IvyThicket
Senior Member
I didn't read everything in this thread and everyone has their opinions so I am going to give you mine. I'm not from Georgia but just across the state line in the mountains of NC. I grew up just a stone's throw from one of the most notorious fly fishing rivers in the Southeast, the Davidson River. I cut my teeth on that river and it humbled me more times than not. I learned more from my failures on the D than I could have anywhere else and I was lucky to grow up with the Pisgah National Forest and all of it's blue lines as my playground.
If I were advising a newbie on getting into fly fishing, the first thing I would do is steal his money and then smack him in the face. I'd steal your money because that's exactly what fly fishing is going to do and then I'd smack you in the face to see what kind of patience level I'm working with. Most guys don't have the patience to deal with the amount of birds nests, trees, underwater obstacles, broken rod tips, knots, wind, etc that you're gonna have to deal with.
All joking aside, a 5wt is a great all around weight. I've used a 5wt for trout, smallmouth, largemouth, panfish, heck I even fished the high grass in the marshes near our beach house with it.
As for practicing, I learned just as much off the river as I ever did on. I tell people to practice their casting distance and arm discipline no matter how little they'll actually apply it on the river. Tie a little yarn to the end of your leader and pick points in your yard to cast to. You'll be amazed how much you'll learn about arm discipline and rod tip discipline in your yard. Start close, move to further points. Practice your roll casting, false casting, your single hauls and double hauls because I learned about casting a fly short distances into the wind by practicing my long distance accuracy at home. You will apply those long distance principles of loading the rod and driving your line many times if you fish enough. If you ever get an opportunity, look up 'The Essence of Flycasting by Mel Krieger'. Mel is long gone now and his videos were pulled out of the 70's but he is bar none the best fly casting instructor I have ever found. He just has a way of teaching it to novice fisherman that I haven't found elsewhere.
Outside of that, just remember to KISS it (Keep it simple stupid). You don't need 10 fly boxes of every variety of flies to catch fish. I chuckle at the guys who show up to the river with essentially a duffel bag hanging off their hip. Get you a lanyard with a pair of nippers, forceps, a couple of spools of tippet and some floatant, and keep a box in your pocket with some hares ears, pheasant tails, copper johns, woolly buggers, caddis, parachute adams, worms and some girdle bugs and you'll catch trout on any river, any time of the year. I guarantee it!
If I were advising a newbie on getting into fly fishing, the first thing I would do is steal his money and then smack him in the face. I'd steal your money because that's exactly what fly fishing is going to do and then I'd smack you in the face to see what kind of patience level I'm working with. Most guys don't have the patience to deal with the amount of birds nests, trees, underwater obstacles, broken rod tips, knots, wind, etc that you're gonna have to deal with.
All joking aside, a 5wt is a great all around weight. I've used a 5wt for trout, smallmouth, largemouth, panfish, heck I even fished the high grass in the marshes near our beach house with it.
As for practicing, I learned just as much off the river as I ever did on. I tell people to practice their casting distance and arm discipline no matter how little they'll actually apply it on the river. Tie a little yarn to the end of your leader and pick points in your yard to cast to. You'll be amazed how much you'll learn about arm discipline and rod tip discipline in your yard. Start close, move to further points. Practice your roll casting, false casting, your single hauls and double hauls because I learned about casting a fly short distances into the wind by practicing my long distance accuracy at home. You will apply those long distance principles of loading the rod and driving your line many times if you fish enough. If you ever get an opportunity, look up 'The Essence of Flycasting by Mel Krieger'. Mel is long gone now and his videos were pulled out of the 70's but he is bar none the best fly casting instructor I have ever found. He just has a way of teaching it to novice fisherman that I haven't found elsewhere.
Outside of that, just remember to KISS it (Keep it simple stupid). You don't need 10 fly boxes of every variety of flies to catch fish. I chuckle at the guys who show up to the river with essentially a duffel bag hanging off their hip. Get you a lanyard with a pair of nippers, forceps, a couple of spools of tippet and some floatant, and keep a box in your pocket with some hares ears, pheasant tails, copper johns, woolly buggers, caddis, parachute adams, worms and some girdle bugs and you'll catch trout on any river, any time of the year. I guarantee it!