Starting From Scratch

[Lancer01]

Hello Everyone,

I have not fly fished for thirty years so I am starting from scratch.A man that served in Vietnam was the first person that taught me about fly fishing so I want to get back into it. As of last year I was totally dedicated to fishing walleyes in my Lund boat then a family member was diagnosed with cancer so I had to sell everything to pay medical bills. So here I am asking for advise on what steps I should take to enter this sport again.

I have many questions to ask and here are a few. Would the Cabelas Prestige Fly outfit be a good starting point? Maybe the 8'6" 5 weight would be a good choice for panfish and trout? I live in central mn so where would I need to travel to catch some trout? What is the best time of year to fish trout? What type of waders work best? I will have more questions soon so thank you for any advise you can give.

[mainbutter]

I got the cabelas kit (I think prestige, it came with a rod case, flies, box etc) in a 4wt, and I've had more fun with it than any other fishing setup I own.

I love it for panfish, and has even handled 3lb bass.

As for what setup to get, do some thinking about the kinds of flies you want to toss. I'm glad to have a second heavy setup to use some big streamers, but if I were forced to have only one fly fishing rod/reel/line, I'd probably go with a 6wt so I could toss some larger bead headed buggers than what the 4wt can handle.

[ted4887]

The Cabelas prestige outfits will work just fine as a starting point. They really are a good deal for the money. And the 8'6 5wt would be a perfect outfit for panfish, bass, and trout.

Generally speaking, most of the trout fishing in the state is done either in SE Minnesota, or NE Minnesota along the north shore. However, there are some lakes throughout the state that are stocked with trout that you'd be able to fish. Probably best to target them in the evening or early morning hours when they are cruising the shallows. If you decide to make a drive to the SE portion of the state, where the majority of trout streams are, there are a few guys who would gladly give you some pointers when the time comes. You can come down anytime of the year and catch trout. April and May are probably my favorite months to fish for trout though.

As far as waders go, if you plan on doing mostly lake fishing, you can probably get away with just boot foot waders, as there are many months of the year where you can just wet wade. No real need to drop big money on waders for lake fishing if the budget is tight at all.

[Ic3wind]

Ted's advice is spot on. Those Prestige kits are a great way to start out and get a feel for the sport. A 5wt would be perfect for the fishing you want to do. I'll echo what Ted said. If you want to have someone show you the ropes down here in the SE drop a line on here and we'll be glad to help out and feel free to ask all the questions you can think of.

[Lancer01]

Thanks for all the info. It is really nice to see that there are people out there that will help out a rookie like me.

What type of flies do you use for trouting? Dry fly, wet fly,size, colors etc....

I will for sure will let you guys know when I am coming down south to try some trouting.

Thanks Again

[ted4887]

Trout Flies that work year long:

Streamer:

Wolly Buggers

Nymphs:

Pheasant Tails

Hares Ears

Copper Johns

Orange Scuds

Pink Squirrel

Brassies

Dry Flies:

Adams dry fly

Griffiths Gnat

Elk hair Caddis

I would probably ignore the dry flies off the bat. They require a little softer presentation than what you'll be capable of right away. However, you can hammer fish on all day on Wolly buggers and those nymphs that I listed. The other thing to keep in mind is that panfish make great for great casting practice and will keep the line bending almost constantly. All of the flies I listed will catch panfish by the dozens.

[Slabasaurus]

I'll echo the comments about the prestige packages. I set my dad up with one of these last xmas, and actually I started out on a similar cabelas kit.

Trout Flies...

Nymphs:

Prince nymph

pink squirrel

pheasant tail nymph

Dries:

adams

royal wulff

blue wing olive

light cahill

Buggers:

black wooly buggers (size 6-10)

olive wooly buggers (size 6-10)

I fish larger nymphs than most, but the fish I am after aren't as picky (NW Wisconsin freestone brookies. The tricky part is finding them). The driftless guys should be able to help out more with sizes of nymphs and dries.

Cabelas does sell some 'trout fly' packages, decent variety of flies there for sure.

Youtube is a great resource as well.

[itchmesir]

95% of the time the nymph sizes I use are in the #12-18 range

[flyfisher03]

A 5wt will be just fine, I don't have a cabela's rod but they seem ok to start with.

I would add a clousers to the list of streamers, especially for crappies when they are in the shallows.

For starting out instead of spending a lot of money on tippet material just pick up a spool of 4-6lb fluorocarbon line. Tie up a few 6-8ft long with a loop on one end and go from there.

[Lancer01]

Where are the best places to purchase flies? Cabelas or where? Do you find it helpfull to wear a fly fishing vest?

Thanks

[itchmesir]

BigYFlyCo dot com is a good place to find flies on the cheap... before I started tying my own.. I bought almost exclusively from there... less than a $1 per fly on most flies aside from streamers

[itchmesir]

Also let me add that you should buy a pack of small(think it's 1/4") Thingamabobbers... Probably the best indicator out there... easy to put on and adjust

Also I'm gonna throw out the idea of Furled Leaders... will last a lot longer than any knotless tapered leader... and really turn over flies well... only leader I use unless I'm fishing for pike or bass... then usually I just use straight mono/fluoro or tie my own leaders... but for trout they are hard to beat imho

[Lancer01]

I feel that the knowledge you guys have given me so far will really give me a jump start on this sport.

Heres another question. What fly box is best to buy?

[flyfisher03]

I do wear a vest when I go out. Keeps everything together. If you have the money to do so buy one if not it is a luxury item.

I also have not found a fly-box I really like. I started out using altoids tins and bought the self adhesive rippled foam into it. It worked fine but not a lot of room for bigger flies.

[itchmesir]

Allen Fly Fishing is probably the best place to get a fly box... Great boxes at affordable prices

[OnAFly]

I buy the cheap green foam ones. They are still ~$11, but everything associated with FF is expensive for some reason. I think it has to do with the stereotypical old rich fly fisherman. Seems like that's kinda going to the wayside...hopefully.

Anyway. Not a huge trout opportunity up in Alec. You'll probably want to concentrate on panfish/pike/roughfish up there, and trust me, that's not a bad thing .

Learn to throw a thingamabobber (good call itch) and a #12 hare's ear nymph and you'll have no problem with panfish. Learn to throw a white woolybugger and you'll have no problem with bass and even pike. Getting into the roughfish will be the most difficult. It's much harder than people think.

[Ufatz]

HEY!!! Wait a minute! Whats wrong with stereotypical old white rich guy fly fishermen?? If it wasn't for us OLD fly fishers you young snots would not have all the well developed tackle and materials you have today.

At least us old rich guy fly fishers understand what the sport is all about and NONE of us ever tried to turn it into a competitive farce.

Leave us old guys alone!!

LOL

[ted4887]

HEY!!! Wait a minute! Whats wrong with stereotypical old white rich guy fly fishermen?? If it wasn't for us OLD fly fishers you young snots would not have all the well developed tackle and materials you have today.

At least us old rich guy fly fishers understand what the sport is all about and NONE of us ever tried to turn it into a competitive farce.

Leave us old guys alone!!

LOL

NEVER!!!!

[OnAFly]

You don't need to be old to fly fish

You don't need to be rich to fly fish

You don't need to drop $3000 on equipment to fly fish

You don't need to drink expensive wine to fly fish

You don't need to smoke fine cigars to fly fish

You don't need to target trout to flyfish

VIVA LA REVOLUCION!!!

[Ufatz]

And you don't gotta wreck my breakfast by showing somebody actually TOUCHING one of those slimmy things.

And you don't HAVE to do any of those things. But if ya got any CLASS you do.

PS: Did I ever tell ya about the carp tournament some pals of mine started years ago?

[OnAFly]

Nope, but I've heard of a couple 30+ pounders coming out of a lake near Perham. I've wanted to get up there and see what I can do with a 7wt

[Slabasaurus]

Man that's a great pic.

not too much longer for carptime...

[itchmesir]

You don't need to be old to fly fish

You don't need to be rich to fly fish

You don't need to drop $3000 on equipment to fly fish

You don't need to drink expensive wine to fly fish

You don't need to smoke fine cigars to fly fish

You don't need to target trout to flyfish

VIVA LA REVOLUCION!!!

Whoa... I didn't know John Cena carp fished....

[OnAFly]

He does...poorly