Think of a tip as a shortcut or improved way to accomplish something. In the case of fly anglers, tips and tricks are those concise tidbits of information that lead to a simpler, better, faster, cheaper, more effective, more organized, or more efficient way of doing something connected with fly tying and fly fishing. That “something” might be dealing with tackle, rigging your fly outfit, fighting a fish, landing a fish, casting under difficult conditions, cleaning your gear, fly fishing from boats, solving stream fly fishing problems, releasing fish, unsnagging flies, tying flies, and more. These tips can save you minutes or hours of time over a fishing career and in the process help you have more fun with your favorite sport.
Tying flies can be a consuming off-season hobby with the promise of fun to come as you devise, create, and tie flies for specific fish and fishing situations. Learning how to effectively and quickly tie such flies makes this hobby both more fun and more productive toward the goal of filling a fly box.
In some cases, a fly tying tip can be as simple as substituting clear nail polish for the head cement typically recommended to seal the final thread wrap of a fly. In other cases, it might be a simple way to add tungsten powder to epoxy sealer for saltwater flies to make them heavier and sink more quickly to the best fishing zone.
Fly fishing tips can include the best ways to control fly line when casting from the bow of a flats boat. Or it might involve using side pressure to turn and control a giant catch that could otherwise threaten to break off or spool your reel.
This book is a collection of 501 of the very best tips for fly fishing and fly tying. They address all aspects of freshwater and saltwater fishing, boat fly fishing, tying flies, gear, care of flies and tackle, protecting yourself from the elements, traveling with fly tackle, using lines and leaders, fly storage, and much more.
Some of these tips have been originated by the author while others are a compilation of the best ideas learned over the years from other experts in fly fishing and fly tying. You will find some old standards here, but you might also find some new tips, which hopefully will produce a more successful and enjoyable experience with fly fishing and fly tying.
In this collection, the most commonly known tips and tricks have largely been omitted, since most would be learned by the time you read this book. Similarly, tips and tricks that would only be used for highly specialized fishing or fly tying are not included.
I have divided the tips into sections so that you can go to a specific concern and find an answer to a vexing problem. In some cases, there might be only one solution—or one solution presented here and the only one that I know—to solve a specific problem. In other cases, you might have several choices from which to pick the tip or solution best suited to your fly fishing.
When I learn new tips and tricks, I try them to prove (or sometimes disprove) their efficacy. Those that don’t work, I discard. And what I do learn in tips, tricks, wrinkles, and methods of doing something, I try to pass along. This, then, is a gathering of those tips, some developed by me, but many learned from others and some just common sense. This is an effort to share these ideas more widely to make the sport of fly fishing a little more fun and a little less work. Enjoy, learn, experience—and pass along your knowledge to others.
