A river DOES NOT run through it - Fly fishing?

[N80]

I have a new fly rod and a reel. Both are new and nothing fancy. In fact, the reel is one of the autowind types which I'm assuming are not very popular. But, they were both given to me for free.

I have fly fished before. For trout. In a mountain stream. No luck and it was years ago with my dad's old fly rod.

I want to use my fly rod and reel to catch bream and small bass with little popping bugs (which I assume are heavier than the typical trout fly. I'll be fishing on a pond. I've also done this before, very successfully, but it was years ago with someone else's rig.

My question is, what type of line do I need to put on this new reel? The reel is a Martin Mohawk Automatic. (The rod is a Daiwa Black Widow for what its worth). The fish will be 5 pounds or less, most probably waaay less. I have some old tippet material which says 4.5lb and '5X' on it. How long should this tippet line be?

I appreciate any help any of you fly fishermen can offer. Just remember, this is low rent, very non-Zen flyfishing. I've had the rig lying around for years and recently noticed the fish on my pond hitting bugs, etc on the surface very actively. I think a little popping bug will tear those bream up.

 

[RonMar]

A commercial rod might have suitable line types in the label, such as #5-#7. If this popper you are refering to floats, then you will probably want a floating line as well. 4-5' of leader should be fine, just enough to get the fly to settle far enough from the line to be not too visible. I havn't flyfished in years either. I still have all my gear in the garage, and have been thinking about getting back into it.

 

[N80]

Thanks Ron! The rod does have the line size printed on it says Line: AFTMA #6-7. I don't know what the 'AFTMA' part means but I will need floating line for what I'll be doing.

This is what we used to call popping bugs when I was a kid:

The one's I'm talking about you can get at Walmart, etc, and range from about the size of a pencil eraser (for bream) to the tip of your thumb (for bass).

Now, stupid question #2 ....... or is it #3, how do you tie the tipper line to the regular line? Edited to add: Nevermind, figured it out.

 

[B8FISH]

if you get a double tapered floating line it will last you a long time--you use one end till it wears out and then turn it around and use the other end. Have fun!

 

[lhfarm]

Living in central Indiana limits my trout fishing, but pond fishing provides a whole lot of fun. I tie my own little rubber spiders that I fish with all season, but like to use grasshopper patterns in the summer. Poppers work well too. Bass and bluegill (our bream) are much more forgiving of a bad cast. Even a young bass smashing a fly is pretty exciting.

Farm ponds also make a great place to learn to cast. You don't need lots of line out. The local parks and rec gave lessons several years ago, taught by a master. This guy could cast ony rod handed him incredible distances. But the thing I remember most - and go back to when I haven't been on the water in a long time - was his discription of what I'm trying to do with the rod. He said "Imangine you have a long wooden spoon with some cookie dough on the end. Now flick it off." It is in the wrist.

Go have fun! I think I'll join you.

 

[RonMar]

But the thing I remember most - and go back to when I haven't been on the water in a long time - was his discription of what I'm trying to do with the rod. He said "Imangine you have a long wooden spoon with some cookie dough on the end. Now flick it off." It is in the wrist.

Go have fun! I think I'll join you.

Yep, it is a back and forth arm movement with a wrist flick at each end. The arm movement takes up the slack and gets the line moving in the hew direction and the flick of the wrist accelerates the line and stores some energy. It is about timing and energy management. Too early a flick will crack the whip(and the fly), too late and not enough energy gets added and the fly will hit the ground or the back of your head. Ideally, the last wrist flick will bring the pole down more towards the direction of cast and store enough energy to draw out the several yards of line that you have pulled out laying at your feet. It will also ideally have enough energy to fully unfold the fly line so it lays out straight with the tippet and fly falling at full extension beyond it. The drag of drawing the extra line out helps with this full extension. I had been doing it for a while and thought I was pretty good. the first time my brother showed me how it was actually done. I could not believe how much additional line he could get it to take and how far it could go(easilly doubled my best efforts).

AFTMA? American Fly Tackle Manufacturers Association.

http://www.common-cents.info/aftma.pdf

 

[N80]

Well, I went and tried it. Didn't catch anything. Some bream took it under a few times but the hook didn't set. I caught a few big bream and a few small bass on spinner bait but all in all they weren't biting very well.

Still had a good time and learned some of the technique you guys mentioned just by trial and error. I was using all arm at first but then figured out the proper wrist action. I didn't have much trouble getting a good bit of line out but when it came time to set it on the water the line was hitting the water too soon and it would land the bug short. I overcame this by landing the bug on a slight back stroke and it would snap the bug down on the water before the line hit. I'm sure this is overcoming bad technique with more bad technique but I got my best distance that way.

One interesting thing the guy at the tackle shop mentioned was that these heavier and larger popping bugs are actually harder to cast than a tiny fly. As any fly fisher knows, you are casting the line, not the bait. He said the wind drag created by these bugs actually decreases your distance. I got a tapered, floating WF (weight forward) line that helps. There is a shorter taper version with a heavier end that is made for bass and bream fishing with a bug, but he did not have any.

Funny thing happended before I went fishing. I was practicing in the back yard with no lure on the end when my wife and daughter drove up. My daughter jumped out of the car and rushed inside. I asked my wife what was up. She said my daughter was embarrassed. I thought she was talking about how bad my casting was. No, she was embarrassed that here dad was fishing in the grass and figured the neighbors would think I was nuts! ( Of course there was no chance of that....my neighbors already know that I'm nuts).