Ten Mistakes to Avoid When Learning Fly Fishing, with Phil Monahan, Editor of Midcurrent.com

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

James Hathaway

Bass, Fishing, Bonefish, Wilderness, Flyfishing, Trout, How To, Steelhead, Bluegill, Fly, Orvis, Sports, Salmon, Panfish, Education, Rosenbauer

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I know a lot of listeners are relatively new to the fly-fishing game, and so I asked Phil Monahan [30:31], editor of Midcurrent.com (who also helps people through this sometimes-steep learning curve) to share with us ten pitfalls you may want to avoid when learning the game. And I am willing to bet that even you experts out there make some of these mistakes every time you go out. I know I do.

In the Fly Box this week, we have some basic and not-so-basic questions, including:
What fly line can I use in the Bahamas and for fly fishing in the Northeast?
Is the 'chuck and duck" method an ethical way to fish for Great Lakes salmon?
Should I replace my old Power Matrix 905 with a newer model or should I invest in a 904 to have a more diverse quiver?
I tie all of my juvenile tarpon flies on a size 2/0 hook. Should I invest in some smaller hooks?
How long should I leave my dry fly in the water before pulling it out?
How much tippet should I be going through?
You say that fish can always see my tippet. So why is it necessary to go to a smaller tippet size?
The tube in my New Zealand Strike Indicator always splits when I add yarn. I am using 5X tippet. What am I doing wrong?
When fishing with trout Spey, should I concentrate more on my casting or what fly pattern I am using? And what is your favorite fly for trout Spey?
Are red and green lights any less impactful when night fishing?
Are weighted streamers recommended for night fishing?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, and welcome to the Orvis Fly Fishing podcast.
0:13.5	This is your host Tom Rosenpauer.
0:15.3	And my guest this week is Phil Monahan.
0:18.2	Phil is the editor of Midcurrent, which you're probably aware of if you do any
0:23.9	kind of research on fly fishing on the internet because it's one of the biggest and most reliable
0:30.9	newsletters or websites or blogs or whatever you want to call it out there. And Phil's topic this week is the 10 things you want to avoid when learning how to fly fish
0:44.0	or 10 mistakes that people often make when learning how to fly fish.
0:49.0	I know a lot of the people that listen to this are just just beginning the the fly fishing journey.
0:55.7	I can tell that by some of the questions I get.
0:58.6	So, and I think that even if you've been fishing for a while, I bet there's one or two of
1:04.0	these 10 things that you could probably do a better job on too.
1:07.7	So anyway, Phil's always fun to talk to.
1:10.6	We used to sit side by side in the Orvis office,
1:14.0	and now he's at Midcurrent. And Phil is a long-time fly fisher and guide and a great editor
1:23.0	and really knows this stuff. So I think you'll enjoy this podcast. Before we get to Phil, before we get to the flybox, just a couple announcements on some trips I'm doing.
1:33.5	This is really last minute, but we have one more angling space left on my Spain trip to the Pyrenees with Salvalinus, September 28th to October 4th. So, um, yeah, I know it's spur of the moment, but, uh, there is one space left. And, um, you know, if you, uh, if you have a time and, uh, you can book a flight, um, love to see you there. So that's just a last chance on that trip.
2:05.3	Some of my other trips, my Magic Waters trip is full.
2:08.6	My Argentina trip in late January is full.
2:12.0	I do have spaces at my Patagonia Baker Lodge, February 28th through March 7th. This is not on the website
2:21.3	yet because Patagonia Baker is a lodge that's owned by Magic Waters, and it's a different lodge.
2:27.9	It's five hours south of the main lodge of Magic Waters, totally different water.
2:34.3	It's a big, big, beautiful river, an incredibly gorgeous lodge,
	...

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