About face!

[Gramps]

My original plans were to dry fly fish only when I took up fly fishing. It's what I think fly fishing is supposed to be. Now, that's not putting down any other form of fly fishing. It's simply my preference. When I think of fly fishing. I think of a small mountain stream in a beautiful setting. You can't help but enjoy that experience. Even if you don't catch any fish.

I fished the lake today, and frankly I hated it. It reminded me too much of the spin fishing i've been doing all my life. I thought i'd enjoy it more, and actually bought the Scott S3 rod to do it along with larger rivers. Bad move on my part. I watched the fly line move at the mercy of the wind more than go anywhere near where I wanted it to go. Not fun at all.

Call me a purist, traditionalist, snobby, or an idiot. When I think of fishing with dry flies I get excited and a real good feeling inside. When I think of doing any other kind of fly fishing I get depressed. Really. Right or wrong I can't change those feelings. I believe tying my own flies is part of the whole experience too. So, i'll have to learn that too. I should have lot's of questions about that in the future. Meanwhile i'll read all I can on it.

I would love to get a bamboo rod, but they are way out of my price range. I'm thinking more of a graphite with an action close to bamboo. I think the Orvis Superfine will come pretty close. They make a 7'11' 4wt that will fit my needs. They have them on close out for $239. I can live with that and the 25 year warranty should out live me too.

Anyway, I know some of you know me from other forums, and i've been changing around a lot. This has been a struggle for me, but I know I have to do what appeals to me the most. I'm positive at this point that it's dry flies. I have some small creeks here in my area that I can fool with until I get to Colorado. Once in Colorado there must be tons of small streams I can explore. Those of you that know the Buena Vista area. What small streams will be available to me? I have a Jeep setup for offroading, so I can back into most areas and then hike a bit.

Sorry for bending your ears guys. I have a feeling i'll be on this forum for quite awhile, and wanted to get this off my chest.

[Jerry]

The Superfine 7/11 should be a good rod for you.
I've had one for a couple of years but had not fished it till last Thanksgiving weekend. It was the only rod I packed for 3 days of fishing at a Mo Trout Park.

Its a soft, dedicate rod that bends deep in to the blank. It took just a little while for me to get in time with it but once I did I was very happy with it...

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

I know what you mean , I tried dry fly fishing this summer and didn't really like it. I felt like a fish out of water so to speak. I wasn't used to the line doing its own thing once it hit the water . I would make a nice cast only to have it hang up on a rock or swirl quickly and drag my dry fly to its death. It took a while but I finally started to catch fish. Not many mind you but I did catch some. I still like Stillwater lakes Nymphing over fishing the more unfamiliar drys on a stream. I think as I get a little better at it and start having more success I probably will begin to enjoy drys a little more. I understand that there are some awesome caddis hatches near here that I am going to take advantage of next year. I think you have to make an effort at both types of flyfishing or you will limit yourself . There is also some excellent bass fishing within a 1/2 hour of my home that I have not tried. I am a bit of a trout snob. Next season I am going to give them a try also.

[Gramps]

The Superfine 7/11 should be a good rod for you.
I've had one for a couple of years but had not fished it till last Thanksgiving weekend. It was the only rod I packed for 3 days of fishing at a Mo Trout Park.

Its a soft, dedicate rod that bends deep in to the blank. It took just a little while for me to get in time with it but once I did I was very happy with it...

I'm glad you liked the rod. I was going to buy one from Orvis, but they only have the 2pc left to sell. I wanted the 4 pc so I could pack it in easier to the small streams. I went on ebay and just won this one. I paid more for it, but it's still a little cheaper than what the rod sold for originally. So, i'm ok with it. If I fish it until i'm too old to fish anymore it's a good investment. I'd like to add a CFO reel to complete the package.

Now who wants to buy two Scott rods and a Lamson reel.. Off to ebay to post them.

[Buddy Sanders]

Gramps,

If you will ever be in the Durango area during the summer, let me know.

I have a couple of places where a dry fly and a delicate rod will get you some awefully pretty browns and brookies.

And, I'll even let you use one of my cane rods....

Good luck!

Buddy

[MontanaMoose]

Hi Pete, good on you for sticking with the dry flys for trout ! After all, as you say, dry fly fishing is what it should be all about for trout ! I agree wholeheartedly.

However. :)) After a lot of years dead drifting dries, no skating, swinging, activating etc (all very effective) I began nymphing. Mind you, I had swung wets prior to going 'dry only' so the nymphing concept was neither new nor out of the question as I knew sunk flies produced results where trout reside.

My success ratio went up like a moon shot and I was happy as could be nymphing for, oh, 10 years I suppose, then disaster. Out went the right elbow, yes, FROM nymphing. I went from 5 and 6 wt rods for trout to 3 and 4 weights. This wasn't as painful but the elbow was getting worse. I taught myself left handed fly casting....sort of...and continued on. No good. I had to stop nymphing. I discovered 'spiders' or 'soft hackles' as you may call them and began swinging again as in my 'wet fly' years.

All the while I had been tying and one session at the bench resulted in a nice soft hackle based on an Adams, only complete with tail contrary to most soft hackles. I couldn't get this thing to sink though it floated in the film, half or so submerged. Ah ha ! Emergers....got in the books, magazines, revelation !

Stuck with the 3 and 4 weight rods, worked with emergers, soft hackles and later dry flys. This was a revisit as I'd tried dry flies aplenty, years and years gone by. Wets were better, nymphs better still. But now I'm happy again to do my trouting with emergers (cripples, drowned, trapped in shuck came eventually) dries and soft hackles, swinging the latter just beneath the surface, down and across.

Crazy thing about the emergers and the soft hackles was, they work in stillwater where trout hold and that includes letting them soak, 'swimming them', stripping them slowly, all sorts of things happened.

Today I'm in Steelhead territory so I like swinging traditional, and non-traditional Salmon/Steelhead patterns. Stuck with that for a while then oh, oh...one day was 'large' trout fishing where Steelhead were present....and #4 October Caddis produced Steelhead ! Now I'm really happy. Asked around and sure enough, this isn't news. Now I'm back on the surface once again, happier than ever. Elbow is fine, I've run the gamut (mostly) of methods and flies and now all I want to do is convince trout, Steelhead and other unamed local species to look up and take my unorthodox and quite large dry fly patterns. And they do.

So keep after it Pete because now that I've given it some thought, dry fly fishing for trout is really the only way to go ! Happy dry flying !

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[DaleW]

The only time I've ever come near "hating" fly fishing was when I was'nt catching ANYTHING! Let me ask ... could that have been part of the problem?



Dale



p.s. the other side of that coin is when your catching one right after the other!

[Gramps]

Moose,

Funny you should mention your elbow. I've had a bum shoulder (among other injuries) for 20 years now. It has been feeling pretty good the last year or so, and I thought maybe it was healed. Trying to cast today while fighting the wind the injury showed it's ugly head again. This was partly the reason for going to a shorter, lighter rod and small stream fishing. My shoulder should be fine with the shorter casts i'll be making.

Another thing that appeals to me is the solitude of smaller streams. Although i'd like to go fishing with a buddy to those streams. I'm fine in going alone too. I'm just not interested in fighting the crowds at popular waters.

Anyway, i'm glad you're back to the dry flies.

[Gemrod]

hey Buddy,
That spot's for me next summer.

[Fly Goddess]

The Superfine 7/11 should be a good rod for you.
I've had one for a couple of years but had not fished it till last Thanksgiving weekend. It was the only rod I packed for 3 days of fishing at a Mo Trout Park.

Its a soft, dedicate rod that bends deep in to the blank. It took just a little while for me to get in time with it but once I did I was very happy with it...

I'm glad you liked the rod. I was going to buy one from Orvis, but they only have the 2pc left to sell. I wanted the 4 pc so I could pack it in easier to the small streams. I went on ebay and just won this one. I paid more for it, but it's still a little cheaper than what the rod sold for originally. So, i'm ok with it. If I fish it until i'm too old to fish anymore it's a good investment. I'd like to add a CFO reel to complete the package.

Now who wants to buy two Scott rods and a Lamson reel.. Off to ebay to post them.

Gramps, the 7/11 was always a two piece, never anymore. Now with the Trout Bum series there is a 6'6" 3pc 4wt, a 7' 4pc 4wt and the 7'9" 4pc 5wt(which was the Far and Fine, but I hear the new version is crisper/a little faster)
The CFO is still a sweet reel, but why are you getting rid of a Lamson?