New to fly fishing

kylebass91 · Veteran Member

New to fly fishing

AfricanAngler · Senior Member

First off ...welcome. I am also fairly new to the sport and have been helped out tremendously by the guys on this site. Tiny midges and nymphs (18-22) seem to bee the order of the day....but I will let the rest of the guys who know what they are doing take it from there. Anyway good luck and I hope to see you up there sometime.

Cheers

Alastair

live2fish888 · Senior Member

i bet anyone could name off a bunch of flies that would work, but you would probably get confused with all of the names since your new to the sport. i suggest going to the pardesha store, and picking up a handful of flies. all of those flies are tied by greg bono (the local guide) and all are great patterns for this water. as for where to go, head to any one of the parking areas and explore. theres alot of great water out there that hold some fish. make sure to switch the depth up to. you never know where those fish could be feeding. good luck!

mx19 · Senior Member

Iam going to try to keep things simple.

1. you do other types of fishing so picking water will be pretty easy.plan on doing a little exploring and dont fish super fast water or super slow water.everything in between will hold plenty of fish.

2.Here are a few flies that will catch fish all year around.

1.zebra midge #18 black and silver

2. micro may #14 brn or tan

3.caddis pupa #14 tan ( warn sunny days )

4.copper john #16 red

5.hogans s&m #14 brn

3.you need to get your bugs on the bottom. keep adding weight and leader till you bump bottom once every 4 drifts.Last time out I was using a AAA size shot and had 8 ft of leader from my indicator to my first fly.water was 6 ft deep...

4.get into a good fly shop and ask a lot of rookie questions about leader set up and basic equipment.I shop at sweeneys sports in napa.tippet,shot ,indicators,not spreading mud snails to other waters and what ever else you need to know.

4.get a better job that pay more than min wage.fly fishing is not cheap.

5. after you get a better job hire Bono to guide you on the creek or keep your eyes on the board for a group class/trip.

6.have fun.any thing worth doing is harder than it looks.

mx19

LilWhippersnapper · Senior Member

kylebass91 wrote:

Kyle Bass <--- yes Im a bass fisherman at heart but no I dont keep anything I catch ever and i respect nature I dont act like your image of them :)

I'm a bass fisherman too, and I think we have a good image. Most bass fisherman (real bass fisherman), practice catch and release regularly.

DrBombay · Senior Member

Do everything Mx19 says and then do it often. Theres no substitute for time on the water. You may also consider heading up to a sierra river or stream to build some confidence and experience catching a few fish on a flyrod. I recomend this because in my opinion putah creek is a pretty tough place to learn. There's much "easier" places within a 2 hour drive of davis.

rgloft · Senior Member

mx19 wrote:

Iam going to try to keep things simple.

1. you do other types of fishing so picking water will be pretty easy.plan on doing a little exploring and dont fish super fast water or super slow water.everything in between will hold plenty of fish.
2.Here are a few flies that will catch fish all year around.
1.zebra midge #18 black and silver
2. micro may #14 brn or tan
3.caddis pupa #14 tan ( warn sunny days )
4.copper john #16 red
5.hogans s&m #14 brn
3.you need to get your bugs on the bottom. keep adding weight and leader till you bump bottom once every 4 drifts.Last time out I was using a AAA size shot and had 8 ft of leader from my indicator to my first fly.water was 6 ft deep...
4.get into a good fly shop and ask a lot of rookie questions about leader set up and basic equipment.I shop at sweeneys sports in napa.tippet,shot ,indicators,not spreading mud snails to other waters and what ever else you need to know.
4.get a better job that pay more than min wage.fly fishing is not cheap.
5. after you get a better job hire Bono to guide you on the creek or keep your eyes on the board for a group class/trip.
6.have fun.any thing worth doing is harder than it looks.

mx19

Im definitly going to get some of these all my putah 20s and 22s and a few 18s and not what mx listed ill probibly be there this sunday anyone else

Ty · Senior Member

Good to have you aboard Kyle. One thing nobody mentioned yet was a warning about the dangers of fly fishing. It will quickly consume your life. I started about 9 months ago and am completely addicted. Some nights I can't sleep cuz I'm thinking about it. Even when I'm not even planning to go any time soon! Seriously though, good luck and hope to see you on the water.

Taylor

AbelBoy · Senior Member

kylebass91 wrote:

Kyle Bass <--- yes Im a bass fisherman at heart but no I dont keep anything I catch ever and i respect nature I dont act like your image of them :)

Good for you. After you get your "feet wet" at Putah, start topwater fly fishing for LMB. That's some crazy fishin'.

AB

AC22 · Senior Member

Heres a tip.....stalk Brian Clemens....watch what he does....and youll never go wrong

AC22 · Senior Member

Dont be afraid to get into the bush to get to a great spot.....Putah is a b*** of a river to wade and scout.....so bring your patience. Also.....If you see a ton of people parked in one spot.....its probably got fish...just keep in mind the rules of properly fishing a spot....if your close to someone ask em if its ok to pitch near them and if they say no...wait till they leave or go somewhere else...there are a ton of golden spots on putah just gotta get in there and find em......also dont be afraid to try and hook up with some people on this website and tag along more likely than not they will help you out......other than that.....keep your tip up and set downstream.

mx19 · Senior Member

AC22 wrote:

Heres a tip.....stalk Brian Clemens....watch what he does....and youll never go wrong

Brian stopped fish putah when DFG stopped planting it. biggrin

AC22 · Senior Member

plants it himself now biggrin

-- Edited by AC22 on Saturday 29th of August 2009 02:39:02 PM

rgloft · Senior Member

Nice list of flys mx19 so just got back from sweenys with new fresh selection of flys and am going to the creek this sunday. anyone else going to be there this sunday morning

mx19 · Senior Member

dont let your girl friends wet wade

AC22 wrote:

plants it himself now

-- Edited by AC22 on Saturday 29th of August 2009 02:39:02 PM

rgloft · Senior Member

I don't understand why not ? let sarah wet wade

-- Edited by rgloft on Saturday 29th of August 2009 05:37:52 PM

mx19 · Senior Member

brians swimmer might be in the water

kylebass91 · Veteran Member

Well guys I havent really bought or went out for trout yet... but I went to the brown road spot some of you have gone for carp the past few weeks this morning, and btw I have been bass fishing their for about 4 years so i know that they are out their you guys should try it. Well anyay I brought only my fly rod to see if I could catch well anything. Well long story shot I went out for about 3 hours and left with a bluegill and 2 ten inch bass. Nothing to brag about but it was a blast catching something fly fishing and It defentally is something I can get used to doing thanks guys.

Kyle

AC22 · Senior Member

hey....my first time fly fishinng I hit the big 0....say way to stick it to em

kylebass91 · Veteran Member

heres the pictures of the 2 fish

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

KYLE: jUST READ THROUGH THE REPONSES AND THATS ALOT OF GREAT INFO, ANOTHER TIDBIT OF INFO YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO IS THE HOOK SET. MY BASS FISHING CLIENTS SEEM TO ALWAYS SET THE HOOK ON TROUT WAAAAAY TOO HARD. TROUT HAVE MUCH SOFTER MOUTHS THAN BASS AND ITS PRETTY EASY TO LOSE FISH DUE TO THAT FACT, PLUS LIGHT TIPPET AND SMALL FLIES ALL PLAY A PART IN THAT ROLE. I WOULD RECOMMEND JUST QUICKLY RAISING THE TIP OF THE FLY ROD UNTIL YOU FEEL THE FISH THEN GENTLY KEEP A LITTLE PRESSURE ON THE FISH LETTING IT RUN WHEN IT WANTS TO BUT NEVER LET THE LINE GO SLACK.THEN AS FAST AS YOU CAN LAND THE FISH.I USUALLY TRY TO LAND ANY FISH AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT "HORSING" IT IN MAYBE LASS THAN 1 OR 2 MINS MAX.OVERPLAYING A FISH OF ANY SIZE CAN AND WILL KILL IT. TROUT ARE A LITTLE LESS HARDY THAN BASS. HOPE THIS HELPS A LITTLE GOOD LUCK! BONO

AfricanAngler · Senior Member

Good work Kyle. Send me a PM next time you head out and I will see if I can meet you out there. Never thought to try that spot for bass but will try next time. Did you see any carp?? Anyway tight lines

kylebass91 · Veteran Member

I didnt see any carp and to be honest Ive never seen any out their but I dont know what direction you guys go though. cause you can go two ways, I head out towards the deeper water but before the bridge I can expect to find some but as soon as i caught that little bass i was done with carp lol even though i know carp would be a ton of fun

AfricanAngler · Senior Member

You don't really get to see them that well unless it is low tide. Just look out for silt clouds ....that is them feeding on the bottom. I also usually head below the bridge.