9 proven ways to make sure you stay a mediocre fly angler

#8  Try very hard not to lose flies 

The late Canadian guide and author Ian Colin James used to say, in his thick Scottish accent, “Flies aren’t your little buddies.” It’s simple, brilliant advice. He’d follow up by explaining that if you’re fishing sub-surface flies and not losing any, you’re doing something wrong. Snags aren’t humiliating failures—they’re simply the price of putting flies where the fish are.

The corollary is that we often fish too shallow, either from fear of snags or simply not understanding how flies act in the water. In both rivers and lakes, unweighted flies on a floating line sink much more slowly than many anglers realize. There are three main ways to get deeper: weighted flies, sinking lines or leaders, and adding weight to your leader. All work well, depending on the situation and your personal inclinations. Like mending, you can really only learn to use these tools and techniques on the water, by trial and error. It’s worth the time, because controlling fly depth is a potent fishing skill.