Thrasher's Fly Fishing Guide: An Essential Handbook for All Skill Levels - Tapa blanda

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Susan Thrasher started fishing at a young age with her dad in East Tennessee and has been passionate about the outdoors all her life. In 2004, she started Southern Brookies Fly Fishing, a guide service and instructional school based in Nashville, Tennessee. She left a successful engineering career in 2015 to venture into the business full time. Her passion for fly fishing led her to serve as the cofounder of the Music City Fly Girls, a women’s fly fishing club, and to serve as the Middle Tennessee retreat leader for Casting for Recovery, a nonprofit organization focused on breast cancer survivors and the healing nature of fly fishing. Susan credits most of her teaching success with experience gained as an instructor at the Joan Wulff School of Fly Fishing, where she has been on staff for the past 15 years. She currently lives in East Nashville, Tennessee, just a short drive from her beloved Caney Fork River.

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8. Not All Fly Lines Are Alike

While I was growing up, my parents owned and operated a small travel business called Bristol Tours. Daddy, a full-time pastor, started the business as part of his ministry, and my sister and I were fortunate enough to travel all around the country and to many overseas locations. I think this experience, along with the trip-planning gene that I undoubtedly inherited from my dad, is responsible for one of my favorite aspects of the Music City Fly Girls. The Fly Girls take at least one big trip each year, along with a few outings within driving distance from Nashville. My love of trip planning has taken our club on some unique fly fishing trips. For example, our spring outing one year was to fish for peacock bass in the canals of Miami, Florida.

Nashville winters are fairly mild, but we do get our share of cold, blustery days. So when I mentioned a trip to Miami, a large group immediately signed up. We packed our gear, boarded the plane, and headed toward warmer weather. Upon arrival, we climbed into our enormous, black Suburban rental, cranked up the music, and headed off to find our Airbnb. We were all pleasantly surprised to have discovered the beautiful house in Coconut Grove that would be our home for the long weekend. The neighborhood is known for having wild peacocks roaming the streets. We loved seeing this unusual sight.

After unpacking, we headed out to have a Cuban coffee and a sandwich at a local cafe that Fly Girl Marjorie Rice had raved about. This was followed by a visit to a local fly shop to stock up on flies for the weekend. The fly shop owner recommended using large Clouser minnows in sizes 2 and 4. These flies were much larger and heavier than what we were used to using. We found out quickly the next day that our 5-weight fly lines and rods did not have the punch needed to get these wind-resistant, heavy flies launched into the canal with much grace. We managed to make it work, but the casts were awkward and tiring. We would have done much better with 7- or 8-weights. This was a lesson learned for our next outing. Although we were ill-equipped, we made it work and came away with some beautiful fish on that trip.

As mentioned earlier, I purchased my first outfit all at once—rod, reel, and fly line. The fly shop owner generously agreed to include the fly line at no cost since I was purchasing a rod and reel from his shop. I watched as he wound the backing onto the reel and then attached the bright-green fly line. All I knew about the fly line was that it was free (sort of) and it was green.

Since then, I’ve studied different fly line designs, and I find them to be truly fascinating. Maybe it’s the engineer in me, but I love reading in depth about the tapers, densities, materials, and other key differences. If you geek out on this kind of thing too, then one of the best references I’ve discovered is a book called Modern Fly Lines by Bruce Richards. It’s part of the Lefty’s Little Library of Fly Fishing series. It is out of print, but you may be able to find a copy online or in a used-book store. For this chapter discussion, I’ll just be focusing on the design basics and terminology you will need to know. I’ll try not to overengineer it too much.

Fly lines come in various shapes and sizes, including those that float and those that sink. Knowing what fly line you need is really dependent on the type of fish you will be chasing, the flies you will be casting, and the fishing conditions.

Fly Line Design

Typical fly lines are 90 feet long. The process that goes into the construction of this 90 feet is pretty complex but, in simplistic terms, most fly lines have a braided multifilament nylon or Dacron core coated with plastic.

As seen in the diagram below, the 90-foot line is made up of a number of sections; each of these sections serves a specific purpose.

POINT The line begins with a point, sometimes referred to as the tip. This is a very short, level (constant-diameter) section that can be considered a sacrificial part of the line. It is also where the leader attaches to the line. Its primary purpose is to give you room to change out leaders and to avoid cutting into the heart of the taper, thus damaging the line. Some manufacturers have started putting loops at the end of the lines to attach leaders with a loop-to-loop connection.

FRONT TAPER After the point, the line begins to taper. This is known as the front taper and determines how gently or aggressively the fly will be presented.

BELLY The front taper transitions to the belly, the thickest part of the line. This is where most of the energy is stored.

BACK TAPER The belly section is followed by a back taper. This section transfers energy to the belly during the cast.

HEAD The point, front taper, belly, and back taper are collectively known as the head.

RUNNING LINE This is the long, thin, constant-diameter section, which is connected to the head of the line. This is the final section of the line and connects to the backing.

Whew, got all that? Who knew fly lines had so many parts? The line I have described and shown in the diagram on the opposite page is the popular weight-forward design, meaning most of the weight is in the front section of the line. Not all lines contain all of the sections noted above. Some designs have just a belly; some have a single taper and no running line. It’s important to know these things because the existence and length of these pieces and parts will affect your casting. You will see how this plays out as we go through three basic designs: level, double taper, and weight forward....