Surfin the Susquehanna
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I finally got all of my gear. Rod is a St Croix Reign - 9' 6wt. I have had 2 casting/knot tying lessons. After the second one, the guy at the shop told me to get out on the water, I was doing great for the time I have in. I went Sunday at 10AM to a local lake at a state park. I basically practiced casting in the water for 2 hours, which I didn't mind. I only had 3 varieties of caddis flys, brown, black and yellow. I didn't even see a swirl near my fly. I wasn't doing much other than casting. Are you supposed to retrieve a dry fly, or shake it around, or just cast and sit a few seconds before recasting? The water was real murky, I couldn't see my feet in a foot of water. Can that be why I got no action, or was it due to the time of day?
Well the story gets better. I went home and pondered for a while and thought maybe I'll go back in the early evening. I got back to the same lake, a bit away from where I was the first time. I got there later than I wanted to, About 15 minutes before dark and I caught a small bluegill on my first cast. It wasn't five minutes later that I got another one. I was thrilled, even thought they were what I consider nuisance fish if I were bait fishing. It then got dark quickly and I got no more action, but I was only there for 30 minutes so it wasn't bad.
My big question is this... what do I do once I cast the dry fly out there? Let it sit? How long? Pop the rod a bit to get it to shimmy and swirl the water? Retrieve it slow, fast, irradically? Also, I noticed that the fly gets wet and will start to sink, If I whip it back and forth a few times it dries out and floats again. Do I want it to be wet and sink or dry and sit up? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Well the story gets better. I went home and pondered for a while and thought maybe I'll go back in the early evening. I got back to the same lake, a bit away from where I was the first time. I got there later than I wanted to, About 15 minutes before dark and I caught a small bluegill on my first cast. It wasn't five minutes later that I got another one. I was thrilled, even thought they were what I consider nuisance fish if I were bait fishing. It then got dark quickly and I got no more action, but I was only there for 30 minutes so it wasn't bad.
My big question is this... what do I do once I cast the dry fly out there? Let it sit? How long? Pop the rod a bit to get it to shimmy and swirl the water? Retrieve it slow, fast, irradically? Also, I noticed that the fly gets wet and will start to sink, If I whip it back and forth a few times it dries out and floats again. Do I want it to be wet and sink or dry and sit up? Any help would be greatly appreciated.