How do you get to be a better fly fisher?

Join a fly fishing club and go tot he meetings and try to go on the outings as well.

Find someone, like Andy Guibord, in a fly shop who will help you get going and get better.

You don't need a high end rod at first so used can be good. Be sure to have someone at the fly club or fly shop help you.

We have some good buys on fly fishing equipment on our "Free Classifieds" here on our Forum.

Today for $150 and up they have nice factory starter kits with the rod, reel, backing, fly line and leader with a nice rod and reel case.

The most popular size fly fishing outfit in America is a 9' #5 line fly rod in 4 pieces.

Right away get some fly casting lesson through a fly club or fly shop.

John Hogg at the Granite Bay Flycasters can help you or Andy Guibord at Kiene's Fly Shop....both are very good instructors.

Put away the golf clubs and conventional fishing tackle for a while if you want to get going faster.

Going with recommended fly fishing guides is the fast track to learning.

There are lots of great YouTube videos on all aspect of fly fishing, fly casting, knots, entomology and fly tying.

You can contact me for help with anything related to fly fishing.



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In 1975 I was working in a big high end sporting goods store with hunting and fishing.

We had 3 to 5 gunsmith in the back who did the warranty work for all the big gun makers.

Besides conventional fishing equipment we had the biggest fly fishing department in Nor Cal.


With Neil Bohannon, owner of "The Fly Hutch" in the "Bay area", we opened one of the first fly fishing only store, "The Fly Hutch #2"

in Sacramento. Neil was connected with the famous "Creative Sports" in Walnut Creek at that time.

At that time I was a mediocre fly fisher, mediocre fly caster and mediocre fly tier but I fished all the time.

Holly Molly, what was I going to do? Well, I sold all my conventional fishing tackle and all my guns, I needed the money too.

I told myself, if you want to get better you need to only fly fish and do lots of it.

I joined the California Fly Fishers Unlimited and with my brother Dick became the News Letter Editors.

Being partners with Neil got me connected with the "Bay area crowd" (San Jose Flycasters) who fished somewhere cool every

weekend. Got to fish all the hot spots in the 1970s with top fly fishers ( near them anyway) like Hal Jansen, Andy Puyans and Bob

Quigley. It was "Trial by Fire" and I was listening and pay attention. Much of what I learned was from top fly fishers and guides.

It did not hurt that the fly fishing in Nor Cal in the 1970s was pretty unbelievable....about 50 years ago.

Bob Quigley showed us young punks how to tie his amazing trout flies.

In the winter were on the coastal tide water like the Gualala and Garcia rivers with guys like Andy Puyans, Bill Schaadt, Hal Janssen.

Summers where up on Fall river and Hat Creek where greats like Bob Quigley and Hal Janssen could be found.

I had lots of great mentors too, who helped me become a better fly fisher and survive in a small fly shop.

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And all this was done without indicators because they had not been developed yet.

The fishing was so good you did not need indicators as much as you do today.