It all Finally came together!

[opie610]

Ever since i began fly fishing several years ago i almost exclusively fished dry flies. This was solely because every time i tried to nymph fish i became frustrated. I guess you could say i never really put the time in to learn how to do it properly. As you can imagine dry fly fishing surely cuts down the productive time you have on the water.

This fall i had enough, I swore to myself i would put the time in and do my homework. I read and read and read some more. Spending countless hours on the internet, talking to people on the stream, whatever information i could get i soaked it in like a man possessed.

For the last month or so i have been putting countless hours on weekends fishing nymphs. I would get the odd fish here and there, but it always felt like the blind squirrel finding a nut kinda thing. Well today it happened, i caught 8 Rainbows ranging between 12" and 17" and one beautiful Brown that was 14" but had the most awesome colors!
Let me state that by no means do i think i have learned everything. Heck I'm sure i haven't even scratched the surface. But it sure felt good to have some confidence in what i was doing.

Just wanted to say Thank You to the members of this forum and others like it for providing the endless knowledge that helped my on my way to achieve my goal.

Opie

[kayo]

are you using an indicator?

[opie610]

Yes, i am actually using a Thingamabobber usually the smaller ones. I have tried some of those Styrofoam football shaped ones with the rubber tubing in them but i didn't care for them at all. I had trouble at first with the Thingamabobber slipping on the leader but i got that all squared away now and it's still adjustable.

Opie

[mcnerney]

Congrats on expanding your fly fishing repertoire and getting some of the nuances of nymphing down, that will extend your fishing when the fish aren't feeding on top! Don't forget that you can get a bit of both worlds using a dry/dropper rig. Now take the time to learn swinging wets and also do some streamer fishing.

Larry

[Eddie O'Neill]

Well done Sir, every day is a school day.

[kicker19]

Originally Posted by opie610

Ever since i began fly fishing several years ago i almost exclusively fished dry flies. This was solely because every time i tried to nymph fish i became frustrated. I guess you could say i never really put the time in to learn how to do it properly. As you can imagine dry fly fishing surely cuts down the productive time you have on the water.

This fall i had enough, I swore to myself i would put the time in and do my homework. I read and read and read some more. Spending countless hours on the internet, talking to people on the stream, whatever information i could get i soaked it in like a man possessed.

For the last month or so i have been putting countless hours on weekends fishing nymphs. I would get the odd fish here and there, but it always felt like the blind squirrel finding a nut kinda thing. Well today it happened, i caught 8 Rainbows ranging between 12" and 17" and one beautiful Brown that was 14" but had the most awesome colors!
Let me state that by no means do i think i have learned everything. Heck I'm sure i haven't even scratched the surface. But it sure felt good to have some confidence in what i was doing.

Just wanted to say Thank You to the members of this forum and others like it for providing the endless knowledge that helped my on my way to achieve my goal.

Opie

Congrats to you! i feel like i am in the same situation you are in. i get really frustrated with it but i find myself going back for more, just something i cant shake. guess thats why they call it fishing and not catching

[alexs]

Congrats!
Next step: European style nymphing. You'd be surprised how efficient it is in any water that flows at a good clip. And you'd find that there are a lot more fish than you thought there are in the river.
I started doing it 2 seasons ago and that is what I am doing 90% of the time. The other 10% is between dry flies in warm weather and indi nymphing slow pools in the middle of the winter.

Tight lines,
Alex

[brookfieldangler]

Congrats! It's an awesome feeling when everything comes together.

[jpbfly]

Congrats work does always pay!!next step...is nymph fishing on sightvery exciting technique

[jaybo41]

Congratulations! That's a wonderful thing when you're able to put the pieces of the fly fishing puzzle together. Your story is interesting because I actually learned to nymph first before the dry fly route. Back when I started this, I was like you, pulling my hair out trying to figure it out. There was no internet back then so my learning was mostly reading or watching others on the streams. I decided to book a lesson with a fly shop and that was my game changing experience.

Nymphing he suggested, was more of a challenge to learn than dries, so we focused on that. If you enjoy it, it is an incredibly productive way to fish. When conditions warrant, I love throwing streamers and dries but I always enjoy nymphing. There's another discussion going on about the book Dynamic Nymphing. There are some very good tips and techniques in there and worth a read in my opinion. It's not a sit down and read cover to cover book, but a little at a time and great to have as reference.

Glad to hear you had a successful day on the water!