First Trout!

[Pontus]

Well I've been fly fishing for a while and asking you all questions as I go. Not only the posts in my threads, but various other threads throughout the database have really helped me along my fly fishing journey. I've gone out a bunch of times. Skunked my first time. Second time I got one chub and one rock bass. The next couple times were a mixture of skunks or one or two chubs. I hit the bluegill pond three times for some renewed spirit and confidence over the course of these. Finally, today, I went out and got my first trout: a rainbow somewhere around 12''.

The glare and the crappy camera phone don't do the fish justice, cause he had some really nice coloring on 'im.

Anyways, I'm totally hooked. I plan on starting tying flies really soon. Damn, this is getting to be an expensive hobby. I wish I had a fly shop close enough that I could just go and buy materials whenever I need them. Anyone willing to help walk a kid through this? I am the future of the sport, after all . I'm gonna get the list of tools recommended in a previous thread about that. After that, I'm clueless.

 

[jdaddy]

That's awesome man. You have a photo of your first trout on a fly. Congrats!

 

[David]

Great job! Congrats!
What fly did you get him on?

 

[Pontus]

A black cone head woolly bugger with a little flash. Pretty standard beginner's fly, but I'm not complaining.

 

[Fishidiot]

Great job Pontus. No doubt, that's a fine lookin rainbow. My first trout on spin gear and first on a fly were both rainbows.

 

[Pontus]

I never spin fished. I got started fly fishing on a guided trip during a vacation in Wyoming. I spent the first hour learning to cast while my friends and family around me caught fish. I gave up the fly rod for the spin rod for about 20 minutes at that point but decided that fly fishing was more fun even if I wasn't catching fish. That's when the cutthroat really started to pound my flies. Over the next couple hours I caught around 15. That was over three years ago, though. I consider this my first real trout because I really labored for this as opposed to having a guide tell me exactly what to do.

 

[Redsun]

GRATZ!!!

Keep it up.

 

[afishinado]

Pontus wrote:
Anyways, I'm totally hooked. I plan on starting tying flies really soon. Damn, this is getting to be an expensive hobby. I wish I had a fly shop close enough that I could just go and buy materials whenever I need them. Anyone willing to help walk a kid through this? I am the future of the sport, after all . I'm gonna get the list of tools recommended in a previous thread about that. After that, I'm clueless.

Congrats on the bow!

Here is some info to get you started on fly tying:

The basic tools you need:

Vise (inexpensive one!)
Bobbin
Small Scissors (decent pair)
Whip finish tool (Matarelli)
Tying thread (6/0 black to start)
Hooks

Here is a site with the basics of tying:

http://derekspace.net/#basics

Also you can go to “Charlies Fly Box” or a similar type site and pick the flies you want to tie.:

http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/details.cfm?parentID=55

Note the materials list and the hook recommendations. Just buy the material and hooks needed to tie those flies. Going to a well stocked fly shop for materials and advise would help.

It's not that hard. Just practice, practice, practice those patterns and move on to another fly when you master one. It gets easier as you go along since many of the skills and techniques you learn tying one fly applies to the next.

Good luck.

 

[Padraic]

Here's a tutorial page on how to tye some important patterns:
http://www.troutflies.com/tutorials/

Check out the Wooleybugger, Hare's Ear and the Pheasant Tail. When you get comfortable with the materials and tools, try the adams and the Elk Hair Caddis

Of course the page comes with a disclaimer, it's a western company and some of the patterns aren't really suited to PA. The green drake for instance is a western pattern, much darker than ours.

A great book to get at some point, would be the Fly Tyer's Benchside Reference. There are no patterns in it, but it's a complete catalogue of every fly tying technique known to man.

Congratulations on the rainbow. I hope you get the pot of gold next.

 

[Pontus]

So I went out again today. Caught one brown (my first brown ever) and a rainbow. The brown took the "Atomic Hare's Ear" pattern from theflystop in a deep riffle. The rainbow took a black hare's ear in a deep pool.

A third rainbow tried to eat my thingamabobber. Thanks to everyone who helped me in my indicator thread! The indicator was useful for both fish today.

 

[BelAirSteve]

Fantastic! I still remember my first trout on a fly...a wild Gunpowder brown, about 11", on an olive bead head wooly bugger in the plunge pool below Pretty Boy dam. I have a picture of it too. It only gets better. Remember, and try to document your milestones throughout your fly fishing life. I don't want to hijack the thread, but I love this topic, so I'll list mine so far:

First brown on a fly - see above (wild)
First brown on a dry - on an elk hair caddis on the Gunpowder
First brookie on a dry - on a Spirit of Pittsford Mills fly on Brokenback Run in Shenandoah National Park (wild)
First rainbow on a fly - on a green weenie Deer Creek (stockie)
First rainbow on a dry - on an Adams parachute Deer Creek (stockie)
First brown on a fly I tied myself - on a bead head pheasant tail nymph, Bee Tree Run (wild)
First brookie on a dry I tied myself - on a CDC blue wing olive Big Fishing Creek (wild)
First brown on a dry I tied myself - on the same CDC blue wing olive on the Gunpowder (wild)

I recently started tying soft hackles, and I caught 9 Gunpowder wild browns on the same fly over 2 days a couple of weeks ago...a hares ear and partridge. And not the same kind of fly...literally THE same fly!

And just so you know, once you start tying, there's no turning back. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

 

[Pontus]

I went out again today. Water conditions were pretty nice but the trout didn't feel like biting. I caught 5 chubs and a bluegill. No trout.

 

[albatross]

Congratulations Pontus! Welcome to our wonderful addiction!

 

[osprey]

Pontus..............Way to go man!!!! You are now hooked for life , but flyfishing is one of the few pursuits that often gives more back than you have to put into it. Don't forget to let a few go , and maybe think about joining TU , i wish you a lifetime of rainbows and hope you are hopelessly addicted.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

You are hooked for life,congratulations.Start a file of your fish photos.Memories for a lifetime.
Next comes the tying and maybe rod building.

 

[PaulG]

pontus

congrats, on your first trout!

I can remember my first trout on a fly, many years ago. Remember it like it was yesterday.

PaulG

 

[Acristickid]

Nice, keep it going.

 

[PatriotFly26]

I'm 17 myself so as a young person I understand the thought of being hooked after your first trout there is nothing like it.

Fly tying has become more of my passion than the actually fishing. I love being out on the water, and in the water. Everything about the sport has an enjoyable quality.

I've been fly fishing for about 4 to 5 years now, and I've narrowed my interests down. I love dry flies on a hot humid summer day when you can't get away from the thick black flies up here in Northern New York. Also I've taken up pike fishing on the fly. I haven't found anything that draws me like a large toothy predator destroying a 6"-9" bucktail that I've tied.

Fly fishing is not defined as a single thing. There is this Tenkara fly fishing without a reel. You have nymphing, dry flies, streamers, saltwater, and I even know some who troll with a fly rod.

Find what you enjoy doing and do it. Don't think about what the seasoned fly fishermen would say, because when they started they we're a radical style to the previous generation.


Fish Hard, Fish Often. Love to fish.