i have recently just started fly fishing and mainly on still water

can anybody tell how me how much harder it is to river fish? i have a lot of rivers locally in carlisle and the annual membership is very reasonable.

can you also tell me what type of gear i would need, ie ros size etc, i use a 9ft 7wt at the moment

thanks

It isn't really harder, it's a little different. There are three things to consider:




Do you have a floating line for your present rod? If you do then you could begin fishing rivers with what you have already and then later on, if you feel it is right for you then you can consider other rods. You need not spend a fortune.

The Dry Fly 'Expert' blog may be of interest to you and could help you in your move to river fishing, particularly if you take up the dry fly. A good place to start with the blog would be this post. When you read it down to the bottom just click on the "newer post" option and it will take you through a series of posts covering the move from stillwaters to rivers and streams.

You do indeed live near a lot of river fishing. It would be a shame to waste the opportunities...

richard

__________________
Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

yes i have a floating line.
can you fish lures or are dry and wet flies better

See if you can get out with someone who has done a fair bit of river fishing on the local rivers.
Over the years I have helped more than a few stillwater anglers get the basics of river fishing ,and if you can cast its not really that difficult .personally I would start fishing the dry fly as that only 2 dimensions to worry about ,the nymph involves depth as well so its 3 dimensions to deal with .
Yes I know all about wets and spiders ,but down south on the chalk these tend to be frowned on or used for grayling .

__________________
Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

My preference is for dry flies but if the rules permit it you can use lures and wets too.

richard

__________________
Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

There are a few steps missing from your OODA loop

Really? What's missing?

richard

__________________
Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

I was in the same boat - grew up fishing stillwaters and made the move across to river fishing 2 to 3 years ago. I haven't looked back since!

I found it hard at first, because it is very different. Not in terms of casting but rather:

1. Drag
2. Line Mending
3. Learning where fish hold in rivers

Fishing from a bank or boat on a stillwater you just generally choose where you want to fish from and cast out, often as far as you can. The choice of fly, depth fished and retrieve hold most of the importance. How do you translate this experience to a little strip of running water? On the rivers I have fished my experience has shown that the choice of fly appears to be of less importance, and fished with a dead drift, there is no retrieve. The presentation then takes on most of the importance in the equation.

The first two times I tried fishing a river was on my own and I went home unhappy and frustrated. No wonder, I didn't even know what drag was... I would really recommend that you go along with someone who has experience of fishing rivers - it will help tremendously and cut down your learning curve.

Stick with it and I'm sure you won't look back. I personally find fishing rivers to be both more challenging and rewarding. I find fishing stillwaters to be quite boring now!

You are quite right that drag can be a problem. In fact the river I fish most days is historically noted for its very complicated drag - BUT - even on a first outing it is possible to overcome drag by getting very close to your chosen quarry. Sitting quiet and observing what is happening is a great help. Once the fish has been selected then crawl if necessary to get close enough to present the fly without a lot of line out and the drag problem is eased. The key to success is definitely to use those three basic principles in my diagram above.

Page four of this Newsletter from the Peacock website explains what can be done at close range: http://www.thepeacockatrowsley.com/w...WLSummer04.pdf

It is astonishing just how many fish there are in a clean river. Sitting down in a good vantage point and quietly observing what is happening around you is a great policy. You often find there are wonderful fish right under your feet.

richard

__________________
Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

The ACT or "do something". I'm not being facetious but your diagram put me in mind of the OODA loop. If you look at the "applicability of the OODA loop" in the wiki link, it could be applied to fishing.