Super Greener

[ryan222]

I suck so bad, super new to stream flyfishing. Good at spin casting, hundreds on jigs, spoons ect., know where to fish, just can't get my first fish on my flyrod that isnt in a kiddie pond or stocked lake. Does anyone have any idea on how I can get my hook where fish in the bow will bite, how to present it, ect. Do you let flys float, or move them? super confused. Also, I have no idea of any terminology (ie mending??) ect, so any help would help.

[ham]

I'd say go do some research on the internet on things like terminology so you understand things more. You can pick up books at any of the fishing stores that would help or even chapters has books like fly fishing for dummies. Im sure if you skimmed through a book you would get the ideas of fly fishing. Many of the shops around town offer begineer lessons on all that stuff too at about this time of year I believe.

[Pythagoras]

RYAN222....Relax man....your gonna like this...your wallet might not but wtf, it's only life.

 

Fly Fishing is a real treat. Not that fishing with lures isn't ok...it's just a little better with a fly (IMHO)....something like Chevy vs BMW....both will get you to work, but....

 

Browse these posts, ask a few questions (except where to fish, what to fish with, how big a jet boat to buy and what trash is best to leave behind) and spend stupid amounts of money on crap.

 

Mending is where you adjust your line so the fly will drift without drag....sometimes (99% of the time) your line will move slower or faster than where you want to put the fly....that will make it drag (not look like its just floating on the current)....mending is tossing your free line up (down) stream so as to give the fly a longer drag free drift.

 

Your gonna like this.

[Wanny]

I'm basically a beginner this year too man. Over the winter i read "Blue Ribbon Bow" and "Fly Fishing Western Trout Streams" Both by Jim Mclennan and i found that they gave me enough knowledge to get fishing. I would recommend those books for sure.

[SanJuanWorm]

Here are some tips I learned about fishing the bow.

 

Here are some tips for you self learners.

 

1. Get a 9ft 1X leader. Put a strike indicator on the top where your leader attaches to your fly line. Tie one one San Juan Worm on the end. To the shank of the hook tie on another nymph about 12 to 18 inches with 1X tippet. I usually start with an evil weevil or prince.

 

2. Cast upstream at a 45 degree angle and mend your line according to the current. (Key is to make it float along as if it were not attached to a line NO DRAG). Let it swing all the way down past you until it is straight beside you. Give it 2 strips of fly line about 3 inch grabs before lifting it for your next cast. (You'd be surprised how many strikes happen here, I miss plenty)

 

3. Make sure your bouncing along bottom (this is key). I like to add split shot (the ones that are not removable and small). Set your hook when you see suspicious activity on your strike indicator (EVERY TIME i'm terrible but getting better at this)

 

4.Make your own grid system for casting. Cast one spot 3 to 5 times. If nothing, cast a bit further until you are sure there are no fish here. If nothing, move downstream or upstream about 10 feet and try the same thing again. (I like to vary my depths as well by wading deeper and deeper each time).

 

This should catch you at least 1 fish and help you on your way to nymphing the Bow River or any large river.

I am certainly no expert but this is the way I learned how to catch fish on the bigger rivers. This is with a lot of help from the Boards. If you have the money hire a guide to help you out the information is priceless. I have 2 links to Bow River guides on the website http://www.flyfishcalgary.com

[regdunlop]

You should sign up for the "nymphing the bow" clinic put on by Fishtales Fly Shop. Those guys will teach you the skills you need to be successful on the Bow.

[monger]

When nymphing, treat the river like a bowling alley, and put a drift through each "lane" beside you. Then move up ten feet and do it again. Look for spots where the water is transitioning from a riffle to a pool and along current edges.

[BRH]

Just a couple of additions to the comments 'SanJuanWorm' made.

 

1. Use a size 4 or 6 wire San Juan Worm. If you find the SJW continually bouncing on the bottom and getting hung up on bottom debris, move the strike indicator down the tippet a foot. Continue to do this until your SJW is just tapping along the bottom. Be cautious not to mistake a strike for a bonce on the bottom. As you fish different depths of water you will need to make an adjustment in the strike indicator position.

 

2. Start covering the water by first casting straight upsteam then 4 feet further out then 4 feet further out from that and so on until you are casting pretty well straight out from you. Cast at least three times to each spot before moving on to the next zone, 4 feet further out from shore. Picture the proverbial clock laying on its back with you standing at the pivot point in the middle. First series of casts should be to 12 O'clock, straight upstream from you. Then each series of casts after that should be at the 1/2 hour mark until you reach either 2 O'clock or 10 O'clock depending on whether the river mainstem is on your right or left.

 

3. Effective mending comes from experience. The reason for mending is two-fold; to keep the line as straight to the strike indicator as possible without altering the dead drift of the strike indicator and therefore the dead drift of the flies and to prevent the line from unnaturally affecting the drift of the strike indicator and flies. If you're casting straight upstream, there is very little mending to be done. When casting upstream, effectively all you're really doing is stripping in line to remove the excess between you and your strike indicator while refrainig to cause your strike indicator to deviate from its dead drift. While I don't subscribe to the dead drift, it is a reasonable starting point until you have some practice and get the technique down. Once you get the mending technique down so you're mending to minimize the slack line between you and your dead drifting strike indicator and preventing your line from dragging your strike indicator and flies, alter your technique very slightly so that each time you mend you cause the strike indicator to move 1 or 2 inches (the diameter of the strike indicator or slightly more). This slight movement will cause the flies to bob or wiggle giving them the appearance of being alive. After each mend and slight movement of the strike indicator, prepare for a strike. 90% of the time your strikes will come immediately after this slight movement. You have to think of this in terms of what the fish sees. There are millions of pieces of garbage and debris floating down the river every minute. If your flies are just like all the other pieces of dead junk floating down the river (your flies are dead drifting), the chances for a strike are minute a best. Also keep in mind that it will take 4 to 5 seconds from the time your flies hit the water for your SJW to sink to the bottom where the fish are. If you're casting to water where you only get a 4 to 5 second drift, you're not fishing the bottom and you're not going to catch many fish.

 

4. Don't neglect fish feeding water. If you've waded out to waist deep water to start your fishing, you've already walked passed half of the feeding fish in that section of the river.

 

5. Unlike what 'SanJuanWorm' says, allow your flies to drift downstream well below you. It will take practice to master the mending technique when the flies get downstream of your position. You can even feed line off your reel to extend your drift. Fish all the water until the flies pull tight against the line and begin to drag. At this point it's time to cast again. This doubles the amount of water you're fishing rather than terminating the drift when the flies are straight out from you.

 

If it is in your budget to hire a guide to show you the ropes, be sure to do your homework so you end up hiring a guide who will actually show you how to fish the Bow. Many of the guides on the river won't. You have to actually get into some fish on purpose, rather than by accident, to learn something. When you're down on the river, pay particular attention to the boats drifting by. The boats passing you who always seem to have a fish on are the guides you want to hire. Consider that well over half of the fishermen on a guided trip have also never fished the Bow before and if the guides are consistently getting their clients into fish, those guides will be able to help you improve your river angling. Of the 100 or more individuals who book fishing trips on the Bow River, I know of only 4 or 5 who I consider to be actual "Guides". Be sure to get a Guide as opposed to someone who books fishing trips on the river.

[SanJuanWorm]

4. Don't neglect fish feeding water. If you've waded out to waist deep water to start your fishing, you've already walked passed half of the feeding fish in that section of the river.

 

Fantastic point.

 

If your fish keep hitting the worm, then theres no shame in fishing with 2 sjw's.

[ryan222]

Thanks everyone, lots of that advice really pulls it all together.

 

I think the problem for me before was mostly setup, making my fly look retarded in the water. Got more appropriate leaders, strike indicator too, and some advice at the store, so hopefully with luck I'll catch at least 1 next time, and put stop my jerk friends from laughing at how many they are catching right beside me on jigs.

[reevesr1]

Something else to remeber:

Fish are lazy creatures. Their lives depend on conserving energy. There is very little energy contained in much of what the eat, so they cannot expend more energy in eating it. That means they will move very little to eat that nymph. There is typically no "strike" in the traditional sense. The fish moves slightly, opens its mouth, sucks.in the nymph and move back to its lie. Within a couple of seconds (the amount of time it takes the fish to finish the physiological process os sucking in and reversing the water back out) it WILL spit the nymph out. It knows instantly its not food. In that time the impulse has to travel up the leader, to your indicator and you react and set the hook. Easy huh! There will be many times a fish will sample your nymph and you will never see it.

 

To make it even more fun, the big fish have mastered conservation of energy. So their "strikes" are even more subtle. So strike at everything as others have said. And the alley visual from Monger is great, as was psuedos grid. I personallly like to work out a foot or so every cast when I'm in fishy water, knowing the fish wont move much.

 

And when your friends see you fighting a big fish on a fly rod, the laughter will stop and their questions will start!

[headscan]

Check the Fishing Get Togethers section and try to get out with some of the people from the forum. You got some great advice in this thread but nothing beats on stream pointers. Watching someone else cast, seeing where they're casting, which flies they're using, and how they're rigging up will help a lot. From there, just get out as much as you can knowing that you'll have good days and bad days. After enough practice, the good days will outnumber the bad.

[luukesh]

Public library has lot's of books as well if you don't wanna spend the cash on em.....you can check the website for availability.

[SanJuanWorm]

Texans are lazy creatures too.

[reevesr1]

That's why I'm figuring out this River stuff! I think like the fish. Position myself such that I can watch the conveyor belt of food go by and reach out and grab something when I want it, with very little energy expended.

 

I also spit out things I don't like!

[fishfreak]

Conveyor belt of food... now I feel like having some sushi. Convenience at its best.

[maxwell]

great points everyone..... only things i would like too add is downstream presentations on teh nymph rig while indicator fishing may cover more water but reduces your striking ability because you are pulling the flies upstream and away frmo the fish........ if you like to "contact fish" hence moving flies.. it is best to longline or czech nymph rather than indicator fish.. you have far greater contact and it is more likely too simulate emergin insects... aaka leisnig(sp.?) lift.... google european nymph fishing dude.. tons of info on teh net..... and lastly a float trip will not help you learn how too fish from foot compared to walk and wade trips..... one huge misconception i have foudn while taking out clients who have mainly floated but fish on there own is they use litle too not much of anything they learned frmo teh float in real day practical fishing situations.......... learnign too break down a run and fish from foot it a totally different artform too drifting from a boat/toon..... keep at it dude and try not too get frustrated

[BRH]

... downstream presentations on teh nymph rig while indicator fishing may cover more water but reduces your striking ability because you are pulling the flies upstream and away frmo the fish

 

That's nonsense maxwell. If you're nymph fishing properly, you're not supposed to be "pulling" the flies at all whether you're fishing upstream or downstream of your position. Setting the hook is no different in either situation.

 

... and lastly a float trip will not help you learn how too fish from foot compared to walk and wade trips..... one huge misconception i have foudn while taking out clients who have mainly floated but fish on there own is they use litle too not much of anything they learned frmo teh float in real day practical fishing situations.......... learnign too break down a run and fish from foot it a totally different artform too drifting from a boat/toon ...

 

That's utter garbage maxwell! No doubt there is considerable difference between fishing from a drift boat and wade fishing from shore but to suggest a float trip won't help a neophyte learn how to fish (foot, walk and wade, toon, whatever) is total crap. The techniques used from a drift boat are exactly the same techniques used when walking and wading only a whole bunch easier. While it's easier in terms of technique, it's also exponentially more difficult to effectively cover the water. Water coverage is significantly more superior in a walk and wade scenario. The only misconception here is the general ideology that anyone taking clients on fishing trips on the river has the tools to actually teach a fisher how to fish. Most folks booking fishing trips on the river don't have the tools to teach a fisher how to fish. And that holds true for the folks piloting boats as well as those toting clients along the banks. Precious few of all the folks booking fishing trips on the river are what I would consider to be actual Guides, folks equipped to teach a fisher to be a better angler (as I stated in my previous post). That's why I suggested an individual considering booking a guided trip (float or otherwise) be sure to do his/her homework first. If he/she books a trip with a "guide" who doesn't have the tools to help improve his/her angling ability, he/she is going to be very disappointed and subscribe to the misconception you willingly proliferate.

[maxwell]

lay off josh.... this was not a direct attack tooo you.... and you just stated what i said above..... learning too fish from shore will help the development of the client compared too drifting? also striking downstream drawing the hooks back into the fishes mouth is not more effective than setting upstream drawing the flies away from teh fishes mouth? i understand some fishing methods involve downstream presentations but in my opinion the upstream presentation on a dead drift is ideal... fishing under tension downstream is different all together.. correct? so too most effectivly hook trout wich would you prefer...... and if you have a long enough drift and she is not going under should'nt you add more weight? also like you stated.. being on foot you can cover water more thuroughly...correct? so too be mroe effective focus on what is above you... because u should have fished below you when you started too work up through the run... correct?

[Guest bigbadbrent]

take a beginner fly fishing class, not a guided trip first...

 

better to spend 100-200 and find out if you like it, then drop 500 on a guide who will not be as good as a true class, that focuses on casting, mending, bug life, etc

[Fisherwoman]

Something else to remeber:

Fish are lazy creatures. Their lives depend on conserving energy. There is very little energy contained in much of what the eat, so they cannot expend more energy in eating it. That means they will move very little to eat that nymph. There is typically no "strike" in the traditional sense. The fish moves slightly, opens its mouth, sucks.in the nymph and move back to its lie. Within a couple of seconds (the amount of time it takes the fish to finish the physiological process os sucking in and reversing the water back out) it WILL spit the nymph out. It knows instantly its not food. In that time the impulse has to travel up the leader, to your indicator and you react and set the hook. Easy huh! There will be many times a fish will sample your nymph and you will never see it.

 

To make it even more fun, the big fish have mastered conservation of energy. So their "strikes" are even more subtle. So strike at everything as others have said. And the alley visual from Monger is great, as was psuedos grid. I personallly like to work out a foot or so every cast when I'm in fishy water, knowing the fish wont move much.

 

And when your friends see you fighting a big fish on a fly rod, the laughter will stop and their questions will start!

 

 

Hi, When you say this and we catch a fish, the fish is putting alot of energy fighing us, will the fish die or what?

 

Thanks.

[toolman]

If the trout is landed, handled and release properly, it has a very good chance of survival. Fish conserve energy to grow larger and stronger which helps them gain a better position in the hierarchy, which means more food, territory, opportunites to spawn etc.

[Fisherwoman]

If the trout is landed, handled and release properly, it has a very good chance of survival. Fish conserve energy to grow larger and stronger which helps them gain a better position in the hierarchy, which means more food, territory, opportunites to spawn etc.

 

 

Ok, thanks....

[BRH]

lay off josh ...

 

I can only assume your post is directed to me although I don't know for sure ... I don't know who josh is. Caution in making assumptions would likely be a good exercise here. However, if there is a "josh" using my handle ... good lord that guy writes eloquently! *lol*

[reevesr1]

Hi, When you say this and we catch a fish, the fish is putting alot of energy fighing us, will the fish die or what?

 

Thanks.

 

Good question actually. I thought the same thing the first time the conservation of energy thing was explained to me. But it's not like they are teetering on the edge and any excess expenditure of energy is a death sentence. In a long term sense, they get enough excess calories from their food to allow them to grow, defend their territory, procreate, etc. all of which use significant energy stores. But they don't get a lot of excess from any small bug they eat, so on an individual "eating event", they can't expend much energy. If that makes any sense.

 

And some will die when you fight them (though not very many), but that is more from the chemicals released from stress.

 

Edit: should have read Toolman's reply first! Sorry for the repeat.