How many times have you seen fish working way back in a weed bed and wished for a way to reach them without getting the lure hung up?

Such expanses of vegetation are apt to be avoided by spin or plug fishers, but are often bonanzas for knowledgeable fly rodders.

The weed choked bays and shorelines typical of so many Wisconsin lakes are fast food establishments and supper clubs for the area's piscine population. Like their human counterparts, they congregate here for breakfast from daybreak til mid-morning, and at early evening the equivalent of our supper club set takes over and is active until long after dark.

These aquatic cornucopias hold an astonishing quantity of food organisms including caddis larvae, damsel fly and dragon fly nymphs, some kinds of may fly nymphs, back swimmers, midges, forage fish, crustaceans like fresh water >shrimp and snails, all of which are easily simulated with fly rod lures, so weed beds are prime fly fishing locations.

Suggested tackle for lake fly fishing would be as follows. As a starter, an eight or eight and one-half foot glass rod with a fairly fast tip and a medium action butt will work fine. It should have large guides and more of them than average to facilitate shooting line. Such a rod will probably call for a number eight line.

A single action reel that is heavy enough when loaded to make the rod balance at a point an inch or so ahead of the grip is an excellent choice. Balance is very important in eliminating casting fatigue.

A weight forward line shoots easiest, and a leader about nine feet long and tapered, will layout ahead of the line better than a level one. A 3X or 2X leader tippet will fit most flies used. If the leader wants to make half-hitches around the popper or streamer when cast, it means the tippet is too light for the fly.

Learn to extend line by shooting rather than false casting. False casting takes time and whether the angler is sitting in a canoe or wading, the line goes back and forth closer to the water surface than it would casting from shore or standing in a boat, so it's hard to keep long back casts from hitting the water behind.

Speaking of canoes, they are the slickest vehicles ever designed, for moving among and across weed beds. Wading is fine, but sure as anything, if you fly fish these areas, sooner or later you will hang into a big bass or northern that will burrow into weeds just where the water will go over the wader tops if you try to walk over to extricate it while with a canoe, a few paddle strokes will put you over the fish where it can be dug out with a net or paddle.

A canoe also helps maneuver into better casting positions. For instance, it's better, as a rule to have the wind from the rear, (another reason for short back casts). This helps to keep the line from bellying in the wind and makes setting the hook easier.

Bass and bluegills are patsies for small yellow poppers with brown or gray hackle and tail. Fish them next to and across surface weeds, paying special attention to open spots no matter how small. A good popper fisher will entice big bluegills up from ten or twelve feet down. Deer hair bugs are also very effective here.

The secret of bringing poppers or deer hair bugs across lily pads and other surface vegetation without getting hung up, is to retrieve them very, very slowly. In the event the hook point does prick a leaf or stalk, usually a gentle roll cast or flick of the rod tip will disengage it.

Probably the best basic retrieve for both floaters and underwater flies is a start and stop one, with six to ten inch pulls and long pauses between. Expect to get strikes when the fly is motionless.

The traditional way to retrieve line or play a fish with a fly rod is to use the first one or two fingers of the rod hand as an additional guide and to pull the line between these fingers and the rod handle with your line hand. This facilitates setting the hook in case of a hit and also lets the rod hand be used as a brake by squeezing the line against the handle when playing a fish. As line is retrieved, it is held in loops in the line hand or dropped in coils to the bottom of the canoe in preparation for the next cast.

Nymphs and streamers are good producers also in weedy areas. Where the weeds don't quite reach the surface, a nymph retrieved just under water is a good bet. A streamer made of deer body hair like the muddler minnow, also works good here because it is buoyant enough to travel under the surface and still clear the weed tips.

To fish the channels in and between weed beds, or weedy lake bottoms, nymphs and streamers can be weighted. One way to do this is to put one or more small glass beads on the leader just ahead of the fly or farther up the leader ahead of the tippet knot. A small propeller spinner and a bead can be slid on the leader to take the fly way down. This works good as an attracter for crappies, northerns, and walleyes, and spinning in the water, it doesn't seem to wear the leader.

Some of the more popular lake nymphs are made with muskrat fur and peacock herl bodies. Green bodied nymphs and streamers that resemble resident forage fish are usually good producers in weedy areas also.

If you are already a fly rodder, those weed filled bays and lake shores can make this coming summer one of the most exciting you've enjoyed. If you are not, get a fly outfit and join the fun.