Most Common Fly Fishing Errors

During his long service in the capacity of fly-fishing guide John Berry had the unique opportunity to see a lot of fly-fishers. On the basis of his observations John emphasized the four most common fly fishing errors fly fishers make.

The most common errors are:

• Casting too much line - which results in casting beyond trout feeding zones, not being able to detect strikes or set the hook.
• Lack of Line Control - which results in too much slack or drag in the line. If there's too much slack in the line, you can't set the hook (and can therefore lose fish). And if there's too much drag in the line, your fly won't look natural, and fish will be turned off.
• Improper Rigging - which often in poor or unnatural fly presentation. One of the most common mistakes here is working with too short a leader/tippet.
• Not Checking Your Fly Often Enough - which can result in a couple of different problems. When you're new to fly casting, it's easy to lose your fly while casting. It's a good idea to check that this isn't happening to you. Another common problem is allowing weeds and other debris to stick to your fly (which makes it look unnatural).

Most of the errors described above are seen with new fly fishers. But many trout anglers tend to get a bit lazy about checking the fine details of their gear or technique and may also experience some of these problems as result.

Keeping these errors in the back of your mind while out fishing, will help prevent you from making the same ones.

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