New to site and to sport

[hookandhackle]

Hello everyone,

Was referred to the site via ctfisherman.com. I haven't been fly fishing long. Only two times last year and 5 times since mid April. I've even tried fly fishing for stripers last Friday. Failed miserably but at least I tried.

Quick story-

I started getting bored with surf casting and wanted to try something new. So, I picked up an Orvis fly rod and reel from the catalogue and some flies and just headed out to a local stream.

I read about nymph fishing in The Complete Book of Fly Fishing and said I can do this... So... When I arrived at my destination I tied on a gold bead head something or other and headed on down to the stream. When I arrived at the edge of the bank I began swinging the rod which felt like a red wood tree wildly on a 10' wide stream. First cast I caught a nice maple tree about 30 feet off the ground. Hell of a fight.

The rest of the day pretty much was like the first cast. Ninety-nine percent of my casts ended up in trees, bushes, shrubs, rocks and under my boots. After cursing and hollering and acting like a maniac I calmly said to myself. "That's it I f#!@#ing quit."

Well maybe one more try. I tied on some day glow green woolly thing called an idicator above the bead headed thingy and gently threw the line up stream. The indicator went under the water and I gently tugged on the line. Holy crap! I actually caught something. The tiniest trout I ever saw decided to eat that gold beaded, headed, pheasanty thingy.

What a stupid fish. How could it have let itself be caught by someone like me. A guy who had no idea what he was doing. From that moment on I was addicted.

[The Patriot]

:lol:

Welcome to the site as well as the sport! Sounds like you're already ahead of the curve.

It took me 2 full months before I quit catching trees and the bottom and started catching fish. (Well actually I still catch trees and the bottom. :wink: ) My first season, '97, I caught 6 trout. But I didn't fish much after the fourth of July.

I didn't catch a fish subsurface until June of '98. And I still don't seem to do it well, or regularly. Dry fly fishing is alot easier and more efficient. Unless you're Housy Dave. :roll: Who may just get throttled this year. :twisted:

So again, it sounds like you're ahead of the curve :wink: , welcome aboard! :D

Tight lines,

Jim

[Troutfitter]

Welcome aboard.... we've all been in your shoes.

[Redwings1]

I think that everyone hit with the addiction to this sport has come to the brink of swaering it off at one point or another...but we always come back :P Stick with it and you will find you catch more fish than trees and end up knowing more about bugs then the local high school science teacher :wink:

[Richard W. Fleet]

HookandHackly - Welcome to both the site and the sport. Don't be overly concerned about your first experience. Everyone been there done that. And, many of us still do. As for the maple - I've caught maple, hemlock, pine, oak, and many others as well. I'm strictly catch and release so no advice regarding food quality. I am still new to fly fishing but for what its worth I have a couple pieces of advice. Practicing in your yard is fine but getting on the water is the only way to truly practice all that needs to be practiced (including getting your fly out of the maple). Second, spend some time just observing other fly fishers. You will be amazed at how much you can learn by just watching them. Watch those that seem to have it all together to learn how and what to do (generally they're the ones with a nice bend in their rods). Watch us novices to see what not to do. Lastly, fly fishing for me isn't about catching large numbers of trout. I love the outdoors and if I can tie on the right fly, make a good presentation and deceive one trout I'm feeling pretty good. Bringing him to net is icing on the cake. Good luck!!!!!!