OK, I'm hooked!

OK, I got a little behind in my schedule and am just now trying out my FF
equip and skills, it having been much too windy before now. This first ever
effort was kind of funny, but not at all disheartening.

My first problem was setting up the rod and line. It took me two tries
before I wised up to the pointlessness of trying to thread the 4X tapered
leader "up" through the eyes of the pole. I'd read of this bizarre ritual
and its near impossibility of acheiving, on the web. I swore
I would never be so inept as to have a leader fall back through the eyes
before I finished this simple task. After failing twice to even reach the 3
eye, I changed stratagies and hiked the rod up on a large boulder with the
tip facing down. Voila! I beamed with pride until I realized I'd actually
missed the first ferrule. Grrr....

I then moved onto rigging a fly. I used a .006" mono tippet off my tapered
tippet with a loop-to-loop and uni'd to a small/cheap yellow cork popper
with a couple sad feathers attached. I didn't figure to actually catching
anything. I just wanted to be able to see it out there and I figured a cork
popper would stay on top of the water. It did, for the most part.

As to be expected, my first casts with my 8-1/2' 5wt were sloppy and ragged,
but haveing read extensively and watching my back cast, I didn't kill
myself. I kept at it whipping and flogging like the rank amateur I am.
Just for fun, I left the hook in the popper so as to keep me on my toes,
knowing that sucker could nail me good if I didn't take care. At first, I
couldn't figure out quite how to coordinate my left and right hand and how
to strip and feed line to the loop I was flogging back and forth, but I got
better in time.

Every time I got some line out on the water, it was pretty pitiful. I
seemed to be piling up the leader/tippet right in front of the line. I
realized I was not getting a tight loop and was letting the rod tip go too
low when casting out. All that reading was not going to waste. I kept at
it and my loop got a bit tighter and I started casting out with my rod tip a
bit higher.

When I did get some line/leader straight out in front of me, I'd watch the
drift of the popper and its relation to my line. At this point I'd try a
few mends here and there. Hmmm.... not too bad. Most were downstream mends
as the fly was drifting faster midcurrent than my fly line. At the end of a
drift, I'd then try a loop cast. Hey, these are handy and not all that
difficult.

After about 15 mins, the wind came up pretty good. It was hard to cast up
stream with my right hand, so I tried casting across my body. Umm.. not
good. I turned and started casting down stream. Better. I finally got a
loopy knot in my leader/tippet that also entailed my l-t-l's, but it was
small so I continued. I got a few tangles over my rod tip, nothing too bad.

After another 20 mins, I was getting straight out to mid-stream, about 20-30
ft, with nice extension of both flyline and leader/tippet. This was most
satisfying, as I could now really see the current and practice mending. But,
I was still having trouble getting my line back up off the water and right
into a good backcast/loop. I'd come up and have to back/forward a couple
times to get my loop straightened out and tight. This pick-up was always
iffy and it was when I'd get tangles.

Finally, I did one really sloppy lift off the water, with a lot of cross
wind, and the resulting tangle put me out of action. I had multiple loop
tangles including one clear up in my flyline. After picking at it for about
5 mins, I realized I needed optical assist on this one and trudged back up
the hill.

So this, my first FF foray, and I loved it. Warm enough to be wearing
shorts and sandals and I got to see a flock of mallards tippy-toe skim
downriver not eight feet in front of me. A glorious day! No wonder you
folks like this FF thing. I didn't catch a fish, but I definitely hooked
something. I'll be back tomorrow.

nb

"notbob" wrote


My first problem was setting up the rod and line. It took me two tries
before I wised up to the pointlessness of trying to thread the 4X tapered
leader "up" through the eyes of the pole. I'd read of this bizarre ritual
and its near impossibility of acheiving, on the web. I swore
I would never be so inept as to have a leader fall back through the eyes
before I finished this simple task.


DOUBLE the LINE and thread it through the guides ... then pull the leader
through using the line ... the DOUBLED line won't fall back through the
guides ( very often )

On 2008-04-05, asadi wrote:

Boy, does that bring back memories... ain't it great ?

It sure is, John. I was starry-eyed at first, I think. A few good casts
and I'm an expert. Not!

I've given up any pretense of actual fishing, for now, concentrating on just
casting and line and rod control. Not as easy as I thought. I tossed the
nymph dropper and kept the popper to see what the end of my tippet is doing
relative to the line. I went down to the river twice this morning to
practice.

Just learning to cast is still a lot of fun. I've improved my pick-up and
left hand control considerably, but still have a bad habit of dropping my
rod too low on the forward cast and am still occasionally piling up the
tippet. I have to concentrate on keeping my rod tip up. I use that image
of Joan Wulff in the online video where she's all stretched out with the rod
held up at 10-11 oclock to remind me. I don't do the stretch, but I like
the image. It helps.

pleased to meet ya!

Likewise, John.

john (whose is Bob?)

I don't know. I can only tell you I'm not he.

nb

"notbob" wrote in message
.. .
OK, I got a little behind in my schedule and am just now trying out my FF
equip and skills, it having been much too windy before now. This first
ever
effort was kind of funny, but not at all disheartening.

My first problem was setting up the rod and line. It took me two tries
before I wised up to the pointlessness of trying to thread the 4X tapered
leader "up" through the eyes of the pole. I'd read of this bizarre ritual
and its near impossibility of acheiving, on the web. I swore
I would never be so inept as to have a leader fall back through the eyes
before I finished this simple task. After failing twice to even reach the
3
eye, I changed stratagies and hiked the rod up on a large boulder with the
tip facing down. Voila! I beamed with pride until I realized I'd
actually
missed the first ferrule. Grrr....

I then moved onto rigging a fly. I used a .006" mono tippet off my
tapered
tippet with a loop-to-loop and uni'd to a small/cheap yellow cork popper
with a couple sad feathers attached. I didn't figure to actually catching
anything. I just wanted to be able to see it out there and I figured a
cork
popper would stay on top of the water. It did, for the most part.

As to be expected, my first casts with my 8-1/2' 5wt were sloppy and
ragged,
but haveing read extensively and watching my back cast, I didn't kill
myself. I kept at it whipping and flogging like the rank amateur I am.
Just for fun, I left the hook in the popper so as to keep me on my toes,
knowing that sucker could nail me good if I didn't take care. At first, I
couldn't figure out quite how to coordinate my left and right hand and how
to strip and feed line to the loop I was flogging back and forth, but I
got
better in time.

Every time I got some line out on the water, it was pretty pitiful. I
seemed to be piling up the leader/tippet right in front of the line. I
realized I was not getting a tight loop and was letting the rod tip go too
low when casting out. All that reading was not going to waste. I kept at
it and my loop got a bit tighter and I started casting out with my rod tip
a
bit higher.

When I did get some line/leader straight out in front of me, I'd watch the
drift of the popper and its relation to my line. At this point I'd try a
few mends here and there. Hmmm.... not too bad. Most were downstream
mends
as the fly was drifting faster midcurrent than my fly line. At the end of
a
drift, I'd then try a loop cast. Hey, these are handy and not all that
difficult.

After about 15 mins, the wind came up pretty good. It was hard to cast up
stream with my right hand, so I tried casting across my body. Umm.. not
good. I turned and started casting down stream. Better. I finally got a
loopy knot in my leader/tippet that also entailed my l-t-l's, but it was
small so I continued. I got a few tangles over my rod tip, nothing too
bad.

After another 20 mins, I was getting straight out to mid-stream, about
20-30
ft, with nice extension of both flyline and leader/tippet. This was most
satisfying, as I could now really see the current and practice mending.
But,
I was still having trouble getting my line back up off the water and right
into a good backcast/loop. I'd come up and have to back/forward a couple
times to get my loop straightened out and tight. This pick-up was always
iffy and it was when I'd get tangles.

Finally, I did one really sloppy lift off the water, with a lot of cross
wind, and the resulting tangle put me out of action. I had multiple loop
tangles including one clear up in my flyline. After picking at it for
about
5 mins, I realized I needed optical assist on this one and trudged back up
the hill.

So this, my first FF foray, and I loved it. Warm enough to be wearing
shorts and sandals and I got to see a flock of mallards tippy-toe skim
downriver not eight feet in front of me. A glorious day! No wonder you
folks like this FF thing. I didn't catch a fish, but I definitely hooked
something. I'll be back tomorrow.

nb

Boy, does that bring back memories... ain't it great ?

pleased to meet ya!

john (whose is Bob?)

I have been fly fishing for about five years, not seriously though.
This year I have decided to get serious. I have a 7wt rod and 6wt rod
for smaller streams. One of the things that I have been doing lately
is talking to guys that have fly fishing shops here in northern
California where I live. They are usually good with Tips and
encouragement. I had a guy taking me out into the parking lot and give
me tips on casting and roll casting. Roll Casting is a must. Because I
live In Oroville with it's lake, it is generally Bass/bait country.
But after talking to guys, The area I live in is pretty hot. Talk to
people in your area, and shop around for gear. Believe it or not Longs
Drugs here in Oroville has decent gear. Especially for my budget.

wrote:
I have been fly fishing for about five years, not seriously though.
This year I have decided to get serious. I have a 7wt rod and 6wt rod
for smaller streams. One of the things that I have been doing lately
is talking to guys that have fly fishing shops here in northern
California where I live. They are usually good with Tips and
encouragement. I had a guy taking me out into the parking lot and give
me tips on casting and roll casting. Roll Casting is a must. Because I
live In Oroville with it's lake, it is generally Bass/bait country.
But after talking to guys, The area I live in is pretty hot. Talk to
people in your area, and shop around for gear. Believe it or not Longs
Drugs here in Oroville has decent gear. Especially for my budget.

You're a pretty short drive from the best flyfishing (for trout) in
California, which is sort of centered around the Redding/Burney area.
There's the McCloud, the Upper and Lower Sac, Hat Creek, Pitt River,
Fall River, and no doubt many other waters I've never fished.

BTW, you can't really roll cast in a parking lot. You need the drag of
the water to do it right.

Also BTW, a 6wt is a little on the heavy side for most trout flyfishing,
IMO.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"rw" wrote


You're a pretty short drive from the best flyfishing (for trout) in
California, which is sort of centered around the Redding/Burney area.
There's the McCloud, the Upper and Lower Sac, Hat Creek, Pitt River, Fall
River, and no doubt many other waters I've never fished.



I've lived in Paradise/Chico/Orland/Gridley for short periods

You don't need to go as far as Burney to find good fly fishing for trout (
although it's worth the drive,too ) There are many small tribs of the
Feather just up the hill from you that will surprise you if you go to the
work to check 'em out. One of the largest browns I've ever caught came
from Big Rattlesnake Creek ( not called that on the map g )


Seriously, check a topo ... explore ... you will be rewarded

Larry L ( who posts a WHOLE lot more about famous rivers next to the major
road, but DOES remember the joy of little known cricks a good hike from the
dirt road )

On 6-Apr-2008, " wrote:

This year I have decided to get serious. I have a 7wt rod and 6wt rod
for smaller streams. One of the things that I have been doing lately
is talking to guys that have fly fishing shops here in northern
California where I live. They are usually good with Tips and
encouragement. I had a guy taking me out into the parking lot and give
me tips on casting and roll casting. Roll Casting is a must. Because I
live In Oroville with it's lake,

You will definitely get hooked if you try roll casting in a parking lot w a
hook on and a wind comes up
I am sure that I must have done that at least once.

I fish rivers and streams w 4 - 5 and 6 wt for big rivers and big lakes
The 4 & 5 is for normal to smaller rivers and I have 3 wt for brushy
streamns and creek as it is a short rod

As Larry ( I think) already said

A 6 wt is as heavy as one may want for trout.

Fred