12-24-2010, 03:06 AM
Confession time ... :-)
As I have posted before the first fish I caught on a fly was a decent sized LMB followed the next day by a very good sized crappie... both were caught on poppers...
.. now here is the rest of the story....
after my brother in law handed me a cigar box with probably two dozen poppers and said have fun I proceeded to do exactly as you have said.. wind nots all up and down the leader.. lost flies.. I beat up bushes and tree branches.. a few times I hit the stone retaining wall ten feet behind me and ground level.. at times I was "casting" a bare hook...
a lot of my casts.. okay.. the majority of my first casts ended up line in front of me floating in a big mess..
by the time I got done that afternoon I handed back a small handfull of bare or near bare hooks.. a rod and reel with a leader that needed changing (I had started tying flies on it so it was at least a foot shorter than when I started).. and another small handfull of poppers that were all but bare hook...
but I have to tell you honestly.. I would not trade all that work and all that "damage" and frustration and cussing and ducking for anything in the world..
the experience of seeing that bass come after my fly and the sensation of feeling it hooked solidly as I reeled it in is one I will never forget... nor will I ever tire of telling that story over and over to anyone who wants to listen...
dont give up.. it all gets easier with practice.. and I guarantee you that when you hook into that first fish and bring it to hand you will not experience another feeling like it in you life.. [
]
when that happens.. I do hope that you will post it here with pictures if you can so that we can all share in your fly fishing experience.. []
MacFly [cool]
[signature]
As I have posted before the first fish I caught on a fly was a decent sized LMB followed the next day by a very good sized crappie... both were caught on poppers...
.. now here is the rest of the story....
after my brother in law handed me a cigar box with probably two dozen poppers and said have fun I proceeded to do exactly as you have said.. wind nots all up and down the leader.. lost flies.. I beat up bushes and tree branches.. a few times I hit the stone retaining wall ten feet behind me and ground level.. at times I was "casting" a bare hook...
a lot of my casts.. okay.. the majority of my first casts ended up line in front of me floating in a big mess..
by the time I got done that afternoon I handed back a small handfull of bare or near bare hooks.. a rod and reel with a leader that needed changing (I had started tying flies on it so it was at least a foot shorter than when I started).. and another small handfull of poppers that were all but bare hook...
but I have to tell you honestly.. I would not trade all that work and all that "damage" and frustration and cussing and ducking for anything in the world..
the experience of seeing that bass come after my fly and the sensation of feeling it hooked solidly as I reeled it in is one I will never forget... nor will I ever tire of telling that story over and over to anyone who wants to listen...
dont give up.. it all gets easier with practice.. and I guarantee you that when you hook into that first fish and bring it to hand you will not experience another feeling like it in you life.. [
]when that happens.. I do hope that you will post it here with pictures if you can so that we can all share in your fly fishing experience.. [
]MacFly [cool]
[signature]