A newbie adventure!

CaBrit · Member

A newbie adventure!

flyfishingjunkie · Veteran Member

Karl,

sounds like your ready for action. I have to warn you, I don't think you want to start your fly fishing career on Putah creek, especially not with the high flows right now.. First, Putah creek is nymphing water, and with the high flows you will need to put a lot of split shots on your line, which doesn't make for a fun time casting. Also there is a lot of brush, takes some time getting used too, even for experienced anglers. A good roll cast is a must on the creek. I would suggest you skip putah for now and head up to the smaller streams, such as the N. Fork of the Yuba (as you suggested), or head up to the upper Sac where you have some room to cast and you might get some dry fly action.

But if you must fish Putah, I suggest to try to work some seams under the bridge, high stick nymphing.

And watch out for poison oak and rattlers.

Hope I didn't sound to discouraging, just want you to have a good first experience fly fishing.

Cheers

JL · Senior Member

Definitely agree with Junkie!

Putah creek is unfriendly to even the most experienced angler.� Imagine getting your heavily weighted line snagged on a rock (can happen every third or fourth cast at putah if you're getting down to the fish), tugging on it, stumbling upstream to make it easier to undo, only to have it pull off the rocks suddenly and get hung up in the tree above your head.� This after you've spent ten-fifteen minutes tying up since your last snag and break off.� this happens all too often to even the best angler on Putah.� If you're not catching fish, it can be discouraging.

If you're going to do putah as a noob, get a guide.

North fork Yuba is a terrific option by comparison.

Putah is friendlier in the winter with low flows.

Having said that, if you're up for the adventure, Putah bows can be brutes and amazing to catch, and hell, you might do great.

good luck whatever you decide to do.

JL

fear no fish · Veteran Member

My advice for a newbie to fly fishing would be the same. I have guided fly fishing my whole teen to later life and there is nothing more discouraging to someone than continuing to catch a tree (banks of putah are littered with them), or getting skunked the first time out. Try the north fork yuba and visit a fly shop that knows of the area first. Drop a few bucks on the hot flies and they will be happy to rig you up and give you some advice on where to go and how to fish. Dont get discouraged if you get skunked or break of your whole rig, it is just part of learning the purest type of fishing there is. Good luck and dont be afraid to ask anyone on the river for advice (unless they are bait fishermen)!!!!!

Tight Lines...

CaBrit · Member

Thanks everyone for the great advice, sounds like Putah's not the best choice for beginning at this time of year.

Is there anywhere else within an hour (and a half) of the ne bay to get some river or creek experience? The quality of the fishing is less important that finding a place to practice presentation & river reading?

JT · Senior Member

If you want to practice casting and reading water, Putah Creek would be a good bet, as long as you wouldn't be too disappointed not catching fish.� Putah Creek has some really nice fish, but it does take some time to figure out how to fool them.� Once you�have it figured out, the creek will ruin you.� You'll start to compare the size of the fish to every fish you catch in other waters.��I do it all the time and think, "I drove two hours to fish this river when I could have driven�twenty minutes to Putah Creek and caught fish three times the size."��

jamesjw55 · Member

Yeah, I agree that Putah can be tough starting out, but it's well worth the wait! I fished for at least five years on the creek before I was consistently catching big fish, and now I can't get enough. The challenge is a big part of the fun. Yes, the tight casting and snags can be discouraging at times, but if you solidly hook into even one big, native fish in a day, your day is made. That's my opinion at least. I've fished most of the blue ribbon trout streams across the country, and Putah is way up there if you're looking for big, hard-fighting rainbows. However, as you'll soon see, certain other aspects of Putah leave something to be desired. Good luck out there!

shon42073 · Senior Member

Welcome CaBrit. Once your all geared up with the basics its not really an expensive "hobby" (calling flyfishing just another hobby is like saying brain surgery is just another job).� I'd suggest this, take your new rod and reel outside on some grass, tie on a fly and add atleast�four 1/2 gram beebie shots, then practice casting it, after that take all the shot off and practice casting again, It will be painfully obviouse wich is the funnest way to fish, What i am saying is you should find a closer sierra water to begin on. Putah is a winter fisherie for me. Then again is it really about catching fish ? For some I'm sure it is, �for others it is not, You'll soon find wich crowd your in. Thats my 2 cents. JUST GO FISH HARD AND ALL THE TIME !

CaBrit · Member

Well I heeded all the advice here and skipped Putah Creek this weekend but I do want to get some basic skills down before my Yuba trip. I know the river & creeks very well and my regular visits there are a prime reason for taking up fly fishing. Although a possible work trip to Montana soon is another motivator right now!

I stopped by the local shop and explained what I was looking for. They agreed completely with what everyone's said and pointed me in the direction of Lagunitas lake in Marin. With a few flies in hand I went for a few hours on Sunday and had a great time! The biggest lesson learned was that I should take casting lessons which is next on my agenda for sure.

I also learned that I should bring everything I might need with me. My pack isn't here yet so my new fishing gear was scattered about the place and I forgot my extra leaders, 45 minutes and one fly into my day I realized that the leader was gone! After 20 min of wandering about looking for it since with my casting it couldn't be that far away, I gave up and decided to tie on some tippet so that I could keep practicing. Most of you probably feel that the fishing gods are with you when your reel spends a day screaming, well they were with me yesterday as when I sneaked behind a tree for a pee I spotted the leader hanging from a little bush!

I spent another couple of hours thrashing around, no takes but I got a couple of perfect casts in which felt great. When I got home & looked closely at the map I realized that I'd actually fished Bon Tempe Lake so I'll try to find Lagunitas next Sunday! That leads me to my next question - anyone have any advice for fishing the lake, techniques, flys, approach or spots?

I will try Putah for sure but it will probably be later in the year and probably with a guide.

Thanks again for the great advice

Matt R · Senior Member

CaBrit, if I fished a lake I'd probably throw a wooly bugger on. huck it out there as far as I could and strip it back in. sometimes I'd let it sink sometimes not, sometimes strip it back in fast sometimes slow. try different stuff. If fish are rising well try to figure out what they're eating and tie on a dry fly that looks tasty.
And by all means dont let other peoples opinions effect where your gonna fish. You might just be a natural on Putah. ya never know if ya dont go..

Otter · Senior Member

I live a few miles down the dirt roads from Lagunitas and it can fish really well.� As the weather is cooling the fishing will get better.� The fish are actually very close to shore.� They hang out in and around the points on the north side of the lake.� Black APs and red brassies will work well!!� I usually bring a collapsible spinning rod with a kastmaster if the fish aren't biting flies.� The south side below the cliff also works.� You should practice roll casting for this lake and also for Putah.� Good roll casting is essential for catching fish on this lake and for Putah.�

spencer · Veteran Member

CaBrit, definitely don't let people tell you where to go too much. Putah is tricky (I've only been once and got skunked), but you should definitely try it out.

I was up in Oregon this weekend, wanted to fish the coast for trout. A couple of fly fisherman up there told me that none of the cutthroats are in the river yet, and that I should fish for steelhead instead. Well, I gave it a shot anyways, and caught 100 fish on Friday and 40 fish in two hours yesterday! I've only been fishing since may, so you can imagine how much I was flipping out! Had I heeded their advice, I'd have gotten nothing :)

North Yuba is great though. I hit it a few weekends ago and had a blast. Made me a much more confident fly fisherman. Great place to practice your casts as it's pretty wide open. The water is easy to read, and the currents aren't too screwy so you can get good drifts. Fish it between downieville and sierra city.

flyfishingjunkie · Veteran Member

CaBrit,

If you need casting lessons go to the fly fishing ponds in Golden Gate Park in SF. On the weekends there are always some old timers there that will be happy to give you some pointers if you are nice to them

CaBrit · Member

Thanks again everyone. I did make it up to the lake on Sunday but it was somewhat late, a little windy and there were a lot of people on the only open casting area. So I found a couple of quiet spots and thrashed around roll casting for a while. Didn't lose any flys or leaders and felt great getting the occasional good cast in and the day reinforced that my basic casting skills need to be improved before I can think about fishing.

I'd thought about heading over to the casting club in SF but their scheduled classes are over for the year so I have a private casting lesson scheduled for this Sat - can't wait!

I will head up to Putah before I go to the Yuba which is looking like the weekend after Labour day right now, if only to get a feel for sneaking around in waders and casting practice!

Hopefully I'll get to fish with some of you once I'm at the point where I'm not too embarassing to be seen with!

Thanks again,
Karl

fear no fish · Veteran Member

CaBrit
When you head up to putah remember that it is not really just not losing any flies or line that makes a fisherman a good one. If you fish afraid that you are going to lose a fly or line you will end up fishing too reserved and worry more about your line being in a safe spot on the river (so it does not snag something) than where the fish are. Im not saying you should throw your line anywhere, but dont be afraid to cast close to the brush where you know a huge fish might be feeding. You as all beginers do will probably loose quite a few flies in your developing career, dont let it make you feel as if you have no flyfishing skill. I have clients who I guide who lose flies every few casts on a pool out of my boat because it is littered with snags. When they discover where the sags are they cast around them or swing the fly over as it approaches them and are sometimes succesful in landing a huge fish. Good luck you are off to a great start it sounds like.

tight lines

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

Don't get discouraged,I have pleanty of clients on Putah that catch fish the first time out.In alot of �cases you really dont even need to roll cast,just let the line go down stream and at the end of you're drift� retrieve the slack out of you're line slightly lift the rod tip untill all of the fly line is out of the water (you're leader is still in the water) and in one fluid motion cast you're line upstream.This is a very effective casting technique that can be accomplished with you're back against the brush and still get a very long drift with maximum time spent in the water and minimum time spent flailing the line around creating wind knots tangles and spooking the fish.I probably use this type of cast more than any other even when I'm in a drift boat and there is no brush behind me.This explaination is kind of brief but I hope it helps ,good luck! Bono

CaBrit · Member

Thanks again all, the that more I read about fishing Putah the more I want to become proficient fishing it!

Well I used my (limited) fishing time this last weekend on casting lessons and behind my rod it was the best money I've spent so far. Got to try a variety of outfits from an old Japanese bamboo 5 or 6wt to a 10wt shooting line monster that made my graphite 5wt feel like I was doing the 'royal' wave! He went through a lot with me from the basics to roll & steeple casts along with some hauling and mending and my confidence level is rising.

Now I've found the Oakland casting ponds I'll try to get up there as often as possible and it looks like I'll probably get an hour or two in tomorrow. I'd like to practice some casting with weights to get a feel for it which leads me to my question this time around!

I know that you adjust everything to suit the conditions but as a rule of thumb for practicing how far from the nymph should I put the shot and approx how much? Also two local shops suggested completely different strike indicators - one a polystyrene bead and the other a strawberry sized brush with an eye on it. Which is the one that would be suitable for Putah at this time of year and and how far up is a good place to start?

I'll get a couple more trips to Lagunitas & the casting ponds soon and looking at heading up to the creek over Labour day.

Thanks again,
Karl

AbelBoy · Senior Member

Karl,
It looks like that you got onto casting lessons right away. By doing that, you have shortened the learning curve considerably.

You'd be surprised how much your casting will improve if you practice on a regular basis. Like any other sporting endeavor, it creates muscle memory. One of my friends who teaches and guides casts at least 15 minutes each day. The guy has a sweet cast.

... but as a rule of thumb for practicing how far from the nymph should I put the shot and approx how much?

The rule of thumb is to put on enough weight until you feel the fly ticking bottomor have your fly at your desired depth.� Remember that there are different types and weights of shot available.� Trial and error will help you figure that out.

Also two local shops suggested completely different strike indicators - one a polystyrene bead and the other a strawberry sized brush with an eye on it. Which is the one that would be suitable for Putah at this time of year and and how far up is a good place to start?

Everyone has their personal favorites.� You can get five fly fishermen together, and you might see five different indicator types being used.� What is nice about polystyrene beads is that you can adjust it easily without doing damage to your leader.� Those big puffy strawberry brush indicators can hold up a lot of weight.� The downside is that you have to treat them with floatant to keep them floating, and they are not easy to cast.� I've been using the Thingamabobber type indos lately.� They float high and cast easily.� They will put a kink in your leader, but I can live with that.� Buy a few, and see which one you like best.

It appears that you are off to a�good start.� Enjoy your new endeavor.

AbelBoy

-- Edited by AbelBoy at 00:22, 2008-08-20

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

I totally agree with Abel Boy about the indicators,I personally like to use tipper indicators because they are easy to cast easy to adjust they do not kink you're leader and they can easily be removed for some high stick nymphing.The draw backs are they can pop-off if you snap the fly line or cast too fast and they are not quite as sensitive or bouyant as the yarn type.Another tip for you're casting skills.When nymph fishing normally you use weight,indicators and possibly 2 flies you have to slow the cast down and present more of an open loop cast to prevent wind knots and tanglements,this type of cast is a little different than the typical dry fly casting.Practice makes perfect,timing is everything and do not over-analyze these things. Hope this helps!� Bono

CaBrit · Member

Thanks again all. Been practicing my casting especially roll and 'toss' casting and while not set in stone yet, planning on heading up to Putah on Monday for a few hours. So I'm back at the well of knowledge for some tips to help with the learning curve.

Of the public access areas is there one that would be a little easier or better for a newbie to get a feel for things given the high flows? I've been to Sweeneys, Fish First and Western and got a handful of recommended nymphs so I'll be trying them on a strike indicator and possibly try them under a dry (ant?).�For a leader�I was thinking of a 7 1/2' 5x with an additional 18" of 5x (6x) tippet. Does that sound right or should I be looking at a 9'?

Thanks in advance for this and any other advice that anyone feels like sharing.

Karl

-- Edited by CaBrit at 00:45, 2008-08-29

throwinmetal · Veteran Member

I was a newbie last year. Took me several trips to finally catch one. Lots of reading this message board for tips.