Fly Rod example essay topic

Fly-fishing is challenging and inspiring. It draws anglers to wild and beautiful rivers in search of trout and salmon that are equally wild and beautiful (Davis 1). To most people the sound of a fish taking string is an annoying noise. To a fly fisherman, it is music. The sport of fly fishing has been around for many years, and is very relaxing. The fly rod use to be made of bamboo and sometimes it is still used.

A rod has to bend and work equally well in any direction-up, down, sideways, across the flats, or across the corners. The early fly fishermen thought that only a round rod would bend in these ways. They rounded off the corners of their rods, but this cut away the most valuable part of the bamboo. The idea of building them of several strips of bamboo is quite old. They are now made of graphite or fiberglass. The fly lines are designated alphabetically-the nearer the letter to the beginning of the alphabet, the larger it is.

The line alphabet goes on from "A-I". Most fly lines are designed to float. Leaders are designed to reduce the visible connection between the fly line and fly. While no leader can be completely invisible to the fish, it is far less conspicuous than the end of the fly line. Being somewhat translucent, it is safe to assume that it absorbs and reflects the color of its backgrounds. Casting with the fly rod is very different from any other.

With the rod set up, the reel underneath, grip the cork firmly in your right hand - with your thumb extending along the top. The hand you cast with is called your rod hand. First, get out about two rod lengths of line to provide enough weight to begin. Now, to start a cast, lift the rod back smoothly until it is vertical. The bending of the rod and your wrist speed will send the line flying backwards. This is called the back cast.

When the line has straightened out in the rear bring the rod forward just far enough to get maximum line speed again. Both these motions must be blended together smoothly (Mcclure 28). The fly patterns were ideally suited to American fishing, and were selected on the basis of their popularity throughout the country (Mcl are 213). The Coachman rates first on most lists as an ideal pattern for fishing in broken water, at dusk, or on overcast days when visibility is limited.

The Hendrickson has long been an eastern favorite for brown trout and probably is best used on flat or rippling waters. The Cahill is a good choice for early season, when the streams are just getting down to a comfortable fishing level. This is probably the most important dry fly in eastern waters. The Brown and Black Bivisibles can be used on water that would suck conventional flies under. And best of all they minimize drag. The Blue Dan ranks among the top dozen trout patterns.

It's one of the oldest popular trout flies in existence. The Quill Gordon is another old favorite. The bluish color Hendrickson is very similar to the Quill Gordon. Yet, the Quill is very fragile. The Donnelly Variant and the Winged Multi-Color have rather longish wings and thus fail to qualify among erudite purists, but both are excellent trout flies. One other fly worthy of special mention is the Durham.

The excellent float qualities of this pattern probably account for its popularity with the practical western dry fly angler. The wild, beautiful, and relaxing traits of fly fishing are what bring people back for more. I personally think that fly-fishing is great, especially if you " re up for a challenge, and everyone should try it.