Where to take a first timer

[jameshebbert]

I've got a friend who wants to learn to fly fish, but I'm not sure where to take him with water temps rising. How far from the reading area do I need to go to find lower water temps and good fishing for a first time fly caster?

 

[boychick]

Start in a pond with blue gill. Water temps are not an issue, you should have plenty of room for a back cast, and he will probably catch fish.

 

[vealboy]

Try Hay Creek in Birdsboro,stocked and wild trout present and room to cast.Good Luck

 

[jameshebbert]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've never fished Hay creek. Could you tell me where the best access is?

 

[springer1]

Start in a pond with blue gill. Water temps are not an issue, you should have plenty of room for a back cast, and he will probably catch fish.

+1

 

[afishinado]

springer1 wrote:

Start in a pond with blue gill. Water temps are not an issue, you should have plenty of room for a back cast, and he will probably catch fish.

+1

+2

Very close to Reading is Kaercher Creek Lake. Plenty of room to cast and plenty of panfish and bass to catch.

The Schuykill River in that area is another decent place to fish for smallies and panfish.

 

[troutbert]

Can he cast a fly rod?

If not, the first place to go should be a lawn, to learn how to cast.

Then the bluegill pond.

 

[NickR]

Hay is also very warm right now... wait until fall. Give the warmwater a try.

 

[Coughlin]

I agree about warm water for first timers. It's important that they hook-up, which is much more likely with 'gills and smallies, especially if using nymphs. I can't imagine learning to nymph on trout water.
Coughlin

 

[jeremymcon]

Kearcher creek would be an ok place to catch bluegill and maybe some bass. I was there a couple weeks ago, though, and it was really weedy along the bank, which made it pretty tough to get to any fish.

I had a little luck with bluegill at lake ontelaunee too, and it was a lot less weedy.

I really don't regret catcing bluegill at a local quarry when I first started out - I think fishing a trout stream right away would have been frustrating. Plus you can find bluegill just about anywhere, which is nice.

 

[brain]

panfish will be much more willing to show a newbie a good time than trout would be.
you can also show him the different types of flies, how to fish them and the sunnies will be more than willing to play along with them all.
blueguills will put a nice bend in the rod and they are all wild fish to boot.

 

[rrt]

I agree with the idea of taking him for bluegills if there are no cold trout waters in your area. But, if a trout stream is there, drop a nymph from a dry fly, and tell him to hang on. That worked with my granddaughter, and she can now fish dries efficiently -- when she can take time from her other tweenage activities to fish. (Don't yell at your friend: my granddaughter told me this spring one evening that if I yelled again, the outing was over. I kept my mouth pretty much shut the rest of the evening.)

 

[pcray1231]

Well, to be clear, there ARE plenty of cold water opportunities in the Reading area. The county has 50 wild trout streams, and at least a dozen of them are good ones that fish well year round. A buddy of mine fished one last weekend, water temps mid 50's, caught 30+ trout.

For a small stream lover, this is the best trout fishing time of the year. Right now. And this year is better than most.

That said, most of them area pretty small and tight. For a beginner, start at the lawn, and the first water outing should be somewhere with plenty of backcast room. And most of the trouty places that stay cold in the area do not have a lot of backcast room. So I agree on the warmwater idea.

A lake can be tough unless it's from a mowed bank or something, but gills cooperate well. The Skuylkill for smallies is a good option too, at least he could wade around and cast, though success is less certain.

 

[shakey]

if i had it to do over again,i would have spent time fishing warm water before i even tried trout.

 

[Rolf]

shakey wrote:
if i had it to do over again,i would have spent time fishing warm water before i even tried trout.

Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pro4mance]

double amen

 

[jameshebbert]

Thanks for all the advice.
I honestly haven't fished warm water (fly fishing or otherwise) since moving here from VA almost 9 years ago so I'm pretty clueless in that area. Should I be using the same flies I'd use for trout?
I did catch a couple bluegills fishing below the special regs area on the tully and they didn't seem to hesitate to take a PT, caught enough that they were a nuisance.

 

[Rolf]

If I had to start with something on a pond for pan fish, it would probably be a Sneaky Pete popper or something small like that. The top water action should make it fun. Easy to see too. Good Luck and let us know how you make out.

 

[boychick]

Try a small to medium popper with pheasant tail dropper.

 

[jameshebbert]

I gave my friend the option (with a warning that trout would be tougher to catch) of warm water or trout fishing and he chose trout. With water temps. down a little on the tully we went out for a couple hours today. He didn't catch any trout, but he got a few bluegill and little smallies.
He had a blast! We are planning on going out next week to get him equipped so I don't have to use my old $20 walmart rod when we fish together.
In short, I have gotten two people addicted to the sport this year.