I am by no means an expert fly
fisherman. Far from it, but as I fish I am learning, and usually the hard
way! So this area is where I will pass on things I have learnt that may
help prevent you having to learn the hard way.
If you have any tips to pass on, please e-mail them to me.
I, like many people getting
into fly fishing are unsure of what they should be buying in terms of rods,
reels, lines, leaders and of course flies! One suggestion is to read as
much info as you can on fly fishing. Don't fall for the hype and buy yourself
the top of the line gear until you find you are both comfortable and enjoy
Saltwater Fly Fishing.
If most of your fishing is going to be estuary base, for flathead, bream etc., then go for a rod of between 6 and 8 weight. I went for a 6/7 weight ABU GoldMax rod and matching Diplomat reel. This is more than sufficient in terms of estuary fishing, whilst is still light enough to give you "the feel" when casting.
The reel came with a 6 weight floating line, which I replaced with an 8 weight, Intermediate sink, weight forward fly line. I know the rod is only a 6/7 weight, so why go for an eight weight line? The answer is, so that whilst learning to cast, the eight weight allows you to feel the rod loading up on the back and forward casts.
Why intermediate sink? Well when fishing for bream and flathead, they both feed on the bottom or towards the bottom. So either you need a long trace / leader on your fly line to allow the fly to get down to where the fish are, or you get a fly line that sinks. An intermediate sink takes the fly down slower than a fast or rapid sink line.
Flies are another area that can confuse the crap out of you. What flies should I get? Do I need weighted or un-weighted flies? etc. etc. I looked at a number of web sites to find flies. The best one I found was Flyworld. This site sorts the flies by species. So look for the species you are fishing for and you will get a list of flies that are effective for that species. O.k. so you have been presented with oodles of flies for that fish. Think about the areas you are fishing and what the main food source for the fish are. Bream for example love crustaceans, so prawn imitation patterns are a good choice. I went for Crazy Charlies and epoxy prawns. Flathead like small bait fish and the like, so Clousers Minnows and Lefty's Deceivers are the go to start with. You get the idea... I Hope!
Leaders. You can tie your own, or buy them. To tie you own I suggest looking for a book on how to tie them, like Peter Morse's "Saltwater Fly Fishing Fundamentals". To buy them, look for a leader that suits the area you are fishing. If fishing for bream etc. use a light leader of about 4kg. Up the strength of the leaders when fishing around snags and oysters, and so on.
One big suggestion! Get someone to teach you how to cast. Reason being, that if you teach yourself you may (more than likely) teach yourself bad habits to start with. These over time become embedded and very difficult to break away from. I got lessons from one of the local fly fishing gurus and I was able to pick up the concepts and cast the fly further than I could in the months leading up to biting the bullet and arranging the lesson. JUST DO IT!