(Greg LaPorta) wrote in
:

How is it that I hear about all of u catching fish and i see pics, but
really, i catch mybe one fish ewvery week if i got out 3 times a week,
sometimes i catch none. I havent even caught a salmon or brown yet.
I go to the right spots....use a variety of things, and it never
works. Ive been fishing for a few years now, and it sucks how i go
....
(some of you may have heard of it)...and i saw trout surface a bunch
of times, and didnt catch one of them. Is it the flies im using/ I
recently started to fly fish, so as most of u can tell im still
clueless on a lot of aspects of it. please help me out here...what am
i doing wrong!!!

----
Greg

"Dont Lose the dreams inside your head, theyre only there until your
dead"-- DMB


Just a small aside-- you might not have noticed, but we really try not to
post the names of small creeks that can't take much fishing pressure on
ROFF. We go to extreme measures to avoid it, in fact.

Parts of that water are stocked, and parts are not. There are some
impassable barriers so most stockies can't get through. Stocking is
upstream, usually takes place just before or just after opening day
there, depending on how high the water is, and there is a stocking later
in the season as well, around the end of April I think. The DEC swears
that every two year old they stock is caught and kept within about two
days after they are put in, but I don't believe them. The stockies are
easy to catch, and the fishing can stay good for about three weeks after
stocking, if the water doesn't get real low and warm.

As for the stream-bred trout, they are tough to catch, but not as tough
as some of the other local waters! It did take me a season to catch my
first fish there, and about five years to be able to catch fish with any
sense of regularity on that non-stocked water, and I can still get
skunked every now and again. This isn't the best time of year to be
fishing that water, anyhow. Most people concentrate on the big guys this
time of year.

What I would recommend, if you want to speed up your learning curve, is
to call Coleman's, Up the Creek, or the Panorama Outfitters Orvis shop,
and hire out a guide for the day. Tell them you're a beginner. You
might or might not catch fish with a guide, but the lesson will be worth
the $150, and don't forget to tip!! All the shops in the area have on
stream schools, as well.

Some might disagree, but I think a knowledge of the local hatches are
essential over there, and you should learn some of the favorite local
immitations. There is a hatch chart online at the Panorama Outfitters
site (that's our Orvis store). I think Coleman's probably has the best
collection of local ties, but every store in the area does pretty well.
FWIW, my fishing turned around after taking Coleman's advanced fly tying
course, because it taught me a huge amount about the local insects.

Scott