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I am a newbie to fly fishing. I inherited a few outfits a few years ago, and have added a few more from 4 wt to 9 wt. Mostly I fish 4-5-6 wts in my pond for bass and gills using #6 poppers. I just tie on whatever looks good from a box of flies, but I know it affects casting performance. Can anyone recommend a chart which tells you what hook, or fly size, goes with different line weights?
Well if you're new to fly fishing. Your choice of flies will vary as you get more experience. Toss them poppers and cath a few. Read a little and take less as fact. Do whatever you think is worth casting for an hour may catch something. I've been catching bass on a dry......WHAT???? no way, to cold, too this and that.....nobody told the fish though. Yo gotta learn the loving feel of the flyrod, second, what your casting, third meet guys from this site that fish areas where you're at......get the skill, have the flies, listen to what you're told.
Fly lines are made in 1wt to 15wt. 1 weight did not do well as far as I know they only made it in a level line. 15 wt for tarpon and large fish. Now if you are throwing large flys like salt water 8 & 9 wt work well. a 9wt will throw a small popper as well as a 3 wt. Catching blue gills with a 9 wt would be like catching one with a broom stick. Fishing with a lighter rod is more fun.It is not so much the line weight as it is the leader the smaller the fly the smaller the leader. Smaller leaders should be longer than heaver ones. A 3X could be 7 ft and a 6X 9ft or 12 ft. I have rods from 3 wt to 10wt. for blue gills I have some old fiberglass rods 5 & 6 wt.that I really like. Most fly fishers use graphite. I have both graphite and fiberglass. I like the older rods.So try all the rods till you find one that works well for you.
For a bit of clarity, let's use a schedule of sorts and arbitarily for rather bullky flies. Sparser ones cast more easily.
4-weight - size 10 and smaller to the point where you can still thread the hook's eye with a 5x tippet.
5-weight - size 6 and smaller (And size 4 if you cast well)
6-weight - size 4 to size 8. Anything smaller, then you are rabbit hunting with a .30/06.
8-weight - size 1 to size 4
9-weight - size 1/0 and 1
10-weight - size 2/0 and bulky size 1/0 poppers
12-weight - size 4/0 to 2/0.
Anything above a 12-weight, chuck and duck!
Okay, you may get responses to this from several thousand folks who feel they must add or detract from that list. Remember that nothing in fly fishing (Except IGFA regulations) is etched in stone. Casting ability, weather and water conditions, and even the size of the fish being pursued will alter the list. But it's a reasonable one that comes from LOTS of experience over half a century with every rod weight listed.
Bon chance.
Pete
Sneakypete is close. BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Years ago before 3,4 or 5wt, 6wt was the standard up here. If you have all the different rods his chart would work very well. What I was saying is the leader has a lot to do with turning over the fly.
Thanks, Pete, that is the sort of guideline I was looking for. Is fly size determined solely by the hook size?
Not really. You can tie a pretty long worm-type fly on a size 4 hook and a much shorter pogy imitation on a size 1/0.
Proportion is the key. Also, the hook's "bite" increases with its size, and that's good when you are targeting big fish. Therefore a four-inch pogy intended for stripers/redfish/cobia would be better tied on a size 1/0 or 2/0 hook than a size 2. 'Course, it's easier to set a size 2 than a size 2/0. Confused yet?
There are other considerations that would take a case of beer and all night to discuss properly! Use "proportion" in general and "small enough" to keep from sinking your sulphur dries! And learn it from experience!
Pete