Hi there,
Who out there remembers or who has kept their first fly which you had tied that caught a fish? Here is a photograph of mine which I retired that evening when the fishing was over.
A Crystal Prince Nymph which caught me a nice 10" Rainbow on the swing. I still remember how excited I was.
Regards from Downunder
I’m embarrased to say, my first fly was a glo-bug. But I caught a nice steelhead on it. Your pattern looked much better than mine.
That???s a cool idea to retire and keep the fly. First fly that I had tied that caught a fish was a hares ear. No idea what ever happened to the fly, but recall catching a smaller brown , probably around 8 inches or so out of 9 mile creek in the Syracuse, NY area. Gig, that looks to be a nicely tied fly and a great photo. Good for you!
I think mine was saved… I have it mounted in a tree, somewhere. 
There’s almost nothin’ wrong with the first lie, it’s the weight of all the others holdin’ it up that gets ya’! - Tim
First fly I tied that caught a fish was a BH prince nymph. I had already lost the other two to the rocks and so I kept fishing with it. I figured I would retire it and save it after the end of the night. I lost it to a fish about ten casts later. I did however catch a nice 15in rainbow out of the Spokane River in WA.
Adam
vox clamantis in deserto
first fly I tied … the most butt-ugliest woolyworm ever (I got pics). Sooooo ugly, I never used it.
first fly I tied that caught a fish … geeze, I’ve only been tying a few years and I can’t really remember … yoikes ! ! ! I do recall that #18 parachute GRHE that brought in my first brown 
Very nice Crystal Prince. My first fly I tied that caught a fish was a white wooly bugger. It’s still in my box, but it seems like a great idea to retire it.
Mike
Cadillac, MI
When I had only started tying flies, I was determined to only use flies that I tied myself; it was a self imposed penelty to try and improve my tying ability. My flies were always much messier looking than the ones in the shop, but if I had to only use my own, then I would just have to get better at it until I caught fish like my friends did. It’s called “incentive to improve”, so I told myself.
Anyway, I went fishing with a bunch of friends to a lake a few hours out of town. We arrived after dark, and I set up my rod with a pheasant tail nymph. It was all crooked, and the wingcase sloped over to one side, but I was determined to just use my own. One fellow was from Germany, and he had never fished before in his life; never fished in any way shape or form (not bait, not spinner, not salt - nothing). So, another friend was going to show him how to cast. I passed my rod over and said “show him with this and I’ll set up the other rods”.
So, I set up all the rods and Wes is casting the nymph out to show Daniel the basics. Wes explains it is “Cast, wait for it to sink, very slow retrieve, and repeat.” Then Wes goes to show Daniel, and casts it out about 20 feet, counts to 10 or so for it to sink, then says “ok, now slow retreive” and with the first slight twitch, “Bang”, he’s on.
I, of course, am totally unaware of this, and am still setting up the other rods. When I finish up the rods, I look up, and Wes is comming back carrying a 7 lbs brown trout! I realised then and there, flies do not have to be perfect to catch fish.
The first fish I caught myself, however, was a more modest 1/2 lbs or so rainbow, caught on a size 12 Greenwell’s glory wet fly. And, that has been a very productive pattern for me ever since on the Rangitiki.