Hello,
I live in Ky and have been flyfishing a couple of years mostly for gills/crackers/bass starting in May thru the summer. I am a pretty good caster but need tips on fishing. What are common mistakes that beginner fly fishers make?

Fishing to fast on a retrieve.

Could be a variety of things: too fast, too slow, wrong fly, working the wrong part of the water column, no confidence, etc.

Hard to figure out without seeing what you might or might not be doing.

I kind of let the fish tell me what they want. For example, if I'm fishing the surface with no action, I go subsurface. If they're hitting small minnows, it put on a small minnow imitation.

I'll keep eliminating until I hit on what they want.

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Steve

Marshall Univeristy, 1971

Heritage-endorsed guide

Only fishing topwater.

Fish deeper with sinking flies. A bead head nymph is just a very light jig.

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Clinging to guns and religion since 1963.

Not making reasonable (common sense) observations of their surroundings. This is very important as it can tell you what the fish might be feeding on or doing. Watch the birds, comb shorelines inspecting local insects and baitfish, use the wind to your advantage where possible, look for structure where fish might be holding both surface and subsurface, water temperature, water clarity, seasonal fish holding locations, casting distances and casting space, and so on. Lots of things going on that can give the fly angler an advantage on the water. Take the time. It can make the difference in whether a fly angler catches fish or not.

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Robert B. McCorquodale

"Flip a fly"

know the sink rate of your fly,i always count it down(iene thousand one,two exc) how many seconds does it take that fly to sink one foot.
knowing how deep you caught that first fish ,odds are there are more at that depth.

Accuracy over distance:
don't try to drive a fly, just get it in the right place. Let the rod load up then put it where it needs to go.

Impatients:
Too much casting and not enough fishn'! I once saw a couple on a boat just casting away never letting the fly settle long enough to get wet, like watching ping pong. (blew my mind).

Look:
Always check behind you as you fish, a snagged backcast is an ugly sight.

Line care:
CLEAN that line, use silicone cleaner/conditioner. Your line runs through the guides like poo through a goose (well, if I built the rod for you it does).

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