8/28-8/29 Report

[Gavin]

Use more lead next time. 0.3 grams isnt very much... I carry 3 sizes BB 0.4g, AA 0.8g, and SSG 1.6g...I rarely drop below a AA on the NFoW...and sometimes I'll have several SSG's on...keep adding lead till your catching fish....remove some if your gettng hung constantly.

[Arofishing]

Whatever you do don't pay for a "Fly Fishing School" or a "Fly Fishing Class"....if you ask 100 guides what they think when someone says "I went to the Orvis school of fly fishing" 90 of them will think to themself "Ok, I will be teaching all day" and the other 10% are Orvis Endorsed guides.

I came from the school of hard knocks. I had no one in my family that fly fished...no friends that fly fished...nothing. But I am guessing that I had something that is CRAZY valuable to a new fly fisherman that you may not, a trout stream 15 minutes from me. Quite literally if someone doesn't help you the only other way to learn this is time on the water, and a TON of it. Anyone can learn to cast and tie knots, half of casting is style anyway and you can't 'teach' style that is something that the caster has to find on his or her own. What a seasoned angler (notice I'm not only saying guides here) 'can' teach is how to make that cast easier, with less effort, and then THE most important part....what to do with the fly is in the water, or better yet in a fish face and you have no idea.

Seriously, find someone that has fly fished for a while and go fishing with them...it will save you a TON of frustration and time. (*hint* these people are super easy to find at local fly fishing clubs)

The cool part is, we can tell you have that fire to learn this sport....congrats.

Thanks Brian, very helpful.

[Arofishing]

Use more lead next time. 0.3 grams isnt very much... I carry 3 sizes BB 0.4g, AA 0.8g, and SSG 1.6g...I rarely drop below a AA on the NFoW...and sometimes I'll have several SSG's on...keep adding lead till your catching fish....remove some if your gettng hung constantly.

And here I was thinking .3g was too much! We did manage to lose a few nymphs in rocks, so we were doing something right in those spots, but maybe it was just more shallow. I'll have to buy some bigger weights! I went with the smaller assortment (.06-.3). That's one of those things I should have asked.

[Gavin]

You really need to adjust your weight for every run..add subtract, loose a rig or two...hardly rocket science but its something you need to pay attention too. The folks who know that river well adjust their weights & bobber depth far more often than they change flies.

[Justin Spencer]

Gavin's right, I change weight alot more than I change flies and it makes a big difference. I have to remind myself to do it because it will cost you breakoffs. Sometimes if the fish are really on it isn't as important as the times when you really have to work for them.

When I came to this river 8 years ago I thought I was a fly fisherman who could catch trout. My only other trout were caught at Bennett and Roaring River and a month of catching ZERO fish on fly rod I began looking for advice and the main thing that helped me was use lots of weight and bigger tippet so you don't lose so many flies, also a big indicator.

Summertime I am using 4X mainly and starting with a AAA in the normal fast water, some runs require more some less. IF you only have one size of sinker make it BB and start with 2 (300-450 cfs). Easy to take one off or put another one on, each run will require that you do that if you are fishing it properly. I usually leave on too much weight and lose about 5 flies per run, but that just gives me an excuse to tie, and as long as you catch about the same number of fish as flies you lose I figure that is okay. Springtime get ready to throw SSG's or several AAA's, and be careful, that much weight really smarts in the back of the head.

[Arofishing]

Ok, I'm prepared to chalk up that first night and morning to not enough weight, perhaps other things too, but this was probably the main culprit. We were only using .06. Once we got in the canoe we put on more weight, and that is the only time I caught any fish, that after you told me to keep it pretty close to the fly too.

I don't change flies or lures very often in general. Once the black bugger got a fish I just used it the rest of the day. I'm not impatient about lure/fly selection, more than happy to use the same thing all day long so well as it produces relatively well compared to other things. (I'd often use nothing but my frugal frog popper when smallie fishing).

Placing the indicator near my fly line helped too. On my first trip I was trying to use it to control depth and never had much success. Moreover, I couldn't see why everyone was shoving indicators down my throat because 1) I can tell when a fish is on (duh!) and 2) I could barely tell initially whether it was the current, a fish, a rock, or something else pulling my indicator under. Well, once I moved the indicator up and started paying closer attention to it and got a feel for 2), specifically when the indicator going under was just a function of the current, I realized I didn't have that good a sense of when 1) was happening as soon as I could be. I'd say about half the time I got a good tug and knew a fish was on. The other half the time I just saw my indicator go down, set the hook, and a fish was on though I was just guessing. So I certainly see the merit in an indicator now.

I've pretty much decided not to use my 6X tippet ever again unless I'm dry fly fishing for some super spooky wild trout or told otherwise. It is a pain to tie even a simple clinch knot. I was using 5X but really like the idea of 4X now that you told me it will work.