Everything Fly fishing/Fly tying

Found a cool old fly tying ad and vice. Thought it would look good in the office.

Havent been able to get on the water this week. Itching to throw something around...

 

Let me know through this thread when your trip is close.. l’ll point you in the right direction

 

(Cross post from 'fishing' thread. Belongs better here)
Taking my 'new to me' 18 CM on her first trip next month. Heading to CO to fish the fryingpan river outside of Basalt. Boys trip with my Dad and Brother. Anyone have any time in this area or in this river? Any 'must have' mods or gear? Previous trips have been to the Black Hills, Crazy mountains in MT, and 2 years in platoro CO fishing the Conejos. This will be our first time on the 'Pan'. Any advice is welcome! Thanks!

 

Hunting tiny trout in a tiny creek with my buddies

 

I talked my wife into going fly fishing—her first time ever. We did a 6-mile drift on the Lower Sac from the Posse Grounds in Redding. Thirty minutes into the drift she caught a 6lb, 22 inch rainbow. It was an amazing day of fishing! I lied and told her it's like this every time (not really). Now she wants to do the salmon egg bite in early October. Expecting 500,000 salmon returning this fall, so there should be some big rainbows waiting below every salmon redd to gorge on bouncing egg patterns. A great way to get out during the Covid-19 lockdown here in CA.

 

Good first day

 

nice! what did it take? dry, nymph, which? i'm in the south bay and make my way up there on occasion. thanks for any tips.

 

Beadhead Pheasant Tail.

 

That’s a GOOD bow man!!!

 

This time last year in Montana.

 

Prime time in Wyoming

 

Not sure if this is appropriate to ask in here but i recently had a blast learning to fly fish on a friends very nice Orvis setup. I'm looking to get into it myself after years of fishing on spinning reels. Any suggestions for a relatively budget setup? Not wanting to go all in just in case i don't take to it as much as i thought. I've seen some "starter kits" but i'm curious if i'd be better off piecing together a setup instead. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I'd bet most people start with the cheaper stuff and work their way up if/when they desire. Cheaper doesn't always mean markedly worse. There's a ton of vanity in fishing these days, and if you're not seen with Orvis/Simms thisandthat plus your giant fishpond net with a clear rubber basket, you feel like you dont belong.

Just buy what you can afford and enjoy it. That said, there is more resale in the big names if you'd want to sell it down the road. Orvis Clearwater series seems to get a good reputation for what you're asking.

 

There are a lot of good brands that sell quality at low prices. The one thing I would consider is not buying the absolute cheapest, if you go one step up they generally offer a lifetime warranty and would also increase resale value if you didn't like it.

Brands like Redington, TFO and Echo are all good buys. I personally like Echo and still fish some of them today, great warranty and customer service.

If you do go with a starter kit and decide you enjoy it and want to continue fly fishing, I would consider buying a good fly line. A good fly line will be the easiest and most noticable upgrade you can do.

If you have any other questions or feel like getting into the weeds, feel free to let me know, I'm always up for some fly fishing bs!

Hope this helps

 

we should also ask what kind of fishing you're doing? If saltwater/steelhead/salmon, then you'll definitely need more drag in the reel than the beginner combo kids offer. My dad was gifted a Redington 9' 5wt (i forget the model), but i really like it. I was also impressed by the cabela's 9' 5wt beginner kit that a friend bought their kid... I like to think of it like golf clubs. Tiger would still beat me if we switched bags. I also like the expression that only a poor craftsman blames his tools...

 

Very true, water type is important and Cabela's definitely has a decent combo that a few of my buddies have used in the past.

 

I spent about 3 weeks camping this summer, hitting various spots in UT, OR and MT...not a lot of running water, but lots of alpine lakes that I hiked in to...this was probably my best catch:



My buddy is a FF guide, and gave me this box a few years back, all hand tied. He also sent me some smaller flies for the creeks that we have here in AZ:



This was the first fish on a fly line that I caught, somewhere in central UT:


Same trip, somewhere in WY...was on a back road, and came across some ranchers stuck in the mud; pulled them out and they told me the rest of the road was impassable, which given the mud we were already in, I believed them. They invited me back to their ranch and let me camp on the river, and let me fish their stretch of it.


And this is my camping set up for me and the kids:


And teaching my oldest to fly fish...had to get out past the weeds, but she caught a few small ones and was super stoked:

 

Personally I wouldn't spend a lot on a rod. If you buy a new carbon fiber or graphite rod it will be difficult to tell the difference between a $75 and a $300 rod. However the difference is really noticable when you destroy the tip in a car door or a thick stand of trees. For me I have more money wrapped up in my line and reels than in my rods. Side note: picking up a well cared for pflueger medalist reel on ebay is a much better investment than 50 bucks on a new plastic reel at walmart. Now with all the money you saved on the setup schedule some time with a fly casting instructor. It takes a a lot of practice before the quality of your gear becomes the limiting factor. Just my 2 cents. Enjoy the sport and the areas it takes you.

 

I agree with this. If you are primarily trout fishing, your reel is only going to be a line holder. You don't need a real fancy reel. Buy yourself a nice used beginners set-up from ebay or better yet, go to a local fly shop and tell them your budget. Tell them you need a set-up and some flies. Any fly shop worth their salt will walk you through it all help you pick something that isn't junk, but also won't break the bank. PLUS, you are helping a local shop, that if you really get into fly fishing, will be your go-to place for gear and advice.

I think this one item has been missed, but buy yourself some good polarized sunglasses. Smith, Costa, Maui's, they are all pretty good. PLUS, if you find this sport/hobby/obsession isn't for you, you still have some good lenses.

 

off topic, but the thread title is 'everything', so here goes: My wife and i are headed to an airbnb on the Little Juniata in central PA (about 9 miles south of Spruce Creek) the first weekend in October. This isn't a 'fishing trip' per-se, as my wife doesn't fish, but she's happy to tag along for a weekend of kid-free silence to knit/hike, etc. I know people get touchy in facebook fishing groups when asking for advice, but i figured i'd try on here. Any locals? I'll only have the day, and unlikely that i'll be back with any regularity, so i'd prefer to not spend the whole day exploring. Any good starting points/parking access is appreciated! TIA!

 

Sorry, I can't help you with Central PA but figured I would throw this out. If anyone makes their way to the Reno/Tahoe/Pyramid Lake area, let me know and I'd be happy to help out.

I get what you mean, some people are super secretive about too much. I may not give out my exact coordinates to my favorite honey hole but I damn sure am willing to help out with more than most.

 

Caught this fly fishing in New York on the Salmon River east of Pulaski. Made me think of this trip back in 2018 because it’s coming up on the time the salmon start to spawn. Another year I’m going to miss but do I ever have the memories! Hooked 48 salmon during the 3 day trip and only landed 5.

 

Oh man. That's a bucket list item for sure.!

 

Live about 1/2 hour from there, but I’m usually in my tree stand in October. Try calling TCO Fly shop in State College for the current hatches on the Little J. Great trout stream, running low right now like everywhere. Good Luck!

 

I haven't fished the Little J in a few years but it's a great stream with some incredible hatches. For just a day trip I would fish between Tyrone and Spruce Creek. There's plenty of access to the stream along 453. Around Spruce Creek the stream is more scenic but only accessible by foot down to around Barree. Wading also gets kind of tough the farther downstream you go, the water gets deep. Like @Malinois38 said, TCO fly shop in State College should be able to fill you in on conditions and may have some suggestions on where to fish. Their website also has fishing reports and hatch info.

 

just returned from a 5 day solo camping/fly fishing/mtn biking trip to the mccloud river in CA. been a couple times before but i fell in love with the river on this trip. also fished the preserve where only 10 anglers are allowed on the 3 miles stretch per day, catch and release only, single barbless hooks. i read about 30"+ browns, seen pictures and i have a new mission to catch one. maybe on my next trip i'll take a guide so i can learn from a local. i had tags to fish two days on the preserve. the other two i spent fishing by camp.

it was by far one the most scenic places i've fly fished...and i've lived in colorado, utah and fished idaho and new mexico so not incredibly well traveled but i've been on a lot of gold medal and blue ribbon waters.

fun fact...the rainbow from the mccloud were used to introduce trout to areas all across the US and the world.

getting to the preserve is an 8mile (high clearance only vehicle) fire road. i caught 5 at the preserve. no lunkers this time. one was 14-16". need to study the hatches more and get better at fishing big deep pools











camping and fishing by fowlers campground...a lot of people swimming and cliff jumping so harder to get away from crowds. did well in a 2-3 mile stretch tho









https://youtu.be/XIcRm7VwWXs

sad to leave and head back to reality...but i'll be back soon for them 30"+ browns.

 

Beautiful pictures, thanks for posting them. We all get to live vicariously through your experience. Timing is key for the Conservancy waters. A lot of factors come together to make October the opportune time to catch the big brown up there. If you're looking for a guide, I highly recommend the AC Fly fishing team in Redding. A few of their guys specialize in guiding the McCloud.

 

thanks for the tip! yeah, i read about october and it being a great time to go after them. gonna see if i can head back sometime that month. maybe stay in dunsmuir overnight, fish the next day and head home. i'll reach out to them. need to see if i can get a tag for oct.

 

NW Wyoming. Great holiday weekend. Hoppers still everywhere.

 

went back to the mccloud preserve! from my front door to the bank of the first hole i fish is about 7 hrs so it's no quick trip but when you're in love well....drove up the night before to make it a little easier. driving home ~6hrs after fishing a day in 100 degree heat in rugged terrain is long, at least for me.

fished this hole for a couple hours. so much area with diff flows. tried nymphs, drys and streamers on sinking tip line.



score! my biggest catch in the preserve so far! took a pheasant tail beaded nymph. obviously not a 30" brown so still seeking those river monsters here. they should start migrating this month. this guy was plump and strong.



made a walking stick that hangs off my vest when fishing. why did i wait so long for this! wtf!!



bambi "come back soon"!
me "i'm gonna try in Oct."!!



the new spare tire mount did great on the high clearance fire road. no wobbles!