Having the right fly fishing gear is an important piece in having a successful fly fishing outing. Fly rods, fly reels, fly lines, fly leaders and tippet - plus many other useful accessories - work together to help make your fly fishing trip more enjoyable.

Fly Fishing Rods

Fly fishing rods come in different materials, lengths and weight. Learn everything you need here in how to select the best fly rod, and get ready for your next fishing trip.

HOW TO SELECT A FLY FISHING ROD

To begin fly fishing for bass, trout, panfish or saltwater fish, you'll need a fly rod, most of which are made of graphite, fiberglass or bamboo. You can get by with an inexpensive new or used graphite or glass fly rod for your first fly fishing trips. But remember, in fly rods, you get what you pay for. The more expensive fly rods provide better materials and workmanship, so the more you fly fish, the more you will come to appreciate the performance high-quality fly rods can provide. They can make you a better caster and, in turn, a better fisherman; so choose wisely.

When fly fishing, you transfer energy to the fly rod when casting. The fly rod casts the line, delivering the fly to the fish. If the fly is delivered properly, the presentation looks natural and the fish takes the fly. The right fly rod, line and leader (tapered strands connecting fly line to fly) are all critical to successful presentation of the fly.

ROD LENGTH

The length of fly rod you choose is important. If you fly fish small, brush-lined streams, most often a 6- to 8-foot fly rod may be more suited to your needs than a longer rod. On the other hand, if you fly fish big rivers where casting room is no problem, a 9-foot fly rod makes more sense. Longer fly rods offer the advantage of easier line control.

ROD WEIGHT

In fly fishing, the line provides the weight to deliver the fly when you cast. The larger the fly the more wind resistant and heavy it is, so the larger (heavier) the fly line you need to deliver it. When fly fishing for larger fish with larger flies, you need a larger rod designed to cast the larger line and flies you will use.

If you start fly fishing by going after trout or panfish, you will use relatively small flies, and delicate presentation of the fly is often critical. A 5- or 6-weight fly rod is the usual choice of most beginners because it can cast small flies delicately and cast relatively large flies to distant targets.

For trout, most people use fly rods ranging from tiny 1-weights up to 8-weight. Bass fishermen will use mostly 6- to 10-weights for fishing large flies. Most folks start fly fishing for trout and panfish with a 5-weight. You can buy the lighter or heavier fly rods later as you become more specialized in your fly fishing.

TEAMING FLY ROD AND FLY LINE

You want a "balanced outfit" - a fly fishing rod and fly line that are designed for each other. Fly rods are designed by manufacturers to cast a certain weight of fly line. For instance, a 6-weight rod works with a 6-weight line; a 4-weight outfit takes a 4-weight line, and so on. If you look at a fly rod, you'll find this information printed just above the cork grip.

Fly rod manufacturers code their rods in a variety of ways and places. Some fly rods give the rod length and the fly line for which it is matched on a butt cap located on the end of the rod. Other fly rods give the rod length and fly line weights for which the rod is balanced above the cork grip. Most beginners rod/reel/line outfits have the fly line and fly rod already matched.

FLY RODS 2 PIECE, 3 PIECE OR 4 PIECE

Most new anglers begin with a 2-piece fly rod because they fly fish close to home. As you begin to travel to new fly fishing places, 4-piece travel rods may become more important to you (they can usually be hand-carried aboard an airplane).

BUY THE BEST YOU CAN AFFORD TO START

Since your casting and fishing skills are at a learning level, less-expensive reels and rods may serve you well at the beginning. As your skills mature, you'll start to improve your fly tackle with higher-performance fly reels and fly rods. Good equipment is always a better value in the long run and will help you learn faster.

Buying tackle at a fly shop where you can talk to knowledgeable sales staff is the best approach. Fly shop salespeople can help put the outfit together and assist you in casting with it. A knowledgeable store clerk should help you with those important first purchases and help you determine what fly rod is the right one for you and where you will fish.

ALWAYS CHECK YOUR GEAR

When you put your outfit together, take a few moments to make sure the rod is securely assembled and there are no cracks or dings that could weaken it. Check your line to be sure it is not cracked or cut. Make sure the fly reel spool is not bent and turns freely.

Visit our next section to learn more about Fly Fishing Reels.

Fly Fishing Reels

Once you’ve picked out your fly rod choosing a fly reel is your next step. Learn more about the fly reels available.

FLY REELS

A fly reel is normally operated by stripping line off the reel and wrapping it around the fingers with one hand, while casting the rod with the other hand. You would normally hold the fly rod in your dominant hand and manipulate the line with the other close to the reel, pulling line out in small increments as the energy in the line, generated from backward and forward motions, increases.

EARLY FLY REELS

Early fly reels often had no drag (a brake to keep the fish from swimming away). To slow a fish, you had to apply hand pressure to the rim of the revolving spool (known as "palming the rim"). But today, fly reels typically have more sophisticated disc-type drag systems with increased adjustment range and resistance to high temperatures created during braking.

AUTOMATIC FLY REELS

Automatic fly reels use a coiled spring mechanism that pulls the line into the reel with the flick of a lever. Automatic reels tend to be heavy for their size, and have limited line capacity. Automatic fly reels peaked in popularity during the 1960s, and since that time have been outsold many times over by manual fly reels.

MAKE IT RIGHT (OR LEFT) FOR YOU

Consult the fly reel instructions to see if your fly reel model is reversible. Most fly reels, because of tradition, come set up to retrieve with the right hand. The fly reel's line guard and the drag system will be set accordingly. If conversion is possible, the manufacturer will supply conversion instructions. A small screwdriver is usually the only tool you will need for the conversion.

Decide which hand you will use to reel in the fly line. Fly fishing tradition has usually dictated cranking the reel with the hand used to do the fly casting. However, this requires switching the fly rod from the left hand to the right or from the right hand to the left. Using one hand to fly cast and fight a fish and the other hand to operate the fly reel has more advantages than the traditional switching-hands method. I believe it is almost always better to crank the fly reel with your free hand (the left hand for right-handed casters and the right hand for left-handed casters).

When the fly reel is set up for the hand you choose, attach the reel to the reel seat on the fly rod's butt section. Make sure the fly reel is hanging below the rod, and the reel handle is on the correct side for the hand you have decided to use to crank the reel. The fly reel's line guard should face upward.

Fly Fishing Lines

Selecting the right fly line will help you get to where the fish are. Learn how to choose the right line for your fishing needs.

In spin fishing the weight of the lure being cast pulls the monofilament line off the reel. In fly fishing the weight of the fly line being cast carries the fly to the fish. The fly line you cast and the way you cast it creates the "presentation" of the fly. To catch fish you must present your fly in the water column the way the fish expect to see their foods. The right fly line makes that possible.

HOW TO CHOOSE A FLY LINE

By Shape and Construction: These determine how the line delivers the fly. In fly fishing you want to deliver the fly where and how the fish expect to see their food. So, you must choose the fly line that is designed with the proper length, weight, taper, color, specific gravity and coating for the fishing you want to do.

By Length and Weight: A fly line's weight is distributed throughout its length - from 90 to 105 feet or more - but its weight designation (1- through 15-weight) is determined by the weight of the front 30 feet of the fly line. Fly line weights range from a 1-weight to a 15-weight.

By Tapers: The way fly lines shoot, turn over a heavy fly, present a small fly delicately, or cast efficiently at long or short distances is through the taper design. The fly line's taper (its outside dimension) is designed by varying the thickness of the line coating. Notice the way a fly line is described - tip, front taper, belly, rear taper, head and running line. All these elements can be varied to change the casting performance of the line. Fly lines are broken into five design categories: the seldom-used level (L), the highly popular weight-forward (WF), double-taper (DT), shooting-taper (ST), and specialty tapers. The fly lines you will use the most are weight-forward, double-taper and specialty.

By Color: Some fishermen prefer a brightly colored fly line so they can see where their line is in the air and on the water. It helps them in casting and in knowing where their fly is at all times. Others prefer fly lines that blend in with whatever background they are fishing. Fish see colors, they reason, so why spook them with colors they are not used to seeing? You must decide what color fly line works best for you.

By Coating: Fly lines float because they are designed by the manufacturer with tiny air bubbles in the line surface. If instead the manufacturer adds lead or tungsten to the fly line's coating, the line will sink.

Fly lines are constructed of a core, a taper design, and a coating (usually polyvinylchloride). These basic elements are varied to make form follow function. In other words, by changing the core, coating or tapers, the manufacturer can make fly lines that perform best under any fishing situation.

SINKING FLY LINES

Since more than 90 percent of a fish's feeding occurs beneath the surface, you need fly lines that get your fly down, sometimes slowly and at other times very fast.

Full-sinking fly lines are best suited to fishing in still waters. They are designed to get flies down to the level where the fish are feeding. So you need to match the sink rate of the fly line to the fishing conditions.

Fly lines that sink uniformly (evenly) or head first are the best lines to use for fishing still waters (lakes and ponds), because they provide better strike detection. Some sinking fly lines tend to belly in the middle because they do not sink uniformly. The belly creates a sensory disconnect between the fisherman and the fish, so the fisherman fails to detect the strikes before the fish can reject the fly. The uniform-sinking fly lines provide a straight-line connection to the fly, allowing you to detect a high percentage of strikes and catch more fish.

SINKING-TIPS

Sinking-tips (best used in moving water) are sinking portions of fly line (usually 8 to 15 feet) connected to the front of floating lines. They are excellent for shallow and deep nymphing, for mending fly line to create a drag-free float, and for turning over and sinking very large streamers in river-bank and pool fishing.

BASIC GEAR TIPS

For the best advice and choices, buy your fly lines at a fly shop where you can describe your fishing needs and receive the counsel of experienced fishermen.

1. The weight of your fly line must match your rod - 6-weight lines for 6-weight rods and so forth.
2. The larger the fly, the larger the fly line (and fly rod) needed to cast it.
3. Fishing the water column from top to bottom requires both floating and sinking fly lines. As water depth and flow increase, the heavier the sinking fly lines you will need to penetrate it. If you cannot penetrate it to where the fish lie (near bottom), you cannot present the fly in the level at which they are feeding, and you will not catch them.
4. Match the type of the fly line to the fishing conditions for which it is designed.
5. Take care of your fly line, and it will take care of you.
6. If you see a line marked "Trout," "Bass," "Bonefish," "Big Game" or the like, you know that it is designed for that species. Fly line designations are indicated on the side of the manufacturer's packages as in these examples: "WF8F" means weight-forward, 8-weight, floating; or "Wet Tip V 13'" means sinking-tip, very fast sinking, 13-foot tip. Then the length of the fly line is given: 90ft./30 yd./27.4m. Each tells you something important about the function of the fly line.

FLY LINE CARE TIPS

1. Wash your fly lines in mild soap and water and wiped dry or cleaned with a line cleaner after use, because they accumulate dirt and algae on their surface, making casting difficult and floating fly lines sink.
2. After cleaning, allow the fly line to dry in the shade (ultraviolet light from the sun destroys the chemicals in a line), or wipe the fly line dry and dress it with lubricant provided by the manufacturer or with Armor-All. Some newer fly lines require less dressing because they have lubricants in the line coating that gradually weep toward the surface.
3. When you are not fishing the fly line, detach the fly and wind the line onto the reel until your next trip. Long storage on a reel can create reel-coils in the fly line, but to remove the coils you just need to stretch or cast the line. At the end of the season clean your fly lines thoroughly and wind them back onto their original line spools.
4. Always keep your fly lines stored out of direct sunlight. The sun's ultraviolet rays and high heat can cause the coating chemicals on the fly line to deteriorate quickly. With proper care your fly lines should last from three to five years under normal use.

Leaders and Tippet

Fly leaders are tapered monofilament strands that connect the fly fishing line to the fly. They're designed to cast (present) flies the way the fish expects to see food items. Learn more here.

FLY LEADERS

Fly leaders have three sections: butt, midsection and tippet. Fly leaders are tapered from the thick, heavy butt to the narrow, thin fly tippet to help turn the fly over in casting. Fly fishing leaders are either hand-tied, with segments between knots; or they are knotless with a continuous taper from butt to fly tippet end. The packaging will give you specific information about the fly leader and how it will perform.

HOW TO SELECT A FLY LEADER

The right fly leader is the one that suits the fishing situation. For example, when you're fishing small flies on flat water for trout or panfish, the fly leader should be small in diameter. The fly leader must have a relatively soft fly tippet for soft presentation of the fly, and it must be long enough to assure that the fish is not spooked by the line hitting the water during the cast.

In general, the smaller the fly, the smaller the fly leader diameter at the tippet (end); the larger the fly, the larger the fly leader diameter. Also, the smaller the fly, the flatter the water and the more easily spooked the fish are, the longer and thinner the fly leader needed to fool them. Some spring-creek trout are so finicky that you may have to go lighter, while on salt water the fly tippet may have a breaking strength of 20 pounds with a shock tippet of 100 pounds tied in.

Fortunately, leader manufacturers have labeled their products to help you choose the right fly leader for your fishing. For instance, a bass fly leader should be relatively short and stiff to turn over the large flies you will use. Saltwater fly leaders will be relatively stiff, strong and very abrasion-resistant to withstand the large, sharp teeth of saltwater fish and the powerful runs made by those fish.

CONNECTING FLY LEADER AND FLY LINE

The connection you make between your fly leader butt and the fly line is important. If you decide to use a knot, the easiest is the tube or nail knot. The needle nail knot is the most secure of all the leader/line connections, but it takes more time to tie. A good fly shop will set up your line and leader for you.

LEADER LENGTH

A standard fly leader for stream trout, bass and panfish is 9 feet. Some fly leaders may run as long as 22 feet, and spring-creek fly leaders are often 12 feet or longer. As the wind rises, casting these leaders becomes more and more difficult, so experienced fishermen shorten the fly leader to aid in turning the fly over in the wind.

Fly Fishing Waders

Waders offer protection from the water, usually covering from just above the knee to the tip of the toe.

Fly Fishing waders are mostly used for small streams and bank fishing, hip waders come in several different materials and styles, and are the most minimal style of wader protection. With a simple loop and buckle at the top to keep the wader from sliding down the leg, they connect to the belt loop and are very easy to step in and out of. Some waders offer more protection, covering the chest, with suspenders looping over the shoulders to hold them in place.

Consider avoiding traditional felt-soled wading boots. Felt soles absorb water, which can carry aquatic nuisance species and fish-killing diseases including didymo, New Zealand mud snails and whirling disease. Wearing boots with rubber soles will help curb the spread of invasive species in precious fly fishing waters. Plus, a number of companies that make fly fishing gear, such as Simms, are phasing out production of felt-soled footwear. Wearing rubber soles now will put you ahead of the game.