How to String a Fishing Rod When Fly Fishing

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Jim Dowd at zoaroutdoor.com. We are here for expertvillage.com, and this session is all about fly casting and what you need to know to sling it out there. Now we are going to talk about stringing up your fly rod and a couple of simple tricks that will make it easier and protect your gear. As you can probably see, I’ve already put the pieces together. So the next thing you do is you take all the leader out and take full length from arm, hand out, full reach 3 times; 2nd, 3rd. That gives you enough line so you can string up the rod. Next thing I do is I place the rod down so that the reel is in a protected position. I don’t put it in the sand, because if the sand gets in the works of the reel, that will gum it up and really destroy the way it works. Now here’s a really nice simple trick that works every time. Double the fly line over at the first guide and slip it through, just like this. So I’ve got it looped over, and then you track with your fingers along the shaft of the rod and slip it through and you go through each guide in succession like this. The reason this trick works so well is if you should drop it, watch what happens. It doesn’t slip back out. So this will protect you from having a little bit of frustration. Just guide with your fingers, slide through each, don’t step on the line, slide through each of the line guides all the way out until you reach the tip top. Now here’s another simple trick. Put your index finger between the 2 ends, keep drawing. When you reach the leader, you know the part to keep pulling out, and this will take it out very smoothly, very easily. There’s the yarn fly and now you are good to go. "