Your Post about learning from a CCI is some of the best information you can give the group. Green Horn

This is a good explanation of Fly Fishing I am a CCI and have a website if you are intrested Jin Bass

To get the fish on your reel you can use your line hand to move the line to the fingers of your rod hand. Clanp the line to the cork and use your line hand to reel the slack in.
Jim Bass

If your roll cast is painful you might like the Belgoncast when you use hesvy flys or a brace and N indicator. I am in the metroplex and have a site called metroplexflyfisher.com you might find some help from there Best Jim

Total novice here. I was just wondering if the reel wt. rating had to match the rods wt. rating. Like say I have a St.Croix 5/6 rod...can my reel be a 9/10 large arbor with lighter 5/6 line? What i'm wanting to do is use the same reel with both a salt water & trout rod. I'd hate to go out and spend a bunch of money on another smaller lighter reel just to catch some stream trout. Is this a feasible option?

It's more a matter of balance. And the fact that you still need 2 lines for those 2 rods. The heavier reel on the smaller rod will make it butt heavy. It can get tiring over a whole day of fishing. If you can live with it, go for it.
You can switch out the lines on the reel, it's just a pain. Unless you might be catching really large trout, any $25 reel will work for the 5/6. The saltwater reel is the one you need to spend more for. A good drag is a must there.

Kirk

Thanks for the help Kirk, I have a pretty good idea how to get the show on the road now.

ok so, barbed hooks or barbless? ive been fishing the local ponds and rivers, and cant decide.

If you ever hook yourself, barbless is less painful to remove...

well, i kinda have first hand experience on that one. Hooked my self through the center of the nose with a spinner bait when i was 10. OW.

Thanks TXRR and all the other for your 2¢

I is a great read, I started reading it on my cell phone and didn’t stop till i have read it all.

Guess the reason I am loosing my fly’s is I am doing it more like a bull whip

time for practice, practice and more practice

I have been doing quite a bit of practicing myself, and I can effectively cast 50+ feet with fair accuracy. I still can't quite get the spey casting right yet, but I'll get there.

If I wanted to spend some cash to get a solid set of flies for Texas creeks and rivers (North and Central Texas). What would be some MUST-HAVES?

I'll fish for whatever bites.

Cat's Whiskers, Clousers, Briminators, Pete's Gurgle Pops, SHWAPFs.

...of course there will be other flies listed here as well I hope. But those are a few that have worked well for me.

Wooly Bugger and Sneaky Pete

What are you doing wrong if you are hearing a pop while casting?
In your opinion what is the best way to attach leader to fly line? Direct or a loop?

Not being there it's impossible to be 100%. But it sounds like you are not waiting long enough for the line to roll out behind you. Getting a little supersonic bullwhip action. Wait just a tick or a tock longer before starting forward cast. See if that makes a diff.

Thanks. This is a great thread.

It will amaze you how slowing down not just your timing, but your casting stroke can allow you to cast just as far, if not farther, with less effort. It's counter-intuitive, but it works.

Just to confirm, the pop is at the end of your line, not in your rod? A pop or click in the rod could be a ferrule either loose or cracked. Always make sure your rod pieces are firmly seated together.

Kirk

Yes the pop is at the end of my line.
Any advise on loop vs. No loop on attaching line to leader.

There are a lot of options for a flyline to leader connection. I used to take a piece of heavy mono (30 lb or so), nail knot it to the fly line and then tie a perfection loop to attach the leader to. Lately, I've really liked using the braided mono loop that slips over the flyline like a finger trap. I think Robin could set you up with one of those if you were inclined to try that.

I like the perfection loop on the flyline end of my leader as well. It's pretty rare that I have a failure with that knot at any point in the system.


I wish all the fly line manufacturers would go with the welded loop, but that's just my preference.

I use a combination of both, some lines have loops and some have nail knots. If I have a loop on the flyline, I like to use a loop to loop connection because it is quick and simple to change leaders. But those "tie-fast" style nail knot tools are easy to use and are a great way to tie a nail knot.

I really can't tell any significant difference in the casting performance of the two methods. I have however, had the single catch braid style loop connector (the type that slips on the end of a fly line) fail on me - I've had the loops come undone and had the whole thing slip off the line. If you want to use the braid style method, it is easy to make your own using a double catch that is much stronger.

I always whip a loop in the end of my flyline and loop to loop in a furled leader. Seal the end of the flyline with superglue to keep it from weeping up water.

Kirk