Streamside Fly Fishing Essentials

By: Chuck Loftis

Have you ever found yourself saying, “Doggonit! I wish had one of those (fill in the blank) _________.”

When it comes to fly angling, most initiates to the sport - especially those on tight budgets - begin thinking early about what is needful and what is not; what they can afford and what they’ll add as they go; what is essential and what’s a luxury.

The assumption at this point is that you’ve already acquired these: a rod, reel, line, leader, and flies sufficient for the species you’ll pursue.

In this article, I’ll share some recommendations for getting geared up and why they are essential and/or helpful.

If you’re just starting out, here are simple gear/gadgets every fly angler should have.

Knot Tying Tool

Unless your first leader came already attached to your fly line, you took it out of its package, unwound it, and tied it to your leader. But did you just throw caution to the wind and tie a series of square knots; did you try tying the fly line and the leader together in some way you had no idea whether or not would hold?

Attaching your leader to the fly line (and the back to the fly line, too, if you’re doing it yourself) is of the utmost importance - especially if you’ll be chasing large fish.

Do it wrong, and it’s bye-bye fish 11 times out of 10. Do it right, and you’ll increase the chances of landing that trophy. Get a knot tying tool and learn to use it.

Knot Tying Tool

Attaching your leader to the fly line (and the back to the fly line, too, if you’re doing it yourself) is of the utmost importance - especially if you’ll be chasing large fish.

Do it wrong, and it’s bye-bye fish 11 times out of 10. Do it right, and you’ll increase the chances of landing that trophy. Get a knot tying tool and learn to use it.

Leader Straightener

Now, to the next thing: remember how curly that leader was?

It’s almost impossible to set the hook on a striking fish in those split seconds the leader has to straighten out.

Fortunately, you can save the wear and tear of using your fingers by using a leader straightener. They are made of various materials on their outsides with materials on the inside that allow you to grip the leader and/or tippet.

Use the tool with your off-hand to grip the leader and/or tippet then gently pull out the curls section by section.

Running your leaders and tippet through a tool means friction and that creates unseen abrasions that will weaken your materials.

Tippet

Many a novice has started by getting their rod, reel, line, and leader together then proceeded to tie a fly on the end of it.

Trouble is, that tapered leader is being eaten up every time a new fly is attached. Eventually, the leader material becomes too thick to fit through the eye of the hook, and/or the leader becomes too short to effectively present a fly.

This is why tippet is a MUST…

Tippet extends the life of a leader. Tapered leaders are relatively the same cost as a 30-meter spool of tippet. Take care of that leader and it’ll take care of you for much longer than a couple hours without tippet.

Tippet extends the length of your leader. The basic tapered design allows leaders to turn your flies over properly when presented. That doesn’t necessarily account for the distance you’ll need, however. Most tapered leaders run 7.5 - 12 feet in length. Adding an appropriate amount of tippet (1.5 - 3 feet) allows you to present the fly at the proper distance.

When purchasing tippet, make sure you match its test rating to that of the leader you're using. Pair lighter pound test tippet with a leader of a heavier tip (e.g., 4 lb. tippet attached to a 6 lb. leader), but not vice-versa (e.g. 8 lb. tippet attached to a6 lb. leader)

Tippet is manufactured to generally be smaller in diameter than regular mono of equal pound-test, so don’t scrounge mono, and don’t go fly-fishing without it.

Get your tippet!

Tippet

Many a novice has started by getting their rod, reel, line, and leader together then proceeded to tie a fly on the end of it.

This is why tippet is a MUST…

Tippet is manufactured to generally be smaller in diameter than regular mono of equal pound-test, so don’t scrounge mono, and don’t go fly-fishing without it.

Get your tippet!

Nippers

Let’s get something straight right off the bat: teeth and fishing line are not things that should meet. Our incisors and cuspids are meant for tearing and cutting food stuffs, not tippet.

With that, I encourage you to buy nippers and always use them for cutting monofilament, fluorocarbon, and fly lines.

“But couldn’t I just grab some fingernail clippers and use those?” you might ask.

Yes, you could, but to use them requires opening them up and fumbling with them, whereas nippers are always open and ready for business.

An additional great feature/function you’ll find with fly-fishing nippers is the built-in hook eye cleaner. This is used to clear the head cement from a hook that oftentimes clogs up the eye, making it impossible to attach to tippet.

I’ve used that little point to start untangling tippet that wrapped in knots around my fly as a result of poor casting over the years, too.

Forceps

You’re going to catch fish and you’re going to catch yourself or someone else. In fly-fishing, these are eventualities if not immediacies.

Forceps are extra fingers and pair of hands that will help you remove a hook from a fish, a shirt, a finger - or a friend!

Their design, particularly, allows you a delicate touch to get down into the deeper part of a fish’s mouth that, otherwise, digging with your finger or using pliers to remover a hook just about guarantees irreparable harm to the fish.

Also, forceps are helpful in removing flies from your box and holding them while you get your tippet together for attaching.

Forceps

Adding Gear

There’s only so much double-duty that gear, gadgets, and tools can pull in fly-fishing. So, sooner or later in our angling pursuits, we begin to think of getting more task-specific gear.

Here are some of the most common items we add.

Fly Boxes & Patches

I was 15 when I started tying flies and was 16 before I picked up a fly rod. The flies I’d tied that first year were for Dad and he kept them in one of those dial boxes.

When I finally became a long sticker and using my own flies, I just packed them in a little curio box.

It was frustrating, though, as I dug for a bug only to knock several out and into the water over those first few years.

Be a quicker study than I was: get a good box for your flies. And as you add to your arsenal of patterns, consider purchasing more boxes, dedicate them to the styles you use or seasons you fish (e.g., dries, nymphs, streamers, wets; winter, spring, summer, or fall), then label them for easy ID.

Think, too, about buying a fly patch. If you know you’ll only need a handful of flies, or you only want to use a handful of flies for an outing, many fly patches have a clip for you to attach it to your shirt, hat, pocket, or waders suspenders.

This will save digging through your boxes, and from your boxes, you can just replenish the supply on the patch as need be.

Being organized is so very much an ongoing part of consistent fly angling success. It certainly flattens out the frustration curve.

Floatant

It takes a lot of work to keep a dry fly afloat. It’s impossible once it is soaked through to the bone.

Get some floatant “yesterday” and make your dry fly angling less work and your day have greater chances of success.

Floatant

Floats/Strike Indicators

Nymphing tailwaters and small streams without floats for my first several years of fly angling, I opted for a shorter leader/tippet set-up for shallow water or a longer one for getting patterns deeper.

Strike detection was by sight, watching the end of my floating line dart or move unusually. Then, my eyesight starred in a movie titled, “Dim and Dimmer” and seeing the end of my fly line wasn’t so easy anymore.

I began using floats for my nymphing in rivers and I was back on track.

Moreover, the friend who got me to begin using them explained the hinge in my leader that floats create to help my flies ride at the perfect depth - especially when paired with lead shot.

Now, 90-some percent of my fly angling is on stillwaters where presenting flies at the exact depth fish are feeding is essential to success.

When you have to go vertical, floats are a must-have!

Throat Pump

Have you ever fished near a stranger who was out-fishing you 3-to-1 (or more) on trout, for example? You wanted to ask them what fly they were using but they weren’t exactly giving off a neighborly vibe, so you kept it buttoned.

A throat pump on the one fish could’ve told you what they were keying in on most.

For instance, you might have been presenting a size 14 midge pupa but, as it turns out, a throat sample revealed 90% of the trout’s stomach contents consisted of olive scuds best imitated with a size 18 hook.

A throat pump could be the difference between a bad or good day; a good or great day; a great day or the day of a lifetime.

Throat Pump

Swivels & Tippet Rings

Especially when it comes to fishing “wet” in any setting, tippet attached to the end of your leader will extend its life.

Double-surgeon and blood knots are not hard to tie, but every time you use them to attach tippet to the leader, you’re chewing up a relatively more expensive piece of gear and shortening it in the process.

Using swivel and tippet rings is simple and easy and cost-effective in the long run.

Swivels & Tippet Rings

Gear Serves Its Various Purposes: Know How and Why

Do you have to have all this? No, but don’t forget the basics, for sure.

Just know that as you go you will find yourself wishing you had _______ (fill in the blank) because ________ would be helpful.

And the items I’ve talked about here is certainly not the long list of gear, gadgets, and fly-fishing stuff. Having it won’t necessarily make you a better angler.

Not poking fun at anyone, but just saying: about 30 years ago in the wake of “A River Runs Through It,” a lot of people caught the bug for fly angling, running out, then, to get all geared up. They hired guides or went at it alone, but didn’t understand the gadgets or gear they had in hand.

That was great news for those of with an eye for a bargain and who could hit the garage sales over the next 2-3 years. Thousands got out of the sport almost as quickly as they got in and thousands of us reaped the discounted benefits.

When it comes to having all the gear and gadgets, I suppose what’s most important is knowing how to use it all and why.

Tight lines, Everyone!