Wife getting into fly fishing....SUCCESS and PICS!!
 

Spent a week in the mountains fishing this last summer, and the wife decided fly fishing looks “magical” and wants to get into it (also just happened to be the first trip she didn’t catch the biggest fish :lol: ) She mentioned it 4 times and on the last time I turned the truck and bought her an orvis Clearwater 9ft 5 wt. i have an ancient 7 foot fiberglass pack rod and TFO 8 wt...so if she doesn’t use it I will :). Hey how many guys get to shop at cabelas for valentines right?

Anyway, I’ve been flyfishing and tying intermittently since I was 5 and am basically self taught with no doubt plenty of bad habits, but I catch fish. She’s a Saskatchewan farm girl who believes fish are to bite all day and be released into hot oil (working on that). We live within 10 min of 3 stocked ponds and a family acreage so plenty of opportunity.

Anyone know of a YouTube or other instruction series that worked for their wife/daughter? Or any general advice on coaching someone right from the start?

Orvis has a ton of stuff on their Fly Fishing Learning Center. Amazing resource. https://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/

Have her checkout Mad River Outfitters on YouTube. Their introductory lessons are easy for beginners to understand.

Damn....that sounds great.
I wonder if I should congratulate you or the wife :)

Mad River is great, but I can see some ladies not liking his demeanor. My wife makes fun of him whenever I happen to have it on when she's around. I think he's great though.
The Orvis video's are great as well. Women, typically, will have an easier time picking up the casting as they are more finesse and less bully. As far as women instructor video's, I haven't come across any.

Another thing to try would be the Orvis or TFO training rods. You can use them in the house while watching the video's rather than trying to remember what was said and putting that to use.

Joan Wulff. Alternately, you'll see her name misspelled, WOLF.

She's like the grandma of fly casting and a Winston rep. No machismo. Just a nice older lady sharing her experiences and casting tips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1XP0NRRGkA

I'd be inclined to let her learn from a guide or casting instructor. There are many early season schools out there that are moderately priced and you won't have to be involved in the teaching process.

I have seen many couples where the husband has tried to teach the wife how to fly fish just for her to say forget it.

Wife getting into fly fishing
 

I wish I could talk my wife into trying it. See loves to fish, but has no interest in fly fishing. I love it. Orvis is a great resource to help shorten the learning curve.

You're so lucky!

This is a very helpful video for getting started:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVvVoqFbIU

Check out some YouTube videos of Lefty Kreh and his style. He gives a lot of tips that can help speed up the learning curve.

Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk

This!!

Congrats on your wife getting into flyfishing. Mine did a long time ago (20 years) and although we don't get out on the streams much anymore she enjoyed it when we did and she still has all the gear in case she wants to give it a go again.

One thing I did that I would offer as a suggestion, is have someone else teach her how to cast. Saves on marital strife and it'll be harder for her to blame you on a tough day when her casting isn't quite clicking. I was fortunate to have Barry White give casting lessons to both my wife and son a couple of times, and it worked out great.

Good luck and enjoy the fishing.

Many years ago I was fishing with my new significant other on Hasse Lake with backswimmers in October. Not the greatest caster but she was out fishing me 2 times to one, so I said this area is no good so we moved and I caught up in numbers. We're still together and laugh about this. I bought her a new fly rod so maybe that helped!

If you're in the Edmonton area, check out my site here if you're interested in instruction for her. https://www.albertastillwaters.ca

Cheers

As a wife that has a husband that wants me to fly fish I can tell you this.....I don't want to because every time I go with him it becomes work for him.

I'll be doing great and then I lose my rhythm and get a big mess in my line. He'll be "take mine while I work on it". He ends up going back and forth fixing lines and hardly fishing.

I'm happy to just watch him or read a book.

As a guide/instructor, that’s pretty much what I do all day with clients. I’m good with that ‘cause I’m getting paid. As a husband with a new wife, I also do that when my wife comes fishing as she’s also learning. I’m also okay with that, I’m sure your husband is too. He probably enjoys including you into something he’s passionate about so don’t give up on it. If you’re feeling guilty give him a few trips where you do read but next trip get back at it. We’ve all been where you’re at your in learning, keep that in mind.

I love fishing. I even camp out on the ice with him during ice fishing season. But for some reason I struggle with fly fishing. He has the patience of a saint when it comes to me and a fly rod :)

What's you biggest area of opportunity when it comes to fly casting?

My wife also wanted to try fly fishing - so before we went anywhere, I took my wife into the back yard and went over one thing at a time - short amount out, then another pull out, then another, etc...

If you focus on the very basic tik-tok (motion from 10-2 only) stiff wrist and slow rhythm that's half the battle with new casters.

To my surprise, she picked it up right away and was very good at getting it out there and landing it softly.

Update
 

Thanks for all the ideas guys.

She wanted me to teach her, not someone else, so I watched a bunch of the orvis videos and took her out to a local pond. She was able to get roll casts out to 30 ft, and regular casts to about 45 with good technique. Accuracy was out the window due to wind, but I was very happy with the first trip. No fish but there were piles of people running around and very few caught that day

Funny thing is whenever her mind would wander, she would limp wrist it and pile the line up...”what did you do wrong?”
“YA I KNOW I WAS THINKING OF SOMETHING”
“well that’s why you should be fishing instead of thinking”
Next 10 casts would be perfect...then it would happen again :lol:

Work and other such nonsense has been getting in the way, hoping to get out to a pond and get her into some fish before heading to the mountains.

https://i.imgur.com/bOfyhxw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EzY8ZBb.jpg

Between baby making/growing, work, bad wildfire smoke and hunting season, fly fishing has been on the back burner for a while. Finally finished up chores and with the freezer full, we decided to hit the pond. I caught a couple 10 inch rainbows on backswimmers right away. She was struggling with roll casting in the wind with the 5 wt so I handed her my 8 wt. A lot of practice casts and a couple missed strikes and she squeals “I got one!!” I look over and see the bend...in the 8wt...HOLY SMOKES!!...grab the net and she manages to pull in a 16.5 inch TIGER TROUT as her first ever fish on the fly rod! Unreal. She outfishes me all the time and I couldn’t be any prouder :)

And ya, it got eaten an hour later. Lemon pepper, seasoning salt, butter. Surf and turf with some deer backstrap as well. That pond winterkills every year so no point letting it rot on the bottom in feb. It tastes very similar to brook trout.