Starting fly fishing

Williamjg

I tried contacting Shakespeare by email and phone but had no Luck getting a hold of them
Tried doing a diy repair but after starting I decided I don’t want to make an even bigger mess of the rod
I gave the local tackle shop a ring and asked about would they be able to fix it and they said they probably can’t fix it
But then t(to my relief) he said he is able to get me the section of the rod that I broke
So thank god im in the clear and have the first of many problems passed and now should be back on the water soon to have another lash at them trout clear of all wooden pools or anything that can break my rod As they say “you learn from your mistakes “

Wibbs

Nice one W!

SeaFields

Just another thing William once you get going again - the current weather conditions ain't that great for fly fishing. That being, water levels are low, the water will be lacking in oxygen and it'll be that bit harder to get a trout. However, once the weather breaks and we get some rain hit the river and the fish should be well on the take

Wibbs

You can say that again SF. I thought it was just me. Now granted I've been outa the game for ten years, but I had 20 years plus of experience under my belt before that, so should stand some sort of a chance, but when I went out twice over the last few weeks(Liffey around Killcullen) I saw very few fish moving. Even the usual suicidal tiddlers splashing about in the shallows were missing. The fly life was pretty abundant too. Dry fly was a washout, I got little interest to nymphs or downstream wets. Same goes for the lad I went fishing with.

Doc Farrell

Wibbs wrote: »

You can say that again SF. I thought it was just me. Now granted I've been outa the game for ten years, but I had 20 years plus of experience under my belt before that, so should stand some sort of a chance, but when I went out twice over the last few weeks(Liffey around Killcullen) I saw very few fish moving. Even the usual suicidal tiddlers splashing about in the shallows were missing. The fly life was pretty abundant too. Dry fly was a washout, I got little interest to nymphs or downstream wets. Same goes for the lad I went fishing with.

Storms a coming.... I’m geared up to the gills and ready disappear Saturday 4pm. Even got my good cigars in case of disaster...

TomOnBoard

Doc Farrell wrote: »

Storms a coming.... I’m geared up to the gills and ready disappear Saturday 4pm. Even got my good cigars in case of disaster...

Better keep the fly rods down during the promised thundery weather... Carbon fibre makes a fantastic lightning rod!!

Doc Farrell

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Better keep the fly rods down during the promised thundery weather... Carbon fibre makes a fantastic lightning rod!!

Never! This is the way I gotta go. Chomping on a stoogie, flies wrapped in sunken logs, and a fresh pinhole in my waders filling up my boots!

SeaFields

Thunder showers seem to destroy the fishing for a few hours. A old man told me before that the lightning gets into the water. I can kind of see what he was saying - that being the trout might sense the atmospheric chaos during the storm.

I'm patiently waiting for some rain. Saw a guy looking over a bridge with Polaroids yesterday by my place. He's in the same boat I suspect - waiting for rain for the seatrout to start running. My own river is trickling at the mo with a scum on the surface. Not a drop of water and very low oxygenating. It is a case of dropping everything's and hitting the water once the heavens open.

TomOnBoard

Doc Farrell wrote: »

Never! This is the way I gotta go. Chomping on a stoogie, flies wrapped in sunken logs, and a fresh pinhole in my waders filling up my boots!

And just as soon as you drop, a 7 pounder takes your fly! What a way to go alright!!! ;-)

Williamjg

I went walking down the River Corrib lads fishing for salmon have the same problem they just ain’t biteing not enough oxygen in the water Water is too warm and the water level is low so the salmon don’t need to stop in the usual places to rest. I then went walking down the canals in Galway and I saw a fairly nice brown trout a good eating size
But the fly rod is currently out of action as ye know
I have a 10 ft mackerel rod and spinning reel so would it be a good idea while the fly rod is out of action to put a small hook with a worm on the mackerel rod with a bobber to add weight and to use that to catch trout. Just an idea what ye think

TomOnBoard

Williamjg wrote: »

I went walking down the River Corrib lads fishing for salmon have the same problem they just ain’t biteing not enough oxygen in the water Water is too warm and the water level is low so the salmon don’t need to stop in the usual places to rest. I then went walking down the canals in Galway and I saw a fairly nice brown trout a good eating size
But the fly rod is currently out of action as ye know
I have a 10 ft mackerel rod and spinning reel so would it be a good idea while the fly rod is out of action to put a small hook with a worm on the mackerel rod with a bobber to add weight and to use that to catch trout. Just an idea what ye think

Leave it alone! One of the things to learn about trout fishing is that you need to respect the fish as well. That trout is probably struggling to get oxygen at the moment and if you did manage to catch her, the exertion of the fight would kill her..

Williamjg

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Leave it alone! One of the things to learn about trout fishing is that you need to respect the fish as well. That trout is probably struggling to get oxygen at the moment and if you did manage to catch her, the exertion of the fight would kill her..

I didn’t go for it and i couldn’t have even if i wanted to

elgriff

Gave fly fishing a go for the first time on the dodder yesterday inspired by this thread. I had a rod I was gifted, and went to Bauman's and got a reel, a backing line, a floating line, two leaders and 6 flies. Dodder licence also. Was €110, which was probably a bit over-priced, but no harm to get it all locally. I will likely top up on amazon.

My experience
- Watched a good few youtube videos
- Knot tying is a lot harder than with sea fishing. Lines are very thin, and obviously, you can't just use metal clips or whatever. Over 90 mins of practicing knots.
- Poor knots led to 4 lost flies in about an hour of fishing
- Can see the importance of soft landing of fly
- You need to really pick spots on the dodder where trees etc. are not in the way
- Found the reel a bit odd. Need some practice on how to manage that bit of excess line you keep around your feet before casting.
- Saw a lot of fish rising about 10pm. Seemed like a good time to go for it, but I had packed up by then

Some initial Qs
It was a dry fly, but was floating a bit under the water (6 inches). Is that fine?
I was leaving 'good' casts to float down river for about 20-25 seconds. Is that right?
Do I need to use superglue on the braided loop?
Any advice on how to play a fish, like a small trout.
How key is it to stay back/hidden?
Views on how necessary waders are?

Thanks all

Bogwoppit

It was a dry fly, but was floating a bit under the water (6 inches). Is that fine?
No, a dry fly floats, you need to put some floatant on it to make it stay that way. If it sinks dry it off and reapply floatant.

I was leaving 'good' casts to float down river for about 20-25 seconds. Is that right?
Depends on the water, how fast it's moving, how big the "lie" is. You generally don't want the fly to drag at all though, usually drag means no fish.

Do I need to use superglue on the braided loop?
Probably not if it's on right but no harm, you won't be using them in a year or 2 but they're ok for now. Maybe look at using a length of thicker nylon on the end of your flyline using a nail know, creates a better taper and helps turn over your cast.

Any advice on how to play a fish, like a small trout.
Just hand line it in if it's small, only use the reel for large fish.

How key is it to stay back/hidden?
Depends on how you're approaching the fish, if it's from behind it's not an issue. If you're approaching fro the side then keep as low and still as possible.

Views on how necessary waders are?
Essential on a river.

Wibbs

Now this is my humble as the Dodder is my local(very) river but I would say waders aren't so essential on much of the Dodder as it has good bank and footpath access for much of it. This means there's a lot of foot traffic, which tends to keep the trout less twitchy as they get kinda used to it.

As BW said dry flies float and are fished upstream and across. You might well get a take with it under the water or going downstream, but it's not the usual way to go.

Presentation is everything. As you said soft landing of the fly is the most important thing. So getting your casting right is the aim. If you know someone who already can fly fish maybe ask them for a few pointers? The best practice is fishing IMHO. I'd say don't try for distance at first. Better to be landing the fly softly and on the nose of a rising fish two rod lengths away than head butting the same fly into the river at four rod lengths away. One of the most consistently deadly fly fishermen on a river I ever saw in my life was my dad's cousin when I was a kid. He had been on the Irish team for a time and had held a fly caught lake record for a while too. Among those who knew him he got the nickname of the Trawlerman. On a river I rarely saw him throw much more than a 20 feet in old money cast, but he was laser accurate.

My dad hammered this point home to me and my mates too. Though he could throw a scary amount of line - I watched him fire a line out to the point where the backing was visible on the reel using his old Alex Martin 9ft splitcane rod, single hauling too - but again he mostly kept close in and accurate. He illustrated this one day when out fishing with me and a few mates. We were all tooled up, matching the hatch and all that and he limited himself to a Tupps Indispensable and he kept catching fish and more than us combined right into nightfall. Even when the trout were hammering sedges and we had sedge imitations so good other sedges were likely to try courting them he was still hooking into more fish using the same Tupps. Accuracy.

I hear you about the fly reel. It's about as archaic a design(other than a trotting centrepin) you can get. It works well as a line store and once you get slack line onto the reel it's a good fighting reel too, with a decent drag. But yeah the line at your feet thing always irritated me too. That and the slow retrieve. Large arbour helps there, but I got into multipliers with much faster retrieve early on and then the semi automatic reels* that are big in Europe. IMHO a day using a semi auto and you'd not go back to a standard reel. That said they're pricey buggers. Around 150 quid at the cheapest; the Vivarelli reels, though IMHO they're not a good reel, too much slop in the design and can trap a line. The better ones cost hundreds so maybe for way down the line after you get hooked on it. As it were.






*not to be confused with the old automatic reels that were spring driven. Weighed a ton and were shite.

Doc Farrell

Good post Wibbs. Here’s my Dodder story. I found a pair of breathable waders in the Dodder. They have 3 pin holes in them but I sorted them out with Aquasure. Lasted me a couple of years. About ten years ago, very close to Ballsbridge bridge. I still have them if the owner is reading this, a little leaky but still good!