Darren and Antonia, already country sports enthusiasts, wanted to try fly fishing and took a beginners course to get them started. Several of their friends suggested they might like it and on a blustery day in April they came to Weston fishery in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
After signing in and completing the safety briefing, they learned how a fly fishing set up works and what the rod, reel, line, leader and tippet do. Next was a simulation of what playing and landing a fish feels like before putting a fly on and moving on to the static roll cast. All the time the emphasis was on getting the essential skills and knowledge passed on as quickly as possible to get a fly in the water safely and starting to fish. We Fly Fish beginners courses as designed to give new fly fishers the core skills and confidence to fish independently in just half a day or a full day.
Flies were cast out and excellent water clarity meant cruising trout were easily visible. Rainbow, Blue, and Brown trout could be seen, some quickly taking an interest in the flies. Chironomid midge larvae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chironomidae were imitated using bloodworm pattern flies fished slowly. These are easy to cast so are the usual choice early in our beginners courses. Darren and Antonia rapidly got to grips with the static roll cast and were ready to move on to the overhead cast to achieve greater distance.
Our beginners courses are designed around the anglers and their needs, and progression through the techniques is paced to suit the angler. Different fly patterns were tried to tempt the trout and then suddenly the line tightened and the first of several fish was on. Blue flash damsel fly proved to be the winning pattern as it is on many days, but nothing is certain in fly fishing and part of the skill is choosing the right fly for conditions on the day.
We ended a successful beginners coaching session with four trout for Darren and Antonia to take home, well done to both on their achievement. Since the session they’ve been fly fishing on their own, and have the We Fly Fish beginners guide to equipment and flies as a reference to help them on the early stages of their fly fishing skills and experience journey. We recommend beginners start with small still water trout fly fishing to get going, as fly casting distance and accuracy are less critical than in other settings such as chalkstreams and reservoirs. For more information http://weflyfish.taybridgeconsulting.com/fly-fishing-for-beginners/
