Thursday, May 12, 2011

May I have your attention please!

Last night after John Lackey stunk up the joint in Toronto I was reading blogs the I follow.

I read on Northern California Trout that Mark had a blast fishing after he had a relatively rough week. He talked about the hits he was getting and what flies he was using. He ended up having a nice day on the water and caught a lot of fish. I took notice of what Mark wrote and for some reason felt optimistic about the following morning's trip to the river.

I happen to be near LL Bean's store close to my house on an errand run and decided to stop in (the optimism I guess). I remembered some of the flies Mark mentioned on his blog and grabbed a few of them as well as some others. I bought some new leaders and a net (really optimistic).

I headed to the river and put my new leader on, tied my fly to the tippet and checked the knot. There was a sense that today was going to be different. As I walked along the river, I watched to see if any trout would come to the surface and engulf an insect. I didn't see any rises so I made my decision: I was going with the Gold Bead Prince Nymph.

The river is lower and slower since I first went here to fish. I was able to see more structure and move a little more along the banks. I cast to a place that I have read should hold fish. The first several casts I didn't have any luck; however, a couple of casts more I had a hit but the fish got off. Again, I cast to the same area and several more hits but no fish. I started to try and figure out what I was doing wrong. I will spare you the details but I was doing a few things wrong and made the corrections.

I had another fish on the line and was bringing it ashore but it jumped and off it went. I remembered Mark's post and only became more determined to land this fish. A few casts later I had another hit and I set the hook, raised my rod and kept pressure on the line as I stripped the line. In all honestly this was not a scene from a "River Runs Through It" but more like another video for America's Funniest Videos; however, when it was over I had landed my first rainbow on a fly.


In case you are wondering, the fly is going into retirement and being enshrined into the future trophy room in my house.


I seriously want to thank everybody who has taken me under their wing and encouraged me and offered their help along the way. I can now start to really enjoy this sport that most of you have been engaged in for sometime. I still have a lot to learn no doubt but the journey will continue. I love fly-fishing.

I also want to thank those folks that stop by on a regular basis and read the blog. I saw the stats last night and it is amazing that so many people would find what I am writing about interesting. I truly appreciate the views and please don't be bashful.

Tight lines everybody I am off to do yard work before my wife comes home.

14 comments:

  1. AWESOME! Congrats! Yes, make sure you keep that fly and give it a place of honor. Great posts...I love reading them. Keep it up!

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  2. Three thumbs up for you Mac! Congratulations! Looks like a nice chunky rainbow at that. You have now become a trout fisherman. Your patience and ability to absorb information has paid off.

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  3. Thanks Erin...I appreciate the congratulations and kind words.

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  4. Hey Howard....you, RD, Owl and Mel (I think he has abandoned me) were the first people to respond to my first post.

    I have appreciated all the encouragement, help and laughs that you have provided over the past several months.

    Thanks again for the congratulations and the warm welcome into the world of trout fishing.

    Now I am going back to my yard work (with a big smile).

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  5. Congrats Ed. That's a fine 'bow.

    And if the wife asks, I'll vouch that you were doing yard work all day. ; )

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  6. Thanks Mike.

    Figures.....I catch my first trout and blogger goes down for 22 hours.

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  7. Congrats friend.
    You did the right thing in retireing the fly.

    Well done

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  9. Thanks Alan.

    It was nice to get the first one and get the "monkey off the back". I still have a lot to learn but I am "hooked" now. I wish I didn't start so late but that is the way it goes.

    I truly appreciate all the help (and flies) you have given me over the past several months.

    I joined TU (Nor'East Chapter)and they do a lot with the RI/CT Chapter.

    Also, in case you are interested NH is having a free fishing day coming up in early June. I may do some fly-fishing in the White Mountains.

    Thanks again for everything and have a good weekend.

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  10. OK, enough of the head fattening talk. I'm a Leo, you know, and we already have fat heads. On the other hand, glad I helped.

    Mark

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  11. Mark.....I would not have said it I didn't mean it.

    Hope your wife's surgery went according to plan.

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  12. I was going to post on this but blogger went down. Slipped my mind! Congats on the trout! I'm awaiting the next!

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  13. Thanks BCFN.......It was just my luck that Blogger went down the day I posted about my first trout on a fly.

    Hey Howard.....how is my lawsuit going against Blogger?

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