I Caught My First Ever Fish on Fly!

JonathanT305

I finally worked up the courage to get my first fly kit. Not much, picked up a cheap pflueger kit from amazon and just wanted to dip my toes into the world of fly fishing. I know I had asked for advice on here before, but I just couldn't swing the money for an expensive combo. So after getting the combo about a week ago and practicing my casts and watching tutorials basically all this week, I finally took the combo to my usual spot to see if I could at least catch a small largemouth. Within this time I decided to try tying my own fly. I saw a version of a mayan cichlid fly on here and wanted to try for myself. After attempting to make one with yarn, a feather, a sharpie, and some eyes from other lures its not the prettiest but it worked. Within 10 minutes I was connected to a respectable peacock, about 3 pounds.


Man it felt good to catch a fish on something I made myself. I know it's not the glamorous bonefish or permit on fly like you guys catch on here, but it felt special to me to catch a peacock on fly as my first fish with a home-made fly. I think I'm addicted to fly fishing now, way more fun than spinning tackle! Thanks for reading.:grin

redjim

Great job! Hope you get lots more!

:thumbsup

JonathanT305

redjim wrote: »

Great job! Hope you get lots more!

:thumbsup

Thank you!

SUPER D

Great job, keep up the great work. Nothing better than catching a fish on your own fly!!!

:thumbsup

Angler_2600

That's awesome!

LeeH

Congrats! I find any fish caught on fly to not only be extremely rewarding but also a lot of FUN!

cmaustin80

Congrats. It is a good feeling to catch a fish on your own fly

sunflower

Well, I have been fly-fishing in florida for about 7 years, and I have never caught a single peacock... so you have me beat.

red owl

Jonathan: there is a HUGE price difference in fly fishing tackle. The implication is that to obtain really good equipment you have to pay a lot of money. I would avoid the lowest priced tackle but there is a lot of very serviceable gear out there for a reasonable amount of money. I've broken tips off some fly rods and "Ouch". Would a more serviceable rod have worked as well? On a rod, I like a long rod. It moves a lot of line and that can be a plus. On a reel, any reel is okay until you get into a really large fish that starts ripping line off the spool. On a cheap reel the spool starts vibrating around and you might worry that the whole deal is going to come apart. Even so, I've caught 20 pound plus fish on $50 reels.
I think the line IS important. Get a name brand in the $50-$70 range and you should be okay. Some of the really cheap lines aren't that good.
I once read a book by Ted Williams- fly fishing legend. In some of the pictures he is salmon fishing in New Brunswich with a standard Pfluger Medalist reel.
It's true fly fishing can be a challenge but sometimes it is the BEST and EASIEST way to catch fish. A fly is weightless. You can cast a long distance and the fly lands without a splash and suspends mid-depth. The best choice in many circumstances.
Try bluegill fishing. Liven them up by tossing bread out on the water. When there are bluegills everywhere then start casting a fly. They are eager biters. Let them run out the line under pressure (line between fingers and rod-etc) and then play them off the reel. Bluegills let you catch a 100 plus fish an outing and that will give you a lot of practice getting the fish on the reel. When I started out I just stripped in the line- fast and easy on a little fish but getting it on the reel is the proper way.
And....nice first catch on a fly rod.

sunflower

First fish I ever caught on a fly ... ladyfish May 2005. Thank god for ladyfish!

Funny thing, I put it in my livewell to photograph. Then I went out with crabs on gear for tarpon. I put the live ladyfish on a tarpon hook drifting, with no real target in mind. I just didn't want to put cut bait out and get bitten off by a shark. The ladyfish then turned into the first cobia I ever caught!

trout069

Congrats,you are now hooked.fish on the fly is cool,but 1 on a fly u tied is great.now you will decide a new reel or line or rod is more important than something else.I just wanted to catch trout in summer when bugs were out.most salt water flys are not that realistic,yes some crab and shrimp are,but very few.

JonathanT305

SUPER D wrote: »

Great job, keep up the great work. Nothing better than catching a fish on your own fly!!!

:thumbsup

Angler_2600 wrote: »

That's awesome!

LeeH wrote: »

Congrats! I find any fish caught on fly to not only be extremely rewarding but also a lot of FUN!

cmaustin80 wrote: »

Congrats. It is a good feeling to catch a fish on your own fly

sunflower wrote: »

Well, I have been fly-fishing in florida for about 7 years, and I have never caught a single peacock... so you have me beat.
Thanks Everyone!:fishing

red owl wrote: »

Jonathan: there is a HUGE price difference in fly fishing tackle. The implication is that to obtain really good equipment you have to pay a lot of money. I would avoid the lowest priced tackle but there is a lot of very serviceable gear out there for a reasonable amount of money. I've broken tips off some fly rods and "Ouch". Would a more serviceable rod have worked as well? On a rod, I like a long rod. It moves a lot of line and that can be a plus. On a reel, any reel is okay until you get into a really large fish that starts ripping line off the spool. On a cheap reel the spool starts vibrating around and you might worry that the whole deal is going to come apart. Even so, I've caught 20 pound plus fish on $50 reels.
I think the line IS important. Get a name brand in the $50-$70 range and you should be okay. Some of the really cheap lines aren't that good.
I once read a book by Ted Williams- fly fishing legend. In some of the pictures he is salmon fishing in New Brunswich with a standard Pfluger Medalist reel.
It's true fly fishing can be a challenge but sometimes it is the BEST and EASIEST way to catch fish. A fly is weightless. You can cast a long distance and the fly lands without a splash and suspends mid-depth. The best choice in many circumstances.
Try bluegill fishing. Liven them up by tossing bread out on the water. When there are bluegills everywhere then start casting a fly. They are eager biters. Let them run out the line under pressure (line between fingers and rod-etc) and then play them off the reel. Bluegills let you catch a 100 plus fish an outing and that will give you a lot of practice getting the fish on the reel. When I started out I just stripped in the line- fast and easy on a little fish but getting it on the reel is the proper way.
And....nice first catch on a fly rod.

Tips received. I know I have a long way to go but now that I see how fun and rewarding fly fishing is I'm willing to invest more. For now I'll switch to freshwater with this one, nice and small fish. I don't see too many bluegill now, they're usually farther out in the winter, they're usually everywhere in the summer though. I'm gonna try again one of these days. I wish I would've gotten into fly fishing back when the cichlids were still out and about near shore.

river1

Congrats! Happiness is a wet flyline.

Ol Sarge

Jonathon
Nice job you have me beat never caught anything on a fly

JonathanT305

It finally happened. After many warnings by the fellow forum members, my pflueger beginner rod broke last week on a peacock that hit a bit too hard. Part of it was my fault, but the rod was definitely not up to par with what I expected originally.

The good news? I really love fly fishing. It has become a great pass time and a new challenge. It's true, fishing on fly beats fishing on any other tackle. I'm pretty sad about this, I was looking forward to going after beach snook on fly.

Now that I've started and working and have saved up I can afford a much better combo. I'm looking at the Redington cross water. Any other recommendations?

telsonman

I just got a redington path in 9wt. The path rod has a lifetime warranty, vs the crosswater which is just a year. The main reel housing is metal (spools are polymer) vs the crosswater which has polymer housing. You can probably use your same reel if you want the same weight rod. I ordered mine off avidmax outfitters, which had a 15% off thing going. I don't get down in the salt enough to put $600 in a set up and other than getting stripers in the winter up here, I normally use a 5wt for bass. Whenever I move the FL it might change a little, but until then...

Rizangler

Your hooked now my friend. Welcome to a great addiction! On your way to great fishing days.