The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I have been bass fishing for a while, some trout & have decided to learn the art of fly fishing. I kinda-sorta have the basic over-head cast down. As far as flies go, don't know what to use when, why & what fore? I live in lake county, ca. & generally fish on lakes & reservoirs. Can somebody point me in the right direction of flies & good makers of flies?? Thank you!

Grasshopper, I would start by acquiring a fly tying vice and the necessary materials. Learning to fly fish without learning to fly tie is akin to doing voodoo without the doll. On the internet one can find fishing reports and fly patterns for most locations and all seasons. Start with patterns based on when and where you plan to fish or patterns which appear most frequently in the reports. Start with the larger sizes of a given pattern and then tie smaller. There are lots of videos to watch to help you learn (www.theanglersnet.com, e.g).
I agree with the previous post that suggested a 5 weight rod if you can only afford one. It's a good starting point. Then learn to cast preferably before you fish.
Finally and most importantly, there is an almost unlimited supply of friendly, able and willing "mentors" around. They can be found on this site, on most streams, in many pubs and clubs, at fly fishing shops and where ever trout and steelhead are found. Using the resources that these folks have to offer is the best way to advance your fly fishing.

Understand the food chain as prey-predator relationships of the fish you are trying to catch. Buy a seine or build one from a old screen material and collect samples of aquatic insects. Start studying bugs and the percentages of your samplings. Keep a record of where you find these bugs on certain stretches of river or lake. Remember that vegetation is a food factory for fish- meaning insects also inhabit the same area. Fish enjoy highly oxygenated water, so look for them there as well. Vegetation equals oxygen as does riffles or broken water. Observing where fish occupy water and at what levels of the water column also help. Remember that most food stuff (insects) are on the bottom unless it is in emergence and this emergence is the exception to most of insect life in the water column. Ralph Cutter has an excellent video on bugs of the underworld to help you understand what food stuff is available. Here is the link- http://www.../bugs_of_the_underworld/ Once you understand how to mimic a food source, you are on your way. Size, shape and color of your flies should correspond to your sampling as well. Ken Hanley has an excellent book out there on bass fishing if you want to target just bass. The toughest part is foregoing preconceived notions about what fish will and will not eat. Think of fish as opportunist when it comes to feeding.

Above all else, a mentor via any avenue is worthwhile. Seek out productive fisherman and ask what they are doing in order to understand what it is that you are not doing. Sometimes it is worthwhile just remembering where a successful fisherman was catching fish and figuring out why. It is definitely an observation game when it comes to locating feeding fish. Once located, then you have to figure out what it is they are eating. Did I mention a seine??

Best of luck.

Well, some of the best places to buy flies, are the local fly shops to where you will be fishing. Often they will have a selection that is good for that area. With that being said, there are abundant online fly shops that will sell flies for a cheap price. Quality varies with them. Some that come to mind are www.bigyflyco.com , www.discountflies.com or www.theflyshack.com and of course, Ebay.

I have made my own screen to sieve out the water bugs by attaching a fine mesh plastic screen between two dowel rods, cut to size. I keep it rolled up in my pack, and when I want to see what’s in the water, I stick it in moving water down to the bottom and kick a couple rocks in front of it to stir up the critters, then look to see what’s moving on the screen.
I don’t do much bass fishing, but if you do get into fly-fishing, you will start to hit the streams, and if you do so, my recommendation would be:

Nymphs / wet / streamers: flash back pheasant tail, black AP, micro mays, brown rubber legs, callibaetis, and wooley and crystal buggers.

Dries: parachute Adams, parachute adams, elk hair cadis, stimulators, pale morning duns and did I say parachute adams?

Terrestrials: ants, ants grasshoppers, and more ants.

As for bass flies… whatever pisses them off.

just my .02...