I wasn't going to go fly-fishing today for a lot of reasons but I did.
I am glad I went for several reasons: I caught another Rainbow (that is two now), I met another guy who is trying to catch his first trout, I got to see a ton of bugs flying, swimming and crawling that I never paid attention to before and I learned several things today.
Firstlyt: I caught a nice Rainbow (~ 16 inches) on a Pheasant Tail (PT). I tried several flies (dry and wet) before I went to the PT. It was funny because I was about to retrieve the line back and I got distracted for a second by a dragonfly dancing on the water. As a result, the PT drifted another few feet and bang I had my second Rainbow.
Secondly , I met a another guy who is trying to catch his first trout fly-fishing. We both got to the river about the same time and we talked for a few minutes and I told him where I saw people catching fish and where I caught mine. Some time passed when Rob said that he had a fish on so I ran over to take a picture for him. It was a fallfish (thanks Mike C for the info) just like I caught a few weeks ago. I told him what you guys told me.....you caught a fish on a fly and a trout will come. I took his picture and will be sending it to him later today. As I left, we agreed to keep in touch to help each other out.
Thirdly, I can't remember ever being so "excited" about seeing bugs all over the place. There were some I recognized and others I will have to look up. Some were swimming along water's surface, others were "kissing" the water's surface and the rest were flying about. Blue and black seemed to be the dominant colors and "dragon flies" seemed to be the most abundant. It wasn't until I was leaving that I actually saw trout "sipping" these bugs from the surface and it was a sight indeed.
Lastly, I learned (and recognized) a few things today: you can catch trout in shallow water; I realized that many of the "hits" I had the last few times out were actually the tippet getting caught on a rock, branch, etc.; I read in Marla Blair's book that the way I was trying to set the hook I was actually pulling the fly out of the trout's mouth (i.e. I was lifting the rod upstream instead of downstream). I also did a much better job mending the line and roll casting. Now neither of these are going to get me into the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame yet but there is improvement and that is one of the goals.
Time to go and hopefully I will get out again before next weekend.
What you said...the growth continues and you will be the mentor.
ReplyDeleteGreat post...Sounds like you had a good day in the water! It's fun to see all of the bugs out and cruising the water...I'm still a novice entomologist, but over the last few years have been able to figure some stuff out :-) Sounds like the rainbow was a real nice fish...one we'd all be proud to have caught!
ReplyDeleteHoward...I learned one other lesson today: wash my net after I catch fish. The last time I didn't and I left it in my trunk and it wasn't good.
ReplyDeleteAs for the mentor, God help that person.
Hey Sanders....it really was cool watching all the bugs. Six months ago I would look at that statement and say what the F#@! are you talking about but now that I am fly-fishing it doesn't seem odd in the least.
The fish was nice and thanks for the kind words. I actually worked him instead of "dragging" him in like I did the first one (he wasn't getting away). When I released him I had to have Rob (the guy I met) grab it and help revive him (he had waders on) until the trout swam off.
By the way, I love the pictures of your dogs.
Slowly but surely it is coming to me.
I am going to skim the book (Positive Fly-Fishing) to write down in my journal the things I need to remember. She (Marla Blair) has a "down to earth" writing style and she kept it interesting.
I'm glad it's starting to work out for you! I have a log on my computer of bugs on certain rivers at certain times of the year. Comes in handy on occasion.
ReplyDeleteAs for the net, I couldn't help laughing there. I have a hatchback and the net starts to stink, never comes out really. Then the odor becomes oddly comforting. Which is why I have yet to buy a rubberized one.
Thanks BCFN for the tip. I will add that section to my journal starting today.
ReplyDeleteI was washing the cars on Memorial Day and I used the last of the suds to wash the net. The smell didn't completely come out but it did make it more "presentable".