Lets start this off right, I AM A COMPLETE NOOB to fly fishing. With that said. I have been fishing for several years, just not fly fishing. I caught my first trout when I was 6. We were in the panhandle of Idaho, all I really remember was a crystal clear lake with mountains in the background and I caught it on cheese. My dad cleaned it and we cooked it on the grill for dinner. That was my first and only trout until last spring when I went trout fishing with spinning tackle and decided that I wanted to learn how to fly fish.
So I bought a fly rod and a reel, some line and flies. I spent about a year trying to figure out how it all works. I figured out that I bought a bigger and heavier rod than I needed(10ft 7wt). So I got discouraged and put it all on hold.
This spring rolls around and we head back to Arkansas for spring break(daughter is out of school and wife works for a school so she’s out too) to do some more trout fishing. It rained for a day and a half. The park ranger said that they were letting water out of Beaver Lake dam at a rate of 237,000 gallons per second(no trout fishing:().
On a whim we take our daughter to kids weekend at Roaring River State Park. She takes a short fly casting class, after about 10 mins and she’s done. The instructor walks up to me and states that she’s pretty good, with BOTH hands. Now I figure that she will want to learn to fly fish, so I really need to learn how so I can teach her. I do a little spin fishing and catch a couple little rainbow trout.
My wife schedules another trip. With this trip coming up I purchase another rod(8ft 5wt). I do a little backyard casting practice. I think I am getting the hang of it… We head to Arkansas, I’m not expecting much since its been raining in the Ozarks since early April. Table Rock Lake is so flooded that Beaver Lake Tailwater is 15 ft high at the dam(:(no trout fishing). So we go above the dam and she worm dunks for some bluegill and I start casting on water… I catch nothing, but got some casting practice in. She catches one fish, a 3 inch green sunfish, after about an hour it’s too dark to see her bobber. The next day was scheduled for more fishing and then head home. With the water level so high that kills the fishing plans right…wrong, Roaring river is only 10 miles away and on the way home. So we go back by there. The water is up about a foot, but still very fishable. Well, it’s free fishing weekend in Missouri and the river is pretty packed, she is using a spincaster and meps lure, and hooks into a nice rainbow early. It saves us the trouble of unhooking it at the bank and releases itself. That is the only bite for 6 hrs when other people are catching fish all around us. I have tried fly fishing, spinning, even jigging and I cannot even get a bite. So we pack it in and are ready to head home when I remember the fly only area. I think that maybe the fishing will be better there, less people, less pressure. After 30 minutes I end up getting a bite on and orange attractor ball(not sure what its called, maybe it mimics and egg?). Never saw the fish, it released itself. A little later I hook into another one, this one I land, 14 inch rainbow. My first fish on a fly rod. I net it and on the stringer it goes. About 15 minutes later i hook into and land another one, 11 inch rainbow.
With a 3 hour drive home we pack it in. Needless to say I am hooked. But, without any trout fishing areas near me, I guess I will work on my fly fishing skills catching panfish for now.
From a bulletin board lurker that had to share my experience…
Thanks for listening,
Black Co.
i’ve never eaten one, but i understand they’re palatable enough that children who catch them can have them for supper.