ARTICLE 18

Fly Fishing is an ancient and popular water sports around the world. It involves the use of artificial flies – baits that are used to mimic insects and other small animals to attract many kind of fish including trout, salmon, pike, bass, pan fish, carp, redfish, snook, tarpon, bonefish and striped bass.

There are five different types of flies used in fly fishing. The dry fly is a bait that mimics small insects that float on water to lure certain kinds of fish. The wet fly is a bait that imitates insects under the surface of the water. The streamer is a fish lure that imitates injured fish that are attractive to the target fish catch. The terrestrial fly mimics insects like beetle, grasshoppers, crickets and ants or any ground insect that has fallen into the water. the nymph fly imitates insects in their larva for – a kind of bait that poses great challenge to fly fish enthusiasts because of the small size of the bait.

Dating to the second century through Roman Claudius Aelianus, fly fishing is now enjoyed in destinations like the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, New Zealand, Mongolia and Russia. Many tours and vacation packages offer fly fishing either as bundled package or as individual package. Fly fishing as a vacation sports has become a lucrative area in the tourism industry.

In fly fishing, lighter and longer rods longer that those used in cast and spin fishing. This is because the needs to cast his line to a farther target. Forward is cast is the most common type of cast. The angler whisks the fly into the air to his target. The other types of cast employed in fly fishing are the single and double haul cast, the tuck cast, the side cast and the curve cast.

The main gears for fly fishing are the reel and the rod. Popular brands of reel include Backwinder Trout Fly Reel, Dormisch-Absi R2 Fly Reel, Harris Solitude II, Hollander P-50, Islander LX 3.8, Lamson Litespeed. Popular brands of rod include Damon Raquette Fly Rod, Green River Enso Fly Rod, J.Roland 7'6" Fly Rod, Lamiglas Esprit, Loop Green Line Fly Rod, Sage TCR Fly Rod, and St. Croix Legend.

Just like in any other sports, many fly fishing enthusiasts have gain considerable fame in the field. Some of these people are Preston J. Jennings, a flying fish technician who was problem the first American fly fishing enthusiast and writer to tie artificial flies with the entomology of trout stream insects; Novella author Norman Maclean, who wrote "A River Runs Through" which was later made into a film; Gary Loomis, founder of G. Loomis Rods, one of the early pioneers of graphite rod technology; and Dan Bailey, a conservationist who is credited with saving the Yellowstone River and owner of Dan Bailey's Fly Shop.

There are many online forums where fly fishermen meet. They can share their new techniques and exchange experiences. Also, most online stores like amazon.com offer fly fishing gadgets and equipment at reasonable prices.