The first season of fly fishing is mostly about tangles, and that is fine. What separates people who are fishing well by fall from people who quit is not talent or expensive gear; it is buying the right few things, practicing one cast in the yard, and going to water where the fish are forgiving. This page is the plan. The technique pages linked from it do the teaching.
What to buy first
A 9 foot 5 weight rod, a matching reel, a weight-forward floating 5 weight line, and a few 9 foot 4X leaders. That outfit fishes dries, nymphs, and small streamers on nearly every trout river on this site, and it will still be your main rod in ten years. A combo kit from a reputable maker with the line already on the reel is a perfectly good start. What matters is that the line matches the rod and the reel holds it; the details are on the gear page.
Add nippers, forceps, a spool each of 4X and 5X tippet, floatant, a small box of flies, and a pair of polarized sunglasses. The sunglasses are not optional; they are how you see fish, bottom, and your own fly.
Waders and boots come next, but not necessarily first. In summer many rivers wade fine in shorts and wading boots or old sneakers. If you fish spring or fall, or anything cold, breathable chest waders and rubber-soled boots are the next purchase.
What to skip for now
A second rod. A sinking line. A fly-tying kit. Twelve fly boxes. A lanyard with fourteen tools, a pack with more pockets than you have things. Every one of these is useful eventually and none of them helps you catch your first fish. The one exception is a rubber-bag net once you are landing fish regularly; it is better for the fish.
Skip the fancy leader formulas too. A tapered leader from a packet, with tippet added as you cut it back, is what most experienced anglers use.
For flies, you need a dozen patterns, not a hundred. Parachute Adams in 14 and 16, Elk Hair Caddis in 14 and 16, a foam hopper or Chubby Chernobyl in 10, a Pheasant Tail and a Hare's Ear nymph in 14 and 16 with beadheads, a Zebra Midge in 18, a Prince in 12, and an olive and a black Woolly Bugger in 8. Add whatever the river page for your home water lists under its hatch chart when you go.
What to practice before you go
Practice one thing: a basic overhead cast to a target 25 to 35 feet away, on grass, with a piece of yarn instead of a fly. Ten minutes a day for two weeks will teach your arm the stop and the pause that no video can. The common beginner fault is trying to muscle the line; a short stroke with a hard stop at the top and a pause while the line straightens behind you is the whole thing.
Then learn to roll cast, because half the places you fish will have brush behind you. Then learn to tie a clinch knot with cold fingers and a surgeon's knot to add tippet. Those two knots cover the first year.
Do not practice at the river. The river is for fishing.
Where to go first
Pick water with lots of small fish, easy wading, and open banks. Wild trout in a freestone canyon are far more forgiving than tailwater rainbows that have seen every fly ever tied. The Logan in its lower canyon, the Gallatin along US-191, the Poudre in the lower canyon, and the Middle Provo in the Heber Valley all offer wadeable water and fish that eat a reasonably presented fly.
Avoid, for now, the famous technical water. The Henry's Fork at Harriman and Silver Creek are wonderful and will humble you in a way that teaches nothing yet. Save them for year three.
Timing matters more than location. Late June through September, after runoff has cleared, is the easy season. A mid-morning to mid-afternoon summer outing with a hopper and a beadhead dropper is the most reliable way a beginner catches trout in the West.
The first outing, honestly
Expect to catch nothing, or one fish, and to spend a third of the day untangling leader. That is normal. Set a modest goal: get a fly to drift naturally through one good-looking spot ten times. If a fish eats, wonderful. If not, you have learned how the current pulls your line, which is the lesson.
Start with a dry fly, a dry-dropper, or a nymph under an indicator, not because one is best but because you can see what is happening. Fish close. Most beginners cast far past the fish at their feet. Wade slowly, stay out of the water when you can, and approach from downstream.
Learn where fish hold before you learn anything else; the reading water page is the one to read on the drive out.
What to learn, in order
- Reading water. Where fish are.
- Indicator nymphing. The most productive method most days and the most forgiving of an imperfect cast.
- Dry fly fishing. Once you can get a drag-free drift, this is the reason people fly fish.
- Wading safely. Read this before your first cold-water trip.
- Handling fish. Wet hands, quick photos, barbless hooks.
Leave Euro nymphing and streamers for the second season; both are easier once the basic cast is automatic.
Before you leave the house
Buy a license and read the regulations for the water you are fishing on the state agency's site; they change every year and vary by section of river. Check the river page here for current flows. Tell someone where you are going. Pack more water than you think you need, and a hat.