Flyfishing

Fly fishing is a fascinating form of fishing. Small, almost weightless artificial ”bait”, the thing we call a fly, is presented for the fish, hoping it will mistake it for the real thing. To be able to present the almost weightless flies to the fish the line is used as casting weight. Fly casting is usually done by throwing the line back and forth in the air in what is usually called a front cast and a back cast before the fly is allowed to land on the water. The casting of the fly is usually what gives the beginner problems. Fly casting is best learned by taking classes with a good instructor. It is however, possible to learn by following instructions in a book or on a video or DVD. Among the casting videos I have seen are Mel Krieger’s, Lefty Kreh’s and Doug Swisher’s and they are all very useful.

25. okt 2005

Sist oppdatert: 25. okt 2005

If you read Norwegian you will find a chapter on casting in my book Fluefiske fra A-X. The best book about fly casting I have seen is Zaaap by Mathias Lilleheim. He is a professional trainer for the Norwegian javelin team at the Norwegian Olympic training center, and knows how to instruct people in complicated matters.

Originally fly fishing meant imitating flies, mainly aquatic insects. Fly fishing evolved and today fly fishing usually means fishing all types of artificial lures where the fly line is the casting weight, i.e. imitations of leaches, frogs, crabs, small fish etc.
Fly fishing in Norway is usually done in fresh water for brown trout, char, grayling, salmon and sea run brown trout. Some diehard fly fishermen are also fishing for pike, perch and some of the whitefish from the carp family with the fly.
During the last 30 years saltwater fly fishing has become more and more popular, and today sea run brown trout is fished for by a lot of fly fishermen. Sea bass is a new fish in our waters and is becoming a very popular fish. Some of the other species of fish in saltwater are also fished for with flies.