learning to fly fish.....questions

30 minutes ago, JestersHK said:

Did you get a cabelas rod too?  I got a 8'6 5wt that I really love.   They are good value for the money,  and mines held up to some abuse and landed a ton of fish on it. 

yes I did, I bought a 9ft 5wt. 

one last question....the leader to tippet knot.  I was taught to tie the surgeons knot by the trout magnet owner a couple years ago.......or I think it is.  He has a video on his website.  When he ties that knot or something similar the lines are laying in the same direction.  Everything I see says to lay them in opposite directions.  Which is correct and is this the best connection for that?  or should I look at the Albright knot?  I tried to tie an alberto knot last night and it just didn't wanna work with a 6x tippet and kept breaking.  thoughts?

Lefty Kreh is a good one. 

58 minutes ago, Travis Swift said:

one last question....the leader to tippet knot.  I was taught to tie the surgeons knot by the trout magnet owner a couple years ago.......or I think it is.  He has a video on his website.  When he ties that knot or something similar the lines are laying in the same direction.  Everything I see says to lay them in opposite directions.  Which is correct and is this the best connection for that?  or should I look at the Albright knot?  I tried to tie an alberto knot last night and it just didn't wanna work with a 6x tippet and kept breaking.  thoughts?

Naw -- surgeon's knot is tied with lines going opposite directions. I use them, more out of inertia than anything else. 

that's what I though on going opposite directions.  not sure what they use since they are facing the same direction.  thanks for the heads up, i'll tie it again when I get home going opposite directions then. 

Done right either way can catch fish, but tying with the tip of the heavy line and the butt  of the tippet will make the result nearly straight, where as tying butt and butt will leave an elbow at the knot. Try both ways with some spare mono. http://www.animatedknots.com/surgeonsjoin/index.php

Blood knot is a good leader building knot if you are good with it, any knot tied in mono needs to be wet when pulling tight. I have only used the Albright knot for attaching line to backing and didn't much like it for that.  An alternative is tie a loop in the leader and a loop in the tippet and interlock the loops.

Or: https://www.netknots.com/fishing_knots/orvis-tippet-knot

One of the most productive nymph and bobber  indicator trout catchers that  I ever watched at RRSP used a level leader/tippet  about three feet long knotted directly to his fly line, he said that tapered leaders and tippets were only necessary for dry fly fishing. Many bass and pan fish anglers just tie a piece of mono on the fly line  and catch fish.

I'm 3 days in to a 7 day trip down here at taney so far. I've pretty much fallen in love with the fly rod and I'm mad I wasted alot of years not using one.  I caught close to 40 on it the first day in the trophy area in my boat. Water was off and we had a nice chop. Didn't have a clue what I was doing except for all the advice on here. They ate a small jig that day.  On the way back I stopped at Lilleys and had a nice visit with Duane. He helped me pick out some midges and scud and gave me advice on how to tie a dropper.   The next day it was flat water with no wind and although tougher I caught over 20 with a secret micro jig.. Thanks again Duane and a midge dropper.  When they crank the water then I go to straight jigs and jerk baits at the cable on a spinning rod. Still trying to figure out an indicator. I have some small ones with a rubber center but throw them off ALOT. Also using an SOS trout cork like I use on my spinning rods with a trout magnet. It's been sufficient so far but I'm sure it's not the best option. 

Nice job man!  Sounds like you got it figured out and thats a great first day!  Phil sells some indicators up there that are smaller and closed with just a hole through them.  I have switched to those as I throw the little rubber band ones off all the time too.  

Sounds like you're on the way! Congrats. 

Secret micro jig, huh?  

I'm still searching for the perfect indicator -- I think I've tried about everything out there but they all have a downside. All I want is one that I can put on and take off easily without removing the fly. One that can be adjusted for different water depths, doesn't put a kink in my line, and will float with a bunch of split shot on it. It also needs to be so small it doesn't affect my casting. If it pops off, it also needs to swim back to me.