Good friends help friends get hooked on fly fishing
Good friends help friends get hooked on fly fishing
A lifetime of enjoyment awaits, all it takes is reaching out for a little guidance
Everyone’s entry into fly fishing is different, but it typically involves a connection with someone who’s been in the game for a while and some borrowed gear. That person might be an old friend or family member, but it can also be someone you’ve never met.
He hit the Illinois River in leaky duck hunting waders, in 40-degree water, with a borrowed flyrod and reel, and the new guy seemed to love every second of it.
“Oh, I’m hooked!” Preston Berg grinned and said of his new affliction.
An entry into flyfishing doesn’t have to be fancy or comfortable as long as the desire is there. Berg was off to one heckuva start, and I sure could relate.
I, too, started fly-fishing in my 20s, in freezing water, with borrowed gear and duck-hunting waders that leaked at the crotch. And I only fished once before I had to run to the nearest fly shop and buy a rod and reel.
My first rod-reel combo was a Fenwick Eagle, 9-foot, 5-weight, and I caught a thousand grayling and dozens of wild Alaska trout on that coach-whip-like rod and gutless reel. I also bought a lot of books. Berg has YouTube for the basics—and I recruited a better teacher than I to give him a learning boost atop what he had learned on his own.
Everyone’s entry into fly fishing is different, but it typically involves a connection with someone who’s been in the game for a while and some borrowed gear. That person might be an old friend or family member, but it can also be someone you’ve never met.
I can’t remember the name of the man who got me started. He was an enthusiastic leader of a new fly fishing club at Eielson Air Force Base and called the newspaper to ask if I’d write a column to help spread the word to airmen. You know, back when the Sunday sports section in the local newspaper was the best way to reach a lot of young airmen.
When I told him I was interested in learning but hadn’t picked up a rod yet, he immediately invited me out. Although I don’t remember that guy’s name, that first day any new fly-fisher hits the water, not just practicing to cast or trying it out on a lark but truly learning something you’ll enjoy for a lifetime, is hard to forget.
I connected with Berg because his father, Colin Berg, was quite likely one of the first people I met with the Information and Education Division of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation when I moved here 15 years ago. We’ve shared many interviews about hunter education, fishing education, and school archery and shotgun education programs over the years. For decades, his leadership has enhanced countless young people’s outdoor education and conservation awareness.
So when Colin mentioned that his now 20-year-old son Preston was interested in pursuing one of the few outdoor skills his father doesn’t know, naturally, I was happy to help. For his first outing, I connected Preston with Scott Hood, another guy I know who has enhanced countless young people’s outdoor education and conservation awareness for decades, but through fly fishing.
I don’t know everything, and I’m often not right, but I usually know the right people.
We met at Hood’s home in Broken Arrow at about 8 a.m., tossed our gear in the back of Hood’s car, and drove the 90 minutes to the Helen and Simp Watts Wildlife Management Area near Gore on the Illinois River—with one of our usual stops at the Muskogee Turnpike McDonald’s for a senior coffee.
It had been a while since we rolled that direction with someone who didn’t qualify for that senior discount—but Berg wisely passed on the coffee offer anyway. Like any duck hunter who’s spent a day in chest waders after starting with a Thermos of hot coffee, he knows the inconvenience that move can add to a day afield. If you know, you know—ya know.
Equipment was Berg’s top-of-mind when we first talked. If anything puzzles folks just getting into fly fishing, it has to be the essential equipment required. I always advise borrowing something and getting a feel for it. Then, keep it affordable, start with the basics, and build as you go.
You’ll have more than you can carry soon enough.
Berg hit the Illinois for coaching from Hood while wielding a sentimental favorite of mine. That circa 1995 graphite Sage SP 790 two-piece 9-foot rod with the matching click-and-pawl Sage 108M my family bought for me to catch chinook salmon in Alaska is one of my favorites— but it is a bit heavy and slow by today’s standards. And it’s a bit noisy.
The setup was fine for a beginner to cast a weighty streamer in a 20-mph wind. The aging line was freshly cleaned, with the front 20 feet treated with floatant, but admittedly, that line has seen better days, and too many of those days involved the sandy Arkansas River and muddy ponds.
Berg had no issues with that rig, however. He had some previous practice, and the guy is a natural anyway. Hood gave him some solid basics for a start, but he was on his own in 15 or 20 minutes and hooked a first Illinois River trout within the first half hour.
After a couple of hours, when he was clearly in the casting-and-catching groove, I swapped rods and gave him my much-newer 9-foot, 5-weight Orvis Clearwater with the Redington Reel. He immediately appreciated that lighter weight and quicker action.
“Whoa, this is so different,” he said. He also really liked the reel, which was “so smooth.”
Compared to that old click-and-pawl Sage? Yeah, welcome to the 21st Century.
Just a few minutes later, I was landing a decent little trout on my old trusty rig when I heard a “whoa!” from Berg, and Hood said, “Oh yeah! That looks like a good one!”
Berg didn’t have a net, and this fish wouldn’t be the kind to quickly come to hand without breaking off or throwing a hook. And, of course, this had to be a fish documented with photos and video!
With my fishing net, trout, and rod in one hand and iPhone in the other—and several yards of fly line floating atop the water—I started wading downstream toward the action while Hood pulled in his line and walked up from downstream to assist in the catch with his net.
I jokingly asked Berg if he thought fly fishing was gross.
I didn’t know then, but I saw later just how much water filled Berg’s waders. He was not nearly as comfortable as Hood and I, but you wouldn’t have known it.
“Wow,” he said, admiring the girthy trout. “It’s awful.”
“Kinda sucks, doesn’t it?” Hood chuckled.
“You know a lot of guys fish this river a long time before they catch one that big,” Hood reminded me after that catch.
“Yes!” I replied. “Me included.”
It was great to see Berg off to a great start.
Since then, Berg has texted several photos of his catches. He’s been out a lot more than I have, that’s for sure. He’s been on the Arkansas River and local ponds and caught loads of sunfish, largemouth bass, sand bass, and even a long-nosed gar! And he’s stocking up on gear as he goes. He even got some new waders!
When someone calls and wants to start fly fishing, they want to know about gear, what flyrod to get, what flies they need, what lines and leaders to stock up on, and what boots are best.
Fly fishing can feel overwhelming because starting out involves more than just picking up the latest popular bait or switching to a different type of line. It’s like starting over again from scratch. It is a completely different style of fishing, but with a little patience and time, everyone finds their way to the fish species they most enjoy and the gear they favor.
Rainbow trout are a great starter species because they tend to live in relatively clear water. Every fly-fishing technique might work well at any given time for trout, be it surface flies, subsurface techniques, or streamers. They allow a new angler to try several methods and get a feel for things, and in a stocked stream like the Lower Illinois, anglers will (more often than not) find willing biters that are reasonably manageable once hooked.
But my best advice? Get in touch with a friend.
Crazy as it sounds for a beginner, one great way to dive in is during the local Trout Unlimted Dave Whitlock Chapter #420 annual 15X15 tournament. It’s open for sign-ups now and runs Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. It’s a fund-raising event that has entrants work to catch 15 different species of fish through the summer, all in Oklahoma waters and all fly fishing.
To a beginner, that might sound daunting, but I can always brag that I once sponsored a women’s team with only one experienced fly-fisher in the group of four, and they not only completed the challenge but also won the team event.
Berg signed up. I always do, too.
All you need to do is jump online at TU420.com. Join the Dave Whitlock Chapter, jump on their Facebook page, get in the conversation, and get on the water.
For those who think they might not be as fortunate as Berg to have an old friend to show them the ropes, think again. Join the club, and soon enough, you’ll have plenty of friends—and fish on the line.