Confluence Community Skill Sharing, but make it Scrollable

Fishy friends! Many of you have found us through social media, and as part of ensuring access to information, educational resources, and ultimately increasing the chances we have to share a riverbank sometime soon, we’re sharing new videos to these platforms. Starting with a series of VERY human how-to videos in the spirit of Virtual Noob fly tying of pandemic quarantine years (read: imperfect, messy learning, single take shots recorded on an iPhone with varying degrees of focus) these videos will include someone sharing knowledge with a total noob, or beginner angler, and walking through the motions together in real time. No more stressing as a pro rushes through the steps, or foreign terms and jargon to get lost in! We’re doing this as if you’re with us at a community fishing event, getting out on the water together. We want this to be as approachable as possible: no expertise posturing, no touch-ups or fancy edits, just honest step by step prep to go fish on a spring day at a blown-out creek.

Very normal spring run-off water conditions; doesn’t really matter as long as you’re having fun, right?

Miles (he/they) and Bri (she/her) hold up flies they’re about to tie on before fishing

We’re starting off with the basics: how do you set up a fly rod and tie on your first fly? Well, you can now join us virtually to set up your gear and get ready for the river — just check us out on our TikTok channel (and soon Insta) for shorter, digestible steps, or watch the full way through on our YouTube channel! For this intro series, a huge thank you goes out to Miles (he/they) co-lead for the OUTdoor Group at The Center, for the honor of sharing their first ever fishing experience with us!! What a fun day. Hopefully this walk-through helps new anglers out there interacting with fly fishing gear for the first time to feel confident enough to at least get things put together.

If this page happens to fall on to the screen of someone interested in fly fishing, don’t be a stranger! Be sure to take a look at our open access educational resources and reach out with questions as they come up: us@confluencecollective.org. For seasoned anglers, let us know what your stumbling blocks were in building up your own fly fishing knowledge: was reading water difficult to make sense of, or knowing where and when to use certain flies? Still not sure how to use your drag? We’ll be spending time this season filming more of these videos, and want to know directly from you what it is you think should be demystified.

We even met some fish! Sharing a photo with the same stylistic directives as our videos. It’s like you’re right there with us. Absolute perfection.