Finally broke in my new rod - my first catch fly fishing!!!.....):}+{:(......

[The Fishing Queen]

Date: 3/30/2012, Friday
Time: 9:40am - 12:20pm
Location:Puddingstone east shore.
Weather: high 60' to low 70' degrees, gentle breeze
Lake Water: warm and calm
Gear: White River Dogwood Canyon 2ps 8ft fly rod and reel
Line: 5wt
Tapered leader: 4x
Fly:BH Woven Stonefly Nymph - Dark brown Fly Fishing Fly
Catch: 1 redear

9:40am got to the Sailboat Cove and checked with one of the regulars and asked a few people around and they told me the fishing was slow out there. Someone caught a couple small gills and a few others had none. Drove to the East Shore, checked with two fishermen at the middle pier, no catch. Didn't see anyone have any luck on the left high pier. Only a couple of people were catching a few gills and redears at the left side shore. Drove to the right side of East Shore, the fishing situation was pretty slow also, checked with a regular who was fishing at the right burnt pier, with 6 people there and none of them were catching, neither were the shoreline fishermen...... At 10:15, I met Chuck ('VIVD_FLY') and Mike ('PMB') and had a little chat, and joined them for fly fishing. It was a clear day with over cast in the morning. The water temperature was warm and calm. Not a windy day, but sometime a gentle breeze would blow though. This is a prefect day to practice my fly casting. We saw a lot of shad were schooling around the shallow side of shore, and some baby bass were chasing after them. They were busy spawning, even the bluegills, redears and trout were not biting. I believe the large bass were hiding in the hung over bushes or logs. But they were too far for my fly to reach......... As you can picture what would happen on a slow fishing day like this - we were just casting the flies out and chatting with each other to keep ourselves entertained. A little before 11:35, the sun started come out, the temperature got warmer. As the two of them were packing up and leaving, I saw my tiny orange float was popping up and down. I was alert that I got a bite. I watched my float line and it started to sink slowly, I pulled the slack line tight, pulled the line in and landed a redear on the shore.

I was excited and cheered like a kid, yelling loud and showing off my fish as everyone congratulated me. What was special about my day today? Not that I just caught my first fish on my new fly rod on my fifth day of practice, it was also the joy and pride to show my teacher and my friend that their hard work has paid off. I truly appreciate you Chuck for your time and the patience, to share your knowledge and your experience, to watch over me for any false movement to help me to improve. You are great help to me! And to Mike, as a friend you are alway there to help, check and set up my fly gear and encourage me to success! And to Robert, thanks again for the tapered leader and for setting it up, it brought me the good luck with my first catch!

I know that I still struggle with my new fly fishing skills, and I might still look silly and clumsy when I am out there practicing at the lake. But I believe I will get it right someday and improve myself with more catches. I always believe in myself when I am learning anything new - there is no such word as 'quit' in my dictionary, and success is always my destination........

http://i1156.photobucket.com/albums/p561/TheFishingQueen/FlyFish1/1stFish.png

http://i1156.photobucket.com/albums/p561/TheFishingQueen/mini5.png

[PilgrimDG]

Congrats! Welcome to my obsession!

[The Fishing Queen]

Thanks! New to the team.:Embarrassed:

[Troutcz swimbait]

Congrat.....

[Natural Lefty]

I look forward to catching fish on flies again.

I went to Puddingtsone yesterday, and I found as you did, that the fishing has actually slowed down over the past couple of weeks. I don't know if it's the pea soup that passes for water there right now, the cold storms, or overharvesting in recent weeks, but fish were fewer and smaller. I wound up catching two little bass and a little bluegill/redear hybrid on redworms, at Sailboat Cove. I tried the middle and high piers earlier, with not a fish to be found by anybody.

Congrats on your well-earned first catch on the flyrod.

[The Fishing Queen]

Thank you John 'Troutcz swimbait, any luck at the Pudd?

[The Fishing Queen]

Thanks 'Natural Lefty', I read one of your posts before about you grew your own red worms. I just brought a bin and peat moss and two boxes of worms, and I'm going to grow my own worms too. Can you tell me what's the best food to feed the worms and what I should avoid feeding them?

[fishfnatic]

Way to go! That must have been fun.

[allIdoIsfish]

Thanks for the report. Congrats on your first fly fish

[Fishnfun]

The fly fishing world will never be the same now that the Queen has joined the ranks. All hail the power of pink!

[evosamurai]

nice catch...i was gonna check out san dimas reservoir to see if there were still fish in it then head to the pudd...was about pull the trigger but then i stayed home...another day

[zenmic]

Cool report, Queen. This give me inspiration to continue working on fly fishing.

[bman90278]

Congrats! Very nice stick and reel u got there!

-b

[The Fishing Queen]

Way to go! That must have been fun.


Thanks for the report. Congrats on your first fly fish


The fly fishing world will never be the same now that the Queen has joined the ranks. All hail the power of pink!


nice catch...i was gonna check out san dimas reservoir to see if there were still fish in it then head to the pudd...was about pull the trigger but then i stayed home...another day


Cool report, Queen. This give me inspiration to continue working on fly fishing.


Congrats! Very nice stick and reel u got there!

-b

Thanks to everyone for your great support and relies! I wish you all have a wonderful weekend!

[Troutcz swimbait]

Thank you John 'Troutcz swimbait, any luck at the Pudd?

A few more crappie are starting to show at the rock piles and all the bridges,there real picky now and all they want is the new mini magnet tiped and stay close to the bottom .

[The Fishing Queen]

Thanks for the info, John! It's good to know what kind of jig to use to catch them.

[Karyn]

Nice rod and reel! I am sure you will be holding your own out there! Awesome! : )

[The Fishing Queen]

Thanks, Karyn! A lot of fun and a lot of practice.

[Natural Lefty]

I will attempt to answer your question, Fishing Queen, but I don't have a really specific answer.

Worms travel through the soil (as long as it's not too dry), sifting out organic matter that has been thoroughly decomposed. They like to eat "anything that is organic." I think you get the idea. We usually put anything like fruit or vegetable peels in a compost area. I also bury what's left over after cleaning fish, but I need to put something heavy on top and bury it deep. Otherwise, the "critters" dig it out. This includes cats, racoons and perhaps skunks where I live. If you have a pet, their little "presents" attract worms, although you might not be eager to dig where those presents lay decomposing. Worms also like any good, nutrient-rich soil. The main problem with getting started growing worms is that they don't really start thriving until the "worm food" is well decomposed, which seems to take a couple of months in my experience.

I find the most worms in the compost we have set up in an old plastic container which was a pond, but it leaked a bit, so we converted it into a compost pot. I think it contains like 70 gallons, so it is pretty large. Strangely, it doesn't leak now, so when it rains, it gets swamped with water. Currently, almost everything in there is under water. But we have a couple of small pots which are higher up, above the water, and I discovered that if I life those pots up, there is a huge mass of redworms gathered there -- well, not as many as there were, since I took a bunch of them fishing with me. Looking under pots, by the way, is a good way to usually find worms in any yard if the area under the pot is wet enough.

I have another place where another type of worm grows too. It is in the yard soil where I have been putting a bunch of fruit and vegetable peels.

It sounds like you have good soil to work with, so the worms should do well. Good luck!

By the way, where are those "bridges, canals and rock piles" at Puddingstone that I have been hearing about? I am still learning my way around the place.

[Troutcz swimbait]

I will attempt to answer your question, Fishing Queen, but I don't have a really specific answer.

Worms travel through the soil (as long as it's not too dry), sifting out organic matter that has been thoroughly decomposed. They like to eat "anything that is organic." I think you get the idea. We usually put anything like fruit or vegetable peels in a compost area. I also bury what's left over after cleaning fish, but I need to put something heavy on top and bury it deep. Otherwise, the "critters" dig it out. This includes cats, racoons and perhaps skunks where I live. If you have a pet, their little "presents" attract worms, although you might not be eager to dig where those presents lay decomposing. Worms also like any good, nutrient-rich soil. The main problem with getting started growing worms is that they don't really start thriving until the "worm food" is well decomposed, which seems to take a couple of months in my experience.

I find the most worms in the compost we have set up in an old plastic container which was a pond, but it leaked a bit, so we converted it into a compost pot. I think it contains like 70 gallons, so it is pretty large. Strangely, it doesn't leak now, so when it rains, it gets swamped with water. Currently, almost everything in there is under water. But we have a couple of small pots which are higher up, above the water, and I discovered that if I life those pots up, there is a huge mass of redworms gathered there -- well, not as many as there were, since I took a bunch of them fishing with me. Looking under pots, by the way, is a good way to usually find worms in any yard if the area under the pot is wet enough.

I have another place where another type of worm grows too. It is in the yard soil where I have been putting a bunch of fruit and vegetable peels.

It sounds like you have good soil to work with, so the worms should do well. Good luck!

By the way, where are those "bridges, canals and rock piles" at Puddingstone that I have been hearing about? I am still learning my way around the place.

East shore

[The Fishing Queen]

Wow 'Natural Lefty', I appreciate all of the information you've provided me with, it's very detailed and now I understand how to raise red worms. I'm anxious to have them ready for fishing in the Spring. Thank you for taking your time to reply to my post!...... Walk around the east shore from the middle pier to the right side of the burnt pier and you'll see the structures along the shore.

[VIVID_FLY]

nice now your hooked ..just wait til the FRENZY !!!

[Skyler]

Welcome to the dark side. Just wait 'till you start tying your own flies and wrapping your own rods. Your family will have to bring you on "Intervention" lol.

[Crappieluv]

Congrats! I'm gonna try my luck Tuesday and Wednesday, Maybe I will get a chance to meet you.

[fishmounter]

That's really great Fishing Queen! And how cool is a pink rod for a lady fly fisher! Now that your confidence is up, you will start catching more fish, especially now that spring is here and the water warms up. You have got to get over to Lake Perris and fish the weed lines there. The Bluegill and Redear are very good-sized and take flies very well. Got them on poppers last summer too.

[The Fishing Queen]

Congrats! I'm gonna try my luck Tuesday and Wednesday, Maybe I will get a chance to meet you.

I'm glad that you are back. I remember you are the girl that I talked to before the FNN site crash. Too bad that I won't be at the Pudd this week. I'm in Vegas now on vacation with my family. Hope we can meet and fish some other day.

[The Fishing Queen]

That's really great Fishing Queen! And how cool is a pink rod for a lady fly fisher! Now that your confidence is up, you will start catching more fish, especially now that spring is here and the water warms up. You have got to get over to Lake Perris and fish the weed lines there. The Bluegill and Redear are very good-sized and take flies very well. Got them on poppers last summer too.

Thank you for your encouragement! I never fished at Lake Perris, but a friend of mine always wants to go there, I might give that lake a try some day.

[Natural Lefty]

You are welcome, Fishing Queen. Actually, I find your posts also more detailed than most I see on this forum.

My wife adds that you should bury any "worm food" that might become stinky as it decomposes, although I notice her simply tossing pieces of plant matter on top of our compost.:Confused: Of course, when growing and collecting worms, one must get "down and dirty." It's definitely a very "earthy" endeavor, but it gets us close to earth and nature, as do fishing, gardening and growing home veggies and fruit.

I live near Perris Lake as does Fishmounter, so I fish there the most. I caught a 10 3/4 inch Redear on an Adams fly the day I met SirBluegill last April, but I had less success on flies last year than usual at Perris. I am not sure why, but the fish weren't going for the midges the way they usually do. Perris has a huge midge population, kind of like Crowley Lake in the sierras. Perhaps they were biting some other types of flies than the midge-like ones I usually use at Perris, and probably in a different area than I usually find them from shore. I do have lots of other types of flies maybe I should be trying there. I hope to do lots of successful lure-and-fly fishing only trips this year, but we shall have to wait and see. At least I still have worms if needed.