I HAVE NOT FISHED IN ALMOST 30 YRS &NEVER FLY FISHED.BOUGHT A OUTFIT LAST WEEK &"fly fishing for dummies"book.I HAVE BEEN CASTING IN THE YARD.3YEARS AGO I HAD A STROKE THAT MESSED UP MY RIGHT HAND CONTROL & A LIMP AND BALANCE LOSS SOMETIMES.I LIVE IN B’HAM ,AL. ANY ONE FROM HERE .I WILL FISH A LAKE CALLED LAKE PURTY FROM A CANOE ABOUT 25 FT FROM SHORE FOR PANFISH &BASS.WHAT FLIES WOULD YOU SUGGEST FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR .THANKS
countryb,
Welcome to the FAOL family & the madness that is flyfishing! Not familiar with your neck of the woods as I live in (obviously) Ohio, but an easy fly to fish that has always been good to me is a wooly worm (yellow with grizzly hackle & a red tail). Another good one is a black & red ant…epoxy, foam, or thread. You’ll get lots of great ideas from the other folks, probably a lot better than what I suggested.
Mike
This site’s about sharing!
Welcome aboard! Fly fishing can be wonderful therapy for both the body and soul. S
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
Hey Country Bumpkin,
Welcome to FAOL and welcome to the sport
of fly fishing. It can be a lot of fun.
Let us know if we can be of any help in
making the transition or overcoming any
problems relating to the stroke. We may
not have all the answers, but when we put
our collective heads together, we usually
come up with something workable.
There is a lot of info in the weekly panfish
and warmwater columns that may be useful to
you. Rick has a number of good patterns
posted there as do others. The archieves go
back a number of years for hundreds of
articles. Often simple patterns work well
in warmwater lakes, such as poppers, sliders
and foam spiders work well on top. As it’s
starting to cool a bit, you’ll want to try
some nymphs or wet flies as well. A PT
Nymph or a Haresear Nymph is hard to beat.
Al Campbells “how to” articles cover pretty
much all of the beginning aspects right up
to more advanced articles. A little
patience goes a long ways and we’re just an
email or posting away if we can help.
Again welcome! Warm regards, Jim
Countrybumpkin;
Welcome aboard!! Being a Countrybumpkin myself we need a few more in here. Summer money was earned balen’ hay, digin’'taters, etc.
I just returned from a Cabela’s shopping trip at Cabela’s in Dundee, MI with ohiotuber and he bought enough supplies to tie about 2000 black and red ants so they must work for him. Little else does!!
I feel more like I do now than I did when I got here!
Cactus AKA “Lucky Dog (Pirate Name)”
[This message has been edited by Jack Hise (edited 25 October 2005).]
Mr. Bumpkin - over the years, I have fished Purdy and the Cahaba River numerous times with my uncle who lived in Birmingham. Fishing mostly during visits around Thanksgiving and Christmas we used subsurface flies - scuds, midges, etc. In the summer, we almost always fished topwater in the morning and evenings, sizes four to eight for bream and bass, most any pattern would work at these times. Plenty of fish in that lake!!! It’s a good crappie lake too, easier to catch them in the middle of the lake over brushpiles situated near the bottom. Good luck and tight lines.
I’m from B’ham too, fishing the Cahaba and Purdy or Purty (which ever one is correct)- hey in the summer this is all you need in Bama lakes- foam spider with rubber legs, and good nymph about #8-12 in size. Cast the spider out with a splat on the water- let it sit til the count of 30 (itll seem like 30 years but do it, thats how long it take bull bream to come up an inspect it) after that twitch it a little while then recast if nothin happens-the nymphs- i jus let them sink for a little while and then retrive in either in slow or fast strips ( a little trial and error will tell you the right speed. For bass large olive “Wooly Buggers” are great as are the poppers in the summer time, and shad patterns in the fall. If you need any help contact Deep South Fly Shop, they have the most helpful staff and will really help you out in fly selections, and things of that nature. Good LUck fishin!!
Ben
Though not from B’ham, I did live in LA for 7 years…that’s Lower Alabama- not Los Angeles nor Luthridge, Alberta. Now in central North Carolina but brought plenty of Ella-Baaamah with me. The spider is the ticket, and I tie them on first and most frequently. One of the first topwater flies I ever tied two years ago was nothing more than a cube of white foam the size of a garden pea with long knotted and kinky peacock herle legs tied around it on a gold light wire hook. Kind of looked like a crippled crane fly or smashed Daddy Long Legs. It sure caught fish like crazy! I use both weighted spiders like a bead head and unweighted for a much slower sink rate. If they don’t hit the topwater spiders first, start going deeper a little at a time and use a SUPER slow retrieve. Like Cheapflyfisher said - plop it on the water and just forget about it for a while. Let all the ripple rings disapate, then twitch it with just one or two1 inch retrieves then pause agian for a long time. If the fish are there you’ll know it soon enough. If not, cast to the next best fishy looking spot. Good luck! I used spiders this week and caught bass and gills on my new self built 4 weight rod.
I fish, therefore I swam.
[This message has been edited by featherchucker (edited 16 November 2005).]
countrybumpkin,
Welcome to fly fishing…once you start there’s no turning back.
Good suggestions above to which I would add try wooly buggers in various sizes and colors. The small ones (12 or 14) can be very effective on big BG as well as the occasional bass…especially when fished slowly.