New to FF - Lititz Area

[nomad_archer]

Hi Everyone, I am new to FF and generally fishing in the Lititz area. I grew up in SW PA an moved to Lancaster County a few years ago. I am not new to trout fishing as I would bait fish a few days every year. This May I started trout fishing close to home and realized the excellent number of fishing opportunities right out my back door. I decided to take up fly fishing and took the orvis beginners 101 course which was an outstanding starting point. I picked up a 8'6" 4wt orvis clearwater rod and battenkill reel. In the two weeks I have had the rod and about 6-7 hours of fishing, I have only managed one fish but it was the most exhilarating trout I have caught in a long time. I really cant wait until the next one. I purchased a few flies at orvis based on their recommendations. I also have a few flies that were given to me or that I picked up while trying to learn to fly fish for salmon/steelhead in college. I wish I could make sense of all of the files I have. I am struggling with what to use and when. Any help or guidance in that are would be greatly appreciated. I am also always looking for some one to spend a few hours fishing with now and again. Here is what I have fly wise. I dont know if it is a good start or most of it is largely irrelevant for trout fishing is SE PA.

Thanks in advance nomad

 

[CathyG]

It looks like you have a pretty good starter set. The basic essential flies are hares ears, pheasant tails, wooly buggers, Griffith's gnat.

Google basic entomology for new fly fishers and you'll find lots of helpful info. You'll get info on aquatic insects and their life cycles.

Also keep in mind hatches in your local area. Caddis seem to be plentiful everywhere and I only noticed a couple caddis dries in your pictures. Terrestrials (beetles, ants, inchworms etc) are great summer flies. Tricos will be popping in a few weeks.
For buying flies I don't tie myself my favorite sources are Big Y fly, the fly stop, and the fly shack.

 

[afishinado]

'cept for the rubber ones near the bottom, the first fly box looks like it came from Shakey's satchel...

It looks like you have some basic flies to start out with for now (the last box pictured). No need to have a hundred or hundreds of flies to catch some fish.

Stick with a few of the basic/proven patterns and spend time working on your presentation and reading the stream.

Good luck.

 

[nomad_archer]

The box of shakeys flies was the one given to me. I will be leaving it at home and taking the other two boxes with me.

 

[JVenezia]

I would take Shakey's flies and leave the egg patterns behind. If you want to fish sometime local give me a shout i usually get out on Sundays since I have been working most Saturdays.

What type of rod and reel are you set up with?

 

[nomad_archer]

I am setup with an orvis clearwater 4wt 8'6" rod and orvis battenkill reel.

I will take a look at the schedule and see if there are any up coming sundays that are free. A lot of my fishing happens the last hour to hour and half of the day during the week.

 

[Dave_W]

nomad_archer wrote:
This May I started trout fishing close to home and realized the excellent number of fishing opportunities right out my back door. I am struggling with what to use and when. Any help or guidance in that are would be greatly appreciated.

You're off to a good start and your fly selection will do fine.

Don't rule out fishing for warm water fish such as bass and sunfish in your local rivers and streams. The conehead Wooly Bugger flies you have will work well for bass. Too many beginning fly fishers focus entirely on trout. There are many bass fishing opportunities, especially during the summer months. Also, bass and sunfish are usually easier for beginners to catch.

 

[nomad_archer]

Thanks for the advice on the blue gills and bass. I plan to fish for them later this summer. I am thinking about getting a few small poppers for the blue gills as it seems like it could be some serious fun to catch blue gills and bass on a fly rod.

 

[TimRobinsin]

nomad, I think you stopped in the store and visited me today.

If you ever want to go out on LR let me know I have Sunday's off and would be glad to help you.

that said there are many opportunities in our area. sticking to the basic flies is a good start but more often than not it's our presentation that matters most.

good flies for our summer time are really PA staple flies like terrestrials (especially ants), streamers (like olive and tan wooley buggers), and caddis nymphs.

if you want to meet up, let me know.

let me know if you want to meet up.

 

[nomad_archer]

Tim,
That was me. I cant say thank you enough for your help. It may be a few weeks but I would very much like to meet up on LR. I will be in touch.

Also, I had a blast with the farm pond pan fish last night. It was really a lot of fun watching the fish come up, inspect the fly and then sip it.

 

[bigslackwater]

The ant with the high visibility orange looks like a winner. If you are fishing some of the spring creeks around south central PA try that. You might even want to put one of the midges (beside the red worm) tied off the bend of the hook as a dropper. don't make it too long. Maybe a 16-24" between the flies. This describes my go-to summer setup when I'm searching for fish.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I'll be glad to take you out as well. I don't have Sunday mornings off, but I'm free the rest of the day generally. Load up on them elk hair caddis!

 

[maffetaj]

do not get over concerned with fly choices. choose a general wet/dry fly.....something like a mayfly. example.... a comparadun is perfect, my go to fly. presentation is everything. put a comparadun over a fish a handful of times, it will slip up and take it eventually. ...... my 2 cents. keep it simple. Don't over complicate fly fishing and become discouraged, Have fun!

 

[nomad_archer]

The_Sasquatch wrote:
I'll be glad to take you out as well. I don't have Sunday mornings off, but I'm free the rest of the day generally. Load up on them elk hair caddis!

Thank you! Really I appreciate all the offers to go fishing. I will eventually get in touch of each one of you. I am off work friday 6/24 if anyone wants to go fishing during normal "working" hours

 

[nomad_archer]

maffetaj wrote:
do not get over concerned with fly choices. choose a general wet/dry fly.....something like a mayfly. example.... a comparadun is perfect, my go to fly. presentation is everything. put a comparadun over a fish a handful of times, it will slip up and take it eventually. ...... my 2 cents. keep it simple. Don't over complicate fly fishing and become discouraged, Have fun!

Thanks for the encouragement. I am far from discouraged. I am learning and learning and learning some more. There is so much good information about presentation and technique. I am really enjoying the process. I spent two evenings catching blue gills which was a great change of pace.