Fly Fishing Gear

River fishing:
Whats happening?
What do you look for?
What gear to use?
Your questions answered!

Rio Products have some great tips and advise on fly fishing and we have their latest video links here

Rio Products have some great tips and advise on fly fishing and we have their latest video links here

Products that you have requested we get back in stock are finally here.

We are very excited to announce the launch of our own range of Fluorocarbon Tippet!

With so many manufacturers what size clothing do you need? Here you will find a size guide for each manufacturer available to The Essential Fly for easy measuring.

Designed to be no-nonsense, easy to pack / unpack, and as comfortable as possible to carry. Features the same durable outer as the entire Greys luggage range.

Great warranties on the amazing range of Arctic Silver rods. Check full details here.

With Rod lenths, Weights and Action all different what do they mean and how can it make a difference to your fishing trip?

Help is at hand with the Redington Fly Rod Basics guide.

ArcticSilver, well known in Scandinavia where they originate from. These rods have changed the way rods are designed completely. Rather than a fixed cork handle which restricts the action of the rod, stopping the carbon fibre moving, ArcticSilver rods have a hollow composite handle which allows the entire blank to be used right down to its base. This is called Free Flex...... find out more here

Heads - Skagit, Scandi, AFS, Traditional?

Weight - Line size #5-11 grams or grains?

Length - Short, Regular or Long?

So much to ask, how on Earth do you choose? For the Joy of Spey you need to understand lines before you can go fishing. Here we aim to help you to gain a wider knowledge of Spey lines and hopefully help to improve your fishing by doing so.

How do you know what Rio line is right for you?

Choosing a Rio fly line is important for your fishing success, our Rio friends can help you out with these simple tools for scuccess!

What does the technology inside the Rio lines mean to your fishing?

A guide to the Core and Coating Techonologies from Rio Products

We had a great day fishing at Mulberry Whin on Monday testing the 8 foot 4 weight Vision Onki Rod with the new 2Tone Triangle Taper Wulff Fly line and using the Umpqua waist pack. What a super day catching natural brownies from this lovels chalk stream. Mulberry Whin is the most northerly chalk stream in the UK and in August cost £60 for a days fishing, very different to southern chalk streams.

Using a 4 weight Vision Onki rod paired with the Triangle Taper fly line were a delight. The colour and action of the Visikon Onki were superb and with just 10 feet of fly line our I was able to roll cast and naturally cast 30 feet of fly line 30 feet in very tight circumstances surrounded by trees. The Triangle Taper fly line was superb floating high in the water and it made casting a delight.

Bite identification is critical to fly fishermen, often we have watched and realised that people have not even noticed bites because of either poor eyesight of poor bite indicators being used. So here is a top tip for bite identification and it will cost you very little!

So you may have spent £20 or you may have spend £75 or more on a fly line, please don’t worry this technique will improve your catch ratios and hook-ups. All you need is a dark coloured permanent marker pen (or light coloured pen if the fly line is dark coloured).

• 4 to 7 weight lines (195 to 265 grains) are designed for trout fly fishermen
• 7 to 10 weight (265 to 400 grains)  are designed for switch, scandi and skagit on single handed rods (see notes below on Switch and Scandi usage)
• 11 to 14 weight (450 to 600 grains) are intended for double handed fly rods

find out more in this blog post

So why have cassette fly reels become so popular over the last few years? To answer that question we have to look at the design of reels and think about the way in which we use fly reels. Traditionally reels were machined from solid steel or aluminium blocks or cast in iron. The seperate parts including drag, spool and reel would then be assembled. The spool having been cast or machined often cost half that of the traditional fly reel! If we look at the way fishermen use their reels it shows why manufacturers have moved to casette fly reels and shows their benefits.

An essential guide.

For General Salmon fly fishing there are a few things to look for in a good reel, here is our recommended checklist of features. Also check out our top tops for salmon fly reel protection.

Today we’ll touch on a number of topics, focusing on Upstream Nymphing, whilst also considering how a pair of polarized sunglasses can make all the difference to your fishing trip, and how getting “that sinking feeling” will make you appear psychic to those less experienced.