Andy Kim's Fly Fishing Seminar

The distance from strike indicator to the weight is 1 1/2 times of the depth to the target fish

# 1 rigging

#2 rigging

#3 rigging

Anatomy of the river

 

Riffle: head part of the stream that is rippled and shallow.

Many people fish this type of water because trout tend to take flies aggressively.

Trout feed off riffles when there's no hatch.

Good for larva to pupa patterns here.

Run: below the riffle where the stream opens up wider and has similar current flow.

Good for pupa to emerger patterns here.

Pool: middle to end of the run where the current is slower and deeper before another riffle starts.

Good place for dry fly patterns here.

 

Collecting the aquatic insects

Carry a gold fish net or an old stocking to put over the net to collect the insects.

Also carry a small clear bottle or two to keep the collected insects for your data.

Make sure position upstream from the area you want to collect samples.

 

Basic anatomy of insects

Three body sections: head, thorax and abdomen

Six legs

Two or four wings

 

Taxonomic ranking or categories

Phylum> Class> Order> Suborder> Family> Subfamily> Genus> Species

 

Metamorphosis: different forms of insect's life stages

Complete metamorphosis: egg> larva> pupa> adult

Example: midges, caddis, beetles

Incomplete metamorphosis: egg> larva> adult

Example: mayflies, stoneflies, dragonflies, damselflies

 

San Juan river aquatic insects:

Mayflies (Ephemeroptera): mostly Baetis Tricaudatus-BWO, Ephemerella Inermis-PMD

Midges (Diptera): mostly Chironomidae-midges, Simuliidae-black flies, Culicidae-mosquitoes, Tipulidae-crane flies

Caddis (Trichoptera): mostly Brachycentrus Americanus-cased caddis

Scuds (Amphipoda): mostly Hyalella Azteca-freshwater shrimp

Worms (Annelida): mostly Tubificidae, Naididae, Lumbiculidae

Stoneflies (Plecoptera): mostly Isoperla Mormona-yellow stoneflies

Beetles (Coleoptera)

Snails (Gastropoda)

Dragonflies (Odonata): mostly Anisoptera, Zygoptera- damselflies

Water mites (Hydracarina)

 

Mayflies

Order Ephemeroptera (e-hpm-er-OP-ter-a): ephemera means short lived, ptera means wings

Many mayfly species are highly sensitive to pollution thus they are useful in biomonitoring analyses.

Four types of nymph: burrower, clinger, crawler, and swimmer

Majority of mayfly larvae have three tails, one set of wing pads and six legs.

Nymphs go thru several molts as they grow.

The adults of all burrowers, clingers and swimmers have only two tails

Have two adult stages: both are winged and do not feed.

Sub imago: dun (after few minutes to few hours the dun will molts the skin) is a stage of sexual maturation in which the wings are but grayish.

Imago: after the stage of dun molts out and have longer legs and clear wings.

Fly patterns to match:

Nymph- Yong Wing, pheasant tail, gold ribbed hare's ear, RS2, WD 40, etc.

Adult- Yong Dry (baetis), PMD, BWO, Adams, etc.

 

Midges

Order Diptera (DIP-ter-a): di means two, ptera means wings

Adult diptera only have one pair wing.

Most of the adult looks like a mosquito.

All season flies for lakes and streams.

Chiromidae are the most known midges to the fishermen.

Some larvae are red colored (blood worm) due to the presence of hemoglobin that stores oxygen which allows them to live in areas that have limited oxygen conditions (high organic polluted areas including lake bottom).

Fly pattern to match:

Larva- Yong Blood, Yong Blondie, Yong Special, annelid, brassie, etc.

Pupa- Yong Special, Yong Flasher, Chocolate emerger, etc.

Adult- Yong Dry (midge), Griffith's Gnat, midge cluster, black fly, etc.

 

Caddis

Order Trichoptera (Tr-kop-ter-a): tricho means hair, ptera means wing

Adult looks like a moth.

Larva built case with small gravels, sand, sticks and leaves.

Usually they don't like cold water (above 45F in my opinion).

Fly patterns to match:

Larva-Yong Special, rock worm, cased caddis, etc.

Pupa-Yong Special,

Adult- elk hair caddis

 

Scuds

Order Amphipoda

Nickname as fresh water shrimp and they do swim.

Most of them like to hang around aquatic vegetations.

Fly patterns to match:

Adult-Yong JR, Yong OJ and any scud patterns.

 

Terrestrials

Includes dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, cicadas, bees, etc.

You can use these patterns during summer to fall.

Fly patterns to match:

Yong JF, Y-Ugly, humpy, hopper, damsel, cricket, etc.

 

Importance of matching the hatch: in my opinion 20% of trout are opportunistic, 40% of them are very selective and the rest of the 40% can eat anything in any condition or can get very selective.

Thus if you match the flies what they are feeding at the time then you can catch 100% of the feeders!

 

 

What's in my vest?

Sunblock (30 SPF plus)

Polarized sunglasses (wear amber color on cloudy days and gray color for sunny days)

Tippets from 3x to 7x

Spare tapered leader

Assorted split shots

Floatant (filled with Albolene)

Yarns (polypropylene) and stick-on indicator

Nipper

Magnet

Hemostat

Fly boxes

Landing net

Gold fish net to collect samples and a small bottle

Raincoat

Camera and extra roll of film

 

 

Casting

 

Overhead cast: 10 AM to 2 PM arc is most common technique.

Do not bend your wrist on the back cast for more power.

If you have flexible rod then stop at 1 PM on back cast.

 

Roll cast: 9 AM to 2 PM arc is most common techniques.

Very good for when you have obstructions behind you.

 

Side arm cast: same as overhead cast except the rod is moving almost horizontal with surface to avoid the wind.

Recommend for the windy day condition or to fish undercut banks.

 

Puddle cast: same as overhead casting except during the forward cast just wiggle the rod tip before the line lands on the water.

Recommend for dry fly fishing.

 

Andy Kim's Pull Cast: same as overhead cast except pull the rod tip in about a foot and drop.

Recommend for emerger or dry fly fishing.

 

Andy Kim's Power Cast: It's somewhat in between roll and overhead cast.

I use this techniques just about any condition.

On forward cast make quick stop at 10 AM position and try to land the fly on the water first.

 

Knots

 

Nail knot: use for fly line to the leader.

Nail-les knot: use for fly line to the leader without the nail.

Improved clinch knot: use for tying flies on the leader.

Double surgeon's knot: use for tying two lines together.

Perfection loop: tied on the butt section of the leader to make a loop-to-loop connection on a fly line with a loop.

Blood knot: use for tying two lines together.

AK's knot: use for tying two lines together.

 

Andy Kim's leader setup for few inches to 6 feet deep-water condition

 

Butt section: 20 to 30 lbs monofilament for 2/5 of rod length.

Middle section: 5 to 10 lbs monofilament for 2/5 of the rod length.

Tippet section: 1 to 5 lbs monofilament for 1/5 of the rod length.