Welcome to our guide to fly fishing tackle. This sport is most commonly associated with trout and salmon in streams; in fact, in most Atlantic salmon rivers in North America fly-fishing gear is the only kind allowed by law. But the same tackle used for trout can provide endless hours of fascination in a midwestern farm pond, fishing for bluegills.
Artificial flies are used to catch trout, pike, sunfish, bass, bluefish, shark, bonefish, sailfish, salmon, walleye, and even catfish. The possibilities are endless. Any fish that eats insects, minnows, or crustaceans can be caught with an artificial fly. Even shad, which are plankton feeders, can be angered into striking an artificial fly when they ascend freshwater rivers on their spawning run from the sea.
Fly-fishing is an ancient pursuit, perhaps practiced first by the Roman poet Martial (A.D. 40-104), who reportedly used a feathered hook to capture a saltwater fish similar to a weakfish. History also documents Aelian, another Roman, as observing Macedonian fisherman catching trout on artificial flies a hundred years later.
Today's "flies" may imitate anything fish would think of eating, from their own eggs to frogs, insects, mice, leeches, crabs, moths, minnows, and even snails.
Rods from space-age fibers and reels constructed of the latest lightweight metallic alloys cast floating fly lines made by an ingenious process in which tiny glass bubbles (called microspheres) are homogenized into a plastic line coating. Fur and feathers are being replaced to some extent by synthetics, although many fly-tiers prefer the traditional materials.
But the principle is still the same: a relatively weightless lure is delivered to the fish via a long, flexible rod and a weighted line. And fly-fishermen are still searching for the perfect imitation, the fly that will catch a fish on every cast.
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fly fishing tackle products from our online shop
