Got waders now what?

So I had waders, and was committed. I had a good friend and fellow teacher named Steve Anderson who fly fished and we had talked about his helping me get started, so I told him about the waders. The next step was a trip with Steve to Sportsman's Warehouse in SLC to get "geared up". I can remember looking at the array of fly rods, and being amazed at how expensive some of them were. Steve picked out an 8ft 6" St. Croix Pro-Graphite 5 wt. rod that cost $75.00, a pair of wading boots, a cheap vest, and a $50 dollar reel. We bought a five weight line, a leader, and some tippet, a clipper and some splitshot. I was ready to fish!! (Steve is above right, releasing a fish)

Well, almost ready. I didn't know how to cast, and I didn't have any flies. "Don't worry about the flies" Steve said, "I will provide you with what you need."

"Gee, Steve, do you ever think I could learn to tie flies", I asked with some wonder in my voice.

"Sure", he said. "But I only tie simple and ugly flies that catch fish". Ah, I was in the glow of fly fishing fantasy. Me, catching fish!! Me, tying flies! Well my fantasy was cooled a bit, when Steve tried to show me how to cast.

Steve started with a Roll Cast. Why do teachers do that? They act as if a roll cast is easy! The fact is, it is a difficult cast, and darn near impossible without water to provide tension on the line. I still don't have a very good roll cast!

Well, that was a disaster. So next we started with a simple cast, with just a little line out. Steve had me watch the line so I could tell when the line had stretched out behind me before starting the forward cast. Like every other beginner, I was trying to cast a fly rod like a spinning rod, with large tip swings and large loops. Steve showed me "11:00 - 2:00" to help me keep my loops smaller. It worked, I was able to make a fairly successful cast as long as I watched the line.

I was just about ready to think I was on my way to be a fly fisherman when Steve said "Now you need to learn how to feed line out by making false casts" (to be continued)