5 Football-Inspired Tips to Improve Your Fly Fishing Game

“Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence achieved.” – George F. Will

I'm a firm believer that the fundamentals of game preparation and practice in football, when applied, can improve your fly fishing. These principles aren’t limited to football. Basketball, baseball, golf, and most sports emphasize skills and habits that transfer seamlessly to fly fishing.

A female fly angler hooked into a good fish while fly fishing a river. — Like a boss. | photo by Ken Baldwin

Here Are Five Lessons I Learned From Football That Can Improve Your Fly Fishing:

1. Know Your Opponent

Ball players at the college and pro level study a lot of game film—not just focusing on the opposing team but specific players they'll face. Players analyze the tendencies, habits, and athleticism of their opponents to give them information they can use to get an edge and help them win.

Apply this to fly fishing. If you're targeting trout, study their feeding habits, behavior, and how they interact with their environment. Understand the "why's" of trout behavior. Study your target species as you would a defensive back if you were a wide receiver. The more you know about the fish, the better your chances are of success. Preparation wins games—and catches fish.

2. Know Your Playing Field

When I played football in college, if we had an away game, our coach had us visit the host team's field a day before the game so we could walk it. In a short amount of time, we tried to become as familiar with the field as we could. Similarly, golfers and race car drivers study their terrain before game day.
A fly angler should understand the dynamics of the water they fish and how fish relate to these dynamics. If you study rivers and lakes enough, you can use that knowledge and apply it to most waters you fish. The better you understand watery environments—and how fish relate to them—the better you'll fish.

An angler fly fishing in the rain. Applying lessons from football to improve his fly fishing. — photo by Ken Baldwin

3. What Is Your Game Plan?

You gotta have a game plan. In football, you study your opponent, prepare accordingly, analyze strengths and weaknesses (yours and theirs), and create a strategy. I do this all the time with my fly fishing. I consider the water I’ll fish, the time of year, the type of fish I’m targeting, and what they’re likely feeding on. Then I decide:
• Am I throwing streamers?
• Using dry flies?
• Euro-nymphing?
• Starting with dry flies during a hatch and switching to nymphing?
Maybe I’ll prepare for all of it. Whatever you choose, be well-versed in that style of fishing, and have a plan.

Be Your Own Fly Fishing Coach

Recently, I’ve been reading two books. One is about Euro-nymphing, something I knew nothing about. The other is about fishing streamers, something I thought I knew a lot about—but I was wrong.
• Tying Euro Nymphs and Other Competition Favorites by Tim Cammisa taught me about a world of fly fishing I knew nothing about, and now I'm intrigued. I'll follow this up in a few months.
• Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout: New Techniques, Tactics, and Patterns by Kelly Galloup has been eye-opening. It’s changed my understanding of fly fishing with streamers and given me a more informed "game plan" for the next time I choose this style of fishing.

Reading these books is no different than how a football coach prepares a team. Study your opponent, study yourself, and create a game plan.

4. Become Really Good at One Thing, Then Build on It

I mean really good. Whatever that one thing is, know it inside and out.
I remember a football practice where Steve Largent, an NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver came to help us with running routes—specifically the Out-route. He had built a career as a go-to receiver when the game was on the line, and had mastered the "10-yard Out-route for the first down."
I thought I knew how to run this route. I’d been running it since elementary school, how hard could it be? Run 12 yards downfield, cut out, and come back to the ball at 10 yards. Easy, right?
Wrong.

Mr. Largent had the Out-route down to a science. He knew:
• The physics of making a sharp cut
• How many steps he needed to be on the correct planting foot, always at the right amount of yardage
• The best positioning against a defensive back to get open
• Where to line up for the best angle
• Had zero wasted motion
It wasn’t just an Out-route anymore. It was a skill he had completely mastered.

How Does This Apply to Fly Fishing? Master One Knot.

The clinch knot is often the first knot anglers learn. I learned it when I was nine years old. At that age you don’t think much of it. You learn it and then you fished. Sometimes your line breaks at the knot; sometimes it doesn’t.

Not a big deal—until you’re guiding someone who spent $10,000 for a week in Alaska, and the biggest trout of his lifetime is lost because the knot you tied breaks.
I didn’t really come to understand a clinch knot until the stakes were higher. I had to tie one around 50 times a day, every day, and do it with speed. Plus, the knot I tied couldn’t be responsible for a lost fish. That mistake is only allowed once.
Under these conditions, you REALLY get to know a knot.

Some Things I Learned About a Clinch Knot-

• Different pound tests require different numbers of wraps.
• Monofilament and fluorocarbon aren’t the same and require different amount of wraps.
• Friction burns will lead to line breakage. Wetting the line before cinching down the knot prevents friction burns.
• Even after wetting the line you have to be careful of cinching the knot too quickly because this can cause heat and compromise the line.
• How to tie one very fast.
Master one knot, and then another, until you are really good at tying five knots. That should be enough to carry you through a fly fishing life.

5. Approach Casting a Fly Rod Like a Quarterback Throws a Football

A fly angler casting while standing on a kayak. Good form like a quarterback throwing a football. — Poised and balanced on a kayak, like a seasoned quarterback standing in the pocket. | photo by Ken Baldwin

At quarterback, it’s not enough to throw a spiral. You need to throw a tight spiral. Can you throw long? Short? Accurate while moving left? How about when you’re off balance?
Casting is no different. It’s easy to make a good 40-foot cast on a windless day on the lawn. But that’s not realistic “game day” conditions. Practice for:
• Distance
• Accuracy
• Windy conditions
• Advanced techniques like double hauling and backhand casting
Versatility is key. Game day conditions aren’t always perfect. Being prepared will catch you more fish.

Apply the Discipline of Football to the Finesse of Fly Fishing

Fly fishing isn’t football, but the principles of preparation and practice can apply to both. If football wasn’t your sport, draw inspiration from whatever passion you pursued.
“If you know the way broadly, you will see it in everything.” – Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings. KB