Travelling to fly fish? Follow these expert tips on packing, preparation and flying with your gear

GETTING UNDERWAY

Two packing rules have never failed me: Take extra leader material, flies and sunglasses, and only travel with four-piece fly rods. With the first rule, fly boxes, leaders and spools are small and light, so it’s easy to pack lots—which is good, since they’re also easy to lose. I typically bring enough terminal tackle to outfit a whole camp (once I had to). And polarized sunglasses are so essential I always take two or three pairs. Even a cheap set you only keep as a back-up could save your trip or someone else’s.

A disassembled two-piece fly rod is still five feet long, making it awkward in vehicles and crowds. Even worse, it has to fly as checked luggage. Never check a fly rod. Ever. Even the best rod cases are vulnerable to breakage or theft, especially in lower-security airports where employees or other travellers know the value of the contents.

Four-piece rods, on the other hand, break down to a manageable 30 inches. Put them in your checked suitcase or, even better, carry them on with you. As for flies, both U.S. and Canadian air security rules say small flies are legal to carry on a plane, but the security agents also have total discretion. I feel ill at the idea of a bored, overzealous agent confiscating my flies, so they go in my checked bag, and I just hope it arrives.