Posted: 4/6/2010 11:56:15 AM EDT
|
So my buddy is dying to go trout fishing and I told him I'd go with. I have never fly fished for anything before. I have my dad's old 1940's vintage Horrock-Ibodson "governor" fly rod and reel, and I ordered the "20 for $10 special" flys from Orvis, along with some 5X tippets & leader combos (Don't even know what the hell 5X means).
I'm a bass and musky fisherman (can ya tell?). I believe the early WI trout season is catch & release on artificials only so no cheating. Can anybody tell me what to throw and where so I don't go home skunked, or maybe a link to a real basic youtube that you think would be actually helpful? Also in case I get disgusted with the ancient fly rod I may use my sort of light spinning gear. I've got a coupe #9 Rapalas and smallish mepps spinners - maybe some recommendations on lures that might tempt a hungry trout? I'm guessing my favorite 9" weighted Suick will be no help 
|
|
http://www.flyfisherman.com/how-to/basics
As far as fly selection, just go to a local fly shop when you get there. They'll point you in the right direction. Even with the right flies, you're not going to catch many fish unless you understand some basic fundamentals. Proper presentation with the wrong fly will catch infinitely more fish than the right fly presented poorly both in hatch and non hatch conditions. |
| Well we made it out to the Big Green River in Fennimore WI on Saturday. I felt like a fish out of water with my ancient fly rod and no experience. We stopped to talk to another fisherman who suggested we sneak up on the pools and rocks at the bottom of runs from downstream and stay well away from the bank when casting. Unfortunately my equipment and skills were not up to it in the very windy conditions. I had to stand on top of the bank in order to get a cast into the water, and managed to lose 4 flies in the trees. I only managed to catch one fish about 8". I think it was a brown trout, tan color with dark spots and a couple pinkish/orangish spots. Regardless I had a great time and I can see how you guys get hooked on this. Planning on going back with better equipment and practice. |
|
Nice work on your first fish on a fly rod.
Being from IA originally, I miss fishing the driftless area in NE Iowa/SW Wisconsin. People never believe the size of some of the fish that come out of little spring fed creeks that you can jump across. But as you found out, fishing these areas require a ninja approach/mindset. Fishing takes on a whole new meaning when you have to stalk trout on your knees. It's almost like hunting. Presentation and stealth is key on these creeks unless you find the odd pool that's 5 ft deep. It's not like the tailwaters I fish nowadays where you can stand 10 feet away from a trout and watch it take your fly. There are also some great rivers in Northern WI. Great runs of steelhead and salmon out of Lake Superior and also good resident trout. I'm sure you could probably find that on Lake Michigan as well but I lived in Ashland for a little while so that's the area I know. If you want to get serious about trout, you should definitely devote your time to fly fishing. I'm not saying that you can't catch trout on spinners and lures but there are those times when you can't. When trout selectively key in on one stage of some form of aquatic invertebrate, you won't be catching many fish on spinners. Case in point, yesterday fishing the Arkansas I was surrounded by spin fishermen. I was catching fish after fish in the 16"-20" range. The spin fishermen both downstream and upstream both edged in on me closer and closer after every fish I'd catch and release. I let one guy fish my hole and moved upstream and continued to catch fish. They just didn't get it. It was as if they thought that the river was devoid of fish except for the hole I was fishing. When trout are feeding selectively, there is little else that they will take. |
| No kidding on the small size of the water! There was probably no place on the stream wider than you could spit across, and I didn't see anything deeper than 3'. At first I thought somebody was playing a joke on us. After a while we started keying in a little bit - they were staying in the more slack water pools - and we saw a few really nice fish that I never thought would live in such small water. |