This weekend a new client of mine, Joe, worked on honing some fundamentals of fly casting and fly fishing in general. He is in his second season as a fly fisher and he recognized the need for some instruction and pointers.

We spent the day working on casting with a shorter and more efficient casting stroke.

Afterwards, we tackled some basics on wet fly fishing, nymphing and streamers. Despite seeing some caddis and mayfly activity, we really couldn’t work on the dry fly game- at least not this time.

We were fortunate to connect with a couple good fish like this bow. Joe missed a few more but learned valuable lessons and experience playing and landing trout.

And another….

Overall, it was a good day. We both felt he was starting off well and gaining experience and confidence. Most of all, he was practicing mastering the fundamentals.

No matter what type of fly fishing techniques you end up enjoying the most, you can’t get away from learning the basics. You truly won’t be the fly fisher you want to be until you decide to focus on that first.

Joe, I think you are starting off great and will become a fine fly fisher!