I guess I pouted around the house enough, and my wife felt sorry enough for me, that she wound up helping me get a fly fishing rod/reel.

It took me about three seconds to realize I don't have a clue on how to put any of this stuff together. Well, I have a slight clue, since I've been fishing all these years, but I don't know the right way to do it for a fly fishing set up.

So I may need some help from one of you all soon, so I can get it all put together. I guess I can consider this an early birthday gift, since pretty much all I did was kind of help pick it out.

I was kind of surprised, because I didn't know she actually ordered it, we just talked about it.


Anyway... it came from basspro.com. It's one of the cheaper sets.

It's a Dogwood Canyon #6 Rod.
Dogwood Canyon 5/6 Reel.
Hobbs Creek Tapered Fly Line, 82' WF-6-F
White River Magibraid 100yd, 20lb test white line (I don't know what this is for, backing?)
White River 9ft 8lb test Tapered Leader.

Other than the flies, and the know how, I guess that's most of what I need to get started. I don't really know though. It's a pretty sweet gift though.

First congrats sounds like you have a good wife. I take it that the reel hasn't got the line on it. The backing is just that, it goes on the reel first and if you get a fish on so big that you run out of flyline then you use the backing. Secondly there is or should be a tag on the fly line that says tie this to you backing or something that will tell you which end is which. The reason is that one end is heavier than the other( the weight of the line is what you cast not the weight of the fly). Did your outfit come with a booklet that has the knots you need to tie? if not let me know and I'll find you link to a site that will show you. Feel free to call me and I can tell you what you need to know or we can meet and I can help you.

Sadly , it didn't come with a book showing the knots.

I did find a place on the internet that showed them though. Looks like a good complicated ordeal just to tie the different parts of the line together.

There is a tag on the roll of fly line that says outside end of line to reel.

I may be able to get all the pieces put together, and lines tied correctly, but then I'm definitely going to start needing some help.

One question I have is, do I put the whole 100 feet of backing on? Well, now I just thought of another question. While winding the line on, I suppose I have to move it side to side by hand, so it doesn't all wind up on one side?

Dont let it get to you just practice the knots on some mono fishing line you have. A little tip is when you get to where you can tie the knot put a little crazy glue on the knot(just don't wind the line up until the glue is completely dry). The way it sounds to me the tag end is tied to the backing, but look at the line one end will be a little thicker than the other. The thicker end should "not be tied" to the backing. As far as the backing you don't have to put all of it on but I would put at least half. This fills out the reel so when you reel it brings more line in per crank of the reel, and yes take your finger when you put the backing and line on and feather it across to put the line on evenly. Before you tie your leader on let me know and I'll find you the site to make it easier for you . There are ways to do it thats a lot more versitile than just tying it on. It will save time in the long run. Hope this helps.

Just do like I do,,.I depend solely on fisher when it comes to fly fishing. "You got questions,..he's got answers ".

I guess that puts us all in a sinking boat,(whos time is it to bail).

My bucket has a hole in it.

Then it's every man for himself. . Did you make any progress in getting your outfit together last night? Also have you looked at the fly casting videos countryboy has on here from u-tube? They will give you some pointers on casting.

I made some progress getting everything together, wasn't all that bad. Only thing is I wished I would have had some poster board sized pictures to tie the knots with, it was hard looking at a small computer screen and trying to figure it out. I'm not hard of seeing or anything, it's just hard to pick things out on a screen sometimes.

I have watched most of the you tube videos. They were pretty good, helpful to me anyway. I have been taking lots of mental notes on what to do, so I could try my hand at casting out in the yard, whenever it quits raining.

My rain gauge already shows about 1 1/2"s of rain so far. It's probably actually rained more than that, I don't know how good that gauge really is.

Yeah it's not as hard as it looks, I think that is why a lot of people don't try fly fishing it just looks to complicated. I was hoping that the rain would stop but it looks like the rivers are going to be up this weekend . I was hoping to get my toon on the water and get use to it a little, but it would be a rocket ride after all this rain. When the weather clears give me a call and we will get together and practice.

I don't think I'd want to ride on a little toon boat in a river after all this rain either. Be doing some White Water Tooning

Yeah, I will be skipping the white water. I'm sure the river will still be high but If the water in the creeks go down by sunday I may try a little fishing, let me know if you want to give it a try.

Alright... will have to make sure I don't have to big a "honey do" list now that the rain has stopped. She's got this flower garden thing she is getting ready to plant stuff in, and it's turned into a real chore for me.

I know how that is my wife has a list I could jump off of and kill myself . You didn't think you were going to get that fly fishing outfit for free did you .

A husband can always hope can't he ??

I think I may have paid her back for the fly fishing stuff though. My aunt gave me three tickets for the Sugarland concert that's going on in Pikeville tonight. I don't like Sugarland, so I gave them to my wife, and got her to take her mother and her aunt. So, maybe that'll shorten the honey do list down a little bit.

You are truly a wise man. .