But we decided to go to the lake and take the chance that the class was going to happen. So we packed the car and added our normal spinning rods too, in case we couldn't get the fly fishing going with all the wind.
When we arrived, 3 others was attending the class too and the instructor had started helping one who just bought a fly rod in the store, showing how to attach the backing line, explaining knots etc.
He then put one of those loops on that you glue to the line, so that you don't have to tie so many knots and makes it easy to change the line on the reel. He also attached one in the end of the fly-line, so he could change leader very quickly - neat trick (which is the same way my own line is attached, but it still impress me when I see it)
Creating the leader, he told that buying the pre-made leaders was kind of waste of money, but instead you can just take some normal 0.26 mm mono line and use that. The tapering really didn't do that much difference in his opinion (However, I have only tried the pre-made tapered leaders, so I can't really tell if theres any difference or not. Once I try, I'll let you know).
A few of the things that just needed to be prepared was, that my farther in-laws fly line was rolled on the wrong direction on his reel, so we had to unroll that and re-roll it in the other direction. This was quickly done by grabbing the end of the line, and start running until the reel was out of line. Then Just roll it on again.
When all the rods was assembled, it was time to select a fly, and attach it to the leader - and he taught us a knot that was a little loop, called the Rapala-knot. This loop should enable the fly to act a lot more lifelike in the water.
I usually just use the clinch-knot to tie every hook to my lines, so this was a new to me.
The weather look a little better, but still with extreme wind, so we found a place where we could have the wind in our back. Far from optimal for a casting class, but at least we gave it a try.
The instructor started slowly, telling the basics of the fly cast:
- It's the line you cast, not the fly.
- Keep the elbow to the body
- Don't use the wrists too much.
- 10 and 12 o'clock stops of the arm.
- Timing.
Casting in high speed winds is hard!
Now it was our turn, so we spread out, making room for each other and started casting. I started by taking out a little line, and just threw the fly in the lake in front of my feet. And then I saw the fly's movements in the water, with the rapala-knot. The fly was moving like a lifelike insect struggling for its life, compared to my normal clinch knot which just lies there doing almost no movement.
People started casting some with nice success, others with limited success. My brother in-law had a fine grip of the technique however a little too fast and unrelaxed, but as time went on it got a lot better. His 12 year old son, who had never even held a fly rod before, was struggling in the wind with the line too long, too short, too fast and so on. Most of the time he was entangled in the line.
My farther in-law had tried fly casting once before, so he was a mess to begin with, but quickly got the hang of it, ended the class with pretty decent casts, but with the same issues that I just stopped having : the back cast stop. He was stopping at 2 o'clock instead of 12, which makes the fly catch the ground behind you more often. I don't blame him, since it is so hard not to bring the arm too far back.
Almost all of us had minor issues in the casting technique, but those of us who was "good" quickly got instructed very nicely how we should do it, and the mistakes was fixed during the session.
My learnings:
- One of my biggest problems was the actual cast, that often ended too close to me. And the instructor taught me to do the stop correctly and the result is a nice long controlled cast (yay!).
- I also learned how to do the roll cast, how to lift the rod keeping the line tight by the tension of the water and then with a flick of the wrist/arm, the line rolls two meters forward/sideways. Its going to be very useful for when your having trees or the like behind you, preventing a real back cast.
- The rapala-knot, was a nice learning, this baby really moves the fly.
To my surprise the instructor praised my technique, and he could really see how I had practiced a lot and he didn't really had much to correct! I had seriously feared that I would be corrected a lot and my hard work had been wasted.
So it is really possible to learn to do it without an instructor, just use Youtube and other videos a lot! and then practice, practice..
On the hook
While we were fishing, the guy next to me and I was talking about this and that, when I spotted a fish wakes in the water and I said to him "one there" and we both casted for it, both very close to it. And the fish took his fly, he landed the fish nicely - this was really fun to see, so his second time fly fishing and he caught something - Well done!
There was a farther and his boy attending the class and the boy accidentally caught himself in the nose about 1 cm from the eyes, in a way that it was impossible to take it out. The blood from his nose was not the way it should have ended for him and I wish him all the best.
But this should be a reminded for all to wear a hat and glasses, every time you fly fish no matter how experienced you are. Theres always sudden winds, other people fly casting or a moment where you are not 100% focused - so please wear the glasses and hat!
My conclusion of the class is that even though we didn't have the optimal weather conditions, we still learned a lot and I am really looking forward to next time I am going fishing - I am most certainly going to fly fish!
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