Shopping for the fly fisherman on your Christmas list

This article is intended for the non-fisher person who wants to give fishing equipment to someone with a long want list.  I will not recommend a particular outfitter or product line, but will arm you with enough information and questions to be one heck of a savvy shopper.  Here are a few tips to make your shopping a little easier this year.

Waders
Buy stocking foot waders…they offer better foot support.  A “stocking foot” wader is a wader that requires you to buy the wading boot separate, unlike the “boot foot” type wader that has the wading boot already attached to the wader. Don’t buy a bootfoot wader; the foot tends to move around inside the boot too easily! 

Waders should be made of a breathable material, have a neoprene stocking foot, and not bind in the crotch.

The first wader for a beginner should be a chest high wader, as opposed to hip or waist high waders. Why? All you have to do is put on a rain jacket and you are completely insulated from the rain.  Chest high waders are versatile, meaning you can wade up to your waist, whereas hip boots limits you to the small shallow streams. Very important! Always wear a wading belt when using chest high waders.

Remember that waders are only used during early spring and fall.  Most people wet wade during the summer months.

Wet wading means your feet will get wet, but since the water is warm in the summer, it’s no big deal. To wet wade, you first put on socks, neoprene socks next, and then your wading boots. Gravel guards may be put on last, and I will let the outfitter explain their use.

Lastly, don’t spend less than $125.00 for waders.  You get what you pay for!

Wading Shoe
Buy the best possible shoe that you can afford. You have heard the old saying…. Take care of your dogs and your dogs will take care of you.

Be sure to buy shoes that have felt on the bottom of the soles, which helps when walking on slippery rocks.

Make sure that the shoes you buy will fit over a pair of wool socks and neoprene socks.  When it comes time to buy waders if you haven’t already done so, your shoes will fit over the waders. If I have confused you, just please remember not to buy wading shoes to fit for summer use only.

Wading shoes start around $60.00.

Fly Rod
Buying a rod for someone can get you into trouble.  I recommend a gift certificate unless you know the brand, model, weight, etc.  Fly rods have different actions – slow, moderate, medium fast, fast, and extra fast. To sum it up, try before you buy.

If you could only afford one trout rod, I would recommend an 8′, 4 or 5-weight rod for fishing most streams in Western North Carolina.  Try to buy a rod with a lifetime warranty.

An entry-level rod with a lifetime guarantee will start around $89.00.

Fly Reel
When fishing small creeks, the reel is just a mechanism to hold the line. I recommend a “click and pawl” reel over a disc drag reel.

A disc drag reel is used on big water, fishing for larger fish.  I recommend this type of reel when fishing “tailwater”- water below a dam. 

A basic click and pawl reel starts around $59.00 and one with a lifetime guarantee would start around $119.00.

Fly Line
I recommend a 4 or 5 weight forward line as I mentioned earlier.  For the beginner, a weight forward line will be the best choice.  It will help them feel and understand the mechanics of the cast because it will properly load the rod.  Weight Forward lines range from $24.00 to $99.00.  It is not necessary to buy a $60.00 line, but if you buy the least expensive, you will more than likely be buying one again in a few months 

Fly Fishing Outfits
Retailers or outfitters sell complete rod, reel, and line packages. This makes it easy to ensure that the outfit is a balanced.

Vest and Gadgets
A vest is handy and should have a good collar, one that won’t cut in your neck on longer backcountry trips.  You can never have too many pockets.

The must haves are…forceps, zingers, nippers, leaders (7 1/2‘ 4x and 5x), 5X and 6X tippet material – either standard monofilament or fluorocarbon, flies, and fly boxes or a club membership that will give a savings on purchases over the entire year. These make good stocking stuffers, you can’t go wrong here.

Fly rods and other fly fishing equipment prices controlled by the manufacturer; therefore, you will find an item priced about the same wherever you go.  However, service is everything and some outfitters will throw in some incentives for purchasing from them.  Try to shop at two outfitters before you buy to see which one provides the best service because inevitably, you will go back for future supplies and having a good relationship will be beneficial for years to come.

Fly Fishing In Winter

With winter just around the corner, most will hang up the fishing gear and call it a season.  For those hard core anglers who just can’t get enough, you will be greatly rewarded. Although the fishing tends to be a little slower, you will find a whole new generation of insect larvae moving around the stream bottom , actively feeding and growing, even with the cooling water temperatures.  There are also a few species that emerge as adults through the winter.  The hatches will not be as dense as during the summer but they can still prompt a trout to rise to a dry.

 

Fishing in the morning will be one of the coldest times of the day.  Since the insects and fish are cold-blooded, their body temperatures will be the same as the water temperature so they will not be very active.  When the first few rays of sun hit the water and it begins to warm, the fish will also begin to move and feed.  The main source of food will be the nymphal form of the insects that are on the bottom or drifting in the currents.  It may be beneficial to seine some insects from the water column to see what in most abundant.  With the insect populations being more diverse during the winter months, figuring out just what the fish might be feeding on may take a little more time to figure out.  You will certainly polish your nymph fishing skills during the winter.  With the trout being sluggish due to the colder water, the take will be subtle and you will practically have to drift the nymph right in front of the fish because they are not going to move far to feed.  Make sure you are using some sort of strike indicator or you will miss a lot of the takes.

 

With the arrival of midday, the water temperatures will have risen, the fish should be more active and any insects that are going to hatch should between 11:00 and 2:00.  You should not have a problem determining what insects are hatching since there is usually one Predominant species on the water.  When the weather turns cold, you should look for three species of bugs: midges, winter stoneflies and blue winged olives.   If you see midges on the water, make sure you collect a sample of the naturals floating downstream to determine their exact size and color.  To make the most of fishing midges, fish the pupa just under the surface with a small dry or indicator on top during the hatch. 

 

Fishing the midge pupa in the surface is another very effective tactic in the winter because the naturals tend to hang longer in the surface film due to the colder water temperatures.  There are also a lot of stillborn adults that cannot escape from their pupal shucks and are either dead or dying in the surface film.  A hatching midge pattern can be very effective to imitate this.  

The winter stoneflies are usually very small and dark brown to black in color.  They will emerge and fly to the bank to mate.  A dark colored stonefly patter in a size 16 to 20 can be very productive.  Just tie a pattern using peacock hearl for the body and put a very sparse wing on the top out of dark deer hair of CDC.

 

The Blue Winged Olive hatch in the winter can be a real joy.  Depending on the stream, hatches will usually occur between November and March with some of the hatches almost reaching those that occur in the spring.  Always start fishing with a small BWO nymph until the hatch starts.  It would be wise then to switch to a BWO emerger just under the surface.  When the trout begin keying in on the adults floating on the surface, switch to a dry like a comparadun BWO or a parachute BWO in the correct size.  Make sure you make a good presentation and get a drift right down a trout’s feeding lane when fishing dries since the fish are still going to be sluggish with the colder water temperatures.

 

When the sun begins to disappear, the stream will begin to cool quickly as well as the hatches.  The usual spinner falls of spring and summer will generally not happen at dusk during the winter.  If they have not happened by late afternoon, they will usually wait until the next day.   During this period, you may want to switch back to fishing nymphs near the bottom or just head home and warm yourself up.