers are like conveyor belts, the faster the belt moves, the more food it's going to carry along. However the faster the water is, the more energy fish have to expend to keep from getting carried away down stream. So fish like to find a place that the water isn't moving too fast, right next to a faster moving line of current which will be carrying a good amount of food.

Some seam lines are easier to see than others, as you continue fishing, you'll learn to recognize them. Some of the most obvious and easily spotted ones are called foam lines. You'll see a long line of foam/bubbles on top of the water. Where the water is concentrating foam, it's also concentrating food. So if you see a foam line, it's a good idea to fish right along/in it.

Hopes this helps to get you started.