cascade

Thank you all for comments. The ponds are possibility and I have seen people fishing in certain spots around the neighborhoods before. If its an offer then I might consider it as the date gets closer. ?? Now..anyone has experience fishing the The Ritz-Carlton Orlando ?

Hello, I used to live in the area but never fished there before. Will be visiting family for Thanksgiving for a couple of weeks and hoping for a few fishing outings. I am debating getting a visitors license and find some fishing spots quick drive away and/or was looking at the The Ritz-Carlton Orlando fishing excursions on their lakes within the resort since its neighborhood away. Its $70 per hour for a boat excursion with a guide. I was thinking 3 hours on a nice morning would be perfect, if I can get away from the family. I would not mind finding some spots on my own but I am not going to be able to be on a boat and I don't want to deal with gators. I think I could probably get out there and try pushing to fish the neighborhood ponds but thats probably a big HOA no-no. I am not sure if getting to the public access lakes in the area like Big Sand lake, Lake Sheen, Lake Tibet, Turkey Lake would be productive enough for fishing from the shore. Any recommendations.

i tried nylon rope the next day but got nothing. will try to tweak size and shape. maybe gar will be back when we get more sun after this rain. back when we used to live in florida we would go snorkling in the springs. gar would show up in groups hanging right under the surface in shade on really hot and sunny days. could it be the same for james river?

Thanks for the offer! Not really in a pinch but I like the fact that I can use my dogs hair to catch some fish! After all these years of dealing with him shedding in the house maybe it will come to some use. These are just some early experiments and if I like it I probably invest in a vise and more refined materials. So far I have been eyeballing every day things and different scrap from my wife's craft projects and my workshop. It was just very exciting to see a bigger fish have a go at what I was able to make. The biggest surprise was to see how the bigger size fly was getting interest from much larger fish than what I was landing with size 10 hooks so far. That made me already start thinking about a heavier outfit to be able to turn some really big flies.

Hello All, I just started fly fishing this year and so far having a great time. I live in Richmond VA and the James River within city limits is where I am trying to gain some experience. I currently have a 6wt tip sinking rig for streamers and minnows. I had a great time during shad run scoring some shad and blueback herring. Also had fun with white perch and young stripers biting pretty regularly in several spots that I can go to during lunch brakes or on the weekend. I just tried to tie some 6 size hook streamer flies using house hold materials just to see what I can do. I was able to produce a number of decent looking zonker/muddler flies mainly based on my dogs hair. These turned out to be a little too big to comfortably cast with my 6wt outfit but sort of usable in tight but swift current side channels of the James River fall line. Now to the point of this post. Although not catching anything I had a great time trying out these flies. First day, on a second cast down a swift current in 4ft-6ft deep channel I was about 30ft of line out. I started stripping once i could feel the fly hitting the bottom. I did not feel any bites but when i got the fly to about 5 ft of my rods tip when it was just above the surface so i could see it, I noticed a good size gar just following the fly. I thought it would bite any second but it was just following the fly almost like trying to sniff it. I ended up not having enough line out to do anything and when i got it to the tip this guy just slowly disappeared. Couple of days later, same spot, same fly, same cast, I am stripping, and when I get to the point I can see the fly under water there is this at least 2ft catfish following my fly in a similar fashion to the gar. Ended stripping all the way and with no line to act let this guy disappeared below as well. Any suggestions on what I can improve to get these guys actually bite? Would you say the pattern is sort of working since the bigger fish show interest?