My last post ended with me going to pickup the necessary line for my rod. I managed to find all this pretty easily at the Canadian tire down the road. I got home unboxed the line, and realized something was wrong. Neither the floating line, or the leader had welded loops. This meant my previous plan wasn’t going to work. I did some research and found out that I would have to cut the initial backing loop off and attach the lines using an Albright knot https://news.orvis.com/fly-fishing/video-how-to-attach-fly-line-to-the-backing-on-a-reel. After attaching the backing and floating line I pulled the line through the eyelets and spooled it up. Then I had to use a nail knot to attach the leader to the floating line. Most of the tutorials I found for this knot featured an actual nail knot tool, I do not have this tool so I searched for awhile and found this video that really helped me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qHmLKNcdm8. The Albright knot didn’t take too long but I struggled with the nail knot for awhile. First I had the leader upside down and was trying to use the very very thin end which I kept losing grip and sight of, then I just kept messing up, and finally after what felt like an eternity I got it. The final step was to attach the fly to the leader. I did this using the palomar knot https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v98DC3cSgWw. Ive done this knot many times when attaching lures for “regular” fishing so I was able to do it on the first try. I decided to attach a fuzzy black fly that I found in the basement, I also found 4 other smaller flys. After getting my rod fully set up I just had to run outside and test it out. I was so excited I forgot to film my first attempt but I was actually pretty good at it (I think). After I realized my mistake I ran back inside grabbed my phone and took a video which I will attach at the bottom of this post. I need to continue working on my final cast I think. I can get lots of line out but it starts to pile up around 30 feet. The knot tying struggle definitely taught me a lot of patience and really tested my fine motor skills.

I forgot to take a picture of my albright knot and I wasn’t about to unspool my whole reel to take a picture of it so here is a picture of the fully spooled reel instead:

Here is a photo of the nail knot:

Here is a photo of the palomar knot and the fly:

Here is a photo of the other flys I found:

Here is a video of my casting practice in the yard: