Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing First time out!

I've been wanting to give fly fishing a try for a few years now. I live in Central Oregon, so I'm blessed with some good areas real close by. I've been buying good quality used gear for awhile now and finally had the basics to get started. I took a free three hour "Fly Fishing 101" course thru the Orvis store in Bend and got out on the river on my own for the very first time tonight. It was almost 8:30 by the time the kids were in bed and I got to the Deschuttes River about a half mile from my house. Third cast out I hooked a 12-13 inch trout- I'm stoked!

And stoked you ought to be.
What bullet and load?

Good for you Bend....beware, fly fishing is not called "the benign addiction" without good reason. Welcome to the fold!

macrabbit: thanks, you'll have to educate me via bullet and load (I will take a guess: bullet= fly? It was a #14 Adams; load? #5 dry line)...

sharps4590: I think you're right, because it's so user friendly where I live (virtually no travel time and uncrowded for the most part) I hope to get a fair amount of time on the water!

Anyway, I now have another topic to monitor on the 'Fire!

Bend_Shooter:
Now if you really want an addiction, hook up with someone and latch into a lower Deschutes summer steelhead on a fly. They should be in at fishable numbers right now.

Definitely best if you could get some time on the water with an experienced person. It's mostly about identifying proven holding water and presentation.

Good luck neighbor,

Your answers fit the bill.
But I wasn't really being serious. It's just that no one can post a shooting story without hearing a clamor for load info.

Enjoy the fishing. And don't forget to bring the kids along when they're old enough.

1minute: thanks, that's my next step I think. I've just been working on the basics of getting my line in the water, but I know there's a lot more to it than that- no sense re-inventing the wheel!
macrabbit: didn't catch the humor at first, I figured there might be a whole "fly fishing language" that I don't know about!
The kids are still pretty young (6 & 7) and I just got them their first spincasting rigs this spring. Maybe in a few years they will have the patience for fly fishing...

Find a good cinch hole creek or a small lake where they will catch fish regarless of technique and get them started now. There are spots where a rod length of line trailing down stream or a little line trolling out behind a tube or boat are all that's needed for some very good fish.

Good luck with the kids.

At least once, a fella left his Aztec dangling downstream while he held his rod in his armpit so that he could use two hands to light a ciggie, and -you guessed it- caught a trout. Skill and coordination are not always needed.

Glad you are enjoying the sport so much! You're "hooked" yourself!
And as for the kids, mine started fly fishing when he was 6, so do rule it out entirely!

MT: yeah, I think I'm gonna be hooked. I first wanted to try it when I was in my teens and a neighbors dad used to practice his casting on the grass at the local park, replete with a pipe in his mouth. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity. Maybe I'll let my little guys give it a try if they seem interested- I try to expose them to as much as possible and see what sticks, they may surprise me!

Boys? Girls? one of each?

MT: two boys, non-stop action from the moment their eyes open in the morning till they close in the evening. At 50+ they can wear me out some days, but I'm loving it!

Good for you, taking some casting lessons from the start will pay off big time in the years to come. I take it that you are an older guy, I'm 56 myself, and as soon as it cools off some here in CT, going to hit one of my favorite streams for the evening. Its hopper time or the start of it. Its lazy fishing, and being a lazy guy, I love it. But the last two weeks of Sept and most of Oct, trout are on a major feed for winter, Strong fish and bright fall colors. You are so screwed now. Its a drug I tell you a drug!

Yeah, I snuck out this evening after the little guys went to bed and caught the worlds smallest trout, about five inches, but even that was fun!

Those teeny-tiny trout is what a 2 weight if for. Fun in a float tube on lakes....

Bend, I fear you are hopelessly "hooked"...and good for you!!!!! Heed a word of advice and caution from an old fly fishermen, never, never, never pick up a bamboo rod rigged with a silk fly line.

sharps4590: thanks for the words of advice. I just might have to ignore them, I admit to liking 'old school" things: cars, guns, etc.

On many occasions when I have hiked to remote areas, or even slightly 'off the beaten track' areas, I have run into some amazing small creeks and streams. Several times I was able to see trout which were much larger than I would have imagined to be in such small streams. It would be nice to have a small, lightweight rig for such occasions...

Bend, you're just asking for it. See, now you're thinking about those nice trout in remote areas and a rod to pack in to fish with....(very pleasant fishing I might add. My favorite kind, small water, big fish).

If I told you what lies ahead of you, you wouldn't believe me.