First fly & fish

[Flyunder 0]

1984. Patapsco river in Md. It was some kind of minnow, on a small ( don't remember size but smaller than a 14 for sure) and I have no idea what the fly was.

[snag 0]

_{chub on a mickey finn at bolsters mill on the crooked river in Harrison Maine I was 7}

[hcfliesandjigs 0]

First fish was a bluegill on a very small store bought popper. I asked my grandpa if I could use his fly rod as I showed him the fly I bought for it. He said yes and I spent the rest of the summer day trying to learn how to cast it. I am sure by accident the fish took the fly. At the end of the day my grandfather sent the rod and reel home with me and I have been completely ate up ever since. It is still fun to get his old set up out every once in awhile and remember what got me started back when I was 8 years old.

[Losthackle 0]

Thank you to everyone who has replied. It's been an absolute delight for me to read the replies. Nostalgic, humorous, factual, excited...they've all been great.

 

Looking forward to more!

 

@@losthackle

[LP ID 66 0]

Beaded head pheasant tail. A white fish on the south fork of the snake. Might not have been much but I was happy with it. Not sure what year it would have been maybe around 2003 a sophomore or freshman in high school.

[jimk 0]

If I remember right, it was a brook trout on a humpy in Rocky Mtn National Park

[Will K 0]

East Branch Swift River in my home town of Petersham MA. brookie. It was a size 10 green body/black head caddis larva I tied. super simple and still works everywhere I've fished it - just dubbed olive green body, dubbed black head. no leggs. no rib.

 

Will

[Fletchfishes 0]

Size 14 Adams Parachute - small 4 inch brook trout on the Ellis river in Jackson, NH. I can still remember the bright blue spots. My friend who introduced my caught around 20 fish including a few big ones. All I got was the little brookie and I couldn't have been happier.

 

For the longest time, I couldn't catch anything except on dry flies since I couldn't figure out when to set the hook. Small stream dry fly fishing is a great place to start - you don't need to cast very far at all and those little brook trout like big dry flies!

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

The first fish I caught on a fly, to my recollection, was with a Royal Coachman. Although it was a dry fly, I think it had been stored in my Father's "Common Sense" fly book. I did not know how to cast a fly rod back then and I fished it drifting it downstream on Cross Fork Creek in Northern Pennsylvania. We were attending some cook-out event that the Cross Fork Club was hosting and I walked out some clearing/field and drifted the fly in a downstream fashion. I remember, vividly, seeing the fly drift in swift current around a log and also - seeing fish come out from behind the log to check out the offering.

I caught a big 'white fish' or two - but also a nice 10"-12" Rainbow. I remember coming back in to the gathering and my Father or others asking how I did and how proud I was at catching those fish. It would take me about 20 more years before I decided to really give fly fishing another try as my Father did not encourage such things, it would have cost a bit too much I think.

It's been a source of enjoyment, frustration, and never ending satisfaction since I got back into it around 1990.

[subailor618 0]

About a 6" Brookie in a little creek feeding the Saco River, Maine on a little size 16 black gnat, 1987.

[DavidHE 0]

This guy. Nice little wild rainbow. Caught this spring using a Fountainhead Stonefly Tenkara rod with a simple kebari I tied. Apparently I was so excited, I didn't wait for my iPhone to focus on the fish.

[Travis Bille 0]

The first fish i caught was a 22" inch rainbow on the San Juan River in NM, on a #20 or #22 red zebra midge. I didn't tie that one. It was my first time fly fishing and I was standing in the 40 something degree water with my jeans rolled up to my knees, flailing around like a propeller. Some guides took pity on my and gave my some flies and showed my how to cast, mend, etc.

 

The first fish I caught on a fly that I tied was also on the Juan. I'm almost positive it was on a chamois leech, although it could have been a San Juan worm. It was a smaller 12" rainbow.

[Troutbum11 0]

Mine was a blue gill on a green weenie....not my first fly rod fish, but my first fish on a fly I tied...that was about 9 years ago and I was hooked! Thanks Grandpa!!

[Sundance 0]

I caught my first trout in the Gallatin River, MT on a grey hackle (peacock), the only fly I knew how to tie when I was ten years old. Didn't know anything about bugs in those days (1947).

[bzt712 0]

Mine would be a 10 inch brown on a simply tied nymph of sorts. White dubbing with peacock herl head. Didn't have any tungsten beads at that time. I still tie this same sort of fly, just a little neater! Oh and it was at Powder Mills Park in Victor NY.