Watching Your Fly Line Tells You If You’re Fishing

Posted on May 15, 2025 / by Louis Cahill

Photo by Louis Cahill

By Louis Cahill

When fly-fishing in saltwater, if your fly isn’t moving, you’re not fishing.

This is one of those ideas that’s dead simple in principal and damned complicated in practice. For a fish to see your fly as food, it must have the right action, but there are factors at work that the angler may not perceive. Have you ever wondered why many saltwater fly lines are so brightly colored? It’s not a fashion statement, it’s a tool and often the key to catching fish.

Too many anglers making the transition from freshwater to salt think of the ocean like a big pond. In truth, it has more in common with a river. The water in the ocean is always moving and it’s often not readily apparent in which direction or how quickly. If you are fishing from a boat, the boat may also be in motion and not necessarily with the flow of the water. On top of all that the wind can influence the motion of the water, the boat and the fly line. It’s a lot to keep up with, but if you don’t you’ll pay the price in missed opportunities.

I’ve seen a lot of good casts fail to produce fish because the angler was not aware that their fly was dead in the water.

Picture for a moment that you are on the bow of a flats boat. Your guide is poling against the current when he calls out a fish at 11 o’clock. You make a nice cast but because the boat was moving toward 12 o’clock you failed to notice that the current is coming toward you. If you strip as though you were in still water, you’ll never come tight to the fly. You will only take up the slack as the fly sits dead on the bottom and the fish will swim on by.

The opposite can be just as deadly. Suppose your guide stops the boat for a fish at 11 o’clock, but this time the current is carrying your fly away. A normal retrieve may be too fast, lifting the fly to the surface in an unnatural manner. Again, your fly is not behaving like food and it will likely be ignored.

A strong current moving from either side can carry your fly into, or out of, a fish’s feeding zone. In this case the direction of water movement will affect where you play your fly, as well as how you retrieve.

In most cases, all you need to do is watch your fly line to know what your fly is doing.

A fly line which is not under tension will naturally take on a relaxed attitude with gentle S-curves between you and the fly. A line under tension will naturally straighten. If you are stripping line and those S-curves are not disappearing and your line straightening, the water is carrying your fly toward you faster than you are taking up line. You will need to use a longer strip to take up the slack. If your line is straight as a laser, even between strips, the water is likely pulling your fly away and you should use shorter strips.

By watching your fly line it’s also easy to know where your fly is in relation to the fish. This allows you to read his body language and know if he is on your fly. If the current is bringing the fly toward the boat, you may not feel the eat and a sudden straightening of the line or rush and stop from the fish could be your only clue that it’s time to set the hook.

Make a habit of watching the attitude of your fly line as soon as it hits the water. There is plenty of valuable information to gather about how your fly is behaving. The sooner you understand the attitude of the line, and fly, the more effectively you will fish.

Louis Cahill

Gink & Gasoline

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Do weights and simplicity go together? A tenkara perspective

Posted on May 14, 2025 / by Louis Cahill

Photo Daniel Galhardo

By Daniel Galhardo

About four years ago I visited Cheeseman Canyon for my first time.

Cheeseman is a renowned fly-fishing destination in Colorado; it is well known for sizeable fish that think they are too good for our flies. The canyon features deep pools with relatively slow moving water. The water is typically crystal clear, which means you can see the fish down deep. Sometimes you can even see the white in their mouths, which means they are laughing at you as your fly goes by. You can probably sense some of my disdain for the behavior of those snooty trout, huh?

But the reality is that I love fishing those “3 miles of gold medal fishing,” as the sign by the parking lot announces. The fishing there is challenging. And, that is a good thing. It serves as a place to learn and grow as a fisherman. That first visit also gave me something I have been reflecting on for the last several years: do I really need weight to get my fly down deep?

Weights are used to get the fly down to fish holding deeper. They can be either wrapped around a fly in the form of a metallic wire, or connected to the line above the fly in the form of split-shot, putties, or in new forms of which I can no longer keep track. They are useful. I won’t deny it, and I will preface the rest of this article by saying I have absolutely nothing against the use of weights, although I do find it a shame that so much of it gets left behind due to tangles with branches and snags on river bottoms.

I personally approach fishing from a different angle. For the last 7 years I have been learning the tenkara method of fishing from different teachers in Japan. Tenkara, as you may have read in this blog and other places, is a simple Japanese method of fly-fishing that uses “only a rod, line and fly.” Perhaps I should rephrase that, tenkara can be a simple method of fly-fishing. The method can quickly get more complex by adding accessories to the rig and moving from “only a rod, line and fly” to “a rod, line, fly, strike indicator, floatant, splitshot and the-latest-announced-fishing-gizmo”.

There is historical evidence of tenkara flies that were wrapped with copper thread to make them heavy. And, we also know of tenkara anglers in Japan using weights above the fly. I am not by any means shunning the use of weight for any purist or traditionalist reason. But, rather, I have decided to see what I could leave behind in order to hone technique.

As John Gierach put it in the tenkara chapter of his book, All Fisherman are Liars, “[tenkara is] a useful thought experiment in which you ask not, How much do I need? But, How little can I get away with?”

The interesting thing about this thought experiment is that you are forced to learn how to work with what you have and without what was left behind. It may take little while, but in turn you acquire new techniques.

Over the last few years of leaving weights behind, I have learned a few ways of sinking my flies. And, the only way I was able to learn this was by not using weights to begin with, but rather pay attention to currents that would take my fly down for me. The two main ways I usually teach are the following:

The first way to sink flies without weight, and mostly useful in mountain streams, is to cast the fly above small plunges or places where the water gets channeled and faster. You will cast upstream from the plunge or fast channel. When the fly gets carried into the plunge, just lower some of the line with it and let the currents take the fly deep for you. If you are doing this correctly the line will seem stuck for a second, then it will start spinning around, a sign the turbulence is taking it down for you. A couple of seconds later the line will start moving downstream. Just follow it while keeping the line tight. You don’t have to be doing tenkara to try this, just remove the weight and start seeing what happens when you place your fly in different currents.

Now, why did I start this piece talking about Cheeseman Canyon?

It’s because of the experience I had when watching big fish holding deep and no weights to use in my fishing kit. The technique above was taught to me by one of my teachers. This second technique was something I taught myself that day and has been useful more than once. Cheeseman Canyon, as I mentioned, has some deep and slow-moving pools, not a whole lot of plunges. At a certain point my two friends, Jason and Karel, and I came across a large pool with a half dozen fish holding some 6 feet deep. I cast my unweighted fly as far upstream as I could and let it naturally sink. At the end of my 20ft drift the fly had naturally sunk about 2 feet. I figured I could pull the fly upstream slowly and let it sink a bit more. I kept the rod tip down, almost touching the water, and dragged the fly upstream very slowly. The fly went up slightly but I then followed it downstream and it sank some more, reaching about 3 or 4 feet deep. I repeated this once or twice again and literally got the fly to basically touch the fish on the nose. The fish grabbed the fly and I had it for an instant before the hook came out. This had been a slow day, not many catches between the 3 of us, so this was an exciting moment. Seeing the white in that trout’s mouth because of a grab rather than it laughing at me was well worth it.

I do accept one limitation created by leaving weights behind: I cannot sink my fly deep and fast. But I can sink it deep enough and fast enough to keep me content with the occasional tight line. I also accept the fact that I will not always get my fly in front of every fish in the stream, but even when my vest carried different weights I never got my fly in front of every fish anyways.

Daniel Galhardo

Gink & Gasoline

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The Finer Points of the Ready Position

Posted on May 13, 2025 / by Louis Cahill

I am not a hand model Photo by Kent Klewein

I’ve talked about the ready position before but in teaching the bonefish 101 primer on our trip to Andros South, it occurred to me that some of the finer points bear repeating or at least more thorough explanation.

A good ready position is vital in making a quick and accurate presentation. It will save you the embarrassment of pulling a fly out of your pants, or worse, while you watch the fish you’d hoped to catch swim away. It’s a simple thing but easy to screw up. Here are a few points that I consider important to the ready position.

The leash

The leash is the amount of line outside of your tip top. The length of your leash should be, fly line at least the length of your rod plus your leader, so 9 feet of fly line plus, let’s say, a 12 foot leader to equal 21 feet of leash. This should be enough line to load your rod quickly and start shooting line immediately. It’s also enough line to make a fast short shot at the occasional fish that gets up your skirt.

As important as having a good leash is maintaining it. What I mean by that is keeping up with what your leash is doing. A good leash is no help if it’s stuck under the bow of the boat or dragging a clump of grass. Keep an eye on the current and wind conditions to figure out where you need to hold your rod to keep your leash out of trouble. Sometimes I find it helpful when the current is working against me to twitch my rod tip rhythmically to keep the couple of feet that touch the water from finding the boat and getting stuck under it.

Holding the fly and line for a clean launch

There are different ways to approach this but here’s what I think is best. I hold the fly by the bend of the hook, between the thumb and index finger of my right hand. I keep the line that runs from the deck to the guides (the head of my line) under the fingers of my right hand as well. I also hold the line in my left hand with about 3 feet of line between my hands. Here’s what happens when I make a cast.

The first movement of my rod is away from the fish. This is natural if you are fishing with a guide and pointing your rod to find fish. The move away from the fish uses the leash to load the rod like a backcast. Once the leash is in motion I release the fly and the momentum of the line carries it away from me. Because the tip of the hook is past my hand and clothing when held by the bend and the line is held under my fingers, there is nothing to catch the fly. A clean launch is crucial for a quick shot.

At this point I release the line held behind the fingers of my right hand and complete my backcast (if I’m making a forward presentation that is; if I’m making a backhand presentation this would resemble a forward cast, away from the fish behind me). Now I’m ready to shoot line on my first cast or drop the fly for a short shot. Because I have the line in my left hand the line stays tight from the very start and the rod loads immediately. The fly never touches the water so there is no chance of picking up trash or grabbing my shooting line. This method is fast, clean and efficient.

Managing your shooting line

When I’m on the bow I strip off all but about 10 or 15 feet of my fly line in most conditions. If you are not comfortable casting that much line then there is no need to have off more than you can cast. It’s important that you be able to make any shot that comes up without taking the time to strip off more line. Some guys will tell you that when visibility is poor you only need to keep out enough line to cast as far as you can see. Not true, your guide can see farther than you can from the platform. If he tells you to cast 80 feet then you need 80 feet of line, even if you can only see for 30 feet.

I’ve also heard that on a windy day you only need as much line as you can cast into the wind. I guess those guys never get a downwind shot. I don’t know about you but I cast like Superman downwind. I want enough line to make that shot.

Of course, having that much line on the deck causes problems. It’s a bit of a chore to keep up with but that’s part of the gig. Start by making a clearing cast. Cast out all of your line and strip it back in. That way the line stacked on top will be the first line to go through the guides. If you stack your line as it comes off the reel the head of your line will be on the bottom. That’s asking for trouble.

As you strip your line in, lay it out neatly in big loops and be sure that there is nothing in the boat for it to hang on. If it’s windy, lay out all of your line inside the cockpit to keep it from blowing into the water. If it’s fairly calm, lay out half the line in the cockpit and the head of the line on the bow. Using the extra space allows you to spread your line out farther and there will be less chance of it tangling while you’re making a cast. If you’re fishing with a buddy, you can help each other with line maintenance.

It’s also a good idea when fishing from a flats boat to always fish barefoot. That way if you are standing on the line you will feel it. It is worth mentioning however, that if you feel the line getting under your feet, NEVER try to kick it off the deck. If you do it will roll under your feet and tangle instantly. What’s worse, it will continue to tangle until you strip it all off of the reel and drag it behind the boat. Kicking line is a bad idea. I’ve seen it happen to a lot of guys.

Hopefully these tips on the ready position will help put you on a few more fish. It’s complicated stuff to write about so watch the video to help you get your head around it.

Louis Cahill

Gink & Gasoline

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Haunted Dreams

Posted on May 12, 2025 / by Louis Cahill

By Justin Pickett

She was surely the largest bass I would have caught on a fly, I thought to myself as I studied her every move.

Taking notes of her general attitude and behavior towards the other fish around her. I stumbled upon her while walking the banks of a public pond near my house and quickly retreated up the nearby knoll. I frequent here often, and this place is known for producing some hefty Largemouth Bass. Spring is in full effect and the spawn is in full swing. Buck bass hover over the beds dotted along the shallows, and, with the angling pressure seen here, the females hold well off the bed and out of sight for the most part. For this reason, I’m surprised to find this big gal so close to the bank, sitting in barely enough water to cover her folded dorsal. Her bed is tucked in a corner surround by lilies and submerged timber. It’s where you would expect to see a bed. Her male companion is constantly chasing off bluegills and anything else that might come within a couple feet of him and his unhatched brood. Meanwhile, big girl sits calmly, about six feet away, tucked underneath some of the lilies, but in plain view of anyone with a sharp eye and some polarized shades.

Leaning against a big pine, I contemplate my approach as I watch her glide back and forth, unbothered by the happenings around her. It’s an ideal situation. She’s not overly stimulated and the overcast conditions provide me with a little more cover while also voiding any chances of casting shadows. The surrounding lily pads also give a great angle of approach, allowing me to creep in behind her to decrease my chances of being seen even more. The next task is picking out the fly to tie on. I’m likely to only get one shot at this fish. One shot. One fly. So what’s it going to be?

I wanted a pattern that was going to aggravate her and provoke a strike, but without being so irritating that she would flee the scene. What I decided on was a Jiggy Craw, tied by Pat Cohen. I went with the orange/brown color scheme to ensure that it was easily seen in the stained water. I also knew this fly would have good movement in the water even when lightly twitched. After checking my leader, I tie on this “chosen one” and double check my knot.

Now the moment of truth. Time to make my move and present my fly.

Just off the bank, there was a small opening in the lilies between her and the bed that I could pitch my fly into. This window was about a yardstick across, which I hoped would be enough room for everything to play out. While a little different from the normal tactic of tossing a fly on the bed, I had confidence that if I presented her with something “threatening”, then she would likely strike. This also took the male out of the equation, keeping him from snapping up my fly before his mate could.

After quietly creeping into position, I knelt down to one knee and made my play. My fly slipped quietly into the water and landed along the bottom just a couple feet from where she was lying. I noticed big mama immediately turn her body in the direction of my fly. I can see her tracking my fly as I slowly crawl it along the bottom, adding slight twitches here and there to ensure I get as much movement out of the materials as possible. As the fly gets closer to her, and me, she begins to position herself perpendicular to the fly’s path. As the fly approaches within what seems like inches of her, I can see her behavior change from cool and calm to agitated. I can tell that she’s about to strike. As I make my last strip and dance my fly along the mud, I realize that something has gone terribly wrong. My fly has now drifted underneath a set of lilies and I’m completely blind. I cringe. As a last ditch effort to find my fly, I stand up. I still can’t see my fly, but what I can see is this very large bass hovering below the edge of the lilies. Head down and ass up, right over the area that I believe to be the location of my fly. I couldn’t see all of her though. Just from her pectoral fins back to her tail was visible. Everything else was shrouded by broad, green pads.

In a split second, I made the decision to take my cues from the fish and didn’t make a move. As I stared intently into the water, I saw the fish make a sudden move forward and down. In my head, I thought surely this was her making her move and attacking my fly.

So I pulled the trigger! Wham!

I’m startled from sleep by the sound and the somewhat painful sensation of my right hand slamming into the head board of my bed.

The dogs are barking. The wife is awake. And I’m sitting up in bed laughing and cursing this damn fish.

So as it turned out, when I went for the hookset on that behemoth of a bass, I swung and I missed… Big time. I was never sure of what exactly happened because the last few seconds were completely obscured from view. Regardless, I was left fish-less. And big mama bolted for cover, never to be seen again.

We talk about missed fish, and the “one that got away” all the time with our buddies, but this was the first fish that had made into my dreams and haunted me to the point of reenacting the scenario in my sleep. I guess I thought I could do better in my dreams? Obviously not! That was my second swing and miss on the same fish in the same day!

Justin Pickett

Gink & Gasoline

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G&G Beginner Series: Rods, Reels, and Ready-To-Fish Kits

Posted on May 11, 2025 / by Louis Cahill

Photo by Louis Cahill

By Justin Pickett

The first pieces of equipment we typically look for when getting into fly fishing are the rod and reel.

After all, without those two things, there isn’t a whole lot of fishing that’s gonna get done. So what do you buy? Why do you buy this vs. that? Where do you buy? Picking the right rod and reel setup can be a daunting task. There are numerous options, but we’ve got you covered with what we think are some of the best for beginners while also providing some leftover moolah for gas and flies.

Let’s start with where to buy. While I realize that it’s not always possible depending on where you live, I strongly suggest finding a reputable fly shop to help get you started. Let them know your budget and ask questions. Don’t just assume you know what they’re talking about, or that you’ll figure it out on your own. You have to have an open mind and be teachable. Doing this will help immensely with the learning curve. Don’t have a fly shop nearby? Use the internet to search for reviews on equipment, or ask other anglers in the parking lot. Orvis has a great program oriented to the new beginner. They offer tons of Fly Fishing 101 classes across the country and there’s a ton of info available on their website. And that’s just one resource! There are tons!

Alright let’s get to the meat and potatoes. The FLY ROD.

The fly rod is your magic wand. Without it, you would be an awful magician. There are tons of fly rods out on the market. Some big, some small. Some are affordable, while others might require a bit more explaining once the wife found that charge on the account. The most important thing about your first fly rod, and this is just my opinion, is that it needs to be affordable and appropriate for the fishing that you plan on doing. Forget the fancy talk about tapers and technique-specific rods. You just need a dependable rod that can multi-task and get you out on the water. The fancy stuff can wait, I promise. The next important thing is to match your new fly rod with the type of fishing you are doing. For beginners, I recommend the tried and true 9ft 5wt for freshwater fishermen, and for those with saltwater in their veins, a 9ft 8wt rod.

Below is a list of rods that are great in my opinion, regardless of the model, and I can honestly say that I’ve cast and fished with all of them in various lengths and weights. All of these rods are great and have been established in the fly fishing market for quite some time now, providing tons of reviews for you to peruse through to help with the decision.

Orvis Clearwater

Echo Base

Redington Classic Trout

Allen Compass

Eagle Claw Featherweight

So you’ve picked out a rod and now you need to outfit it with a reel.

Here we go again… how do you choose? Well lucky for you, we live in a day and age where while not all reels are created equal, there aren’t too many out that that I would consider “duds”. Most components are going to be of good quality, but I would urge you to shy away from reels that are composed of plastics or “composite” materials. Their structural integrity can be much easier to become compromised than reels made of metals. The spool, especially, can become warped or fail under stress, leaving you with a whole lot of nothing to fight a fish. Stick to reels that are either cast aluminum, or are machined from bar stock. The quality will be much better, and they will last for years and years.

As far as the drag is concerned, I’m a big believer in having a good drag system and utilizing it on the water. Some folks will tell you that your rod is nothing more than a “glorified line holder”. Yeah, OK. Maybe if you’re bow-and-arrow casting at brook trout, but other than that I don’t believe that garbage. You’ll find reels with sealed drags and unsealed drags. Sealed drags are going to cost you more, but the tradeoff is less maintenance and they will be more saltwater friendly. You can certainly fish an unsealed drag system in saltwater, but you better wash it well with freshwater when the day is over. Corrosion is a drag system’s worst nightmare. I always suggest a reel with a sealed drag to those who primarily fish for saltwater species.

As far as size goes, just make sure that you have enough room for an appropriate amount of backing and your fly line. I suggest 100yds of 20lb backing for freshwater setups, and 200-250yds of 20-30lb backing for saltwater species. The large arbor reel has become the industry standard and aides in line pickup and your fly line will be a little more resistant to memory (coiling). The list of reels below is a solid group that will get you going out on the water. You just can’t go wrong with any of these, in my opinion.

Do you need options that are even more cost-effective?

Are you in the market for your kid’s first fly fishing outfit? Or maybe you’re the person that just loves the idea of one-stop shopping. I got you covered. There are options out there that allow you to literally walk into a store and walk out ready to fish. Or hell, even have it delivered to your home by Amazon Prime for crying out loud. Now, you won’t find a Thomas and Thomas paired with an Abel, but you will find good quality gear that is more than enough to keep you fishing. These kits even include backing, fly line, a leader and a handful of flies! One of my first fly rod setups was a Cabelas Canyon River setup that my parents bought out of one of their catalogues. Yeah, the actual catalogue where you mailed in the order form! I cut my teeth with that setup and took it everywhere I went. What’s even better is most kits have you covered whether you’re fishing for trout, bass, or saltwater. So if you’re looking for an all-in-one, ready-to-go solution to get you on the water and on the way to fly fishing nirvana, look no further than the list below.

Orvis Encounter

Scientific Anglers

Redington Path

ECHO Solo

Allen Prelude Combo

Give these rods, reels, and combos a look. Do your research. Head to your local fly shop to get some insight and cast a couple rods in your price range. Check out reviews online. Figure out what will work best for you, or take my word for it. The main objective is to get you on the water and on the road to catching that first fish on fly tackle. Once that happens, it’s all good from there! I can’t be held responsible for addiction that will ensue, however! Hopefully I’ve been able to take at least a little bit of the guessing out of the mix and given you a good starting point. Now get out there!

Justin Pickett

Gink & Gasoline

www.ginkandgasoline.com

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