I Caught my First Trout on a Fly Rod

IsaacYampolsky

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Joined
Jun 12, 2025
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Philadelphia
Hey guys, I'm pretty new to fly fishing. Though I have been fly fishing for a couple years, it's been pretty on and off for me, as I mainly fly fished the summer for panfish and other warmwater species, dropping it for fall and spring. Though I've caught tons of trout on spinning gear, I never caught a trout on a fly rod, and thus never felt confident fly fishing for trout. I've made a post about it on this forum before, and it's been somewhat of an imsecuroty of mine as an angler.

On tuesday, pennypack creek got stocked with trout and I fished it like usual, with a spinning rod and some worms. However, my reel accumulated a bunch of gunk and kinda stopped working. So, yesterday, when I felt like fishing for more trout, I took it as a sign to use my fly rod.

I layered up and stepped into my waders and made my trek to pennypack creek. I tied on a pink, plastic san juan worm with a white oros striked indicator. I started under the krewstown bridge where I had just caught trout earlier that week and got no action, for half an hour, until a felt a slight tug on my line; just an eager little redbreast sunfish. That was fine for me though, as it proved my mending was working.

After I finished up under the bridge, I made my way to a spot I knew would hold fish. It was a deep pool with a run that led into rapids, surrounded by rocks- perfect for trout.

So, I made my first cast, making sure to start close, then far, mending my line all the way. I wasn't expecting much when I saw my indicator go down, as I had been ticking bottom all day, but when I set my hook, I felt the familiar sensation of a fish on my line, only this one was heavier, and stronger, giving me a noticeable tug on my 4wt rod. The fish finally jumped put of the water flashing its silver and pink colors at me. It was a trout!

I stripped in my line a little, yanked my net out of my wader belt, and guided the fish to me. I've almost never been happier while fishing. I was shouting and cheering, giddy with delight. A passerby even came down to see me in my moment of triumph. I then showed him to dispatch and gut the trout, before he walked off. I was happy, and even if I fell in the frigid water, sprained an ankle, or cut myself, nothing would change that.

I then proceeded to catch another trout, a good deal larger than the first. I went home shortly after, with two trout that I caught, plus another that a friendly moldovan man gave me. His name was Vasili. So to him, thanks for sharing the memory and the trout!

Overall, I am super happy about this experience and I hope to use the confidence I gained to fish for larger or wild in the future, learning how to match the hatch and use more realistic presentations. And one day, I hope to use all that I learned to add fly fishing to my repertoire of skills as an angler. Here's to hopefully many more trout caught on a fly for me and all of you reading this!
 

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That’s great stuff. I’ve never fished Pennypack or the Wissahickon. Good luck and keep on fishing.
Tight lines!
 
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