1st real fish on the fly

[BYRD]

Folks yesterday I caught my first rockfish on my New 8wt fly rod. Caught the fish on a fly I tied, if you can call it that. I used a 1/0 hook and just tied some chartreuse hair behind the eye of the hook. It did work though.

Fishsalmon and I had been trying to get out together for awhile. About 3 weeks ago we decided to take November 1st off and go fishing. We had a few places to choose from and decided to stay home and fish back river and the poquoson flats. I got into some nice speckles on Tuesday so we went back to that spot. While waiting for the tide to change we found a school of rock busting the surface and went to them. Both of us grabbed our fly rods. I had a little trouble casting but Fishsalmon gave me a few pointers to help me out and I was able to catch two rock on the fly today. We caught numerous more on traditional tackle. (grubs and spinners) The wind got up after we took these pictures and made it difficult to cast the fly. Fishsalmon caught 6 on the fly. Here is a pic of him casting or setting the hook I can't remember which.



Here is a pic of me and my 1st rock on the fly. I apologize for the blood inthe pic. I didn't notice that. I eased the fish back into the water and he swam off rather quickly, so I hope he survives. You can also see the fly I tied. If you look at this pic closely you will see several rods and an antenna. Yep we actually fly fished with all that crap sticking up.



Here is a pic of one of the 6 rock fishsalmon caught.



Notice the mirror like conditions in the pics. It lasted for another 1/2 hour then the wind got up and we had to switch to spinners. I think we ended up catching around 21 rock or so for the day.

Fishsalmon thanks for the great trip and the fly fishing lesson. I'm looking forward to the next trip. I think I may just like this fly fishing stuff.

[Dave Sikorski]

Very cool!! Welcome to the club.

Just wait until you catch a big one....watch out knuckles!!

Keep up the practice.

-D

[fishsalmon]

we did have a great day. Yes the fish were small however, it was great to get out and it was great to use the long rods. We are already planning to get Byrd to the tying bench and give him a few pointers and we did discuss not bringing 10 - yes ten - additional rods on the next trip, may be only four or five. I predict many more days with the fly rods this season and I have already hinted at eel patterns when the big boys run through here in December.

Congrats again Craig on the first striper while fly fishing!

[brandon558]

Pretty work dude...congrats!

[CapeMayRay]

Great Job, Beautiful conditions. Now that you have that first one under your belt your know you can do it and you find yourself using the fly rod more and more as you get more experience. On your own fly even better. Saltwater fish are not that fussy and it looks like you will be tying more flies too. There is nothing like catching on one you have made.

It will not be long before it will never be too windy for using the fly rod. We all started saying it was too wind to use a flyrod. Using heavier weighted lines you will find you can do it on windy days.

Calling them rockfish I assume you are fishing somewhere south of New Jersey. Don't know where you where fishing but it sure looks like a great place to fish and with that kind of action what could be better.

Hope you get to post many more fish on the fly.

[Dave Sikorski]

Ray is right. Don't let windy conditions discourage you from using the fly rod.

I started leaving my spinning rods in the truck this spring, and was forced to learn how to make the best of the conditions and make a fly rod work.

There are many days when a fly will out catch other tackle by a large margin.

-D

[BYRD]

Thanks for all the comments guys. BABY STEPS. I need to learn the fly rod and how it responds before I get start using it in the wind. Hell I had enough trouble as it was and it was mirror slick. Currently I am using floating line and I need to get better with that before going with sinking or intermediate. All in time folks all in time.

[OneMoreCast]

Gotta love the dentafish shots... I am bout it bout it when it comes to a fly rod in the teeth.. You have every right to be proud. Next step is the "bandito" shot..

Byrd, It's a blood sport. That kind of thing happens even when you don't want it to. Congrats on your first fish on the fly. Keep that picture.... when the addiction takes off, you will look on it fondly.
FWIW... I know a good guide in your area. he is a superb caster and would be a good teacher. His name is Chris Newsome. Look him up if you have the time. He could cut the learning curve down big time.

[jemche]

congrats on your first fly rod rockfish! sounds like you had a great day.

[flies only]

congrats brother now you are one of us.. you start to look at your dog and cats taila differently now....lol. it is always about a new fly or something congrats!!!