First (and only so far) Fish on the Fly!

Hello all. My first post in a long time. I haven’t had opportunity lately to be on FAOL, much less go fishing. Therefore, I was very happy when my dad seized an opportunity to leave town for a bit with me, and happier still when he told me to bring my rod and flies. We went up to my sister’s in CO to drop some of her stuff off, and then left the next morning back to NM, where we camped in the northern part of the state for a couple days. It was more of a “scouting” trip than anything else, just to see what places there are that are worth goiong back to. First stop: the Valle Vidal in the Carson National Forest. Costilla Creek was absolutely beautiful. A fly fishers paradise. Most of it was surrounded by tall grasses and shrubs, with some stands of pine here and there. On the first day, after about an hour of casting into a few spots, I felt a little tug on the line, and I had a fish on! I brought the little guy in, in less than a minute (but it felt like an eternity:D ) and brought him out of the water to see him. By far, the most beautiful fish I’ve ever caught. He was a beautiful Rio Grande Cutthroat (my state fish too!), I would guess around 10-12 inches long. The slash on his throat, was the brightest, most vivid red I think I’ve ever seen. You can’t see it in the photo, but it’s there. It was really a neat experience. I caught him on a size 16 PTN with a Peacock Ice Dub thorax. The other places we visited are not worthy of mentioning, because they weren’t ideal fly fishing spots. Anyway, enough talk. Here’s a couple pictures. One of the fish, one of my abhorrent cast (while scratching my ear, haha). Thanks for reading my long post, and happy fishing!

nenbran

By the looks of your fine cast it surely will not be the last one.

Nice trout…

Steve

Wonderful! Keep up the good work and congratulations!:smiley:

Great loop, great fish, great outing. The loop will help you catch more fish - the fish and the outing will make a memory that will last you a lifetime. Congratulations!

Nen-bran,

There’s nothing like the first fish on a fly rod. Great job, beautiful fish.

Thank you all! And oh yeah, I forgot to mention earlier: I caught him on a fly I tied and a rod I made…kinda icing on the cake for me I guess!

WOW Nen-Bran. thanks for the pics. I have never built a rod but I know the excitement of catching them on your own fly. Congrats and go to the water. I hope to cast like you someday ha ha ha. Good to see you on BB. Don’t be shy. hoping to see more pics

My man, let me tell you, if you can scratch and cast like that at the same time then just scratch away!

nen-bran,

Excellant, outstanding, way to go! Before you know it you’ll be hauling them in with regularity. Glad to hear you had a great trip and most of all got to spent some quality time with Dad. Keep up the good work!:cool: