newbe questions

"Ken Fortenberry"

.. John's list of Illinois
fly shops included only two in southern Illinois, one in Marion
and one in Carbondale and neither has much to do with fly fishing.
I recommend a trip to St. Louis, Feather Craft and T. Hargrove are
both good shops, but a lot of folks, me included, caught the
fly fishing virus just fine without any help from Ye Olde Fly Shoppe.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Yeah, but that was only one link that I found through a google search...

For example, my local shop (mainly bass) does have a selection of hooks and
some various chinelles and feathers and such, and that is where I hooked up
with our local fly fishing club.

A lot of times we get a 'looker' asking ''' beginner' questions and never
hear from them again, anyhow, there is a lot of information out there, a lot
of pleasant folks with a world of wisdom. I was just trying to suggest that,
although ordering vids and books and posting here is fine, a little field
work can yet great results...

john..

Ps. how's the dog?

asadi wrote:
...
Ps. how's the dog?

Kipper the Hound is fine, for a 10 year old. He's slowing down
a bit, but he's lovin' romping through all this new snow. We had
13.5" officially but with the 50mph winds the drift against my
garage door was chest high this morning. I'm slowing down too,
but unlike Kipper I'm not lovin' all this new snow. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

"asadi" wrote in message
t...

Fly & Field Inc. 560 Crescent Blvd Glen Ellyn IL 708.858.7844
Roaring Fork Outfitters 2577 Waukegan Rd. Bannockburn IL 847.940.8580

No longer in business

On Feb 14, 10:26�am, "asadi" wrote:

* * * GR Young Outfitters 221 W. Waukegan Rd. Lake Bluff IL 847.615..5400
* * * Orvis Deerfield 775 Waukegan Rd. Deerfield IL 847.945.3500

Also no longer in business.
Joel

"Mike" wrote in message
. net...
I plan on learing to fly fish this spring and I don't know anyone in this
area that does fly fishes. I ordered some videos and have been buying
magazines. I picked up a 7ft. 4w fly rod at Walmart and plan on learning
fishing for bluegills and I don't know anywhere close that even stock
trout. I (I'm in southern ILL) What kind of flies etc would you recomend???
From what I've read WF line would be easier to learn to cast. Any tips &
suggestions would be greatly appreceated.
Thanks, Mike


Greetings Mike,
The 7wt may be too short of a rod to start with to learn the correct
mechanics of the cast. I would start with a 8.5' or 9' fly rod. in a
5 or 6wt. The reason being is you have to learn to load the rod and
it's much easier in those lengths. After you learn the basics and
understand the cast, I would suggest looking at sorter length fly rods.

The other thing I've learned is when starting, is to not pick-up any
bad habits. There are a lot of videos out on the market, but only
a handful which I would consider worthwhile.

All good fly-casters have developed their own style after learning
the basics and understanding the mechanics of the cast. If I could give
a suggestion on where to start, I would suggest to purchase Mel Krieger's
book called The Essence of Fly Casting. The descriptions and photos
are easy to understand.

Off the records, I had quite a few bad habits when I started. Mel Krieger
corrected me on my basics, it was like learning how to cast all over again.
And to learning to break a bad habit is worst than starting fresh.

Remember, there are no shortcuts in fly-casting, what you put into it
is what you'll get out of it.
Good Luck and great fishing, it's a wonderful relaxing hobby.
fwiw,
-tom

"Tom Nakashima" wrote in message
...

"Mike" wrote in message
. net...
I plan on learing to fly fish this spring and I don't know anyone in this
area that does fly fishes. I ordered some videos and have been buying
magazines. I picked up a 7ft. 4w fly rod at Walmart and plan on learning
fishing for bluegills and I don't know anywhere close that even stock
trout. I (I'm in southern ILL) What kind of flies etc would you
recomend??? From what I've read WF line would be easier to learn to cast.
Any tips & suggestions would be greatly appreceated.
Thanks, Mike


Greetings Mike,
The 7wt may be too short of a rod to start with to learn the correct

***Sorry, I meant 7 ft. not 7wt. *****

mechanics of the cast. I would start with a 8.5' or 9' fly rod. in a
5 or 6wt. The reason being is you have to learn to load the rod and
it's much easier in those lengths. After you learn the basics and
understand the cast, I would suggest looking at sorter length fly rods.

The other thing I've learned is when starting, is to not pick-up any
bad habits. There are a lot of videos out on the market, but only
a handful which I would consider worthwhile.

All good fly-casters have developed their own style after learning
the basics and understanding the mechanics of the cast. If I could give
a suggestion on where to start, I would suggest to purchase Mel Krieger's
book called The Essence of Fly Casting. The descriptions and photos
are easy to understand.

Off the records, I had quite a few bad habits when I started. Mel Krieger
corrected me on my basics, it was like learning how to cast all over
again.
And to learning to break a bad habit is worst than starting fresh.

Remember, there are no shortcuts in fly-casting, what you put into it
is what you'll get out of it.
Good Luck and great fishing, it's a wonderful relaxing hobby.
fwiw,
-tom

Again thanks for all the imput and info. It is well appreceated. The latest
video I picked up was Fly Fishing Made Easy from Scientific Anglers, Brian
& Judith O'Keefe are the instructors. The local hunting/fishing store over
in Mo. (just a few miles away) have an assortement of fly equipment but
since they mainly deal with bass fishermen they are not up on fly fishing.
The have some Flueger fly rods in the $40-$50 range in 8-9 ft. lengths but
the reels are the cheap $10. martins. Also was looking at the complete
outfits in Bass Pro and Cabela's catalogs. They have complete outfits in the
80-100 dollare range. Might be better off going that way since the WF line
is included.
Mike



Greetings Mike,
The 7wt may be too short of a rod to start with to learn the correct
mechanics of the cast. I would start with a 8.5' or 9' fly rod. in a
5 or 6wt. The reason being is you have to learn to load the rod and
it's much easier in those lengths. After you learn the basics and
understand the cast, I would suggest looking at sorter length fly rods.

The other thing I've learned is when starting, is to not pick-up any
bad habits. There are a lot of videos out on the market, but only
a handful which I would consider worthwhile.

All good fly-casters have developed their own style after learning
the basics and understanding the mechanics of the cast. If I could give
a suggestion on where to start, I would suggest to purchase Mel Krieger's
book called The Essence of Fly Casting. The descriptions and photos
are easy to understand.

Off the records, I had quite a few bad habits when I started. Mel Krieger
corrected me on my basics, it was like learning how to cast all over
again.
And to learning to break a bad habit is worst than starting fresh.

Remember, there are no shortcuts in fly-casting, what you put into it
is what you'll get out of it.
Good Luck and great fishing, it's a wonderful relaxing hobby.
fwiw,
-tom

Mike wrote:
Again thanks for all the imput and info. It is well appreceated. The latest
video I picked up was Fly Fishing Made Easy from Scientific Anglers, Brian
& Judith O'Keefe are the instructors. The local hunting/fishing store over
in Mo. (just a few miles away) have an assortement of fly equipment but
since they mainly deal with bass fishermen they are not up on fly fishing.
The have some Flueger fly rods in the $40-$50 range in 8-9 ft. lengths but
the reels are the cheap $10. martins. Also was looking at the complete
outfits in Bass Pro and Cabela's catalogs. They have complete outfits in the
80-100 dollare range. Might be better off going that way since the WF line
is included.

There are good reasons to go with a Bass Pro or Cabela's outfit
but the fly line is not one of them. You will almost always want
to replace the fly line included with the entry priced outfits
with a decent fly line.

The second most important piece of equipment in fly fishing after
the fly rod is the fly line. Trying to learn to cast with a bad
fly line is a beginner's worst nightmare.

The fly reel, on the other hand, is just a place to store the
fly line in a bluegill-sized outfit. The cheap Martins will work
just fine as will a Pflueger Medalist. When I built bluegill
fly fishing outfits for my nieces I put Pflueger Medalist 1492's
on them for about $20 apiece as I recall.

Others here have first-hand experience with the Cabela's outfits
and are better able to give you recommendations on them. Good luck.

--
Ken Fortenberry