Zoomersmagazine.com welcomes back Lynn Pomeroy in a feature article about one of his favorite past times, Fly-fishing. He enticingly elaborates on the popular hobby and gives us a charming description of the bliss he finds with this pastoral sport.

I started fly-fishing 38 years ago quite by accident. I was working as an 18 year old, dock foreman at Irvine Lake in Southern California and found a fiberglass fly rod and a Martin automatic fly reel that was left in a boat by a fisherman.

After trying to track the fisherman down for a few weeks without success, management gave the rod and reel to me. I had been fishing with conventional tackle since I was 5, but in those days there were not many fly fishermen, so it was difficult to observe fly-fishing techniques.

One day at the lake, a fly fisherman waded into a shallow cove where the largemouth bass were spawning. Using a small popper, the fisherman began catching a number of large bass that attacked his surface fly. I watched him cast and retrieve his fly, fight the fish and bring them to his net for hours.

The next day I put the rod and reel together for the first time and began to practice casting. It was more difficult than I thought, but within a few days, I was able to consistently cast 30 - 35 feet. I took my fly rod and my limited skills with me to Aspen, Colorado a few weeks later to try my hand at trout fishing with a fly rod.

I had no idea of the nuances of fly-fishing including the weights of rods and lines, size and length of leaders and tippets, or the many types of flies that were available.

When I arrived in Aspen, I went to a small fly shop where I was greeted by a gruff, elderly man, who resembled a small Santa Claus. Looking somewhat doubtful that I belonged in his shop, he asked me what I wanted. I told him I had a fly rod, but I didn't know how to use it, I didn't have any flies and I didn't know where to fish for trout.

His gruffness quickly turned into a big smile and his Santa Claus nature took over. He put a small pair of reading glasses over the tip of his nose and began teaching me about the hundreds of small flies in his case. He also gave me a quick education on equipment and how to use it, directed me to a specific location on the river, and told me where to cast and how to retrieve the flies I purchased.

When I left his shop, I was excited. I drove to his spot on the river, waded in and cast to the head of a deep run. Within seconds I hooked my first trout on a fly rod, and minutes later landed a beautiful 18" rainbow. Now I was the one who was hooked.

If you are beginning to fly fish, or you are interested in learning, let me share some of the tackle tips my old friend shared with me.

Rods vary in length and weight depending on the type and size of fish you are after. Most rods today are made of graphite and are light and have fast action. A 2 weight, 7-foot rod is extremely light and would be used on small creeks for small fish. A 14 weight, 9-foot rod is very stiff and heavy and would be used for very large saltwater fish such as big tarpon or bill-fish.

The most common sized rods for typical trout fishing are 4, 5 or 6 weight and range from 8'-6" to 9'-6" in length, with 9'-0" rods the most commonly used.

Rods are usually marked with their length and weight just above the cork grip. A 5 weight, 9'-0" rod will be marked 590, a 3 weight, 8'- 6"' rod would be marked 386. If you are looking at a used rod, you will want to know the weight and the length. When you begin, try to buy the highest quality rod you can afford.

If you want to add an additional rod later, you would want to buy a lighter or heavier weight rod depending on the type of fishing you plan to do. You would want to skip at least one size. For instance if you have a 5 weight rod and plan to fish for smaller fish, you would want to buy a 3 weight, and if you wanted to try for larger fish in heavier water you may want to buy a 7 weight.

Reels should be matched to the rod both in weight and line capacity. For instance if you are using a 5 weight rod, you would want to use a medium sized trout reel to match the rod.

When purchasing a new reel, you may want to consider purchasing an extra spool so you can have optional line types. If you purchase more than one reel, you may want to buy the same reel and an additional spool, so you have more interchangeable options of line types.

I have four medium sized trout reels and eight spools, each with a different line that are all interchangeable, so I have many line options depending on conditions. I have two lightweight reels with four spools, so I also have a number of line options for my lightweight rods.

The line size should also match the rod size. With a stiffer, faster rod I prefer to use one line size higher than the rating of the rod. So, if you have a fast action 5 weight rod, you may want to try a 6 weight line.

A heavier line weight can help "load" a stiffer rod and make longer casts easier. There are many different line types, and again it depends on the type of fishing you plan to do and under what conditions you are fishing.

Lines vary from floating tapered lines to heavy lead core, rapidly sinking lines. If the fish are on the surface, you would most probably want to use a double taper or weight forward floating line.

If the fish are feeding below the surface, you would want to use a sinking line or a sink tip in order to put the fly where the fish are. The rate of sink should be matched to the depth that the fish are feeding.

If you have two spools, you would want to have a floating line and a medium rate singing line such as a number 2.

If you plan to fish in a deep river or lake, then you will want to use a fast sinking line such as a type 4, or a lead core shooting head. A shooting head is a 20-30 foot length of heavy fly line (head), tied to a non-memory shooting line such as Amnesia.

Leaders and tippet material are much less expensive than rods, reels and lines, so you can afford to have a variety of different leader lengths and a variety of strengths. You will want to have a number of spools of tippet material of various weights from 2 - 10 pounds if you are fishing for trout.

When fishing in cloudy water or fast broken water, you can use heavier tippets because the fish cannot see as well as in clear slow moving water. In a clear spring creek or a clear lake, tippet sizes usually have to be reduced. Technology continues to improve almost everything, including tippet material. There are new fluorocarbon tippet materials on the market now that are much less visible in the water than traditional mono-filament, while more expensive, I think they are worth it.

If you are wading in a river where you can carry only one rod, then you would want to select an all around rod to be able to fish varying conditions. In small to medium sized California rivers this would probably be a 4 or 5 weight rod.

If you have one reel and two spools, you would want to have a floating line for dry fly fishing and nymph fishing in shallow water, and a sink tip or sinking line for deeper nymph or streamer fishing in larger deeper pools, where the water is slower.

If you are fishing from a boat, you can carry more equipment and can be prepared for various conditions. You can rig two or three rods of different weights and with different lines so you can switch rods and lines to match conditions as they change.

Often on spring creeks while fishing with a nymph on an intermediate sinking line, a may fly hatch will begin. It is very easy to put my sinking line down and pick up my rod with a floating line and continue fishing without having to change reels or spools. When the hatch is over you can easily switch back.

A good fly shop will be able to help you with equipment and they will let you test their rods. Most shops also offer casting lessons, fly tying courses, videos and other educational tools to assist in honing your skills. They will also assist you in selecting other equipment and the appropriate flies for where you plan to fish.

If you take up the sport, or if you are already involved, I hope you will enjoy the great beauty of the special places fly-fishing can take you. Not only the beauty of the lakes and rivers, but the beauty of the solitude and the personal reflection that can be gained from a day spent fly-fishing. Who knows, you may even meet your own Santa Claus.