New to fly fishing...but not putah

new_user · Member

New to fly fishing...but not putah

Vix · Member

�� Hey New User,
�� It's great that your giving flyfishing a go.� As far as for�waders,
�� Check out� Sportchalet.com. They are selling Toggs breathable waders
�� for $50, for that price I� see it a good deal and with little care should last
�� a few summers. (no financial intrest for me what so ever)� Tight Lines!

shon42073 · Senior Member

welcome and your in for one hell of a learning curve biggrin

. good luck.

Flying Dutchman · Senior Member

Welcome aboard! I would check out the "Keyword Search" to help answer any questions...Tons of great information.

Emerger · Senior Member

I would bone up on the NZMS. You don't want to transfer them to other waters. Have fun out there!

keith bigelow · Webmaster

Don't forget to fill out a Putah Creek Angler Survey each and every time you fish, whether or not you catch anything.� This is valuable information being collected by the DFG.

http://www.putahcreekflyfishing.com/putahcreeksurvey.html�

AbelBoy · Senior Member

Hi New User,
Welcome to the world of fly fishing. I think that you will have many years of enlightenment with your new endeavor.

My advice for a newbie: start a relationship with a local fly fishing specialty shop. There are three reputable shops in the Sacramento area operated by sharp people (plus the Orvis shop... sorry... no opinion formulated yet) that can get you started. Besides product, the shops offer services like instruction, guiding, and trips. With you as a newbie, the instruction might interest you. Also its a great place to use as a resource for future fishing outings.

AbelBoy

windknots · Senior Member

My 2 cents, you don't need to spend a lot of money on rods and reels and stuff, and you don't need a box of a million different type of flies. You'll do well to limit yourself to a handful of generic patterns in a couple of different sizes, the biggest improvement you will experience will not come from spending money on equipment but from learning about the bugs you're trying to imitate and the techniques it takes to make a good presentation.

Time with a guide can be good, especially for learning about an unfamiliar water, but also look for anything like nymph fishing clinics offered by local fly shops. If you had nothing but stimulators and parachute adams for dries and some copper johns, caddis poopah's, and WD40's for nymphs you've got most conditions covered for trout in northern california. Avoid the "this is the fly their hitting in such and such a stream" rat-hole. In most cases some good standards presented skillfully will do just fine anyway. Until you have a better idea of WHY you would need a different fly there's no point in buying all that stuff. Knowledge and skills are 45% of fly fishing, equipment is about 5%, and getting your butt out there and putting in quality time is the other 50%.

new_user · Member

Thanks for the replies, guys. I should say I have fly fished before...I had a golfing buddy who grew up fly fishing teaching me (at putah) several years ago. But as Windknots said, I really have absolutely no clue what flies to use. Nor how to do anything but a roll cast. Basically the guy who was teaching me taught me how and why to mend my line, and how to cast. There used to be a fly fishing shop in Vacaville that I went to...The owner's name was Toby IIRC. He sold me a new line for my rod and a bunch of flies back in '04 I think. Even though I caught fish the 4 or 5 times I went out, I know I was doing a bunch of stuff wrong though. Lots of knots and snarls, etc. I know my technique is probably way wrong. Basically I was doing whatever I had to do to keep the right "drift" (if I'm using that term correctly) for the fly...i.e. having the fly go downstream in front of the line rather than having the current make the fly look weird to a fish.

SuperFlyGuy · Veteran Member

Welcome.

2 things.

1) Read, read read.

a Good starters book is the "Curtis Creek Manifesto"

2) Take a casting class

This will literally take 3 years off your learning curve. It is impossible to catch a fish that has been spooked by a sloppy cast.

Welcome to fly fishing! Warning, it is an extremely addictive and expensive sport.

new_user · Member

Just got done reading the Curtis Creek Manifesto. Great...the author seems really cool. I went to a fly fishing shop in Citrus Heights last week and bought a bunch of flies and went out last wednesday. I caught one 4 inch rainbow (I'm assuming it's probably native b/c they probably don't plant them that small?) using a copper john. Lots of [unintentional] knots in my line, though. I guess it's that learning curve everyone has been talking about...

AbelBoy · Senior Member

Hi New User,
I get all my gear from that shop. Rick Fox is one of my fishing buddies. He may be a nut, but that dude can fish!

AbelBoy

SuperFlyGuy · Veteran Member

yeah knots can occur when your loop isnt turning over correctly / or the timing of your cast is either too fast, etc. For putah though, honestly you probably dont even need to false cast too much.. If you do, once is probably enough.

Practice a good roll cast or just lobbing back up when the line is directly below you

Look up Jeff Putnam. I've never taken his classes, but that guy is legit for casting classes. I wish I started casting classes with him when I first started out instead of the self taught over "x" amount of years.