I don’t want to highjack the lead thread. I’m not asking about envoironmental concerns or anything like that. Not that I’m not concerned about the environment or anything.
I have another concern, he’s 5 years old and watching Tom and Jerry reruns at the moment. I got my little budding fly fisherman a fly vest and a fly box for Christmas and I want to fill it up for him. Of course he’s to young for actual fly fishing, but he loves to fish. He asked me to tie some flies for him so I started tying. As we’ll probably be after blue gill the pattern isn’t really important but for him to cast it I need to get some weight on the fly.
I am using a number 8 Eagle Claw hooks from Wal-Mart. (they look enormous next to a fly hook) I have also put on bead heads and wrapped with lead. I’ve only fixed him streamer or wet flies, so that he can feel the strike and hopefully catch a fish with them. I’ve put on copper wire for ribbing to add weight also. I’m just not getting the flies heavy enough for him to cast very far.
I’ve read where some people will add floats to the line to get the weight and I may have to do that, but he has more control of his casting without a float. I’d rather not add the float, but I may have to. Any ideas of a way I can add more weight for his flies?
Why in the world are you thinking of using wet flies----I teach children to fly fish an I always use plain unweighted woolly buggers or foam bugs. They love seeing the fish come up and hit the fly. If you need the weight to cast get some very small “Comal” floats from Walmart --put the float a foot or more up from the fly… BILL
Norm…you’re spot on with the casting bubble. Steelheaders in the northwest fish weighted nymphs and micro-jigs with a casting bubble and “noodle rod”. Pretty standard setup, and very effective. Done it myself:D
If you have not tried this method you might goof up and put the bobber on backwards. Refer to the picture below. Note that the bubble has a plastic tube through it that is tapered. It is almost imparative that you thread your line so that large end of the tube faces towards the swivel and the fly. If you get this backwards the force of the cast will cause the bobber to open and lose water. The way I remember this is to imagine I am puting the line into a bottle - small end first.
I vote for the bubble. It’s pretty hard to weight a fly enough to cast with a spinning rod and still have it be fly like. You could tie them on jig heads.
I once tied some stonefly nymphs on 6xl hooks with tungsten cones and large lead wire covering the entire shank and a double layer under the thorax. These were so heavy they were almost impossible to cast with a fly rod. Not much fun to fish with. You might be able to cast them with a spinning rod.
Like Others… I say bubble. There is also a bubble that has a hollow rubber tube and you just twist it 3 or 4 times to get it to stay put on the line.
I keep a couple in my spinning tackle for when I bring along my nephew, or when my wife wants to throw a fly because some pattern is working really well. (ie. the August caddis hatch)
I knew you guys would come through. The bubble looks like just the ticket. I’ve got an Uncle with a pond full of blue gills, I can’t wait till it warms up and I can get the little fellow out into some gills.
Then attach a 9-foot tapered leader to the Tip-Top guide, and attach a 3-foot segment of tippet to the end of the Tapered Leader and attach a fly.
Take him to a Dock or Fishing Platform on the shore of a pond or other body of water, and go fishing. No reel, no fly line! Just cast the fly out on to the water and let him have fun. I have two of these fly rods, one is mine the other is my grandson’s, he will be 6-years old this coming Saturday!
It is called “Tenkara”! Japanese Form of Fly Fishing.
Now your talking — whats with all the floats,bubbles etc. If you want him to fly fish then use a fly rod and let him see that fish come up and take the fly. Dont use those wet flies at his age. Bill
Sorry guys, I agree with the bobber bunch. My dad taught me with a clear, partially water-filled bobber and I went into my teenage years with a fly and a bubble and even after I learned the flyrod I still taught my boys with a fly and a bubble, more because they had constant action, and they soon graduated to the fly rod. Several years ago there was a company that came up with a clear bubble called a ‘bungee bubble’ as it had a section of surgical tubing and swivels attached to minimize the hookset shock. Don’t know if those are still around, but I liked them a lot. My fondest memories of fishing high alpine lakes in the Uintah mountains of Utah were of using a fly and a bubble with a Renegade or Gray Hackle Yellow tied to the tippet and catching fish after fish - what a blast!
The bubble looks like just the ticket.