Fly casting practice… Equipment needed

 Learning to flycast is kind of like learning to ride a bike…

Item

Equipment

Description

Comment

Rod

Recommended: for 80% of beginning fly fishers, an 8' 6" medium flex graphite rod for a 5 or 6 weight line (2-4 piece)

do not use a "fast action" rod for practice as a beginner

Reel

Recommended: for 80% of beginning fly fishers, a single action reel suitable for a 5 or 6 weight double taper or weight forward line

nothing fancy needed here as all it will do is hold the line

Fly Line

Recommended: double taper floating (DT/F) in 5 or 6 weight to match rod (a weight forward - WF/F - line will do)

cheapest you can find; it gets beat up in practice; a DT you can turn around thus has twice the life of WF

Backing

enough to fill the reel spool along with the fly line

we recommend 20 lb. dacron

Leader

7 1/2', 0X knotless tapered leader

not essential, but saves wear on the fly line; knotless leader catches less

Fly

not mandatory; substitute a piece of yarn, or use a fly with barb cut off

when practicing, using yarn instead of a fly is easier; using nothing is OK