In 50 words or less? This is a huge topic and people enjoy learning and getting better at it for their whole lives. As usual
Lee Wulff - Pioneer of modern fly fishing, innovator, author, writer, pilot. Wulff is responsible for the modern fly reel, the fly fishing vest. He created the venerated "Royal Wulff" dry fly still considered to be a very effective fly.
Joan Wulff - Championship Caster, Runs the premier Wulff School of Fly Fishing in Lew Beach, N.Y., Author of "Fly Casting Techniques". Married (now widowed) to Lee Wulff.
Vincent C. Marinaro - Wrote one of the most important angling books of the 20th Century A Modern Dry Fly Code and revolutionized American trout fishing with his experiences on the Pennsylvannia spring creeks in the 1940s and 50s.[2]
Preston J. Jennings - Was probably the first American Fly Fishing writer to tie the entomology of trout stream insects to the artificial flies and how to fish them in his 1935 seminal work: A Book of Trout Flies.[3]
G.E.M. Skues
Brian Clarke & John Goddard
John Gierach - The consummate fly fishing writer of the 1990s and the early 21st Century. Author of numerous anecdotal and technical books on fly fishing.
Arnold Gingrich - Founding editor of Esquire Magazine, Gingrich's "The Fishing In Print" (1974) is likely the most comprehensive review of angling literature ever written up to its time.[4] Gingrich also authored The Joys of Trout (1973) and The Well-Tempered Angler (1965)
Sheridan Anderson - Author/illustrator of The Curtis Creek Manifesto
Norman Maclean - Author of the novella A River Runs Through It, which was made into a film
Russell Chatham- Author of The Angler's Coast, which describes fly fishing the coastal rivers of California and Oregon in the 1950's and later.
Gary Loomis - Founder of G. Loomis Rods, one of the early pioneers of graphite rod technology.
Bob Clouser - Owner of Clouser Flyfishing in Middletown, PA, writer, guide and creator of the Clouser Deep Minnow genre of streamers that are used extensively in cold, warm, fresh and saltwater fisheries.
Brian O'Keefe - Widely known as the best salt water fly fisherman in history.
Carrie Stevens - Creator of the 150 streamer fly patterns including her famous "Grey Ghost" pattern. Carrie Stevens did her work at Upper Dam in Rangeley, Maine, from the 1920's to the 1950's
Dan Bailey - Owner of Dan Bailey's Fly Shop in Livingston, Montana is often credited with saving the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley from being dammed in the 1970s.[5]
Franklin "Doc" Oliverio - Is a well known fly fisherman, fly tyer, fly fishing instructor, conservationist, and guide. He was the original owner of Evergreen Fly Fishing Company in Clarksburg, WV. Doc was one of the first proponents to saving the headwaters of the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River in central West Virginia. Also, he is the inventor of several well known fly patterns, including the Evergreen Green Drake and Evergreen Coffin Fly.
J. R. Hartley - author of the fictional Fly Fishing in a very popular Yellow Pages advert.
James Castwell - A fictional character, reputedly an ambidextrous fly caster who could amaze groups with his unbelievable casting prowess. Not known for actually ever catching much but inspired many to higher levels of fly casting ability. Real identity clouded.
Gus Orviston- A fictional character of David James Duncan in The River Why, who comes of age fly fishing in Oregon.
Freshwater fly fishing is practiced throughout the United States, with the greatest number of fly fisherman located in the northern United States and Canada, especially the Rocky Mountain States of Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, California, Alaska, and the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. West Yellowstone is arguably the hub for fly fishing in North America, though the wild waters of Alaska almost certainly surpass any of the lower 48 states for size and number of fish caught. Famous North American waters include Henrys Fork (home to Mike Lawson) and Silver Creek (Ernest Hemingway's favorite haunt) in Idaho, Glacier National Park and the Yellowstone, Bighorn, Bitterroot and Madison Rivers in Montana, the Kenai River in Alaska, the Deschutes, North Umpqua, and the Rogue Rivers in Oregon, the Pit, Hat Creek, McCloud River, Owens and the East Walker Rivers in California, the Upper Delaware and the Green River in Utah, the Arkansas, Frying Pan, South Platte and the Blue Rivers in Colorado, Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River in Arizona, the San Juan river and Rio Chama in New Mexico, the Nueces and Guadalupe Rivers of Texas, the White River in Arkansas, and the Tellico River in North Carolina.
Other popular fly fishing destinations include the Canadian Maritime provinces and Newfoundland and Labrador, Island Lake river and God's Lake River in northern Manitoba for Brook Trout, the upper Great Lakes region, New England. Most of the Appalachian corridor also offers abundant opportunities for fly fishing, both for trout and for smallmouth bass. Many of the traditional “Holy Waters” of North American fly fishing can be found in these areas: New York’s Beaverkill River, Michigan’s Au Sable and Two Hearted rivers (the latter made famous by Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” although there is widespread agreement that internal evidence in the story suggests he was actually describing the nearby Fox river), Wisconsin’s Bois Brule River, Pennsylvania’s Letort River, Penns Creek, and numerous others. There are also tens of thousands of miles of lesser known smaller rivers and streams. One of the lesser known rivers in New England is The Upper Connecticut. In Northern New Hampshire close to the Canadian Border the river is a fast flowing stream that feeds many lakes on its way to Long Island Sound. Brown and Rainbow Trout and Land-Locked Salmon are numerous on The Trophy Stretch in the Pittsberg, New Hampshire area.
In Europe, Scandinavia is a popular destination for fly fishing, especially for salmon, and good trout fishing may be had in the Alpine mountain regions of Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Germany, and Switzerland. England is still home to the sport as well, varying from the stunning chalk streams in south to remote hill lochs in the north. In addition to River Test, River Itchen, the Kennet, the Lambourn, and the Avon in the same area of southern England may also be considered legendary. Along with the River Don and the River Dee, Scotland boasts the River Spey after which an entire genre of two-handed fly rods and casting techniques is named. Ireland has some of the most prolific sea trout and salmon fishing known. There is also abundant brown trout, pike, etc. The Connemara Region, along with its stunning scenery, holds Lakes Corrib, Mask And Conn with spectacular fishing for numerous species. The rivers, streams and estuaries are too numerous to name. Saltwater fly fishing is also rapidly growing in popularity both in the Atlantic and The Irish Sea.
On the other side of the globe, the active geothermal area around Lake Taupo on the North Island of New Zealand is another world-famous trout destination, particularly the Tongariro River near Turangi. Australia also has many fly fishing destinations, especially in the South-Eastern states of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. The central highland region of Tasmania has built a reputation for exceptional lake fly fishing.
Salt-water fly fishing has also rapidly expanded in popularity, especially along the Gulf Coast and the Florida Keys for such species as bonefish, tarpon, redfish, and permit, and along the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coasts for bluefish and striped bass. The Bahamas and Belize also provide outstanding opportunities for salt-water fly angling. Christmas Island in the Pacific is famous for bonefish, and various parts of coastal Australia offer a wide variety of saltwater fly fishing action.
In recent years, more exotic locations for reaching native populations of species have become popularized such as Mongolia ( for the largest Salmonid species in the world, the taimen), and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, believed to be the site of one of the largest salmon runs in the world.
More and more fishermen are also discovering non-traditional fly rod targets like catfish and carp. The Red River around Lockport, Manitoba is a great place for both these species.
In Castel di Sangro (Italy) there's the International Museum of the fly fishing Stanislao Kuckiewicz.
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The fly angler uses a rod longer and lighter than those used for cast and spin fishing. Fly rods can be as short as 2m (6 ft) long in freshwater fishing and up to 4.5 m (15 ft) long for two-handed fishing for salmon or steelhead. The average rod for fresh and salt water is around 9 feet in length and weighs between 3 and 5 ounces, though a recent trend has been to lighter, shorter rods for fishing smaller streams.
There are several types of casts in fly fishing, which are used according to a given fishing situation. The most common cast is the forward cast, where the angler whisks the fly into the air, back over the shoulder until the line is nearly straight, then forward, using primarily the forearm. The objective of this motion is to "load" (bend) the rod tip with stored energy, then transmit that energy to the fly line, resulting in the fly line (and the attached fly) being cast for an appreciable distance. Casting without landing the fly on the water is known as 'false casting', and may be used to pay out line, dry a soaked fly, or reposition a cast. Other casts are the roll cast, the single and double haul cast, the tuck cast, and the side, or curve cast.
Once on the water, the fly may either float or sink, depending on the type of fly and the style of fishing. This presentation of the fly onto the water and subsequent movement on or under the water is one of fly-fishing's most difficult aspects, because the angler is attempting to cast in such a way that the line lands smoothly on the water's surface and the fly appears as natural as possible. At a certain point, depending upon the action of the fly and water currents, the angler then makes another presentation. If a fish strikes, the angler pulls in line while raising the rod tip. This sets the hook in the fish's mouth. The fish is then played, either by hand, where the angler continues to hold the fly line in one hand to control the tension applied to the fish, or by retrieving all slack in the line, utilizing the anglers hand to act as a drag on the reel, or use a reels drag system to slow the fish's runs.
Another aspect of fly fishing is choosing the appropriate fly pattern (See Fly lure). While the fly was originally invented to mimic flying insects, it has continually evolved to match the considerable diet of trout and many other species. These can be aquatic larva and pupae, eggs, worms, freshwater shrimp, grasshoppers, crickets, crawfish, mice, frogs, tadpoles, sculpin, leeches, etc. Other types of flies are 'attractors' intended to trigger a natural aggressive response from various species, most notably spawning salmon and bass. An attractor is not tied to represent any particular insect or creature. The bass popper is a type of topwater attractor fly. Yet another fly type is the streamer, a long-tailed hair or feathered lure tied to simulate a minnow or other baitfish, and fished below the surface of the water.
Fly fishing for trout, panfish, or bass can be done in rivers, small streams, creeks, lakes, or even ponds - though the basics are the same, methods and fly patterns vary according to the species sought and the environment. Many more fly fishermen are also pursuing other species such as bass, resulting in new types of fly patterns. For example, the weedless, diving fly has been developed to allow fishing for largemouth bass in areas of heavy cover or aquatic growth.
The fly itself can weigh very little and is attached to the fly line by a 3-12 foot (1-4 meter) leader which normally tapers in diameter to a very fine line at its termination, also called the tippet. Most artificial flies range between size #2 (large) and #22 (very small). The principal difference between spinning or bait casting tackle and fly fishing is that spinning or bait casting utilizes the weight of the lure to cast the lure, while a fly is cast by the weight of the line. In fact, a fly line can be "cast" without any fly or lure on it at all, a feat impossible with a typical spinning or casting rod and reel.
In early years of Fly Fishing, flies were characterized by the target species. There were Salmon Flies, Trout Flies and Grayling Flies.[6] As the sport of Fly Fishing became popular in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, there was great debate over the merits of Dry Flies versus Wet Flies and Nymphs.[7] Today, characterizing the types of artificial flies used in the sport is much more complicated because fly fishers target 100s of species around the globe in a wide variety of water types. That demands significantly more diversity in fly types. Additionally, the increasing use of synthetic materials instead of natural materials to construct artificial flies has created types of flies unheard of 100 years ago. The subject is further complicated by the historical characterization of fly types. They have been characterized by several different and many times not exclusive criteria. A Dry Fly was intended to be fished on the surface and resemble adult prey while a Wet Fly was to be fished under the surface and could resemble drowned adults, immature prey or baitfish. The flies were designed and constructed with those techniques in mind. The Nymph as a fly type was designed and fished to resemble immature prey, but the Nymph as well was a Wet Fly as it was fished under the surface. Nymphing was also a technique and Wet Flies could easily be fished using a nymphing approach. The Streamer, popularized in the 1930’s by Ray Bergman in Trout (1938) and later by Joseph Bates in Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing (1950) is also a Wet or sub-surface fly type. Most Salmon and Steelhead Flies, named for the target fish, are of a Streamer type, but there are also Dry Steelhead flies.[8] Flies intended for saltwater species are fished both on the surface as well as sub-surface. There are even flies intended to resemble roe and rotting flesh. Indeed any fly type taxonomy would have a lot of overlap.
A comparision of U.S. and British fly types
Fly Category Sub-Categories and Examples
In 1856 Charles F. Orvis founded The Orvis Company in Manchester, Vermont. Orvis has been selling artificial flies for 150 years. In their 2007 fly fishing catalog, they use the following taxonomy to categorize fly types:
Dry Flies and Emergers Mayflies, Olives, PMD/Sulphurs, Gray/Tan/Brown, Green Drakes, Tricos, Spinners, Caddisflies, Prospecting Flies, Midges, Terrestrials, Stoneflies
Nymphs Prospecting Nymphs, Beadheads & Tungheads, Mayflies, Caddis, Stoneflies, Midges, Crustaceans, Eggs & Worms
Streamers Muddlers & Sculpins, Traditional & Bucktails, Zonkers & Matukas, Buggers & Leeches
Wet Flies Soft Hackles, Classic Wets
Saltwater Flies Baitfish Imitations, Bonefish/Permit, Crab Flies, Tarpon, Striper/Blues/Bonito/False Albacore, Snook/Reds/Sea Trout, Barracuda Flies, Sailfish/Marlin/Tuna Flies
Bass and Panfish Flies Poppers, Hair Bugs, Crawfish, Eels, Shad Flies
Salmon and Steelhead Flies Steelhead Flies, Atlantic Salmon Flies
Farlows of London, established in 1840 and currently in business at 9 Pall Mall in London, UK sells its flies using the following taxonomy, not that much different from Orvis. Probably the largest difference between the UK and US characterization of fly types is the Streamer (US) and Lure (UK) label:
Dries Mayflies, Emergers, Daddies, CDC Buzzers, Caddis, Parachutes
Lures Blob Flies, Boobies, Bungs, Fry Patterns, Glass Minnows, Golden Nuggets, Krystal Eggs, Muddlers, Nobblers, Nomads, Tube Flies, Tadpoles, Zonkers
Nymphs Bead Heads, Mayflies, Damsels, Buzzers, Czechs, Shrimps, Pheasant Tails, Larvae and Pupae
Pike Flies Bunny Flies, Divers, Bombers
Poppers Frog Poppers, Rainy's Poppers
Salmon Flies Salmon Singles, Salmon Doubles, Salmon Trebles, Tubes, Waddingtons, Irish Shrimps
Seatrout Flies Sea-Trout Spiders, Sea-Trout Tubes
Steelhead Flies Egg Sucking Zonkers, Sucking Leech, Bullets
Wets Hackled Wets, Winged Wets, Wee Doubles, Scottish Flies
Saltwater Sea Bass Flies, Bonefish Flies, Tarpon and Barracuda Flies, Shrimps and Crabs, Poppers, Eels
[edit] Fly Rods
[edit] Sizes and Usage
Fly rod (and line) weights are typically written as Nwt where 'N' is the number (e.g. 8wt, 9wt, 10wt).
All fly rods are matched to an appropriate fly line according to weight. These fly line sizes are marked on the rod, from Size #0, #1, or #2 for the lightest trout and panfish rods, up to powerful and heavy #16 rods[9] for the largest saltwater gamefish.
It is important to use the appropriately weighted fly line with the fly rod. Using too heavy a line or too light on a rod will dramatically affect your casting performance. It may also ultimately warp the rod blank. In general, you can safely go one fly line weight more or less (i.e. using a 8wt or 10wt line on a rod rated for 9wt). There are also rods with multi-line ratings. For example, a rod may be rated 7-8 weight. This indicates it is designed for either a 7 or 8 weight fly line. There are also some triple rated fly rods (e.g. 8-9-10 weight line). The drawback to multi rated rods is that in order to accommodate a wider range of line weights they often lose something in action or flexibility. For example, a rod rated for 8-9 weight line will be stiffer than a straight 8wt but softer than a straight 9wt rod.
Saltwater fly rods are built to handle powerful fish and to cast the usually larger more bulky flies used in the salt over longer distances and/or into strong winds. Saltwater fly rods are normally fitted with heavy-duty, corrosion-resistant fittings and reel seats equipped with fighting butts.
[edit] Bamboo and Split Cane
Fly rods vary between 2m (6 feet) and 4m (14 feet) in length. The earliest fly rods were made from greenheart, a tropical wood, and later bamboo originating in the Tonkin area of Guangdong Province in China. The mystical appeal of handmade split-cane rods has endured despite the emergence over the last 50 years of rod-making materials that offer more durability and performance: fiberglass and graphite.
Split-cane bamboo fly rods combine sport, history and art. It may take well over 100 hours of labor to select and split the raw cane, then cure, flame, plane, file, taper, glue, wrap and finish each rod. Quality rods made by famous rod-makers may fetch prices well over US$2,000, and new rods from competent contemporary builders may bring nearly that much. These rods offer grace, form, and, with their solid mass, surprising strength. Bamboo generally demands a 'slow' or 'soft' casting style that is more suited to refined, leisurely fishing. In competent hands, they provide more than adequate performance in most freshwater trout fishing situations.
[edit] Synthetic Fly Rods
Today, fly rods are mainly made from carbon fibre with cork being favoured as a grip. They generally offer greater versatility, stiffness, power, and performance than bamboo, are much less expensive, and require less maintenance. Fiberglass rods became popular in the years following World War II, and was the material of choice in fly rod construction for many years. However, by the late 1980s carbon/graphite composite rods (including premium graphite/boron and graphite/titanium blends) had emerged as the material of choice for most fly anglers, offering a combination of stiffness, sensitivity, and feel unmatched by competitive synthetic materials. Graphite composites are especially suited to the construction of multi-piece, takedown 'travel' rods, as the joints or ferrules used in the construction of better-quality graphite travel rods do not significantly affect overall flex or rod action. Today's modern carbon graphite composite fly rods are available in a wide range of sizes and types, from ultralight trout rods to bass fishing rods and two-handed spey rods.
[edit] Fly Lines
As mentioned, fly lines come in a variety of forms. They may have varying diameters or tapered sections, or level (even) diameter. A fly line may float, sink, or have a floating main section with a sinking tip. A fly line consists of a tough braided or monofilament core, wrapped in a thick waterproof plastic sheath, often of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). In the case of floating fly lines, the PVC sheath is usually embedded with many 'microballoons' or air bubbles, and may also be impregnated with silicone or other lubricants to give buoyancy and reduce wear. Fly lines also come in a variety of models for use in specific environments: fresh water, salt water, cold or tropical temperatures, etc.
All fly lines are matched to the individual rod according to weight. Because the fly line, not the lure, determines casting, fly rods are sized according to the size of fly line, not the weight of the lure. Fly lines come in a wide range of numbered sizes (from a tiny #0 to a hefty #16) as well as profiles: double-tapered, weight-forward, shooting-head, etc. Most fly lines are only around 90 feet (27 meters) in length, sufficient for sporting purposes, though specialized shooting-head lines with a short, heavy front section and small-diameter backing are often employed for long-distance casting as well as competitive events.
In order to fill up the reel spool and ensure an adequate reserve in case of a run by a powerful fish, fly lines are usually attached to a secondary line at the butt section, called backing. Fly line backing is usually composed of braided dacron or gelspun monofilaments. Backing varies in length according to the type of gamefish sought, from as little as 75 yards for smaller freshwater species to as much as 300-400 yards for large saltwater gamefish.
All fly lines are equipped with a leader of monofilament or fluorocarbon fishing line, usually (but not always) tapered in diameter, and referred to by the 'X-size' (0X, 2X, 4X, etc.) of its final tip section, or tippet. For example, a freshwater trout leader might have a butt section of 20-pound test monofilament, tapering through 15, 12, 10, and 8-pound test sections, terminating in a a 5X (.006" diameter, usually around 4–5 pound test) tippet. A fly line is only as strong as its weakest link, which is the final tippet section.
[edit] Fly Reels
Fly reels, or fly casting reels were once thought of as little more than line-storage devices. In use, a fly fishermen strips line off the reel with one hand, casting the rod with the other, then retrieving slack line by rotating the reel spool. Manually-operated fly reels have traditionally been rather simple in terms of mechanical construction, with a simple click-pawl drag system. However, in recent years, more advanced fly reels have been developed for larger fish and more demanding conditions. Newer reels often feature disc-type drags to permit the use of lighter leaders and tippets, or to successfully capture fish that pull long lengths of line/leader. Many newer fly reels have large-arbor designs to increase speed of retrieve and improve drag performance during long runs. In order to prevent corrosion, saltwater fly reels often use aerospace aluminum frames and spools, stainless steel components and sealed bearing/drive mechanisms.