Have you been fly fishing for decades or even just a few years? Consider the volume of knowledge that you have amassed. All of the on-stream experiences add up. Include all the guided trips, books, blogs, and YouTube videos: that is a lot of angling data.
If someone asks you to take them fly fishing, they are not secretly hoping you’ll download all of said data into them while on their first foray into the activity. First, it is impossible. Second, it won’t be fun for anyone. After all, they asked you to take them fishing. They didn’t ask for a study session as if they were being quizzed on it.
Unless you’re a guide or a paid instructor, you should approach these opportunities with the mindset of sharing something you love in a way that gets through to the other person. That often means being outside, grasping the basics of the sport, and catching fish. That last one is surprisingly important, believe it or not. Here are three things that should direct your time taking someone fly fishing for the first time:
Pragmatic Presentation
Learning and refining a consistently good fly cast isn’t something that can be done in a day. And the person you’re taking out to catch fish probably isn’t interested in spending a long amount of time getting the loops in her cast to unroll just so. What matters is getting the fly where it needs to be. Focus on what is most important: body and arm positioning, discerning the rod loading, and adjusting the length of the line. If you can communicate those first two concepts, anyone with a modicum of athletic talent will be able to figure out a decent cast. And if they ask more? That is when you can offer up some more nuanced casting tips.
Probable Positions
Prospecting for trout in every nook and cranny of the stream is a great way to find more fish. It also takes work, experience, and casting skill. The new angler wants to get into something. Head to the spots that you know produce on a consistent basis. Nymph the long, deep riffles. Drop a dry fly into a plunge pool. Strip a streamer next to an undercut bank. We all know there are plenty of other places to catch fish, but shooting for the high percentage feeding lies will produce more action. Repeating the same techniques and focusing on the same things to which he should pay attention will also deepen one facet of their burgeoning angling awareness.
Prioritize Patterns
Once she can cast and you’ve put her in front of where a fish should be, don’t get cute with fly patterns or rigs. Attempting to dead drift a wooly bugger provides a little margin for error. If the drift isn’t truly dead, it becomes a swung streamer. Fish it right and it will work; fish it wrong and it will work. Nymph rigs that won’t tangle and indicators that will easily indicate are preferable to anything fancy. Make sure they can see their dry flies, too. That is something anyone will appreciate. Put them on fish the tried and true way. Experimentation and style points won’t substitute for a few bites and a fish or two.
Remember: most people equate fishing with catching fish. The poetry and the culture are all there and are appreciated. But when someone wants to go fly fishing, they’re thinking about hooking up with something. Help them make it happen, and share the passion of all the periphery while you do so.
Your 6p’s are good except that you contradicted your 2nd 2Ps with DTTFF, Don’t Take Trout Fishing First! Trout are finicky, that pea sized brain often makes fun of our grapefruit sized cranium. Do your best to make sure new fly fishers experience success the first time. Go for bluegill or something equally fun. You can still focus on Probable Postions without the frustrations of starting with trout. Now if you really want to frustrate new fly fishers, start them on carp.
As always I appreciate your insights.
Carp are the great humiliators.
Good point on trout. However, I find that a lot of my friends actually want to go fly fishing for trout.