THE CHERRY HAS POPPED!!! FIRST FLY CAUGHT RAINBOW

[youngfisho]

What I heard you say. Thats right. Some fly fishers may remember my first post about casting and fly fishing for the first time some months back in the urban sprawl that is london. Well after a long absence from the fishing\fly fishing due in part to my lack of desire to do anything. I finally ventured over to the wathamstow reserviors just to the north or london (england). I paid my 17 quid (yes you heard right) for a four fish ticket. And set up at the number four reservior. After about two hours of knots and tangles and troubles with my tapered leader etc etc i finally had some rhythm with my casts and getting some resemblance of what a good fly cast is about.

My little gold headed lure hit the water sunk, and i began my retrieve. All of a sudden (as the story usually goes) the line went tight, the rod bend over and a nice swirl errupted from the water twenty feet in front of me. Well i couldnt wipe the smile off my face. After about a five minute fight (stubborn fish) or maybe the lack of experience (probably the later) the fish came to the bank. And well for my first effort was not a bad looking fish either. It was as long as my forearm and fighting fit. I had hooked it in the top lip, no gut hook here (must have struck it right) I netted the fish after a bit of a struggle and proceeded to remove the fish from the net, take a few happy snaps and return it.

I made the mistake of trying to get a video of the release and during the transit from bank to water the fish made a last ditched attempt for freedom, lept out of my hand and hit the bank, slid down into the water belly up and floated there lifelessly. Enter expletives here _______. Suffice to say i was a little peved at the fishes actions. I quickly grabbed the net recovered the fish. Got him upright, and started swimming him. As i had seen many a rex hunt episode. After a few twitches of the tail the fish was ready to go back. And he did so with great speed and urgency.


Now, i hear you say "its only one fish". Well lets just say that its been a goal of mine to take up fly fishing and try and get some takes. But to catch, land and semi-successfully release my first rainbow trout, i'm suitably stoked. And whilst the fish only weighed about 2.5 pounds at best, it was using 3lb tapered leader and the angler was not well versed in the art of the fly.

Lets just hope there are more to come.


Heres the pic of it. Not a great pic but you have an idea of how big\small it is.


andrew

[Kendall249]

well done, they are a nice looking fish those rainbow trout

[youngfisho]

thanks kendall, hopefully there will be more reports to follow.


fingers crossed



andrew

[catchy_fishy]

Fantastic effort, I remember my first rainbow too well. It was a smaller fish than you'rs but one that I will remember for a long time to come.

A handy hint about releasing rainbows (any trout really) is to wet your hands before touching them.

You will have noticed that trout do not have scales. Instead they have a slime covering, which is their protective covering.

If you touch it with dry hands you can rupture it, leaving the fish exposed to infection/s. If you wet your hands youyr chances of damaging the slimy layer is far less.

Here's wishing you many years of fun flyfishing in the pursuit of the excellent cast, the excellent presentation and ultimately the dream brown trout on a size 22 dry fly.

Congrats [smiley=laola.gif]

Mike

[youngfisho]

thanks mike,


i think casting will be my biggest challenge. Just getting the distance and consistency. I have joined a fly fishing club in london, which uses one of the reserviors exclusivley. 80 quid gets me use of it until the end of may next year. So thats plenty of time to practice casting and fly fishing. Eventually ill be back in aus so ill be transfering what ive learnt into chasing pelagics and deep water species ie snapper, coral trout, cobia and every other animal of the deep.


andrew

[atlantic_salmon]

good man... what is the name of the fishery, its a nice looking rainbow with full fins (so it has not spent to long in overcrowded nets) and good proportions (the fishery manager has not gotten greedy by over feeding on pellets and bumping up the average weight), the fish is a credit to the fishery.

a small tip for you, when your walking in on the gravel paths grab a hand full and put it in your pocket, when no one is looking throw the gravel out at casting distance, the trout think its feeding time with the pellets and move in for thier supplementry food and just happen to find a gold head...

[wessel]

Job well done on a 3 pound tippet mate. It surely must make up for those miserable winter days that are on its way.

Wessel

[youngfisho]

Wessel,

mate im dreading the winter cold. Its just started. Hit a top of 7 degrees and minimum of 4. Its only gonna get worse. Thank god for water and wind proof jackets. Will have to get me some fingerless gloves for fishing. And some long johns.


andrew

[lock]

Good onya mate I am just about home myself I think I will leave the cold to you. Its a good feeling when you finaly get a fish after trying somthing for so long.

[catchy_fishy]

i think casting will be my biggest challenge. Just getting the distance and consistency.

Andrew

One of the best ways I found to practise casting in search of perfection ( not that I am anywhere near it yet mind you) was to go to an open field like a school football field or cricket field or the like. Ideally any open space with no trees. >

Take a small target - I used a lid off a small frying pan, and then took several steps back to try cast and hit the lid. As I got more consistent at hitting the lid I would then move further away and so on.

A good tip for this is to tie a small piece of wool on the end of the tippet/leader instead of a fly as it helps with the final "balance' (feels the same as a fly does) but also stops the leader from whipping and cracking to some degree. USing a fly when you are practising casting is simply frustrating because you can get hooked up unnecessarily on grass, yourself or anything else like someone's dog for example.

Keep practising and one day it'll be second nature.

There is an argumnet that says that if you can you should rather learn to cast on the water as you will still be fishing.

I say get the cast under control and then your life of fishing will be more pleasant.

A combination could be best too.

Cheers

Mike

PS any more trout since the first ??

[fish_outta_water]

young fisho
dont let the cold stop you! we used to fish on bodmin moor in the winter , stocked lake , fish are still on the bite .
if the fishery allows it fish 2 rods ,a booby off the bottom on short leader , and fish your lures , drys or buzzers etc on 2nd rod
17 quid is really cheap for a four fish ticket especialy for a stocked water
well done mate , havent had a lift or id still be chasing rainnbows too
tightlines