Help a complete novice

[ejp]

Hi All,

 

Hoping you can help me getting started a bit. I'm intending to have a couple of lessons on a local lake later in the season, but for the time being I just wanted to get out on some water and have a go.

 

I've got a small river running behind the house, it's six to nine feet wide and reasonably fast running and I guess averages around 2-3ft in depth, but breaks out into the odd small deeper pool here and there. There's definatley fish in it as we have regular heron visits and on occasion if I've had some maggots left over from a course outing to a local lake Ive chucked a couple of handfuls over the wall at the back and watched the fish gather. There's no 'Private fishing' signs and searching google doesn't turn up any information on clubs controlling the river - can I just go out and fish this river?

 

If yes - what setup should I be using - I'm guessing that because it's reasonably fast flowing that dry fly is out - so should I be thinking about wet fly / nymphs? What sort of patterns would suit?

 

I've got a 9ft six weight rod with reel (fladen vantage 4pc) and some floating line that was a gift from the girlfried a couple of christmas' ago - she spent a while talking with the local tackle shop and they convinced her it was suitable for a good range of small river and lake fishing - is this suitable?

 

Can I recycle some of my coarse gear - would a 24 inch landing net on a shortish handle get me thorugh - can I use 4lb mono for tippit etc?

 

What else do I need - I think I need some backing line, a leader and some tippit material and of course some flies - what should I be looking for to get me started on this river? Any advice and product reccomendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm also going to need some waders as the river has very steep banks for the majority of the section I intend to fish, so I'm going to need to travel in the water to get up and down the section - what are the benefits of nylon, neoprene etc.

 

Also - what's the gerenal etiquette on catch and release? - I'm quite partial to eating trout, but wouldn't want to take fish if it would be damaging either to the fishing or the fish population.

 

Quite frankly I'm a bit baffled by the kit available so I need a few pointers.

[Moggy]

Hi All,

 

Hoping you can help me getting started a bit. I'm intending to have a couple of lessons on a local lake later in the season, but for the time being I just wanted to get out on some water and have a go.

 

I've got a small river running behind the house, it's six to nine feet wide and reasonably fast running and I guess averages around 2-3ft in depth, but breaks out into the odd small deeper pool here and there. There's definatley fish in it as we have regular heron visits and on occasion if I've had some maggots left over from a course outing to a local lake Ive chucked a couple of handfuls over the wall at the back and watched the fish gather. There's no 'Private fishing' signs and searching google doesn't turn up any information on clubs controlling the river - can I just go out and fish this river?

 

If yes - what setup should I be using - I'm guessing that because it's reasonably fast flowing that dry fly is out - so should I be thinking about wet fly / nymphs? What sort of patterns would suit?

 

I've got a 9ft six weight rod with reel (fladen vantage 4pc) and some floating line that was a gift from the girlfried a couple of christmas' ago - she spent a while talking with the local tackle shop and they convinced her it was suitable for a good range of small river and lake fishing - is this suitable?

 

Can I recycle some of my coarse gear - would a 24 inch landing net on a shortish handle get me thorugh - can I use 4lb mono for tippit etc?

 

What else do I need - I think I need some backing line, a leader and some tippit material and of course some flies - what should I be looking for to get me started on this river? Any advice and product reccomendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm also going to need some waders as the river has very steep banks for the majority of the section I intend to fish, so I'm going to need to travel in the water to get up and down the section - what are the benefits of nylon, neoprene etc.

 

Also - what's the gerenal etiquette on catch and release? - I'm quite partial to eating trout, but wouldn't want to take fish if it would be damaging either to the fishing or the fish population.

 

Quite frankly I'm a bit baffled by the kit available so I need a few pointers.

 

Where do I start? Well...for a start, there are few waters that you can fish for free and none I suspect that you can fish without permission. If you can find out who owns the land through which the river flows, you should be able to find out who owns the fishing rights. Your local council should be able to help you there. Meanwhile I would suggest that you locate your nearest Put & take pond where you'll be able to buy a variety of tickets. Where I live in Denmark, you don't even need a rod license but you'd better check for the U.K.

 

Floating line isn't ideal for this time of year as the fish tend to be deep, but if you use a long leader (8-9 feet) and weighted flies you should get down to them. It's anybodies guess what fly would be best but I would go with small weighted nymphs fished very deep and with a very slow retrieve. If you go with the Put and Take option, I'd take some big fluorescent orange/yellow/green flies with me too.

 

The landing net and the rest of the tackle should be fine for general use, but I'd be tempted to use a stronger leader at first if I were you...P&T fish can be heavy if your luck's in! I don't know where you are or what kind of river you'd be wading in, so I can't really advise you there except to say that neoprene keeps you warmer and to talk to local anglers when you get cracking...rivers, especially spate rivers with stoney beds can be treacherous!

 

The C&R etiquette is usually written in stone on whatever water you fish...otherwise it's a very personal thing. There seems to be a growing trend in the UK for catch and release, but I too enjoy a trout now and then and I take them if I'm allowed to. Most clubs stock the waters they control so if everyone sends their returns in on time then damaging stocks doesn't really come into it. Think you'll find it's more the salmon/seatrout waters where there's more of a tendency to limit bags, and of course in put and take waters there's no problem!

 

Finally I would say; find someone to teach you to cast...it's not that difficult but there are techniques to learn...then practice all you can. I used to use the local footy field...use a fly that's easy to see and cut of the hook at the bend so it doesn't snag. Most fly-fishing clubs offer tuition for free to members and some P&T waters offer tuition for a small fee too. But do have a go! It's a cracking sport and not near as difficult as people say it is!

 

Moggy

[ejp]

Thanks Moggy - thats really helpful.

 

The land either side of the stretch I want to fish is owned by the council - I'll give them a ring and see if I can fish it.

 

I'll see if I can bring those casting lessons forward - I don't want to get into bad habits from the off!

 

Thanks again for the detailed response

[Moggy]

Thanks Moggy - thats really helpful.

 

The land either side of the stretch I want to fish is owned by the council - I'll give them a ring and see if I can fish it.

 

I'll see if I can bring those casting lessons forward - I don't want to get into bad habits from the off!

 

Thanks again for the detailed response

 

No sweat friend. If it's council land I'd say (Off the record of course) give it a bash! The sooner you get the lessons the better...it's REALLY not difficult...but you will need a pull when it comes to technique. I taught myself here in Denmark and took 5 trout on my first trip, it took me ages and a lot of lessons to be able to get my line to do what I wanted it to do...as you say...getting rid of bad habits. But it's a very satisfying form of fishing. I do 'em all including fishing with nets, but if I was to chose one, it would be dry fly on a summers evening!

 

Power to yer elbow! Moggy