Within this article, I discuss why beginner anglers make mistakes and how to avoid them.

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Self-taught fly anglers have something to be proud of: they’ve learned to catch trout by making mistakes and learning from them. Because learning to catch trout has made my life exponentially more peaceful, and because it’s hard, I’ll be the first to admit it—I’m one of those folks.

Through experience, I’ve summarized some of the most common mistakes beginners make, along with some remedy fly fishing tips to help people catch more fish.

List of Beginner Fly Fishing Mistakes:

1)      Too many damn false casts. Yeah, I said it again, and I’ll say it some more. Fly fishing is not about consistently swinging your flies through the air nine times before you place them in the “perfect spot.”

But you ask, “what about when you need to cast to a feeding zone 50 feet away?” Ok, on occasion, false casts can play a positive role in our ability to deliver a fly at a distance. But most of the time, repetitive false casts hurt us more than they help. Don’t let Brad Pitt tell you otherwise.

When I look back on my last season of guiding beginner and veteran fly anglers alike, an astonishingly large percentage of my clients required a correction to limit the quantity of false casts in their repertoire. Perhaps they’ve seen it in Hollywood or paged through an angling magazine, admiring the beauty of someone’s long casts and tight loops.

I get it. False casting is fun! It is beautiful, and the energy passing from our hands to the rod to the line to the fly feels good! Really good, actually.

But while casting a fly rod sometimes does require us to make a false cast or two (or mayyybe three), most often, it’s about keeping our flies in the water and presenting them to a trout in a natural manner.

Reasons we shouldn’t false cast too much:

- It increases the chances of snags or tangles.
- Trout don’t live in the air. They live in the water.
- False casts can spook a fish.
- It frustrates your guide (least important reason, but important nevertheless) 

2)      Spending too much money on gear up front. Does some specific (and sometimes more expensive) gear make you a better, more well-rounded angler? Yes, it does. Is buying a $1,000 rod (or $500 rod) as your first fly-angling tool an intelligent use of entry-level funds?

Nope.

Indisputably, like most sports, there is a minimum investment one should make to have reliable tools that last for years and get the job done.

My assessment is that this investment is around $1,200 for most western United States fly fishing applications. Read my article here for tested gear recommendations.

Spending much more than $1,200 is not advised for a beginner. Instead, if funds allow, I recommend you spend your cash hiring a guide once or twice a year to help work on good angling habits. Ask them tough questions, have them explain the “why,” and get your money’s worth out of your investment.

A proficient fly fishing guide will help you catch fish and show you a good time. An excellent guide will also provide you with the tools to be a successful angler on your own.

After you’ve learned the basics and genuinely love the sport, or even better, have become a complete addict, email me for suggestions on the perfect fly rod for you.

Guide Secret: I hire at least two guides annually for personal development and learning. Click here to learn more about which fly fishing guides I’ve booked for myself this spring in Arkansas and Texas.

Or if you’re looking to hire a Colorado fly fishing guide in an area other than Crested Butte, send me an email and I’d be happy to make some recommendations.

3)      Having a hesitated hook set. One of the main reasons I catch more fish than most beginners is that I set the hook frequently.

REMEMBER: Hook sets are free!

Sure, there aren’t fish on the end of my line on many hook sets, but if I didn’t set it, often I wouldn’t know. I see too many folks assuming the slight deviation in their indicator speed is not a fish. Most people would be surprised how often those tiny undulations are micro takes from a hungry trout!

For a beginner, deliberately and intentionally setting the hook downstream more often is advised and, statistically speaking, will put more trout in the net.

4)      Not fishing deep enough. Fishing deep is one of the most product fly fishing techniques for landing more trout.

Habitually, trout feed at or close to the bottom of the water column for much of the year and frequently during most days. I find this especially true on days when the dry fly action is hot, but you’re fishing just outside the prime time window of top-water feeding.

The bottom is where trout are most shielded from predators, where the current is often favorable for expending less energy, and where they can receive a consistent buffet of aquatic insects.

And yes, I get it – it’s also where we get caught up on rocks or sunken branches and lose our flies.

However, I’d rather see people fishing aggressively and intentionally to improve their chances of catching that trophy trout. Hesitantly fishing a body of water because we’re scared to lose our flies is a HUGE beginner fly angler’s mistake. Please don’t do it.

For tips on getting your flies deep enough, check out our article on using drop shot in your fly fishing rig.

5)      Changing flies too often. Look, it’s not always about what kind of fly the fish are feeding on. Sometimes it is, and I’ll admit that. But more often, it is about the presentation of a fly in a natural drift to a feeding trout.

I was one of those fly fishermen who, in the early stages, believed catching more trout (or any trout) primarily depended on my bug choice. My misunderstanding resulted in too much time fumbling with tying on new flies and less time perfecting a cast or a dead drift.

A good guide or mentor would have helped me understand this more quickly. Or maybe you’ll find faith in this article and take my advice to heart.

Food for thought: Have you ever heard someone tell you that marketing your business is about sending the right message to the right audience at the right time?

I’d like you to think of fly fishing in a similar light: We need to market a delicious-looking fly (the message) to a trout within reach of our cast (the audience) at a time when that trout is actively feeding (the time).

Luckily, most of the time, trout are generally open to receiving various types of messages so long as the messages don’t appear to be spam emails (flies that aren’t presented with a natural, dead drift).

I advise beginner fly anglers to first work on presenting their fly with the most natural drift, at the proper depth, to a zone likely to hold a feeding trout. And if that doesn’t work, I permit you to change something else in your tactical knowledge box, such as your angle, approach, location on the river, or flies.

Or you can crack a beer and enjoy the rest of the afternoon on your truck’s tailgate. I thoroughly support both choices.

Stay tuned to Jones Guides for Volumes 2 and 3, projected to be published in February 2023.

Thanks for reading.

Dan

About the author, Dan Jones:

Dan Jones is a premier Crested Butte angler and professional fly fishing guide. He is passionate about all things on the river, from whitewater paddling to multi-day expeditions to helping first-time anglers catch a rocky mountain trout.

When not guiding, Dan is writing or exploring the mountains of Crested Butte with his wife and three dogs.

Dan was born in Fort Collins, Colorado and has also lived in Wyoming and South Dakota. He is a fanatic about sharing a smile (or a beer) with friends in the mountains and gets pure joy from seeing others succeed. Click here to learn more about fly fishing with Dan this year.

What challenges do you have as a beginner angler? Email me at trout@jonesguides.com, and I’d be happy to consider writing an article about it!