I have zero knowledge of the fly fishing gear or techniques. I know there is a nymph fly and a flies that look like fish eggs.
I am going to take my guess on ice out on Elk Lake in central Minnesota. It isn't big and has water flowing thru it and a dark bottom. April 11th. I will be out there the next day taking a few rips up and down the lake to burn out the fogging oil.
I fly fish every summer, usually for cutthroat trout on the Northfork of the Clearwater river, the Selway, or the Lochsa. While the action of a fly rod is fun to catch a fish on, it is the visual of watching one take your fly off the top that makes it so addicting. If they aren't hitting the top well and you have to sink a wet fly or strip a sculpin back to you it just isn't as fun. Learning to cast can be very frustrating, like Sota said it is easy to bull whip a fly right off the end of the line especially when first learning. You start trying to aggressively whip the line back and forth to get more distance and the next thing you know there isn't a fly on the end anymore. Smooth arm movements, double-hauling, and timing is what gets you distance. It also can be challenging to find something that matches what they are feeding on. There are patterns that will almost always get a few to rise and take it, but when you find the hatch that they are after it can be outstanding fishing. Many of the above spots lure fishing is okay early in the morning but they won't touch one after that. You can catch them all day with a fly and really hammer them in the evening. Here is a pic of the Selway from last summer.
I did check on the lake to the north, over 1/3 melted. Perhaps next week I will get the boat in for a spin.
Not that I can get my boat out of the barn without tearing up the soft ground but a nearby city closed their 2 launches. If you have a small boat, there are places to just put it in. I need a dock for mine. They are hammering ice out brown trout. I need to get my 16 footer running so I can spring fish.
Make sure you match the fly line weight with the rod, and starting with a weight forward or single taper will get you distance a little easier. I'd avoid a double taper line. A tapered liter is easier to lay out without tangling or knotting up...but the longer it is the more you'll fight knotting and tangling. 6'-7' is what I'd start with. I much prefer a barbed eyelet for mating up the fly line and liter over any other method. You can practice casting in the yard with no liter, but grass can slice the line up a lot more than you think so if you do this replace the fly line before actually going fishing (keep it around for practicing OR have two separate reels). Keep your wrist straight with your forearm at all times during casting, just use your elbow and shoulder. You want to target your arm motion range to be 10 oclock on the forward swing and 1 oclock (you'll drift to 2 oclock which is the actual target) on the back swing. Don't try to cast too much line, keep it at a comfortable amount so you don't fight it and get frustrated. Let out more line as the amount you are practicing with gets easy to maintain. You can then start practicing with single hauling on your actual "casting" forward swing. Lastly you would start adding in double hauling. It doesn't take much of a tug on the line to really help accelerate it.
Got up early and headed to the farm to listen to the turkeys. They are still there and vocal to boot! CYA in a couple of weeks.... Decided I'd fish a little while there.
Most are machined aluminum. You can still get a Pflueger Medalist at bargain prices. IMHO, one of the best reels on the market. Been flinging fur and feathers since 1960-1961. Still have the fiberglass rod and the Medalist reel. If you are cracking the whip, you aren't letting the line and leader straighten on the backcast along with too fast on the forward cast. Look for instructors Lefty Kreh or Joan Wulff on the Internet and/or Youtube. Edit- Double taper line is easier to roll cast. I find no advantage with WF line. I have one rod with DT. If my wife gets the PCH sweepstakes, I'm changing all my lines to DT. Plus, when/if one end gets worn out, reverse the line on the reel.
