New to Fly Fishing - Need Help

[Chuck]

With Spring just around the corner I am wanting to try the Fly Rod out on Bream. I am lucky to live close to the lower Flint River in South Georgia. I am a Kayak fisherman and have been using crickets and jigs with an ultralight setup. Could someone please advise me on what flies or popping bugs would be good to try and where to purchase them.

Thanks,

Chuck

[Ray Ditzenberger]

Hey Chuck....welcome to the FFF ( fly fishing faternity ). I have filled my fly boxes with many, many flies over the years. Most of which I have tied myself. Other than on the net the only place I know to buy flies is Bass Pro and any local fly shops thay you may have locally. There are many places on the net to spend your money. I personally like little yellow floating spiders on #10 hooks and a little 1/4" dia. popper that I make out of craft foam. Wet Hackles work well for a sinker and small bead head  wooly buggers. Very similar to a small jig and can be fished in many ways. Another very good sinker is a Blind Squirrel and they too are available on the net but be careful with them. They will catch everything in the river as will the wooly bugger. I like yellow on all surface baits for good visablility. Wooly buggers in olive, rust, and white will cover bait fish, leaches, crawdads, and a lot of nymphs. I have never seen 1/4" poppers anywhere for sale but they are killers. There is a lot of info out there so do some google searches. have fun.......I have had days where I had a hit on almost every cast. Then there are those days that you really have to work to catch 3 or 4.

[Steve Totten]

If you want to buy flies one site I would recommend is big y fly company, just do a google search for them.  The flies Ray mentioned is a good start.

[carl hendrix]

hey chuck ; lots of people here will help you!  tooty is a good one to staart with!!

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

WELL CHUCK if you are of the kind of folks who don't like buying what they can make there are alot of folk on here that can help with patterns etc. LLLLLLLLLLLlot simpler just to buy em though.......

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

HEY CHUCK , there is lots of talent on here better than me , REX ROBINSON, CRAZY CARL HENDRIX, JEN NAY FLY JEDI MASTER, LEO NYUGEN, DICK TABBERT, MARK STINE !!!!!!!!!! BEST POPPERS I'VE EVER SEEN, GREG" HOPPER" , MARK" SLEEPY " SLEEPER, AND so many others too numerous to mention. All I believe will give you all the help you need if you start tying your self..........

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

HEY CHUCK , here are a few patterns that work for me . 

[Ray Ditzenberger]

Hey Chuck in my first reply I made a reference to a fly called 'wet hackle'. I am sort of a dunce  and it should have been 'soft hackle'. Soft hackle is a style of fly. Sorry for the confusion.

It would be to your advantage to join the fly rodders page. There is a lot of stuff there.

[Mark Stine]

I love making my own poppers these days, but if I had to pick the most productive popper off the store shelf it would be the "Betts-Trim Gim" I like the florida yellow, yellow, and white in that order.  This would be followed by a #8 glo-popper. As far as wet flies go the wooly bugger is very popular I like black or olive color.  Contact any nearby fly tying/fishing groups and they will usually share info. also local tackle shops and bait stores can be helpful with what is hot in your area. 

[Allen Morgan]

You can find Betts poppers at most Wally World stores.  They do work, but they have a drawback.  Any shellcrackers or BG x GS Hybrids will not only inhale the bug, but will move the bug back into their pharynx and use their "crusher" jaws and attempt to crush the bug.  They will sometimes succeed.  I've fished with several of those, only to discover that after about 4 fish, the bug has split, and looses its floatation.

If you start tying your own flies, here's a good starting point:  Foam grasshoppers, bead-chain olive Wooly Buggers, bead chain Cats Meow nymphs (on this website), and one of my favorites from last Fall, a Deer Hair Caddis (trout fly).  All of those flies are fairly easy to tie.  The Foam hoppers and the Deer Hair Caddis float, so you can see the strike.  Bead chain Wooly Buggers in Olive do a good job of mimicing dragonfly nymphs in the water, and believe me, EVERYTHING eats them!  I've caught Bluegill, Hybrid Sunnies, and LMB on that bug.

The foam hopper is especially easy to start with, and once you get the hang of it, possible to turn one out about every 5 minutes or so.  Also, being made from craft foam, they are fairly durable.

If you can't find a local source, be sure to talk to some of the tiers here.  I'm sure some of us can help you out.

[Chuck]

Thanks for the quick and informative replies. I took Steve's advice and ordered a few flies from big y fly. Ray I figured out the wet hackle and soft hackle by accident and got a couple of those. I'll pick up a few of the poppers from Wally World and see how they work. I failed to mention that we also have Shoal Bass in our river but I mostly fish
for Bream.
Thanks Again

[Allen Morgan]

Don't be surprised if one of those Shoal Bass inhale a popper.  My first LMB hit one of those Betts poppers, and was my 4th or 5th fish on the fly since I started.

[Allen Morgan]

Well, I went to Academy Sports today to replace the drift sock for my kayak.  While I was there, I did some looking around.  They added a small selection of wet and dry fly packages.  They even have a "starter" fly tying kit, although they didn't have other fly tying materials.