Hello,
I live in Ky and have been flyfishing a couple of years mostly for gills/crackers/bass starting in May thru the summer. I am a pretty good caster but need tips on fishing. What are common mistakes that beginner fly fishers make?
Thanks,
Tom
Boy is that a loaded question!! I think lack of patience (?) is the big one. I’ve had the new fly fisher charge ahead and never work a hole more that once or twice. Next thing you know he’s 300 yard away and I’m still catching fish from the spots he charged through. I’m to old to work that hard when the prey may be close at hand!
The same thing for throwing poppers for bream, let it set, then let it set some more and some more and some more. Then give it a gentle twitch.
Just remember “It’s Fishing Not Catching”!
With patience will come experiance and knowledge.
My biggest problem is not watching what’s behind me. I catch more trees than fish. I also lose a lot of flies. You’d think I’d learn by now, but when I get into it, I completely forget to look behind me.
I’ll have to go with Jack on this one. Definitely patience. Patience to approach the water with a degree of stealth. Patience to work the water thoroughly from close in to as far out as you can comfortably cast. Patience to not start the retrieve to quickly and then to work the fly slowly at first and then varying the retrieve until you find what the fish want on that particular day. Yep - patience - definitely makes us all better flyfishers and as a bonus makes us overall more content with life overall I believe.
Hi CC,
I’ve narrowed it down to 2 mistakes and I make them all the time.
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Wading where you should be fishing.
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Making unnecessarily long casts which increase the difficulty of setting the hook and complicates the problem of drag.
8T 
Patience and concentration must be used at all time. You aren’t exactly tightlining for catfish but you certainly shouldn’t be as active as if fishing for trout. I try to visualize the fly dropping through the water column and it’s action as I make small 2" to 4" strips of the line. That is if your fishing still waters. Think if pictures that you’ve seen of mosquito larve. They may wiggle but they really don’t move very far. Same is probaly true for most nymphs and other crustaciens.
As for poppers. No matter what size your fishing just toss it out there with a “Splat” and then forget about it. It drives the fish crazy.
Greg
Two important things to work on. Finding the fish is number one. You can be doing many things wrong and still catch a lot of fish if there are fish in that location. Likewise, you can do everything perfect, but not catch anything if the fish aren’t there. Learn to read water. Know the fish like to hang out.
I understand what Jack is talking about, but many times I make the mistake of trying to catch every fish in a hole. You aren’t looking for every fish to be caught, just the agressive ones. If you have caught 5 or 6 fish out of a small stream hole, spring creek, there are probably more aggressive fish in the next hole. Don’t stay in one spot too long. There is a balance between what I am saying and what Jack is saying. A guy can make a mistake both ways and we are both right.
My second most important thing is to tell the difference between a bite and no bite. Signal vs. noise. For most beginners there are times when no strike indicator can be used, like when Czech or Polish nymphing. Short lines and heavy flies or dry flies. But for most beginers a strike indicator is a great add in detecting bites when nymphing. Take out the memory in your leader so that an inch movement of the nymph translates into an inch movement of your indicator. If you have large memory coils in your leader, the fish can move the nymph several inches and the indicator will not move.
I speak mostly of nymphing because it has been said many times that fish feed subsurface 85% of the time. Dry flies are fantastic durring a hatch and they are visual and fun, but I fish them about 15% of the time. I mostly fish nymphs. Have fun on the water and listen to what the fish teach you each time out. Be observant and you will have a grand time on the water.
Rick
My 2? added to the mix: think like a fish. Fish need water that is optimum temperature, properly oxygenated and not moving to a degree that it uses up all their energy staying on station - which brings up the next point of being in close proximity to a food source that is accessible within acceptable limits. Energy income greater than outgo. The better that ratio along with the good water and protection from predation the more likely that there will be fish.
Of course the above factors vary from species to species.
All the other tips are excellent advice, and I would like to address this challenge that shore anglers face. Being a good caster means knowing a variety of casts so you can fish where most fly fishers cannot. For the past two weeks I have been helping to teach fly casting to a batch of newbie fly fishers. I was assigned three students and given a section of the lake to work where there were trees close to the path we walked. I taught them the roll cast and the steeple cast, and once they got pretty good at those casts, they had a great time catching gills and crappies. They also spread out and were able to cast at an angle to the shoreline, also avoiding the trees.
Joe
Thanks everyone for the info. I will use it this summer. You didn’t waste your time. I listened!