New to Fly Fishing

New guy · Member

New to Fly Fishing

JT · Senior Member

Putah Creek and the Stanislaus River are awesome fisheries but can be tough for beginners.� You may want to consider hiring a guide.� I'm sure Bono would be glad to show you the ropes on Putah Creek.��

windknots · Senior Member

I agree with JT, if I had it to start all over again I'd go out with a guide, you'll learn more in that one day than an entire summer's worth of fly fishing on your own. I learned to cast from a book checked out from the library and bugs were a big mystery for a long time.� Go with a guide or someone who really knows the ropes before you've bought anything, then fish, have fun and ask lots of questions.� Some of the shops have clinics, I did one out of a local Orvis shop in Palo Alto and learned all kinds of useful stuff that I've used ever since.�

I'd also recommend focusing on short line nymph fishing first which can be a bit mystifying but is a lot more productive and versatile as you're imitating the bugs that fish are eating 95% of the time but are invisible to you because it's all happening under the surface.��This also helps limit the gear you need to buy, organize,�and master.� When you're getting started I think that what pattern you are using for a fly is a heck of a lot less important than how you're presenting it.� A guide will show you where the fish are, why they are there, what they're feeding on and why, and how to present it to them.� It's kind�of like the "picture is worth a thousand words" thing.�

JT · Senior Member

I hear you windknots.� I learned to fly fish and tie flies from books.� I have spent tons of time reading, trying to learn as much as I could.� I have read most of the fly fishing books in the Solano County Library system.� I would say I've read them all, but they just got a bunch of new books recently.� I've also read quite a few entomology books from the UC Davis Library.� Seriously, if you don't want to read the entire library, hire a guide.� You can't beat one-on-one teaching from an expert in the field.

chemdoc · Senior Member

Hey New Guy,

I was in your shoes exactly 4 years ago.� I saw someone fly fishing and it looked like fun.� At that time Outdoor Adventures at UC Davis offered weekend fly fishing clinics twice a year taught by John Salido.� For $79 we spent the weekend at a UC research station at Sagehen Creek and got two days of basics which was great.�

I followed that up the following spring with some clinics from American Fly Shop, including casting classes and in the water classes with guides on the Yuba and Upper Sac.� Being 48 when I started fishing, I didn't want to spend years figuring things out.� Al over at American said these classes would cut ten years off of my learning curve, and he was right.

If you can afford it, going out with a guide as a part of a class or privately is excellent.� They are happy to teach you about fly fishing as well as putting you on fish.� If you are really interested in Putah, then you should consider hiring Greg Bonovich.� He can show you the places to fish on the creek as well as help you with basics.� Have fun.

Phil

New guy · Member

Thanks guys for the input. I would like to get some practice under my belt before I go with a guide so that I may enjoy my first time a little more and be a little easier to teach as I would be better at casting and such.

As I live in San Jose, I was wondering if there are any local streams or creeks that I can get my feet wet with, so to speak. I am looking for a place that would be good for a beginner yet able to catch trout, even if they are small.

Also, is there a site that I can go to and find the type of flys to use throught the year for the waters like Putah, Stan, and other Central Valley rivers? I have spent much time on the web and have not been able to find much info on flys for this area. Being that I am on a budget, I have found a few sites that sell flys at a really low price but I will need to know what to get.

Any help that can be provided would be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks and good luck on the water.

JT · Senior Member

Go to the link at the top that says "RETURN to Putah Creek Fly Fishing Web Site."� Then click on "Flies For Sale" at the bottom of the page.� Those flies are top producers on the creek.�

In general,�the majority of�people use small flies on the creek.� Most of my Putah flies fall in the size range of #16-24.� Caddis larvae/pupae, mayfly nymphs, and midge larvae/pupae are the main flies that you will want to imitate.�

Check out your local fly shop for casting clinics.� If they charge too much, you can always ask if�to test cast a rod.� Then you can ask for pointers.

windknots · Senior Member

If you google around on words like "hatch charts california rivers" you'll find sites like:

http://www.flyline.com/fishing_report/hatch_chart/

There are more sites out there, but this one is very well done as it includes links to patterns that you can look at.� It gives you an indication about how hatches change from season to season and how fly size will change as well.� If you compare them across areas you'll find some differences and commonalities, but in general there are a few basic patterns that you can stick with that can imitate danged near anything depending on how you�present it.� An essential piece of gear that costs very little is any type of bug net that you use to sample the critters in the water, it's just a super fine mesh netting that captures bugs you kick up off the bottom or seine out of the water column or even the surface.� You're doing the right thing, you can definitely avoid buying a ton of flies that don't look like anything in the waters you fish.� You'll be on a much steeper learning curve if you pay as much attention to the bugs as you do the fish.� A few standby's are stimulators (can look like�a stonefly, grass hopper, moth, dragon fly, etc), parachute adams and ants for dry flies/terrestrials, and� copper johns, hare's ear, caddis pupa patterns and some midge patterns as well as a few woolly buggers for wet patterns.� There are lots of other great flies, but if you left home with nothing but these you'd be catching fish OK.� DON'T buy a lot of flies until you've�physically sampled and�taken a good hard look at the bugs that live in the waters you end up fishing.

JT · Senior Member

Something I do quite often is google a specific insect.� If you click on "images" above the search box, you will get tons of images relating to that bug.� Some of the searches I have done are "Baetis," "Hydropsyche," "mayfly," "caddis pupa," "mayfly nymph," "caddis larva," "chironomid," "midge pupa," "midge larva," "golden stonefly."� There are tons of other searches you can do to get images of actual insects and flies that imitate them.� Don't be afraid to experiment.�

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

Welcome New Guy, I'm also from San Jose. If you want to practice at a stream near san jose, the only place I know of that has trout is San Lorenzo River and Soquel Creek. They are both around Santa Cruz, but they don't open to fishing until December 1st. You can get some nice steelhead in both places. In Soquel there is a fly shop called Ernie's Casting Pond. There website is Ernies.com. They know all about those two fisheries.

New guy · Member

Again, I thank all of you for your input. This forum is great! I will look into the info provided and begin there. I will also do a search to see if there are any classes I can attend to help me with learning this new hobby. If anyone knows of any in my area, please let me know.

Emerger · Senior Member

Are there any trout in the San Lorenzo or Soquel too LilWhippersnapper?

Frenchie · Veteran Member

Welcome to the sport.

A good place to practice your skills in the San Jose area is at the Campbell casting ponds in the Los Gatos Creek Park. There are usually some experienced casters there that are always willing to give pointers.

There are also some percolation ponds in that park that get stocked with planters. It is not a river but can still be a fun place to learn.

You may be able to save on the parking fee by parking somewhere along Dell Ave. in Campbell and then walk into the park.

Ernie's is a great little�shop. In the valley itself there is Fly Fishing Specialties�(formerly SJ Fly Shop) and also�Mel Cotton's. Mel's is�usually open until 9:00pm and has a great 99c fly drawer.��

-Jeff

New guy · Member

Has anyone ever fished Coyote Creek in the South Bay near Morgan Hill and Gilroy?

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

don't fish coyote creek... It used to be stocked by dfg about 7 or 8 years ago and hasn't been since they cut fundings. Now it's just a place were people that have no idea what they're doing go to fish. I don't know if there are any fish in there, but probably not. If there were any fish in there in the last 5 years, they've been caught out. Everyone that fished there kept there catch. Plus there's only about a half mile stretch of creek that the fish would be in, since the rest of the creek is polluted with bums pissing and crapping in it, and tons of trash.

JT · Senior Member

LilWhippersnapper,
That might just be your spot to catch a�BROWN then.

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

Why, do browns like swimming in piss and crap? I hope not, cuz I don't know how I'de get him off my hook. I ain't touching him, that's for sure. biggrin

�I'm not sure if you're joking with me or not.

-- Edited by LilWhippersnapper at 22:38, 2007-10-31

New guy · Member

Thanks for the info. I was just doing a search for possible other local spots that I could go to often that are close to home. I will keep searching.

JT · Senior Member

I woudn't touch the browns floating in that water either.

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

Emerger, There could be some wild trout in soquel and san lorenzo, but it's closed until december 1st, and by that time the steelhead are in the system. You can ask ernies casting pond, I'm sure they know.

Coffeen · Veteran Member

Ernie's Casting Pond is closing. Sad huh?