Fly-Fishing 101 was the required textbook side of Flint Creek Outfitter's fly-fishing education program.  Five of the NCLA members got together as a unit and attended that class a couple of weeks ago in preparation for a genuine hands-on fly-fishing field trip, otherwise called Fly-Fishing 201.  Four of the original group of five came back two weeks later to get that practical experience on the water.  It's not often that they have an experienced, well-qualified instructor be at their beck-&-call for hours on end.  This was their chance to improve their fly-fishing catch and release technique.

Still wiping the sleep from their eyes as they finished downing their portable thermos of unfinished coffee from home, the gals all met up at the Flint Creek Outfitters store in Ocala, Florida at the dreaded early morning hour of7:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 27th.  Two of the girls had the additional challenge of driving all the way from Crystal River. The store wasn't even open yet and here were four ladies amid an equal number of guys milling outside the store before it even opened waiting for their fearless leader, David Hulsey, to escort them over to some place he called Summerfield Farms in Morriston, Florida where the farm owners, Francis & Barbara Vanlangendonck, had graciously allowed them to use their stocked (bass, blue-gill and perch) pond for fly-fishing practice.  The women all climbed into one vehicle and followed behind David's truck as he led them on the 20 mile ride, discussing their hopes and expectations for the morning..

They pulled off to the side of the road just as David had and it was clear that they had reached their destination.  They got out of the truck and gathered around him as he dropped his tail-gate and began to pull fly rods out of the back of his truck.  To their surprise, another lady had joined the group.  Connie, they learned, had gone to an earlier Fly-Fishing 101 class at Flint Creek Outfitters sometime back in June and due to schedule conflicts hadn't had the chance to do Fly-Fishing 201 until now....so....here she was.  The women outnumbered the men 2 to 1.  What were the odds of that?

David handed each of the girls a 9 weight fly rod and then on the tailgate, he opened up a small green case with about 40 different hand made flies for them to chose from.  Some resembled bumble bees, some looked like crickets, and then others looked like house flies.  One even looked like a little spider - crafty !  

The fly rods had already been spooled with line so all the girls had to do was select a bright, shiny, eye-catching, (and hopefully fish catching) fly lure among the spread David had laid out and tie it to the tippet line.  Everyone carefully examined the selection and made their choice but seemed to hesitate a bit when it came to actually tying it on.  David, sensing their reluctance to tie their flies on, offered to demonstrate how to tie on the fly using an improved clinch knot.  He began his demonstration on Kathy's rod.  Then Virginia wanted him to repeat that demo on her rod as well.  Before he knew it, they all moved a little closer to him with line in one hand and fly in the other and he had tied a fly for each of them.  It just seemed logical to let the professional tie the flies on.  He was much faster at tying a secure knot and why invite potential frustration due to inexperience when you didn't have to?  After a few friendly reminders from David, the ladies were instructed to spread out around the pond and pick a spot to begin.

Kathy, here, along with every other women in the group spent much of the morning perfecting her knot un-tying skills which was often and seemed to come a little bit more natural to the female species due to many a long hour untying jewelry knots.  That being said - it seemed like every other cast ended up in a minor bird's nest until they developed the rhythm of the 10:00 / 2:00 position cast. 

The sun was shining bright, there wasn't a breeze to be felt, and the pond was as flat as a sheet of glass.  After about an hour of working past the bad casting techniques, the ladies began to play a waiting game with those pond fish who somehow had a keen sense of awareness that it was Saturday, yet again - another new set of 'wanna-be' fly-fishers here to fool them into thinking they knew what they were doing.  Those fish literally 'weren't biting'.  Virginia chanted "Patience is a virtue...patience is a virtue...patience is a .......", etc.   99% of the morning was spent like this.

But, of course, leave it to Alice to be the one to break the silence.  There she was, just minding her own business, stripping her line in every few seconds, when all of a sudden her fly went under water.  "I got something", she shouted.  All eyes turned in her direction with a faint tint of jealousy mixed with admiration.  She landed this nice bluegill which ended up being the biggest fish caught out of the pond that day.  The girls were really excited for her and it made the trip worthwhile.

By 10:30 a.m., David had reluctantly informed the group that their allotted time at the pond was at an end.  No one really wanted to leave, but at the same time, everyone knew that the heat from the sun had forced the fish into the center and deepest depth of the pond.  The flies they had tied on just weren't going to be enough to lure them to the surface during that time of the day.  The ladies loaded up and followed David back to Flint Creek Outfitters slightly disappointed that they hadn't caught more fish, but thankful to be given the time and space to practice their fly casting skills among friends who were all in the learning stages of this sport. 

By the time everyone arrived back in Ocala, it was close to noon.  The girls shopped around the store for about 15 minutes or so.  While the rest of the group struck up a conversation with Connie, the lone female in a previous class of guys, Kathy put in her order for a simple 'starter' fly-fish combo that David was going to set up for her and Virginia picked up a few items to get her back in the craft of tying flies.  It took David about a half an hour to rig Kathy's gear so the five women decided to have lunch together at a nearby restaurant to get to know Connie a little bit better and give her some insight into what the Nature Coast Lady Anglers was all about.  There weren't many fish caught on a fly this day, but everyone gained a new friend - that made for a great day after all.

Several months ago, Kathy, one of the NCLA members,  brought in a flyer with information on some fly-fishing classes being held at a local retailer in Ocala, Florida called Flint Creek Outfitters and expressed an interest in attending them.  She wondered if anyone else would be interested in doing them too. Turned out she was right.  That's when Trent Comer, from the Flint Creek Outfitters store, was invited to come and speak to the group to explain what fly-fishing was really all about.  He attended the May 7th meeting and gave a nice presentation about some of the common misconceptions many people have about the difficulty of fly-fishing.  Five of those ladies got together and set aside the afternoon of Saturday, July 13th and drove to the Ocala retailer to learn more about the sport of fly-fishing.  Trent began with these words:

Trent had mentioned at the May meeting of the NCLA that a new fly-fishing instructor was coming on board the Flint Creek Outfitters organization and here he was in the flesh...David Hulsey.

David has seriously fly fished for over 40 years.   He has pursued both fresh and saltwater species with a fly all over North America and has been a full time fly fishing guide and instructor for 20 years.  He has guided in Georgia, North Carolina, and Wyoming.  He is a year 2000 graduate of the Joan Wulff Fly Casting Instructors School, an International Federation of Fly Fishers Master Certified Fly Casting
Instructor and currently the Fly Fishing Manager and Fly Tying Instructor at Flint Creek Outfitters in Ocala Florida, also a published outdoor writer and photographer.  Clearly, the ladies were in good hands!

Sitting on the table in front of each stool was a 34 page fly-fishing manual that was used during class.  All of the most important topics were covered in class by both Trent Comer and David Hulsey with the exception of a minor few. Trent gave the group firm instruction to guard the content of this booklet - in other words, don't go making copies of it and passing them around - as it holds some very valuable information that those who were in class paid for.

One of the very first things the group learned was that each Orvis manufactured fly rod was imprinted with the rod substance, length, weight, and recommended line weight for any specific species of fish being targeted.  That made selecting a rod for beginners, like our girls, as simple as possible.  Simple is Good!

Trent, with his well-timed jokes and great sense of humor, began by explaining the difference between the most popular Orvis graphite rods and other specialty rods like split bamboo and spey rods.  He made them laugh when he referred to anyone who asked for specifics on a topic as the "high achiever" in the class.  They all ended up in the "high achiever" club by the time class was over.   He answered questions like which fly rods were best for fresh and salt water, how to determine the strength of the rods when choosing one, and he enlightened them on the different hardware on the rods like stainless steel or anodized aluminum.  He told them about flexible titanium rod guides and the resin used as a coating to protect it.  Trent educated the ladies on the many rod length and weight options available to them  and what the average rod length was for both fresh and saltwater fishing along with the line weight, again, depending on the targeted species.  Everything, it seemed, depended on the targeted species!

There was no time for bathroom breaks - before they knew it, the discussion from fly rod rolled right on over into reels without Trent skipping a beat.  Reels, they learned, were just glorified line holders whether they were made of aircraft aluminum or plastic.  He covered  topics about the drag systems with adjustments inside the reel and those located on the outside.  The girls learned new terms line "click & pull drag", "reel arbors", "stripping", and "palm the reel".  Trent informed the group on the importance of arbor size and how it directly affects the angler's ability to retrieve a small fish or a large fish that will run with the line.  Although many women will argue the eternal question about "size matters", in this case it truly does.  He also answered one of the "high achiever's" question about which is the most important to sink money into - rod or reel.  Trent's answer?  Naturally it will "depend on the targeted species."  How did they not see that coming? 

Good Lord - now things were about to get complicated.  If they took a potty break now, they'd never be able to pick up where they left off.  The ladies had gotten quite comfortable at jabbing jokes of their own throughout Trent's presentation.  Trent had discussed most of the topics to this point.  Now it was time to let David Hulsey do what he does best..  The next topic on the agenda, which was fly line, would be taught by David.  They were drilled on back line, fly line, leader line, and tippet line and learned to differentiate between the four.  Backline came braided and gel-spun.  One allowed more line on the reel than the other.  Also, the reel had printed recommendations on how much back and fly line it could hold.   The majority of the line on the reel is, of course, fly line, which is weighted to allow for smooth casting, similar to the way a weighted jig-head allowed with a saltwater spinning combo.  It was also revealed that fly line, if not handled carefully, had the tendency to cut into the skin so precautions should be taken for the newbies..

As if their brains weren't overloaded at it was - Dave continued on with more information on fly line.  The group was schooled on the difference between straight and weight-forward fly line, and why one was more popular than the other.  Dave taught them about the different line colors available, why they are produced in different colors and how to chose the right color - say it with me now..."depending on the targeted species."  He explained that fly line comes in floating, intermediate, and sinking varieties and that 90% of sales are for floating line.  Finally, regarding fly line, he pointed out and explained the four sections of the fly line: front taper, belly, rear taper and running line.

So... two basic fly lines had been covered in detail: backing and fly line.  Still to come were two other lines necessary for successful fly fishing: leader and tippet line.  Leader line for fly rods came in the same options as leader line for spinning rods, that being monofilament and fluorocarbon.  Which to use was the question.  Monofilament is cheap...er...inexpensive, and it's hollow so it floats easily.  Fluorocarbon is more expensive (and we learned why) but it is clearer and a bit stronger so it sinks easier.  Other leader options were brought up for those fish who can easily cut right through regular mono or fluorocarbon leader.  The challenge is to select leader line that can go unnoticed to a fish's eye but strong enough to handle a large fish when it tackles the fly.  Experience will perfect this ability.  Lastly, Dave tackled tippet line and its role in the fly-line continuum.  The tippet line is just an extension of the  leader line and is used to supplement the leader line when it has been cut shorter than expected.

As the typical afternoon Florida thunderstorm dumped buckets of water outside the store, Dave distracted the ladies by redirecting their attention to the topic fo tying knots.  He took them from tying an arbor knot to the reel, all the way to tying an Orvis knot to a fly lure.  It went something like this: 

1. arbor knot - reel to backline
2. perfection loop / nail knot - backline to fly line
3. loop to loop connection - fly line to leader line
4. barrel knot / triple surgeon's knot - leader to tippet
5. Orvis knot / davy knot / improved clinch knot - tippet to fly

http://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/fly-fishing-knots/orvis-knot-video

In this world of mass production, it came as a pleasant surprise to learn that 100% of the flies being sold and used today are ALL carefully crafted by hand.  Now...that takes time, creativity, skill, a desire for perfection, and patience.  All of the women were quite impressed with the variety of flies that Trent had pinned to his little display board.  It was amazing to see how realistic those lures really looked.  They couldn't help but to touch & feel some of them.  As they were being passed around for show-&-tell, Trent mentioned that the Clouser Minnow & Wooly Booger flies are the most popular of all and that Flint Creek Outfitters actually offers fly-tying classes every Monday evening from 5-7 p.m.  That actually sounded like fun.  Call the store for more details at 237-5325.

As it continued to rain outside, Dave escorted the ladies off of their stools and over to a long hallway in the store that would allow him to demonstrate some basic casting techniques.  He made it much easier to understand how so much loose fly line could be easily controlled with the right arm movements.  He went through several different basic techniques and repeated them over and over again so that the all of the ladies could get a good idea of the steps needed for a successful cast.  As his presentation came to an end, so did most of the heavy down pour.  It had eased up to a tolerable drizzle at that point and the girls were anxious to get outside and try their hand at fly casting themselves.

The rain had let up a little while the casting demo was going on inside and when that was over, it was time to let the group get a genuine feel for casting a fly rod.  Dave and Trent escorted the girls outside, gave them each a fly rod with the reel already pre-loaded with fly line and leader.  They followed Trent's instructions on stripping some of the line off of the reel before threading it through the guides.  Once all of the rods had been properly threaded with line, Dave demonstrated the safest way to carry a fly rod while walking and watched as they all pointed their rod tips behind them and followed their leader to a large area of cut grass - perfect for casting practice.

The instructors, knowing well in advance that most of those women came from saltwater spinning combo backgrounds, immediately bound the ladies' forearms to their fly rod so they wouldn't be able to use any reflex wrist-action due to old spinning combo casting habits.  It was quite awkward but a necessary evil, they knew. 

The next half hour was spent on casting practice.  The girls spread themselves out and made sure they each had enough elbow room.  Dave and Trent gave them all the go-ahead to start their attempts at casting so that they could immediately identify any potential problems.  Most of the ladies started off having problems with the "10:00 & 2:00" rod-tip positions and waiting a second at the "10" position before making the forward motion to the "2" position.  Once they got the hang of that, then their fly line was spooling off the reel like magic.  They were surprised at how smooth the cast was and how far out in the distance the line ended up.  Wow...this hands-on experience was a real eye-opener.  It was easy to see, now, why so many people enjoy this style of fishing. 

It was getting late and the ladies had tried their best to absorb every piece of information that both Dave and Trent shared over the course of the last few hours.  From the chalkboard drawing, to the oral discussion to the visual examples and finally to the hands-on practice - it was a lot to take in.  Nevertheless, this is what they came and paid for.  Next on their agenda is to take this to the next level.  They plan to meet back at the store in two weeks and go fly-fishing together at a local lake to try their skill in real time.  We'll have to wait a little longer for that story.  Thanks to Trent Comer and Dave Hulsey for putting up with a bunch of giggly women for three + hours - you both deserve a medal. 

Tentative plans were made weeks ago to organize a group kayak fishing date for any of the NCLA members who had a little extra time on their hands and were interested in spending a relaxing day on the water fishing and socializing.  Socializing, after all, is just plain healthy for the female soul and nothing beats fresh fish on a dinner plate.  A total of five ladies responded to the invitation:  Alice, Delores, Liz, Martha Ann, and Virginia, and so plans were finalized.

Alice and Delores left Ocala at 7:00 a.m. and unexpectedly ran into Virginia, and her husband at Moore's Bait & Tackle on Ft. Island Trail.  That's where any member of the Nature Coast Lady Anglers club gets 50% off all live shrimp as long as they have their discount card (which, of course, they always carry with them).

By the time 8:00 came, Alice, Delores, and Virginia arrived at the Ft. Island boat ramp where Liz and Martha Ann (who both drove up from Homosassa) were already in the process of unloading their yaks and transporting them to the water.  The next half hour was spent chit-chatting and rigging kayaks for a day of fishing.  With the fact that it had rained for the past two weeks straight, and scallop season had just begun, it was anybody's guess what the boat ramp parking lot would look like upon arrival.  Lucky for those girls that they had picked a work day for most folks and the ramp traffic was lighter than expected.

Just one look at this picture and it was "clear" (pardon the pun) that the ladies had picked an absolutely splendid day to go kayak fishing together.  The breeze was mild, the no-see-ums were - well, nowhere in sight, thank goodness.  The water was as calm as it could be and the sky had just enough cloud cover to make it comfortable.  The weather gods were smiling down and saying "Go, Fish, Have Fun".  The morning just couldn't have started any better. 

Our girl, Alice, had unfortunately strained a muscle in her back a few days earlier so paddling a kayak all day as not in the cards for her.  Luckily, she had an alternative.  She opted to bring her little tricked-out  jet-ski that had been converted to a fishing vessel.  She motored out to deeper water before anyone thought to snap a picture of her.  When one of the ladies asked about Alice's location, another would point to a white speck in the distance and say, "I think that's her way over there.".  Compared to the rest of the group, Alice was deep sea fishing and reportedly bagged some Black Sea Bass, Gray Snapper, Jack Crevalle, and some keeper Spotted Sea Trout for some future meals.

Delores, along with the other three ladies, spent most of the day exploring and fishing the edges and cuts of some nearby oyster bars that were exposed as the tide receded.  They fished the outgoing tide until about 10:30 a.m. and then the incoming tide for the remainder of the day.  Delores caught a couple of Gray Snapper,  some small Spotted Sea Trout, a few lively Jack Crevalle, and a Stripped Burrfish. (below)

Liz, unfortunately, had run into a little misfortune the last two attempts at kayak fishing with the group, first not being about to hook into any fish during the inaugural excursion a couple of months earlier and then secondly, losing her kayak seat somewhere during transport to our most recent kayak fishing outing.  This was the first time she overcame both of those earlier obstacles and landed her first Spotted Sea Trout from her kayak using her cute little closed face spin-cast rod & reel.  By the day's end, she brought in a few Spotted Sea Trout and a Jack Crevalle.  All in all - an excellent day for her.

Martha Ann is one of the newest members of NCLA but quite an experienced angler in her own right with living marine side all of her life.  She even has her captain's license, so it was no surprise that she immediately zoned in on a few productive areas right from the get-go and spent most of the day bringing in catch after catch of feisty little rod bending Jack Crevalle.  They were schooling through the oyster bar cuts that each of the ladies had claimed a stake to.   

Virginia, on the other hand, seemed to be attracting the majority of the trout.  She spent much of her day out of her kayak and stretching her legs by walking and casting along the length of the oyster bars instead of just the cuts.  That paid off with quit a number of Gray Snapper and Spotted Sea Trout by day's end.

By 1:00 p.m. we were calling it a successful day and paddling back to the launch site for the ride back home.  It was the proverbial 'icing on the cake' when Martha Ann spotted a horseshoe crab gliding by our feet as if we weren't even there.  Heading over to the spot where a few left-over shrimp has been tossed for an easy meal, no doubt.  A quick picture was taken and then promptly forwarded to the local FWC horseshoe crab research site where they are diligently tracking sightings around the Florida coastline.