The Complete Guide to Fly Fishing

Chapter 1: What Is Fly Fishing and Why People Love It

Let's clear the air right away: fly fishing is not the impossibly graceful, mystical pursuit it looks like in movies. The first time you try it, you will probably slap the water with your line. Your fly might land in a tree behind you. Your leader—the thin clear line at the end of your thicker fly line—will find a way to tie itself into a knot that looks like a rat's nest. This is normal. It happens to everyone on their first few trips, including the calm, bearded experts you see in YouTube videos who make it look effortless. They just don't show you the sixteen takes it took to get that one perfect cast.

So what is it, really? Fly fishing is a method of fishing where you cast a nearly weightless artificial "fly"—a hook tied with feathers, fur, or synthetic materials to imitate an insect, baitfish, or other prey—using the weight of a specialized fly line to carry it. Unlike spin fishing, where a heavy lure pulls the line off the reel, in fly fishing the fly is so light that the fly line itself has to do the work. You cast the line, not the lure. That line, which is thick and somewhat heavy, unrolls through the air in a smooth loop, and your fly tags along for the ride at the end of a tapered leader. When the leader unfurls, the fly settles gently onto