How long were you into fly fishing until you started to really figure it out?

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buymanfishheday

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Still in my first year. Im totally obsessed. I had a great summer catching bass and panfish but I just cant catch trout. At all. I was out for 4 hours today and I threw everything I could think would work. Zebra nymph, copper john, a couple other nymphs I dont know the name of, walts worm, rubber legs, multiple dry flies, wooly buggers. I caught 1 tiny carp. Snagged lines for days. Lost 5 lures. Multiple tangled lines. How long into the hobby did you guys really start to get a feel for what works? Or start consistently catching trout?

I look forward to every single chance I get to get out fishing but man, its getting frustrating walking out without a nibble. Obviously have a lot to learn yet!
 
It took about 1 or 2 years.

My journey started when I saw a fly fisherman catch fish after fish after fish for about 3 hours. I vowed I would learn how to fly fish.

In the beginning it was very discouraging. My friends were catching double digit fish ( bait) and i struggled. But I made a vow my bait fishing days were over.

There was no internet then. I learned by reading magazines in the store, because i couldnt afford to by them. I had noone to teach me.

Trying to catch fish as a newbie this time of year is hard. Come spring fish some of the smaller well stocked streams. You will catch fish. Don't get caught up on all the possible patterns. Stick with a hares ear, pheasant tail, adams, Royal wulff, and light Cahill. All in size 14.

Eventually you will get the idea on how to present your fly. Then you will catch fish more consistently. Presentation is more important than pattern.

Then, As you become more learned with fly I'd you will increase your abilities even more.

For Northeast US fly Id and how to on freestone streams, I highly re
commend Art Flicks Streamside Guide.
 
Tigereye said:
It took about 1 or 2 years.

My journey started when I saw a fly fisherman catch fish after fish after fish for about 3 hours. I vowed I would learn how to fly fish.

In the beginning it was very discouraging. My friends were catching double digit fish ( bait) and i struggled. But I made a vow my bait fishing days were over.

There was no internet then. I learned by reading magazines in the store, because i couldnt afford to by them. I had noone to teach me.

Trying to catch fish as a newbie this time of year is hard. Come spring fish some of the smaller well stocked streams. You will catch fish. Don't get caught up on all the possible patterns. Stick with a hares ear, pheasant tail, adams, Royal wulff, and light Cahill. All in size 14.

Eventually you will get the idea on how to present your fly. Then you will catch fish more consistently. Presentation is more important than pattern.

Then, As you become more learned with fly I'd you will increase your abilities even more.

For Northeast US fly Id and how to on freestone streams, I highly re
commend Art Flicks Streamside Guide.
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Thanks, I appreciate it!

"Trying to catch fish as a newbie this time of year is hard." This was good to hear. I'll look into that book as well as a few of those patterns. I believe I have at least 3 of them but dont believe I have the wulff or cahill.
 
To be frank, I hope I never figure it out. The struggle days honestly provide a lot more chances for learning than the great days. Stick with it and focus on the relaxing environment, pretty soon the fish start to interrupt. Try to realize that there are lots of things you used to be bad at and are now good at. The more you do it, the better you will get. When I get skunked, I try to stay positive and tell myself “well I had a good practice.”

~5footfenwick
 
This spring is when it seemed to “click” for me. I’ve been fly fishing seriously for about two years now. I’d like to think it’s because I’ve improved as an angler but in reality it’s because I picked up euro nymphing. The only time I touch my normal fly setups is to streamer fish at this point. Just keep fishing and gaining experience and the fish will come, that’s what I’d say
 
I’ve been flyfishing for just under 2 years now and I can confidently say it clicked for me last February, i picked up tight line nymphing, i still dry fly fish but 90 percent of a trouts diet is subsurface so nymphing is way more effective. On good days I catch. Upwards of 50-60 fish. But on a “bad day” for me I catch about 10 it’s all in perspective. One thing to remember when euro nymphing is to not fish super heavy flies, 2.8 is good for about any water conditions unless it’s super super high or suuuper low. Then I would fish a 1.5 or a 2.0 for the low and a 3.2 or 3.8 for the hight water. Also don’t lob the nymphs, make accurate casts.
 
I think a good delineator is when you’re catching fish, AND you understand why you’re catching fish, and if you stop catching them, you’re starting to understand what changes to make to start catching them again. For me, that took about 2 years. Before that, I caught fish sometimes, but didn’t really understand why. Most of the time I didn’t though.

Warmwater fish are your friends. Apply what you learn there to Trout. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s similar.

Edit: I got lucky. The benefactor of a fortuitous bounce if you will. About 18 months in there was a flood level event that resulted in a co-op hatchery on a small stream by me losing nearly its entire stock of juvenile (5-7 inch) Trout into the stream. It was literally like a super-stocking, and it was in the Fall, and only a few people knew about it. Catching and learning on those (admittedly relatively easy) fish was got me over the hump. Fished that stream every weekend until Winter hit.
 
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5footfenwick said:
To be frank, I hope I never figure it out. The struggle days honestly provide a lot more chances for learning than the great days. Stick with it and focus on the relaxing environment, pretty soon the fish start to interrupt. Try to realize that there are lots of things you used to be bad at and are now good at. The more you do it, the better you will get. When I get skunked, I try to stay positive and tell myself “well I had a good practice.”

~5footfenwick
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I think this is great advice.

I’m in my fourth year and each year I add new techniques, different fly types/patterns and because I enjoy streams - I have a great experience every time out. I’d suggest taking advantage of the education from your local fly shops. If you plan on tying flies, you can pick up a lot of information at local fly shop tying classes. Also, I’ve been fortunate to hire a guide and really focused on their instruction after a full day on the stream.
I tried fly fishing as a teen and didn’t stay with it. Several decades later I found it again and it’s one of my obsessions too.
 
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buymanfishheday said:
Still in my first year. Im totally obsessed. I had a great summer catching bass and panfish but I just cant catch trout. At all. I was out for 4 hours today and I threw everything I could think would work. Zebra nymph, copper john, a couple other nymphs I dont know the name of, walts worm, rubber legs, multiple dry flies, wooly buggers. I caught 1 tiny carp. Snagged lines for days. Lost 5 lures. Multiple tangled lines. How long into the hobby did you guys really start to get a feel for what works? Or start consistently catching trout?

I look forward to every single chance I get to get out fishing but man, its getting frustrating walking out without a nibble. Obviously have a lot to learn yet!
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Sounds like you have the enthusiasm to carry you through the learning curve. You'll get there.
 
It took about a year. One thing that helped was fishing some stocked streams. The fish were more forgiving of poor drifts, which led me to gain some confidence, while in the meantime I absorbed a ton of material (online, in books, and in practice) - learned more and then branched out to more wild trout streams once I got better at reading water, having better drifts, knowing when to fish nymphs, dries, and streamers.

I agree with all of the “I hope I never figure it all out” (and probably won’t). About to venture into something new to me in the fly fishing game and can’t wait.

Keep at it.
 
Jay_H said:
It took about a year. One thing that helped was fishing some stocked streams. The fish were more forgiving of poor drifts, which led me to gain some confidence, while in the meantime I absorbed a ton of material (online, in books, and in practice) - learned more and then branched out to more wild trout streams once I got better at reading water, having better drifts, knowing when to fish nymphs, dries, and streamers.

I agree with all of the “I hope I never figure it all out” (and probably won’t). About to venture into something new to me in the fly fishing game and can’t wait.

Keep at it.
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That was part of todays frustration. Every time I walked out of the water and passed a "stocked trout water" sign, it just rubbed it in more. lol All good though. Definitely going to keep at it! Thanks
 
buymanfishheday said:
That was part of todays frustration. Every time I walked out of the water and passed a "stocked trout water" sign, it just rubbed it in more. lol All good though. Definitely going to keep at it! Thanks
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You keep learning things, year after year.

One of the most important things is to fish streams that actually contain a significant number of trout. Many streams that were stocked in the spring have no trout or very, very few now.

Some streams were stocked this fall, so those are worth a try. And wild trout streams contain trout year around.

It's good to have a mentor or mentors to help you learn things.
 
I did not fish until I was in my mid 20’s when a coworker convinced me to go on opening day. Everyone on the stream were catching multiple stocked trout. I did not catch a fish. The following year we were fishing a stocked stream with bait early in the season, and no one was successful. I watched a guy walk up the stream catching fish on just about every cast. He was fly fishing and I had never encountered anyone fishing with a fly rod. I made decision that day to learn how to fly fish. I joined Trout Unlimited and learned from anglers who had years of experience. As others have noted, it is best to learn on stocked streams in the spring. Begin with nymph fishing. Learn how to perform a tuck cast. I highly recommend fishing soft hackle flies. You simply cast the flies across the stream and allow the flies swing downstream. The fish will hook themselves, and you will feel the hit. This will build confidence. The internet was not available when I began. The information available will shorten your learning curve.
 
You said you are catching fish, just not trout, right?

I got on the trout board fast, back in my early 20s, but look: I was a student at Penn State back then, working/taking classes in the summer, surrounded by storied trout water of all types; and most importantly, the time to fish those waters.

FFWD to my late 20s, post Penn State, and the Gunpowder river in northern MD was my 'local' trout stream. I found that stream very challenging and struggled to catch trout regularly there, but did manage a few.

My point being: to get zen with trout, you need access regularly to varied waters with good populations of trout, and you need time make mistakes to learn from them. Even now I am learning. For example, this fall, I have come to really appreciate fishing wet flies using the 'down and across' traditional technique.

I think if you are catching fish on the fly, you are doing fine. You might just need to get some solid days on waters well populated with trout to get that gig going.
 
buymanfishheday said:
That was part of todays frustration. Every time I walked out of the water and passed a "stocked trout water" sign, it just rubbed it in more. lol All good though. Definitely going to keep at it! Thanks
Click to expand...
Was the stream stocked RECENTLY?

If it's not a fall-stocked stream, it's likely there's few fish left from the spring stocking, particularly this year after the very dry summer and early fall weather we had.
 
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