About Fly Fishing Equipment

Series Summary

Modern fly fishing is centuries old, having begun in North England and Scotland; however, the history of fly fishing can be traced back over one thousand, eight hundred years to the now mysterious Astraeus River in the Roman Province of Macedonia. In the 2nd Century A.D., Marcus Aelianus described Macedonian fishermen's use of fastening feathers and wool to hooks to attract fish to their lines. Fly fisherman today continue the adventurous, yet relaxing sport of fly fishing in some of the most beautiful and tranquil places on earth, casting their flies in waterways of the Colorado Rockies, where all that is heard is the flowing stream and soft breeze in the Aspens. Would you like to learn how to fly fish and vacation in peaceful places, casting your line in clean mountain streams? Learn from a certified fishing guide.

So, what equipment do I need to go fly fishing? What are fishing reels, rods, tippets, and backing? How do I set the drag or attach the reel to the rod? In this free video series, a fishing expert will answer all of these questions and more. You'll learn about fly fishing rods and their parts, rod action, reels and their parts, lines and weights, leaders, and backing material. Everything you need to know about fly fishing gear and supplies is in these free videos, so why wait? Learn about fishing equipment and all of the options from a real fly fishing expert!

Video Transcript

"Ok, so we'll start off first with the equipment. This obviously is a fly rod. There's several parts to it. We've got the rod. We've got the reel. We've got the fly line itself and we've got the leader. There's also another component you can't see. It's called the backing that's on the reel before you put the fly line on it. That's going to be the first part of it. Then, the end of it, of course, where I've got this little piece of yarn tied on it to represent a fly, is our leader, and that's where you would have your fly attached and that's what's going to hook the fish. All these parts go together. You hear people talk about a balance outfit. That just means you've got a five weight rod and a five weight line and a leader that's going to match the size of flies you're going to cast with. And all that information is usually on the rod. You can see here, we've got the length of the rod, the weight of the rod, and then we'll have something most times, on the reel, that will tell you that that line is going to match the rod. So, we've got a five weight rod and you can see there's a five weight line. That little designation, weight forward is the type of line and five is the weight of the line. The weight is the most important part. You just want to make sure you have a five weight line for a five weight rod. Everything else is pretty variable."