“Website: Fly-fishing For Trout” 05-25-06

Spring Fishing

The onset of warm temperatures here in B.C. means several wonderful and highly anticipated events occur for both trout and trout fishermen alike. Ice covered lakes open up and the sun’s rays begin to stir abundant insect activity, ringing a giant dinner bell in the sky for ravished trout, after a long winter hiatus from many of their favorite foods. For the keen fisher, who carefully observes the variety of trout-size table fare including color, length, surface or sub-surface habits of the various tiny delicacies swimming or crawling throughout the water, the fishing can be remarkable.

Fly-fishing is perhaps, one of the most exciting and enjoyable ways to participate and fool a few wary trout, while plying the waters of our local lakes. The equipment required to begin catching rainbow trout on a fly rod and reel is not complicated or expensive. The basic list includes a rod, reel, backing, line, leader, tippet and of course the terminal presentation, the fly. Rod selection ( for trout) is generally confined to lighter weights (or ratings) from 4, 5 or 6 class which refers to the relative stiffness differences with 4 weight being the weakest and 6 weight being the stiffest. The reel is matched to the rod by the same rating and is designed to balance with a given rod rating. Next, we choose a line, once again matching the previous matched rod and reel combination, so if we have chosen a 5 weight we select a 5 weight line of either a floating, sinking or sink/float variety depending upon the exact presentation required.

Proper installation of the fly line would begin by installing a length of backing first, backing simply being a back-up line attached to the reel’s spool to which the line is attached. Backing is usually a 20 or 30 # brightly colored Dacron line which can save the day if an exceptionally large fish is hooked and strips off the contents of your reel faster than expected. Leaders attach to the line and provide a tapered, less visible connection to the fly, so as not to “spook” cruising fish. Leaders are generally made of one of two materials; either monofilament or fluorocarbon. Tippet is also constructed of the same type of material and is used primarily to replace a section of leader lost due to cutting and re-tying of different flies or secondly, to customize leader lengths for specific types of fly presentation.

The item of greatest mystery for beginning fly fisherman has to be the fly itself as there are literally thousands of different patterns to choose from. There may be only slight contrasts in color, shape or material representing different life stages in an insect’s development but that is often all it takes for a pattern to be an overwhelming success or be rejected altogether.

To simplify the beginning process we have outlined some excellent choices amongst the categories of rods, reels, lines and fly patterns to outfit the prospective fly caster.

Feel free to contact us at the store or stop by if we can help and Good fishing!

Michael – Rainbow Trout

There wouldn’t be any time for scouting new areas so we would have to rely on past experiences, where we knew the elk liked to bed and feed. The first morning was a combination of hunting and checking for fresh tracks on trails, wallow activity, and soft green droppings. We weren’t disappointed by what we found, the sign was fresh and in the same areas we had seen the year before. The hub of activity centered around a set of wallows and it was clear that a bull had been there rolling in the mud probably several days ago. Everything was shaping up for a good evening hunt, fortunately I prefer to hunt elk in the evening anyways having killed every elk in the past just before dark. This year would prove to be a very similar circumstance and approach. Over the last 10 years I have found using treestands for elk a very practical and deadly method. The number one factor for me is wind direction, if it can’t be predicted and worked with I will completely forget hunting in an area until it is in my favor. The elevated position a stand gives the hunter can sometimes make the difference between success and failure when wind currents are fickle.

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