Flyfishing 101: Be versatile without spending a bundle

If you fish, but don't fly fish, that whole world may seem like something of a high-priced mystery to you. That's understandable. It has its own parlance -- 4-weight rod, 3X leader, size 18, dry fly, nymph, streamer, hex, ephron, hatch -- but if you think about it, so does everything else. No one comes down the chute knowing everything there is to know about bassin' with soft plastics or trolling for walleye.

Expensive? It can be, sure. But is a high-end fly rod in the same price neighborhood as, say, a 25-foot Boston Whaler? Or the downriggers you need to fish with it? Or even a drift sock, planer boards and a handful of line-counting baitcasters? Let's not even talk about high-end bass boats. You see my point. If fly fishing interests you, it's not that complicated or expensive to get started. You start with some versatile gear, learn how to use it by fishing locally and then decide how lightly or seriously you want to take the sport.

Eirik Vitso, a flyfishing guide at Colton Bay Outfitters in Ann Arbor, Mich., offers the following tips for getting started in fly fishing:

Start with versatility

"Really, if you go to any given body of water a 5- weight or 6-weight rod is going to be sufficient for most of the fish: trout, bass, smaller pike, panfish," Vitso said. "If you move onto bigger game species like muskie, salmon or steelhead you're going to be undergunned, but that tends to be more species-specific. If you're just going out to get your line wet, a 6-weight will be sufficient for just about any species of fish from brook trout that are measure in inches to bass that are measured by a couple pounds. You can easily manage a wide variety of fish. So for the everyday angler, a 6-weight is probably the ideal rod."

Most fly reels have some sort of disc drag system that is more important when you're after bigger fish that might take out line, Vitso said. In the 5-weight or 6-weight range the reel's main function is merely to hold line. And for starters that fly line should be a plain old weight-forward floating line. It's designed for fishing dry flies on the surface, but can also be used to fish streamers or nymphs. Later you may move into different types of line for a different style of fishing.

"(Floating line) is your standard setup," he said. "As you get into it you're going to build up your arsenal."

Big bucks? No need

Vitso bought his first fly rod at age 15, spending about $50 for a combo at a big box store. It lasted less than three months before it broke. Then he went to a local fly shop, spent about $150 on a complete rig that he still has 13 years later. These days that starter rig -- a graphite rod, reel and fly line -- can be had for less than $200.

"You can go cheaper, but what a lot of people run into is they start fly fishing and they absolutely love it, and over time they get better and they outgrow the low-end gear. I haven't come across too many people who just hated it and quit. Most people start it, love and keep doing it for the rest of their life."

One other factor makes it smarter to avoid going the cheapest route. Most fly-rod manufacturers offer some sort of long-term warranty that covers breakage, which means you send them a broken rod and pay for handling, and they send you a new one. Some warranties are lifetime.

"If you close your rod in a car door, or break it off on a fish, it's not like you're out 150 bucks," he said. "You'll be out the handling fee, which is about $25-$30, and you have a brand new rod. It winds up being an investment in yourself and in the sport."

Stay (close to) home

Ever seen the movie "A River Runs Through it"? Well, forget that. You needn't trek to some crystal-clear alpine stream in Montana to find good fly-fishing. In fact, the best way to learn how to fly fish is on some local flat water that's easy to reach.

"A lot of the kids that come in with their parents and want to get started, we them to practice in your local pond or lake," Vitso said.

Most of those small bodies of water have plenty of hungry panfish that will readily attack a bug on the water's surface, giving a new angler plenty of practice at casting, putting the fly where you want it and setting the hook -- successfully.

"Panfish in your local lake is a great place to start, especially for young kids," Vitso said. "Bluegill, sunfish, they are just voracious feeders. They're super aggressive and they'll eat anything you put on the top of the water. They fight like heck and there's tons of them. You're not going to get bored or frustrated with them. It's a very accessible, fun way to fish."

Stay (close to) home, Part II

The fly shop is not a scary place. It's a place where people are willing to share knowledge and add it to your own. They're actually eager to help novices; heck, sometimes they can help answer a question even if you don't know what the question is.

"Fly shops are they for a reason," Vitso said. "We're there to help everyone. We get the most basic questions and they're not stupid questions. Even us guys that guide and work at fly shops, we're learning new stuff every day too. We're there to share it and help people go out and have fun. When I first started I didn't know anything. I didn't know how to tie knots, I didn't know how to cast, I just did it with trial and error and talking to people at local fly shops."

It's also useful to flip for a lesson that will cover casting, knot-tying, basic insect knowledge and how to fish dry flies, streamers and nymphs. A four-hour lesson on the river costs $150 at Colton Bay.

"Taking a lesson from a fly shop or a guide or whoever is priceless," Vitso said. "Because the knowledge you get from that really gives you a good base of understanding. It's not going to teach you to be a pro, but it's going to teach you what you need to know to grow on your own. You're going to learn the basics and from there it's just practice."

Learn, learn, learn

"The greatest thing about the sport is there's always something to learn and there's always someone to help you," Vitso said. "It's a whole different knowledge base about the world around you, whether it's figuring out the hatch, finding the right fly, or if you're fishing streamers, figuring out the right size and color of that. To me its fun because there's always something to be learned and it's never ending as far as you can never know enough. And it really puts you on a different level with the environment around you because you do have to be tuned into what's going on."