This ought to be interesting. How many fish have you caught in your lifetime on a flyrod? Include all species in your total number. Out of all those fish, which is most memorable?
I used to know a fine gentleman who counted every telephone pole as he drove down a road. He also counted the number of steps in every building he entered. I’m sure, had he been an angler, he would have been able to answer your query.
As for myself, I have trouble being accurate re the number of cups of coffee I had this morning.
The responses should, indeed, be interesting and I’m planning on wearing my hip boots as I read them. :lol:
Fish on a fly rod - I would guess in excess of 10,000. Most memorable, but not the largest would be a brown trout from the Ogden river that hit so hard it almost pulled the rod from my hand. It was maybe 4 or 5 lbs.
Tim
This is fairly easy for me. I’ve been keeping a detailed Fishing Log for several years now, and started fly-fishing in earnest just last Spring.
So…
Prior to 2007…around 50 fish on a fly rod.
2007…(rounded down) 1300 fish on a fly rod.
2008 (so far) approx. 350 fish on a fly rod.
Total fly rod fish = 1700+
Most memorable: ooh, tough question. Since I mostly fly-fish for bluegills and catch a lot of largemouth bass “by-catch” (usually 14" or less), I would name memorable fish as anything BESIDES those 2 species. So…channel catfish, peacock bass, oscar, mayan cichlid, white bass, hybrid “wiper”, hybrid sunfish, crappies… :rolleyes:
For saltwater, the 18 pound Chinook I caught when I was fishing for Coho at Tofino, on Vancouver Island, BC. That was a C&R since the Chinook exceeded the slot size.
For Rainbow trout, my 22 incher from the Yakima River on a bitterly cold January morning (17 degrees).
I have hooked into two Brownies that were absolute hogs on two different streams/rivers in Montana but they both broke me off so they don’t count as caught, but they sure were hooked. Loved the fight while it lasted.
For Smallmouth Bass, a nice big one on the Lower Yakima River down near the Tri-Cities.
For Carp, a 12 pounder that slammed my streamer while fishing for smallies on the lower Yakima River.
For Steelhead, last year up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Had a great time.
How many fish caught? Are you kidding me? I have no idea. How many kept? Just a few salmon from Tofino. I have had a 100 fish day and a few two fish days, but mostly somewhere in between, down on the lower end of the scale.
Larry 
—sagefisher—
Only started FF last year, closer to the middle of June I think. Only about 100, maybe 150 fish sofar. But that’ll go up this year:)
My 3ish pound smallie is what’s most memorable.
Cheers,
Shane
Ballpark estimate for total fish on a fly rod is something around 11-12,000 over the past five years.
Most memorable is a tough one - the first one was an 18" bow on the Henry’s Fork, hard to forget that one. Biggest one was a mid to upper 20’s inch brown on the Henry’s Fork that broke off a 2X 10# tippet like a piece of fly tying thread. The last rainbow, number 100 for the day on a spring creek, celebrated by jumping several times on his way in. One for near record acclaim was a 23" mountain whitefish on the South Fork of the Snake this past winter that might have been bigger than the U.S. record for that species ( 22.5 inches 5 lb 14.4 ounces ).
But the MOST memorable one came on a small spring creek several years ago. It’s a place you fish for brookies mostly under 8" and rainbows mostly under 12" in an absolutely beautiful backcountry Idaho setting with complete solitude. The water is seldom more than 12-18" deep, and the deep holes might go 24". I put an elk hair caddis against the far bank and the current took it under. Instead of picking it up, I watched as it drifted along underwater near the bank. A dark form came out and chased it downstream several feet. The fish ran about ten feet and exploded out of the water. 17" brown !! Only brown trout I’ve caught in that section of the creek and a monster compared to expectations.
At the end of the day …
After 36 years of fly fishing, there’s absolutely no way I could even fathom a guess. I usually don’t worry about how many fish I’ve caught - I only concern myself with the NEXT one.
Wonder if the folks that keep track of those things get into a slump when they hit 99 fish, 999 fish, 9.999 fish, etc - kind of like a baseball player that becomes overly concerned with stats and has it affect his game. Life is too short to worry about that kind of thing when it comes to fishing, IMHO. If a person forgets what they caught before, every fish becomes their first one - reminds me of that movie “50 First Dates” !
This is great! Thanks for sharing. I was smallie fishing yesterday and really getting into them. That’s when I began to think ---- how many of these do you think you’ve caught on a fly rod? How many of us know for sure? Doesn’t really matter, I agree wholeheartedly. But it is fun to think and try to arrive at a number. I’m enjoying reading about the most memorable moments as well. One fish I hooked, but didn’t catch, was a monster Brown on my 3 wt – it was 28-30 inches (at least in my mind) and I got broke off. The most memorable fish was my first flyfishing trip to the river smallie fishing with my new flyrod. The first fish I caught was a 20 1/2 inch smallie. I really didn’t know what to do but managed to get it in. I still chuckle when I see that fish going airborn and the thoughts that raced through my mind and not really having a clue how to fight a fish of this size. I’ll never forget it.
Keep em coming.
Heritage Angler -
Obviously can’t speak for others, but so far I haven’t hit a slump, and I can’t imagine that happening. But then again, I’m not “overly concerned” with stats, so maybe I’m not directly on point to your query ??
There are always new challenges, new things to learn, and something new to deal with on the water, even in familiar places. I’ll go into a slump or stop fly fishing as soon as it is not a fresh experience every time out.
I agree with your thought about those who worry about that kind of thing when it comes to fishing. For me, remembering those that went before doesn’t make the next one less exciting. The next one may end up being the most memorable of all ?!
John
I don’t keep track of fish, or birds, or otters, or muskrats, or trees, or snakes, or other assorted parts of flyfishing. My most memorable catches; the first trout I caught, and the last.
In only 2 years of fly fishing I estimate:
-250 trout
-250 bass
-300 bluegill
-60 crappie
The best? The 16 inch trout while learning how to flyfish. Caught it on day 2 of lessons and I have been hooked ever since. The adrenalin that was pumped was similar to coming into a baseball game to pitch with bases loaded and 2 outs.
since i dont fish with any other kind of rod, i’ll just say ALL of them!!!
no need for numbers, thats not what fly fishing is about
again ALL of them are memorable
No idea how many.
My most memorable landed was my first on the fly. I had no idea what I was doing and could barely cast, but I caught it on my second time out with an adams that a friend gave me as part of a ‘CA Survival Kit’ imparted to me at the send off prior to moving in 1997. It was about a 7-8 inch rainbow, but I’ll never forget that ‘snap’ sound of the rise when he took it. The fish was hooked and so was I!
Most memorable lost was presumably a big brown. He took all the line I’d stripped in on one massive acceleration as soon as he knew he was hooked and popped the tippet as the line hit the drag. I’d caught up to 16 inchers just previous to that and they were nothing compared to this fish. The other evidence for size is that this fish didn’t start rising until almost the end of dusk and then on the edge of a shelf by a DEEP pool where an undercut bank was only 6 feet or so away. I still have dreams about that one…
I don’t know how many fish I have caught in 43 yrs of flyfishing. The most memorable have been the 4, at least five lb rainbows, that I didn’t land at Olallie Lake. My first trout I caught on the Firehole River. The seven lb steelhead I hooked on a dry fly and landed, while fishing for trout on the Clackamas River. The 20 inch brown trout I hooked and landed at night, on the Madison River. The beautiful cutthroat trout, I caught on the upper Middle Fork of the Salmon River, in Idaho.
The tiny rainbow trout that I helped my young son catch on the Firehole River. which was his first fly caught fish. The five lb sucker fish that I hooked and landed on the Deschutes River. The 18 inch brown trout that I caught 30 yrs ago on the Madison River and the photo is on my wall, after it was returned to me after my Grandparents died. Finally, the two nice rainbows I caught with Lotech Joe, on the ?? lake in eastern WA.
Doug
hmm… very hard to say how many. ive had great days with 100 plus bluegill and then days where i have been totally skunked. id put the number somewhere around 6-8000.
most memorable on the other hand, thats even tougher. this is only my third year flyfishing but i was “regular” fishing for a looooong time. so far probably that first little bluegill i caught with the flyrod. my neighbor was teaching me how to flyfish and so one day we finally got a chance to get out on the water. (well shore anyway) i wasn’t catching anything and then with one really bad cast, the front section of my rod flew off into the water. still strung through with the line, and then a nice little bluegill came up and grabbed my fly. i got the little bugger in, but that was probably the weirdest thing ive ever done, trying to bring in a fish with part of the rod in the water.
When you don’t catch much ONE will do - nothing can save the day like this rainbow
Ah ha! Yoiks! One of the largest, very, very rare and secretive “Pygmy Rainbow.” Nice job; it’s a monster! ")
I don’t get to fish enough to be concerned with numbers, but I’ve caught a lot of fish on the fly in the past 8-9 years. That being said, the biggest was this here salmon on the Pere Marquette in Michigan (we didn’t weight it or measure it):
The best fighting fish was a 13# steelhead caught with a 6wt rod on the Chagrin River in Ohio (no picture, just witnesses who will lie for me :p):
And the most memorable was this little brown trout caught in the Clear Fork River with a #18 Copper John (tied by me) on the first fly rod that I built, a 6’6" 2 wt Forecast:
Joe
I have been flyfishing far too long to even make an educated guess at numbers over the years.
Although my local waters are warm water serious flooding in 2007 put serious damper on it.This last fall & winter & early spring I have caught somewhere between 500 to 600 trout.
One that stood out this winter was a 23 inch bow that I spotted in a really tough position. He snubbed my every effort. A week later I got back to the river and got him on my second cast. The fish is of course still in the river
Years ago in Michigan a huge brown laughed at my attempts play and land him on a 5wt. He was raising steadily to hex flight bugs on the east branch of the ausable. It was about an hour before midnight. The fish moved an incredible amount of water when it rose to get a bug. I clipped my leader back to at least 3x. On the 5th or 6th nerve racking drift the fish took my fake. I set the hook very firmly, and the fish simply ignored me and settled to the bottom. I kept pressure on the fish tried different rod angles and tapped on the butt of my rod. Finally I felt a couple slow beats of the brown’s tail. It simply swam off in at a leasurely pace and the was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I was in a postion where I could not follow the fish more than 5 yards. My brother in law was 50 yards upstream and he said it sounded like a twenty two rifle went off when my leader parted.
There are dozens of other memorable fish from over the years some landed a some not. But I agree with what Betty said “the most memorable fish is the last one I caught”