This Guide includes info on caring for your flies, fishing and casting tips, and suggestions for finding fish, which you must do if you expect to catch them!

FLY CARE
    -     Always let your flies dry out before storing them, or they will rust and break.  Get a cheap foam fly patch ($2 or so)

FISHING AND CASTING TIPS
    -     Flies weighted with 'dumbell eyes', cone heads or beads are heavier and can be harder to cast on lighter rods.

    -    These weighted flies may be a little difficult for beginners to cast, as they were for me when I started out, but with practice, you can do it.  I suggest practicing in the grass with a piece of yarn with a teeny tiny lead weight instead of a fly, or with a weighted fly that has the hook removed.  Buy or Rent a video from the library, it will really help.  I suggest Larry Dahlberg's great video 'Panfish and Bass' it covers everything (and Pike too!)

    -    For heavier flies or big wind resistant flies such as Deer Hair Bass Bugs, a 7 or 8 weight rod might make things easier.

    -    Wear eye protection!  Windy conditions, and casting mistakes happen.  Why take chances? I recommend polarized sunglasses (you'll be able to see through the water's surface easier too.) Mine fit over my prescription glasses.

HOW TO FIND FISH!
    -    Bass and Sunfish like Bluegill (Brim) or Green Sunfish, are more likely to be near objects or structure in the water especially where there is deeper water nearby.  Things like rocks, logs, weed beds etc. are magnets for Bass and Bluegill.

    -    Bass and Bluegill and other fish too, are more often caught within 5 to 10 feet from shore, so always fish to your right or left starting right up against the shore and work your way out.  Most of my largemouth are taken at the water's edge!  The 15 inch Bass photo on my 'Reaper' listing on eBay was taken 3 feet from shore by a dead tree branch! Never approach structure.  Stand back and cast to it. I have seen many people spook fish at the shore, then start casting straight out into deep water.  After they don't catch anything, they move down, spook more fish and then cast into deep water again.  Fish like FOOD AND STRUCTURE which is almost always at or near the water's edge.

SETTING THE HOOK
    -    Keep your rod tip low.  I keep the tip IN THE WATER at all times.  Do not leave slack in the line, you'll never feel the fish biting!  I am always slowly crawling my fly along, this keeps slack out and keeps me ready to set the hook.

    -    Set the hook with a quick line strip, DO NOT TRY TO SET THE HOOK WITH THE ROD!  It will work for panfish, but fly rods bend so easily, you won't get a good hook set on Bass.  This is why you want to avoid slack in the line. AFTER YOU SET THE HOOK you want to raise the rod tip about 60 degrees (or 10 o'clock.)  This uses the bend in the rod to keep fish from breaking the line, and helps tire out the fish.

BARBED vs. UNBARBED HOOKS
When I first started fly fishing, I thought removing barbs from hooks (or flattening them) was crazy!  "You'd lose every fish!" I thought.  But then I tried it, and there are so many advantages.

1. Easier to remove the hook from snags, shirts and of course fish.  I can catch a fish and release it without even touching it, usually.  This means that if the fishing is really hot, I can catch/release more fish in less time.  If I'm keeping the fish, it means I get more of them before the rush is over.  Ever hit a school of Crappie or White Bass and catch one after another for about 10 to 15 minutes, then nothing?  Well a barbless hook will allow you to de-hook and get back to catching faster, which means more fish in the frying pan.

2. DEEPER HOOK SETS!  I learned this on a nice Largemouth one day.  I was fishing a smaller fly, maybe a size 6 or 8.  I set the hook and landed the fish.  The hook was set deep into the jawbone!  I couldn't believe it!  I had to fight to get it out.  

Think about this, when you want to drive a nail into hard wood like oak, do you want a barb on the end of the nail?  It would be ridiculous.  Much harder.  And if you think you'll lose fish easier, imagine removing a nail that is deeply driven into wood.  Does it come out easily? No.

Hook barbs are the thinnest and therefor weakest point in the hook.  Barbless hook do not have the narrow weak spot behind the barb.

3. EASIER HOOK SETS.  Many times, the fish hook themselves for you, because the hook goes in so much easier.

4. SAFER.  If you stick yourself with a hook, You'll do less damage to your skin and can simply back the hook out, instead of having the rip it out, or push it all the way through. This applies to the fish too!

5. Many waters have a NO BARBED HOOKS restriction in place, so if you always fish barbless, you'll be more experienced than other fishermen on the lake.

The next time you go fishing, give it a try.  Bluegill are a great fish to try it on.

HOOK ADJUSTMENT
Personally, I like to flatten the barb, and then open the hook gap a little.  I get more and better hook-ups.  Use your pliers, and gently grab the hook between the barb and the hook bend.  Bend it gently back so the point is no longer parallel to the shank, maybe 15 degrees or so.  This will drive the point at an upward angle into the fish's mouth.

I hope these tips help.  I want you to buy my flies of course, but I also want you to catch fish on them too. 

Visit my store: ParkerFlies and feel free to send me your questions, comments or fish stories.