Fly Fishing 101 for Summer Streams

Top 10 tips for catching trout in the moving mountain waters of the Northwest.

By Jeff Holmes

Every time I pick up one of my several fly rods, I am reminded of how much I love the sport, and I don’t even have to be in the act of fishing. If you’ve dabbled with a fly rod or have always wanted to, this
July is a perfect time to buy a small amount of gear and plug into a simple and beautiful sport. Fly fishing is fun and pure and need not involve elitism and thousands of dollars of posh gear. It’s more intimate and connected to the rhythms of nature and the life cycle of the fish than any form of gear fishing I know. I never caught more fish or visited more beautiful places than when I was obsessed with fly fishing and its simple effectiveness, and that’s especially true when it comes to fishing moving waters in the mountains in the heart of summer. A few weeks ago, I found myself stuffing my fly rods into their rod tubes and securing scores of other rods with the simple but brilliant Reed’s Rod Wraps (reedsrodwraps .com), which have saved me a lot of broken rods over the years. I know that because I constantly break rods when I don’t secure them with these ingenious little elastic fasteners.
Memories spawned by those fly rods flies being gulped and the tug of native cutthroat and rainbow trout on a 5-weight. The anxiety I felt leading up to this move was so great that I avoided the task of moving my fishing gear for months. In fact, I finally ended up buying tons of those black and yellow totes from Costco and dumping vast amounts of gear in them haphazardly, planning to sort it all out after the move. Why the anxiety? Part of it is because organizing isn’t my jam and I’m a fishing packrat. But the biggest reason was because I am primarily a gear fisherman these days, i.e., a terminal tackle fisherman who fishes for a lot of species. My life is awash with gear, including 60-ish rods and as many reels or more geared for kings, sockeye, coho, trout, walleye, bass, pike, panfish, catfish, bottom fish, halibut and even tuna – and I don’t even own an ocean boat.
I found dozens of boxes of lures, spinner blades, Smile Blades, hooks, Corkies, Spin-N-Glos and tons more, including hundreds of plugs. There were even two big boxes of nothing but floats, from pike bobbers to micro bobbers for ice fishing. There was also a box of spawn sac tying materials, a crate of bait cures, sinkers of all weights and purposes, and probably a thousand dollars’ worth of just hooks, illustrating that I have problems.

THEN THERE WAS my fly fishing gear. All of my rods fit neatly in protected tubes. All of my reels fit inside an old fly fishing vest. All of my many fly boxes fit in a small cardboard box, along with lines, leaders, tippets, floatants, nippers, hemostats and a small collection of other trinkets. Two pairs of felt-soled boots and a pair of waders fit in a bag, and that was all of it, all I’d ever need minus occasionally resupplying with some leaders, tippet, float ant and flies. I’ve never crossed the line into being a fly tyer, nor does one need to to get into the sport or to be good at it. Just the comparison between my fly and terminal gear was enough to make me long for simpler times and served as a reminder to spend more time feather flicking; it also spawned the idea for this article.

Here I’m going to give you a top-10 list of indispensable gear and basic skills needed to fish effectively and start improving your skills and catching. I’ll also offer a recommendation on the holy land of summertime fly fishing in the Northwest, perhaps all the West, perhaps all the continent. I’ll stay mum on smaller, more delicate creek and river names, but the North Idaho streams I highlight are no secret and have robust trout populations and protective regulations that have actually led to progressively better fishing throughout the years. First, however, let’s go over some basics. Acquire all of the following simple pieces of gear and these simple skills, and you can expect to have a great time on summer trout streams.

1 You will want a 5- or 6-weight 9-foot fly rod or an 8-foot 4-weight rod if you’re only going to fish small
streams with little fish. You can spend $1,000 on a rod, or you can get a Cortland, Echo or other less expensive rod for around $125. Or, you can buy an even cheaper rod, get a hand-me-down or buy a used rod. If you’re new to the sport, make sure you like it and want to continue before spending big money. A great time can be had with any fly rod.

2 You’ll want to pair a mid- to large-arbor fly reel that costs less that $100 with your rod, and load it with 50 to 100 yards of Dacron line as “backing.” Look for a reel that is fitted to the same weight rod that you purchase. You can get into something for $30, and if you look around, you might find a fancy name-brand reel online for a fraction of its retail cost. I own several such reels from Scientific Anglers, Ross and Lamson. But on the flip side, I could have a great time with the cheapest reel at your local sporting goods store. As for backing, Dacron is preferred because it takes up lots of space on the reel, but I have also used heavy monofilament and old 65-pound braid from salmon reels. You may have some makeshift backing lying around.

3 For summertime stream fishing, you’ll want a weight-forward, or WF, floating fly line in the same size (4, 5 or 6) as your rod. For lake fishing – best reserved for cooler-weather months – you’ll want full-sink or sink-tip lines. Sink-tip lines can be killer on streams in summertime, too, but start simple. You want a floating line because starting simple is better, fly fishing dries is the best and you can still fish nymphs and streamers with a floating line in mountain streams. Fly line is expensive, and you can pay $60 to $100 for the really good stuff, which is worth it when you fish a lot, since it lasts years when cared for and is critically important to your casting. For new fly anglers, any WF floating line will work. Why do you want WF line? Because casting heavier, fatter line on the front end of the spool enables easier casts and enables you to turn the line over, shooting your leader, tippet and fly forward of your very visually conspicuous fly line.

4 You’ll want to have at least several tapered leaders in 4X (roughly 6-pound test) and 5X (roughly 4-pound test) in 8- to 10-foot lengths. These fluorocarbon or monofilament tapered leaders are true to their name and start with some fat, stout line and taper down to thin line, the part that is 4X to 5X. The tapering, like the WF floating line, enables you to “turn over” the leader and propel your fly far in
front of your floating line. Over time, as you tie multiple flies to a tapered leader, it will become shorter and ultimately thicker. Before you get to a portion of the leader that’s too thick, you’ll want to tie new tippet to your leader to keep the leader long, the line thin so it’ll pass through the eye of your fly and lengthen the overall lifespan of your leader. You’ll need tippet and knot knowledge to achieve this.

5 Get plenty of quality tippet, monofilament or fluorocarbon. I think mono is easier to fish with and
is usually about as effective, unless fishing heavily pressured fish. It’s definitely easier to cut and tie knots
with, so I recommend it starting out. Get little spools in 4X, 5X and even 6X if you like a challenge in both knot tying and in landing fish. Sections of tippets can be tied to tapered leaders as they shorten. There are many knots to join line, but I favor the very simple double surgeon’s, uni or double uni knots.
Other knots you’ll want to learn that are a breeze include loop and loop connector knots, as well as knots that affix tippet to the fly, such as the ever popular improved clinch knot. Other knots I tie for fly fishing include arbor knots and nail knots, but there are many more.

6 You’ll need nippers, hemostats (preferably the kind with scissors on them) and fly float ant like Gink
or the many other products you can find at fly shops or online that allow you to dress a dry fly and protect it from moisture to greatly extend the time it will float before it needs drying. Nippers cut line and do so with precise, clean cuts so that you can fit thin-diameter line through the tiny eyelets of some flies. On the back end of nippers is also a fine metal poker to ream out the eyelets of flies to aid you in tying knots. Hemostats allow you to crimp barbs, release fish and cut line in the case of medical hemostats that come equipped with scissors. All of this gear can fit in a shorts or pants pocket, on a lanyard, in a vest, in a short pocket or in a chest pack.

7 You’ll need flies, and here’s a short list of good ones for July and August stream fishing. I recommend focusing mostly on dries when you start out for fun’s sake and the sake of learning to cast and turn over flies, getting good drifts and getting visual confirmation of what your casting and mending is doing by watching the fly on the surface. Dries: Foam ants and beetles, preferably black with white indicators and in sizes 12 to 16; X Caddis and Elk Hair Caddis in sizes 12 to 16; Comparadun and Sparkle Dun mayfly imitations in sizes 14 to 18; hopper patterns with different-colored abdomens (yellow, beige and orange) to match the grasshopper types on the streams you’ll fish in sizes 8 to 12; yellow and red Humpies and also small Stimulators with abdomens the same color in sizes 12 to 16. Nymphs: Prince Nymphs in
traditional and purple colors in sizes 12 to 18; Pheasant Tail nymphs in traditional and purple colors in sizes 12 to 18; both gray and olive Hare’s Ear nymphs in 12 to 18. Fish these with or without an indicator, essentially a tiny bobber like a Lil’ Corky.
Streamers: Black, brown and olive cone-headed Woolly Buggers in sizes 8 to 14; olive and natural-colored Zonkers and Bunny Leeches in size 6 to 12; and olive, brown and purple String Leeches in sizes 6 to 12. Cast streamers (carefully to avoid hitting yourself) perpendicular to the current or slightly downstream in deeper slots, runs and pools and strip the fly back to you 6 to 12 inches at a time.

8 Mending line is one of the greatest victories in learning to fly fish in moving waters. Mending line involves manipulating your fly line and leader such that you do not impact any action on your fly, allowing it to drift “drag-free” and naturally. In the past, I’ve watched friends catch three fish to my 30 when they could not mend, only to see them quadruple their catch on the first day they made the breakthrough to mending and achieving drag-free drifts. Mending is generally lifting your fly line upstream carefully and placing it above your fly, allowing your fly to drift downstream without a drag. The longer and more consistent your drag-free drift, the more fish you will catch dry fly and nymph fishing in streams.

9 In July, waders are generally not needed except for the squeamish and weak, but hey, they deserve to fish too. Just kidding. Lightweight breathable waders work, but what I recommend is a quality pair of felt-soled wading boots, a pair of wool socks and a set of neoprene gravel guards that act like snow gaiters around your boot and ankle to keep small rocks and grit from getting into your boot. This setup is like having four-wheel drive and a high-clearance vehicle versus the rear-wheel sedan that is a set of sandals or other shoes. On almost all rock types, felt boots make you exponentially more sure-footed.

10 Finally, you’ll want to check your ego and replace it with a sense of discovery and a desire to learn and do something that’s likely really different from the fishing you normally do. Don’t expect to be a great caster. Read about casting basics, watch videos and practice at home or on the water. Expect to throw some wind knots at first, which is when you tangle your fly and leader and tippet in a bird’s nest.
As soon as you sense that you have cast a wind knot, let your line fall to the water and try to untangle it. The more you flail around a knot, the worse it will get. Practicing and getting better is part of the fun in fly angling, and you should embrace a learner’s attitude, asking questions and seeking resources. There is a lot of nuance to casting, and it took me hundreds of wind knots, some flies to the scalp and lots of flies lost in willows and trees to get to the point where I can cast a dry fly where I want with accuracy and touch. And I’m not great at it either. You don’t have to get great either, but good is within your reach, and you can have fun and catch fish the first time you set out.

IN THE AUGUST issue, I’ll follow up this article with a fly fishing 201 article for summertime streams, that one focused on how to find fish, how to present flies, how to hook fish, how to play and land them and how to release them safely, since most truly great trout streams are catch-andrelease or have very conservative regulations for keeping fish. NS