This is topic Confessions of a "Sin Fisherman" in forum Member forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.
To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://www.huntmastersbbs.com/cgi-bin/cgi-ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=004236
Posted by ursus21 (Member # 3556) on June 04, 2015, 09:31 AM:
I have to make a confession or two. I catch a lot of fish and a lot of folks have assumed I was fly fishing. Well the truth is I don't know much about fly fishing. One of my best friends and hard core fly fisherman calls my spin fishing "sin fishing". I fish with a lot of guys that love to fly fish, and with the exception of only a couple of times, I usually out fish them. However, on a recent trip to southern Utah my partner absolutely destroyed me while fishing for trout on Minnersville Reservoir. I only landed two trout while he was yarding them out with his fly rod. He offered to let my try his fly rod out, but I didn't have a clue how to cast it, and didn't feel like embarrassing myself that day. However, I did decide that I needed to get more serious about learning to fly fish. So the very next day after I got home from Utah, I took an Orvis beginners fly fishing class. Mostly what I wanted to learn, and did learn, was how to cast. I figured the fly selection and reading the water I already had a pretty good handle on, but not so much the casting. By the end of the class I was doing pretty good though. I wanted to go try my hand at fly fishing that very afternoon, but Mother Nature decided to rain heavily on my parade. I decided to stay home and dry, which was a good thing, as we got a LOT of rain that evening. However, the next day (yesterday) was a new day, and I decided to run up the mountain, after working in the yard all day.
On my third cast I was lucky enough to land this chunky little rainbow using an elk hair caddis.
I fished for another half hour without a bite. So I decided to change locations and try another area that I knew held some big brown trout. I'd rather fish for them any day, anydangway. Upon arrival I missed a really nice fish with my first cast, and it stirred up the area. I proceed to fish for another half hour, but not a single fish rose. Then all of the sudden a few fish started to surface again. One of the fish looked exceptional, and I have to admit, I got a little too excited. I had a hard time concentrating on my form as I was casting and kept screwing up. This resulted in me spending a lot of time untangling my line, cursing my lack of casting ability, and thoroughly entertaining my wife. I looked like a hyper 5 year old on Christmas morning because I wanted that fish so bad. FINALLY, everything came together and I landed a perfect cast, with a just right presentation. About 30 seconds after my fly rested on the water, my heart nearly jumped through my throat when I saw the fish take it. The battle was fantastic and I worried he would come off at any second. It's been a while since I was this excited over a fish. My reward was my first brown trout on a fly rod, and I got to say I'm more than a little happy about it. It's one of the biggest brown's I've caught on any gear, let alone a fly rod. So sometimes lady-luck even smiles on guys like me despite me doing just about everything wrong...in this case patience and persistence did pay off.
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on June 04, 2015, 09:57 AM:
Nice brown Troy!
Had to feel good!
I'm in the sin fishing camp though. And, like you said, 9 times out of 10, I'm killing the fly guys.
- DAA
Posted by knockemdown (Member # 3588) on June 04, 2015, 10:09 AM:
Such pretty, wild fish!
Was up during turkey season and slaughter-fied the stocked brownies with an 1/8oz. Phoebe from 4 lb. spin outfit. Almost felt bad, until I peeled the foil back after taking them off the grill... ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Anyhoo, made decison right then to hang up the spinrod in favor of the flyrod next trip up...
Kudos for taking up the challenge! Have fun & keep the pics coming!!!
[ June 04, 2015, 10:10 AM: Message edited by: knockemdown ]
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 04, 2015, 12:20 PM:
Great post, Troy...and what a lunker!
I have a mild interest in fly fishing but the problem, as I see it is that many waters in the Sierra's and elsewhere,they are just not suitable for casting a fly rod for a couple reasons, mostly having to do with overhanging tree branches and lacking a straight flow and actually having banks too steep for wading.
I'm a confirmed spinner, but not above using a bubble and fly in the afternoon.
And, I have out-fished the bait crew many times on impoundments. I use all the favorites, Mepps, phoebes, kastmaster, etc. but my go to lure for many years is Thomas Boyuant spoons. Pure dynamite!
I'm more or less a catch and release type, since I don't care for trout. I'll eat bass, but rainbow doesn't do a thing for me. I think ocean salt water fish are a lot better eating; for the most part. But, a pan fried bluegill is damned tasty!
Catfish are too ugly to be edible, definitely catch and release, if I snag one by accident.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by ursus21 (Member # 3556) on June 04, 2015, 01:58 PM:
I'm right there with you on the fish eating preferences, Leonard. All trout go right back in the water unless I decide I want to take it to the taxidermist. Since I've only done that twice in 50 years, I'd say the odds are in the trouts favor. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posted by Moe (Member # 4494) on June 04, 2015, 02:41 PM:
I've been fly fishing for a lot of years now. I started back when I was 13. One thing I'll say with some confidence is that a guy knowledgeable with a fly rod and fly fishing is going to be hard to beat. But in reality it's not a contest. I fish for the pure pleasure of it and I never worry about how many fish I'm going to catch.
Most guys learned to fly fish when they saw A River Runs Through It and most guys have no idea of how to actually fish with a fly rod. I see them every time I go out.
As far as fly fishing small streams where you can't cast there's a method called dapping. You drop the fly on the water and don't bother trying to cast.
Ursis......I'd love to hit that water during hopper season.
Posted by TOM64 (Member # 561) on June 04, 2015, 05:00 PM:
Us Okies have a different form from the purest but I love catching big bass on a fly rod. #8 line and rod, automatic fly reels, bass bugs from Accardo, no waders just Wranglers and fishin tubes from a place in OKC called Fishmaster.
Used to go down the Glover River and catch small mouth too.
Thanks for the reminder that I need to go again soon!
[ June 04, 2015, 05:01 PM: Message edited by: TOM64 ]
Posted by Moe (Member # 4494) on June 04, 2015, 06:13 PM:
I fished for cohos in the salt water when I lived up in Juneau. In both Alaska and Washington state I fished for steelhead. Steelhead in SE Alaska come in on the first high tides of May. By the first of June it's over. My favorite fly fishing was for sockeye in late June. They weigh between 7 and 10 lbs and go beserk when they're hooked. Fly fishing is the only real effective way of catching them.
This is an old picture of an Alaskan steelhead. It was taken in my front yard.
[IMG]http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd162/pk1_04/317387_280541491957 798_2007787289_n_zpsd87eaf6f.jpg[/IMG]
Some steelhead on Chichigof Island with friends
[ June 04, 2015, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: Moe ]
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on June 05, 2015, 07:29 AM:
The photo was taken in your yard....or, you caught the fish on your property?
Where my brother lives in Tumwater, I think he could kick them out of the crick behind his house, and maybe only get one foot wet?
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by Moe (Member # 4494) on June 05, 2015, 05:28 PM:
The fish was caught several miles from my house at Peterson Creek but I took the picture in my yard when I got it home. I went out the evening before after I got off work and caught one identical to this one but it was too dark to take the picture and in the morning the colors on the fish were gone so I drove out and caught another one. I caught the fish specifically to take this picture.
We did have a salmon stream that ran through our property but the fish that were spawning there were beat out and dark. We had both brown bears and black bears coming onto the property to get at the fish so we had to be careful in the Fall.
UBB.classicTM
6.3.0
