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First fish on the fly
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18-03-2009 1:34am#1Just wanted to say thanks to those who've given me tips and advice here, thanks to you I caught my first fish on the fly today.
It was a long day's fishing, that began with many many offerings to the tree gods. But I kept working my way along the river. Talking to people there wasn't much action going on, apart from one small stretch which was crammed with anglers throwing spinners, plugs, maggots and worms left right and center. I managed to find some quieter spots. Well, when I say quieter I mean in terms of anglers, apparently the non-angling public are allowed use the park too and PETA themselves couldn't have organised better disruption. Dog owners seemed to think that right in front of me was the best place to throw a ball for their dogs, in fact the first thing to bite my line was a 50lb+ specimen golden labrador, unfortunately I only had a small net with me so a good roar got him to let go. One family bizarrely thought it would be a good idea to get their toddlers to stand behind me throwing stones into the water while they videoed them, I don't know why they couldn't have used one of the empty pools to either side, if I hadn't stopped casting there would have been eyes lost. They tried to stare me down for a while, but I didn't give in, and eventually they conceded defeat and left. At which point I remembered I had been catching nothing in that pool anyway and left
But I learnt my lesson and began stalking in the quieter, more over grown reaches of the river. Luckily my casting was coming on in leaps and bounds and I was perfecting the roll-cast, the side-cast (both fore- and back-handed) and I think I even taught myself to spey cast (I have to look that one up again to make sure it's what I was doing). I had been fishing with a mix of PTN and hares-ear variants, green and red buzzers and a small black spider and getting nowhere, but as the sun began to make it's way down there was some small hatches of midges. My heart leapt when I saw a trout rising to take them a little way up stream, and then sank when I saw someone start casting a spinner to it. I hung around where I was, there was a hatch near me too, nothing rose to it, but after a while the guy with the spinner moved on so I moved up to see if there might still be something there. The spot was very over grown, with large bushes behind and trees to the sides, there was barely enough room to stand but I managed to get a few casts out and after a while I saw a trout rising again, so I tied on a little olive CDC klinkhammer (I think), I'm still not good with the entymology but it seemed like it would create a little white bit of fluff impression that matched what was on the water. Second pass over where I'd seen the rise and up comes the fish again and snatches at my fly. Panicking I struck right away sending my line back in to the bushes behind me 
I lost the fly too, it must have come off in the bush (I thought at first I left it in the trout's mouth but I saw him rise again soon enough after so I hope not). But I knew I was one the right track now, so I tied on another and went stalking another rising fish.
He was wedged right in to the opposite bank, and because of the bushes and trees I could only cast from right in line with him. Thanks to what I can only describe as miraculous casting I managed to get a few casts landing the fly gently down right in front of him. After two or three, up he popped and snatched my fly down. This time I managed to wait before striking and when I did I had a lovely little fish firmly on the line. My troubles of the day didn't end there, I grabbed for the flip-out net only to find the net had tangled itself around the frame and one of the arms had come loose (I'd loaned it to some kids earlier trying to get their football out of the water and never checked it after), but I was not going to be denied. He put up a good fight for his size, making some dashes for weeds and rocks, but I had a 6lb leader and I made damn sure this knot wouldn't come loose, so I was able to force him in pretty quickly. Possibly too quickly, he still had plenty of fight left and I had to grab him out of the water to release the hook, I did thankfully have the presence of mind to wet my hand first. I managed to grab a quick pic too but I was rushing to get him back in and on his way so it's not great quality.
Not a huge fish, but one I'll remember for a very long time, and hopefully the first of many.
(sorry for the long post, I'm a wee bit excited) 1
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Thanks guys. It really is a fantastic way to catch a fish, I've mainly caught by trolling spinners/plugs etc which is fine, but there's something special about spotting a particular fish and stalking it before getting it on your line/
Tbh, I never though I'd be interested in tying, but I do see the appeal now of knowing something that works and then trying to imitate that, or even to improve upon it, I can see myself trying it soon.pullandbang wrote: »Next trick now is to start tying your own flies and landing fish on them - nothing like it.
It was indeed the Dodder. And to be fair I've made it sound far more hellish than it really was. It's a beautiful river to fish on and it's fantastic to have such a great resource so close to the city center. The club have done an amazing job keeping it in such good shape.Doc Farrell wrote: »great report!
what was this hellish river? it sounds like the Dodder.
Hope soand for putting him back i hope you receive a lifetime of great fishing! I do like to take a (very) occasional fish for the pot, but in general I think it's always good to put them back. 0 -
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