Went out to a local park that had a pond in it so I could try out my first fly rod while the fiancee watched the kids at the park. I, probably like any person for the first time, did pretty horribly. The only positive was that I didn't hook myself I think I hooked just about everything else though. Got the grass behind me, the tree in front of me, an old bread bag buried in the water, the fallen tree limb in the water that ate one of my flies...etc etc. I think the only problem I discovered, was that either I don't have floating fly line, or I was landing the line on the water too hard. My fly kept sinking. I noticed that this wasn't something that happened every time. I know it's hard to catch a fish with a topwater fly if it sinks whenever you cast it :| That's all I can think of though. Was probably the line getting soaked with water and being too heavy (not a floating line?), or I was landing the line so hard I was driving it too far into the water. Probably a noob mistake that will fix itself with practice. Not sure if this is the case though, hence my post here for your reading pleasure

You'd know if it were a sink line. A good deal heavier than floating. Also, unreel 10 feet of it or so into the tub with water it should float. If this is a fly rod kit that came complete with line then its floating. Not all dry flies will stay a float without help. What kind of fly was it? Could be your leader was too heavy for the fly, or it was a dry fly that had no extra floatation like foam built into the fly. If it is a standard trout style dry fly then it probably just needs to be dried out every few casts. A crisp back cast or two will do that for you.

It was a cheap kit, I think it only came just the fly line and tippet I lost the tippet practicing in the driveway and substituted some 4 lb mono. Used about 24" or so. Maybe that's part of the problem? Definately just a regular cheap fly. Kit didn't come with any, got a lil box that had 25 flies for $10. No foam or anything, just small trout flies I guess.

They only float when they are dry. The dubbing and wings get soaked and sink. Some faster than others. While a more delicate presentation may help it stay drier longer it will still soak and sink. They make a powder shake that will dry out the fly and some floatant a jelly consistency that helps. Get some pan fish poppers to start with. They float all day and will get you catching fish. Also subsurface flies that are supposed to sink like buggers.

And the mono is ok, but get some tapered leaders or a furled leader from rrhyne here on the forum. They lay the fly out better on the water. They are usually in the 4-7 foot range for bass and panfish.

I think they probably were just getting too wet then. I'm going to try to keep it as cheap as possible for the time being as I'm still learning, so I think I'll stick with the mono until I get a little better at casting and won't loose expensive leaders (compared to my spool of mono that should last me until I get good enough to upgrade) I'll try some other flies too though. I'm not real good at knowing the difference between the flies yet, but I think my lil 25 fly kit has a couple of woolies in it. I'll get some poppers too. Was just using the cheap small ones to practice with as, well, they were cheap and I can afford to lose those while learning to cast

You can pick up cheap poppers at Academy.