I wanted to start a thread to discuss fly fishing skills. The last couple of times out on the water I have went with relatively inexperienced fisherman. I'm not trying to brag, but when I am catching 20 trout in a day and my partner on the water can't catch a fish, it's frustrating for ME and them. I wish that I was better at telling them what to do, or transfer knowledge efficiently. I've failed miserably during these last two outings. Some might think, "you had a great day be happy", but the truth is that fishing can be a very social event and I want my fishing partner to have success too.

I know this, it's not the fly that makes you a successful fly fisherman. People want a simple answer. If they buy this fly, that rod, this new fly line - that they will catch fish - BOLONY! Casting ability is important. How to present the fly and put it where you want is important, but that is difficult to teach in a single session. The small spring creeks, where we are fishing, are technical in that there are a lot of obstructions. Both of these last two fishing partners had flies in the bushes, trees or some other hang ups more than in the water. If the fly isn't in the water you are not going to catch fish. Maybe I should have taken them to an easier to fish body of water.
Detecting the bite was an area that I think they needed help with when I think back on these days. I probably should have put strike indicators on both of their lines even though I don't use them myself. I think that they were probably getting bit, but didn't recognize the difference between the bite or no bite.

Line management is another area.

I guess, that I am just trying to vent and look for ideas. I'm sure that most experienced fly fishers have had similar experiences. The bottom line is, when you are catching fish often and your fishing partner isn't, how do you help them experience sweet success? While I walked away from the day with many nice photos of some grand fish, I still felt like the day was a failure for me because I couldn't get my friends into fish.

It was weird, providing them with the right fly, letting them fish the hole first for 10 or 12 casts and have them move upstream some only to catch 3 or 4 fish out of the same hole with the same fly right after they left the hole and casting to the same areas. I'm starting to ramble now, thanks for letting me vent.

Rick