Bystanders call the ammalamz when I break out the fly rod. One person thought I was having a seizure.

Thusly, my fly rod has been in it's case for the last three years.

HAHAHAHA. I'm still chasing something worthy of a picture on the fly but I'm slowly getting better each time out. I'm going to try to catch a snakehead on the fly this summer.

I spent a lot of time walking streams with my grandfather in the late 80s/early 90s.  I was never that good with a fly rod and got progressively worse as I got older.

I used to catch quite a few bluegills, redeye and smallmouth when I was in high school and spent every evening on the river.  I would occasionally use it as a fly rod, the rest of the time I used it to cast grasshoppers.

I'm actually going for the seizure look, I figure it may be my only chance. ;D

The river behind me is full of smallies but is so shallow that it's hard to drag anything through it without snagging rocks.

Got my new fly reel yesterday and have a question on backing.  How critical is the type of backing?  Oh ya, and how do I determine how much I want to spool on ahead of the fly line?

Thanks for any help! 8-)

Backing for most warmwater fishing is unnecessary. Kite string will do it. Do you have muskies? Or maybe you might go after trout larger than say 3lbs (that's a big trout) ? Then you need backing.

As to knowing how much to put on -you definitely want a full reel, for retrieve speed at least. The best way to be sure is to first wind on the fly-line. (Owning a line-winder helps, but you can improvise.) Then knot on your backing and fill the reel. Then, take it all off again. Without a line-winder: Wind the backing onto a spool (even a paper towel tube will work) and peel the flyline off onto the floor being careful to spread it around so it doesn't tangle too much. (Get the cats outta the room!) Then Uni-knot the backing to the spool and wind it all back on again. After your 50th time loading reels you'll be able to guestimate how much backing pretty well.

For cheap flies, I like www.anglersdream.net . I get some of my leaders and line from www.sierratradingpost.com.

Leaders are important. They are tapered from very thick ( about 40lb mono diameter) down to tippet ( 2-8lb test). This taper is very important for it transfers the energy of your cast all the way to the fly smoothly. Think of a bullwhip, if the whip was the same thickness throughout, it would not have the same power at the tip as a tapered one would. This ensures that your fly lays out where you want it to and not to either side, or in a puddle.The tippet is like paul said, about the last 20% of the leader. After this is gone from retying you can attach tippet to the leader using a line to line knot or loop to loop attachments. I generally clip off the tippet section of a leader the moment I attach it to my mainline, tie a perfection loop on it, and attach my tippet from my spools using another perfection loop.

Those are some cheap flies!!!! I just spent 18 bucks on 6 flies.That was with one short on the ring up, I tried to correct her afterwards but she said fagetaboutit..

Thanks for the backing help.  Just came back from Gander and there was a guy "like a hog to the trough", knee deep in a bin of flies and poppers.  He was real helpful in getting me started with that stuff.  So I guess I will see what happens if I can get out over the weekend.

These are the kind of threads that I like to just sit back and follow, ya'll been a big help. 8-)

Those are some cheap flies!!!! I just spent 18 bucks on 6 flies.That was with one short on the ring up, I tried to correct her afterwards but she said fagetaboutit..

I like bigyfly (www.bigyflyco.com) for flies. Cheap, very high quality, and fast shipping.

Big Fly Co looks very promising! Those are some very good looking prices and a real good selection as well. feather-craft.com looks like a good store as well. I saw it recommended on another site.