Fly fishing

[Tbeck]

Anyone else do any fly fishing?
I just started fly fishing in October so I am very new to the whole thing. However since October I have spent around 3-4 days each week in the creek fishing for steelhead. Starting to get a little bit of an idea about what flies work and in what water condition's, and what colors.
April 6th was the opening day of trout so I have switched gears to trout versus steelhead. Lighter leader and tippet but surprisingly the trout appear to like the same small nymphs that the steelhead like. I've been running a tandem fly rig like I use standard for steelhead and it's working very well. There's some small technique changes but for the most part not much difference between fishing steelhead or trout.
I'm working on the proper way to mend in line after casting for trout. With steelhead I just do an upstream or downstream mend during the drift, but for trout I'm mending in line as it drifts. Subtle difference's.
Anyhow if anyone has any suggestions for fly fishing please chime in, advice is definitely welcome.

PS....caught 3 nice brownies on 4/6 and caught 15 brownies on my birthday 4/7, so I must be doing something right. I don't keep them, strictly catch and release, non-barbed hooks on my flies.

[Tbeck]

Nobody here does fly fishing?

[navigator]

We don't fish for them, they just show up every spring.

[Tbeck]

Knew that was coming.....

Okay since you wanna be that way.....

Take a bath and they won't

[Suzuki Johnny]

Years back my younger brother and I would fly fish the Calcasieu river in the many bays and back water areas. with no rain for two to thre weeks during the summer months was the perfect time for us to go get 'em. Winds would be down considerably and made for some nice catches.
Never did get into making the baits we just used whatever we could get our hands on which wasn't much since most of our fishing here in the deep south was geared for bigger black bass fishing.
But we made due.. we'd fish out of our 14 foot Alumaweld with a top notch trolling motor with two 12 volt batteries on board. Fishing for big blue gill bream and sometimes run into a school of sac au lait ( white perch ). All were caught right next to the bank with huge spans of dollar Lillys .
Always after a whole morning of fishing we'd have enough for a two family fish fry.
Although not quite as thrilling as landing a 5 or 6 pound bass in the marshes in the Big Burns or federal reservoir areas, it was a much faster affair then the slower catch times than marsh fishing.
We no longer fly fish and when I do fish the marsh now, I fish off the banks, too much of a hassle of loading up the boat and trailering.
All the area reserves are all at an all-time low with the drought we had last summer making it hard to get around.

[HARRIS]

WHY FISH FOR FLIES ???

[Suzuki Johnny]

Well it's not actually flies we'd use but close.. In the months of May and April "May Flys" are in full bloom and they are everywhere especially on the rivers and bayous here in the deep south. At times along the river they light on the river banks in droves and big blue gills have a feast.
Throw anything that resembles that May Fly in the mix and bam!
Some of the many baits we used back then..

[Tbeck]

It's a pretty fun activity, fly fishing.
For steelhead it's just a matter of picking the correct color for the water clarity, and drift the line. Unfortunately they charge preferences daily.
Trout's been in for a week here. They seem to be more interested by the direction the fly is traveling more than anything. Color and size matter but the direction is the key. Three days ago I had to cast upstream and mend in the line to catch them. Yesterday it was 45 degree downstream and a drift. Today was cast online with the current and let the fly away in the current. Crazy! But I am catching fish so I'm not going to complain.

[Cuban]

Tim, the only fly fishing story I have is that years ago I directed a televsion series called Fly Tying. Pretty imaginative title eh? lol I built the show around a local man named Warren Duncan. I hadn't heard of him until we did the show, but as it ends up he was quite the big shot around the fly tying community, on a global scale. Fishermen came from everywhere to fish with him, sit with him, learn from him, and from what he told me once, to steal from him. They all wanted souvenirs. It turns out they were wise, because he passed away too young. He was one of those people you meet along the way that leave a large imprint. Just a great guy. You can google him.

[Tbeck]

I would have enjoyed meeting him Cuban. Sounds like he left you some memories.
I'll look him up because that name sounds very familiar.