Hey all thought I’d pitch in and ask a question. I’ve been fishing in the same lake area for a week and focused on the trout patterns and habits. Just before sunrise, the trout are very active, on the surface, and jumping and feeding off flies on the surface. I’ve been using, worms on an 18-inch leader, swivel, and bobber, and I get bites often. At day break, the trout only hit flies or feed on the surface. The number of active trout explodes, and they just flat-out ignore worms.I am not a fly angler and don’t even own a fly rod but I do have a few small dry flies though, and I was wondering if there was a way to use them with a standard fishing rod? The idea is that I think dry flies floating on the surface would be a really popular bait for the trout feeding on bugs.

I was given a fly rod which sat unused in my garage for many years . The reel just “free spins” and there doesn’t appear to be any drag action at all- Is it broken, or do I just need to adjust it somehow? I’d really like to use this tackle to fish with, but just don’t know if it is usable. Any help is greatly appreciated!
This reel has no markings, but is attached to a 8′ or 8.5′ 7 weight rod-

Terry

Thanks, Corey

Bass fishing on a fly rod? I understand a 6 wt. line would be best, but the type/brand best suited for smallmouth bass and bream fishing? I am also looking for some solid advice on how to rig up a fly rod. Finally, should I fish near the top of the water or go deeper? Because when you think of fly fishing, I always assume that keeping the lure or fly on the top. Also, a bit confusing for me to understand the difference between dry flies and wet, but then again I am a new fly fisherman.

Thanks for your help Arky Angler.

Eureka Springs fly fisherman with a casting problem! I caught lessons last year, I have been fishing with a fly rod now for over a year and been on the water hundreds of hours. This weekend I was float fishing the White River and for some reason, I was creating horrible twists which eventually got bad enough to create knots in my leader and tippet. I am not talking about getting an occasional wind knot or a little knot from bad casting, it was twisting badly enough that it was consuming 6 inches to a foot of leader/tippet and it was happening after 12-15 casts.

My question is: Does anyone know what I was doing wrong to cause this severe of a twist? I literally went through 3 leaders in a half hour span at one point. I have not run into this problem before.

The problem typically happened when I was fishing a Light Cahill Spinner in a fairly large size, they were taking sizes 12 and 14 very eagerly. I was using a 6X leader/tippet combo on a 5wt rod. I tried switching to a 5x then a 4x leader and tippet with the same results. I also tried different brands, so it wasn’t like I had a bad batch of leaders or tippet. I do not normally have the opportunity to throw that large of a fly and I was also casting pretty consistently to the distance limits of my abilities. Anyone have any suggestions of what my problem might have been?

1) I started today with a big Elk Hair Caddis, I figured that the big wing would stabilize the fly somewhat when it was in the air, and began casting as far as I possibly could. Kept it up for about a half hour, no issues.

2) I switched to the same Light Cahill I was using over the weekend, within 5 minutes, I was knotted horribly again.

3) I then tied on the same pattern of Cahill in a smaller size, bought at the same shop and time as the big one. (presumably by the same tyer.) The small fly produced the knots, but not as badly.

4) I tied on the same pattern of Cahill, but one that had been bought at my home fly shop, I had no problems.

I did make things worse by speeding up my casts but I believe the bigger cause was the fly.

My Full Flex winner fly rod. This is a 6′6″ 2wt 2pc built on a very full flex private label blank. dark walnut insert with Arkansas cork and rubberized mix in the grip turned down into a slim style grip. “Rust” thread with CP and metallic gold trim bands, some jungle cock feather accents and personalized inscriptions.

Steve