Howdy Everbody

I just wanted to say hello. I've been lurking here for a while, just
reading the Trip Reports, and generally enjoying the typical witty
banter. I'm pretty new to the sport.

I guess my story goes like this. This summer I spent a long weekend in
West Vail Colorado, along Gore creek which runs into the Eagle river.
Though not legendary, there were some people fishing along I-70 and
seeing them whetted my appetite. I didn't do any fishing while I was
there because I knew if I went out with a guide I would be a total clod
with a fly-rod. After I returned home from the Vail area, I heard from
an old friend who lives in Bozeman Montana, who said he would be
getting married in July of '07 and that I should be there. That sent me
over the edge, BY GEORGE, if I'm going to the heart of North American
FF mecca then I'm going to practice up and get good enough so that I
can actually enjoy some time on REAL trout water.

So back at home in good old Columbus Ohio I hooked up with Mad River
Outfitters and picked up a nice 9 ft 5 wt rig. I've hit my local trout
stream once, the Mad River. I got one refusal on a hopper pattern, what
looked like a nice Brown came out from a blue hole behind a big log and
turned away. This water gets fished pretty hard, so its no surprise.
But it was encouraging. At this point I'm looking at it like casting
practice on the water anyway.

I also just took the fly rod to Cumberland Lake in KY (I married into
some serious pleasure boaters so fishing isn't at the top of the
agenda) this past weekend, with hopes of hooking up with some Bass. The
first night I went down after dark, to see what I could scare up with
my mouse and frog patterns, but I realized quickly how much more
complicated fly casting is when you can't really see your loop. Dang
it! Skunked...The next night while playing cards by a coleman lantern
in camp there was an astounding number of mayflies of all sizes
attracted to the light. There was obviously some kind of hatch gong on
but I don't know enough about it to match anything, so I just played
cards, I thought for a moment that maybe the three Adams I did bring
might get something, but I was feeling lazy and enjoying a little Phase
10 with the in-laws. So the next morning I went out early, and got
Yellow wooly bugger highjacked in the abyss. I didn't really detect a
strike, so it was probably just hung up on the bottom, but Its much
more fun to imagine a 20 inch striper biting right through my 3x
tippet.

I did however land my first fish on a dry fly this weekend. I must say
that it was in a totally un-sporting, un-gentlemanly way, and I'm
pretty ashamed of myself. After spending a frustrating two hours in
lime green and pink tube (made for tubing not fishing mind you)
floating up in a cove casting an olive wooly bugger searching in vain
for anything that might strike, I was sitting on my in-laws boat eating
some crackers. I then dusted the crumbs on my hands into the water,
lo-and-behold a whole bunch of nice sized Bluegill appeared out of the
green abyss and nibbled at the cracker crumbs. Hmmmm, that Ritz looks
about the size and color as those Adams in my fly box. Since my father
in-law had just said "You can't catch fish during the day" I thought
well I'm going to tie on an Adams. So I took my Mother in law's 5'
spinning rod and tied that puppy to the end the line, a few beers in
the hot sun makes you do stupid things like this. I pulled out enough
line to get it down on the water and laid it right on the surface. In a
matter of seconds 6 Bluegill appeared in a circle peering up at the fly
as if to worship it. I jiggled it just a tiny bit and WHAM, one nailed
it. I had my first fish on a dry fly. After taking some razzing from my
family, about my lame and un-sporting fishing style, I then caught
another one 30 seconds later, both of which I released. Content that I
had proved my point you can actually catch fish during the day, I
stopped that non-sense. So whether or not those Bluegill thought my
Adams was a Caddis or a Ritz Cracker is yet to be determined, but
hopefully the next fish I catch on a dry fly, will be with a darn fly
rod!!!

So thats where I am...nowhere at all really, just right here.
-Ethan

Ethan wrote:

I just wanted to say hello. [snip] So thats where I am...nowhere at all really, just right here.

Welcome to the funny farm overtly. Columbus OH is not far from a few
frequest posters here including myself. I live in Indianapolis and go
over to the Mad a couple times per year. John Baker (Asadi) hails from
Dayton and theres' this poetry quoting groveling librarian named Claspy
from Cleveland. Last year we all got together on the Mad and perhaps
might do it again sometime.

Next time you're on Lake Cumberland, drop down below the dam, that is
supposed to be a stocked tailwater trout fishery, just keep an eye on
the release schedule.

Wayne

Heavily stocked and can be great fun

john

"Wayne Knight" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ethan wrote:

I just wanted to say hello. [snip] So thats where I am...nowhere at all
really, just right here.

Welcome to the funny farm overtly. Columbus OH is not far from a few
frequest posters here including myself. I live in Indianapolis and go
over to the Mad a couple times per year. John Baker (Asadi) hails from
Dayton and theres' this poetry quoting groveling librarian named Claspy
from Cleveland. Last year we all got together on the Mad and perhaps
might do it again sometime.

Next time you're on Lake Cumberland, drop down below the dam, that is
supposed to be a stocked tailwater trout fishery, just keep an eye on
the release schedule.

Wayne

Ethan typed:
snip
I then dusted the crumbs on my hands into the
water, lo-and-behold a whole bunch of nice sized Bluegill appeared
out of the green abyss and nibbled at the cracker crumbs. Hmmmm, that
Ritz looks about the size and color as those Adams in my fly box.
Since my father in-law had just said "You can't catch fish during the
day" I thought well I'm going to tie on an Adams. So I took my Mother
in law's 5' spinning rod and tied that puppy to the end the line, a
few beers in the hot sun makes you do stupid things like this. I
pulled out enough line to get it down on the water and laid it right
on the surface. In a matter of seconds 6 Bluegill appeared in a
circle peering up at the fly as if to worship it. I jiggled it just a
tiny bit and WHAM, one nailed it. I had my first fish on a dry fly.

Welcome, Ethan. Bluegill can be a blast, especially on a light rod. They are
really necessary in the flyfishing realm because you need a fish that will
slam just about anything after getting skunked fishing for trout (I know a
lot about this.) My guess is that you probably could have tied on a
twig and had the same success - they're not particularly picky. 'Love them
bluegill!

Here are some good patterns:
http://gula.org/roffswaps/swap.php?page=BG2003&id=11
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

On Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:45:21 -0400, "Tim J."
wrote:

(snipped)

Love them
bluegill!

Tasty little critters as well.
--

r.bc: vixen
Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher, etc..
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless. Really.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

"Ethan" wrote in message
ups.com...
I just wanted to say hello. I've been lurking here for a while, just
reading the Trip Reports, and generally enjoying the typical witty
banter. I'm pretty new to the sport.

Welcome Ethan. It sounds like you have a good start and a good attitude to
enjoy the sport and fit in here. However, I take issue with the mind set
shown in one of your statements:

I didn't do any fishing while I was
there because I knew if I went out with a guide I would be a total clod
with a fly-rod.

That reminds me of the housewife who thoroughly cleans the house before the
cleaning lady comes, to keep the cleaning lady form thinking she is a poor
housekeeper.
Guides regularly get total newbies to flyfishing as clients, and any guide
worth his/her fee will be quite adept at teaching a beginner how to flyfish,
including casting lessons.

Bob Weinberger

place a dot between bobs & stuff and remove invalid to reply email

Bob Weinberger wrote:
...
Guides regularly get total newbies to flyfishing as clients, and any guide
worth his/her fee will be quite adept at teaching a beginner how to flyfish,
including casting lessons.

While that may be true of some guides it is by no means true
of all guides. If you're a total newbie and don't even know
how to cast be sure to mention it before hiring a guide.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Ken Fortenberry wrote in
om:

Bob Weinberger wrote:
...
Guides regularly get total newbies to flyfishing as clients, and any
guide worth his/her fee will be quite adept at teaching a beginner
how to flyfish, including casting lessons.

While that may be true of some guides it is by no means true
of all guides. If you're a total newbie and don't even know
how to cast be sure to mention it before hiring a guide.


Bingo! Most guides will tolerate anything and work very hard for the
sports, but things will likely go better if the guide knows what's gonna
show up at the truck. Nobody likes last minute surprises that might ruin a
day. Also, let the guide know in advance if you're physically curtailed
(i.e., you don't want to hike vertical miles, or something like that),
prefer an easy wade, have some uncalled for religious disbelief in nymph
fishing , or anything that would likely affect where the guide might want
to take you.

--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

Exactly, I'm sure there are wonderful guides out there, who do a great
job educating newbies. The real reason I didn't go in Vail was I
thought it would be a waste of my money and possibly discouraging too,
certainly not that I was afraid of looking like a fool. If looking like
a fool was a problem I couldn't set foot out my front door!

On my honeymoon my wife and I went flats fishing with an excellent
guide out of Tavenir FLA, mind you, we were spin fishing with live
bait. I'm fairly good with a spinning rod and reel, but for some reason
that day I was all thumbs out on the flats of Florida Bay! Something
about sal****er fishing is just different than wading in your home
smallmouth stream. We caught one small Permit, IIRC. To this day we
laugh about our 300 dollar fish. Next time I use a guide I want to be
able to handle what he tells me to do, and on a Fly Rod, I've got some
learning to do between now and then.

-Ethan

Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Bob Weinberger wrote:
...
Guides regularly get total newbies to flyfishing as clients, and any guide
worth his/her fee will be quite adept at teaching a beginner how to flyfish,
including casting lessons.

While that may be true of some guides it is by no means true
of all guides. If you're a total newbie and don't even know
how to cast be sure to mention it before hiring a guide.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Ethan typed:
Exactly, I'm sure there are wonderful guides out there, who do a great
job educating newbies. The real reason I didn't go in Vail was I
thought it would be a waste of my money and possibly discouraging too,
certainly not that I was afraid of looking like a fool. If looking
like a fool was a problem I couldn't set foot out my front door!

On my honeymoon my wife and I went flats fishing with an excellent
guide out of Tavenir FLA, mind you, we were spin fishing with live
bait. I'm fairly good with a spinning rod and reel, but for some
reason that day I was all thumbs out on the flats of Florida Bay!
Something about sal****er fishing is just different than wading in
your home smallmouth stream. We caught one small Permit, IIRC. To
this day we laugh about our 300 dollar fish. Next time I use a guide
I want to be able to handle what he tells me to do, and on a Fly Rod,
I've got some learning to do between now and then.

-Ethan

Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Bob Weinberger wrote:
...
Guides regularly get total newbies to flyfishing as clients, and
any guide worth his/her fee will be quite adept at teaching a
beginner how to flyfish, including casting lessons.

While that may be true of some guides it is by no means true
of all guides. If you're a total newbie and don't even know
how to cast be sure to mention it before hiring a guide.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Oh, I forgot - *NEVER* toppost, especially when replying to Mr. Fortenberry.
--
HTH,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj