A Great Afternoon and A Thank You

[outdoorsman816]

I got out of school early because of mid-term exams so I decided to hit Ridley Creek in the park with one of my teachers this afternoon. We started about a mile or so upstream from my favorite area, the fly fishing only zone, and then worked our way down. The creek is predominately riffles and pocket water upstream of the FFO zone, but opens up to some nice deep pools in the FFO. We fished for about an hour upstream in the pockets and riffles and had nothing to show for it. Although the FFO area is heavily pressured, I always seem to do best there, so we waded in and gave it a go. On the first cast, I hooked up with a nice rainbow, about 14" or 15" on a size 16 orange egg. After I great fight, I released the fish back into the cold 37 degree water and watched as he swam away. A few cast later, I briefly hooked a decent brown, but didn't land it. My teacher had to leave, so after saying goodbye, I made another cast and hooked another decent rainbow on the egg. After releasing him, I continued to fish and I missed a few hits. It was getting dark so I decided to make a few more cast. On the second or third cast, I caught a beautiful 17" or so brownie on a size 18 nymph called the Baron, as designed by Loren Williams. It was a great ending to a fun afternoon. I wanted to post this story and say thanks to everyone on here for all the valuable info they have shared. Just a year or two ago, I never had any success in the winter time, but after reading Trout Predator and learning about indie nymphing in the winter, I'm hooked! Thanks again and I hope that everyone is having as much fun out there as I will be now!

[AaronJasper]

Great job buddy! Keep it up...

[frankm205]

Outdoorsman,

I know exactly what you mean. I never went fly fishing in the winter befor this year. After learning so much from the guys here on this forum my buddy Brandon and I were able to go out to the Farmington and managed to land several nice fish. A couple were over 16 inches. This is a great place to learn and I echo your comments, and thank everyone who posts and shares this valuable information.

[Magnet]

Outdoor,
Good going. The student took the teacher to school! One thing that stood out to me was that you workrd down stream. Now were you in the water fishing your way down? Or, were you moving down via land, pool to pool?

[outdoorsman816]

I did a little bit off both. Most times I walked the edges of the creek looking for pockets and slots to drop the rig into. I wasn't watching my teacher so I can't really speak for him, but I believe he was doing the same thing. The reason that we worked down stream is that we parked at the bottom of the hill, walked to some spots at the top and worked our way back to the FFO zone next to the parking lot. It's amazing how fun fishing in the winter can be! It has opened up a whole other dimension of fly fishing for me.

[Magnet]

I was just wondering if while you we're fishing you were working down stream. Instictively you may know that in most instances it is best to work upstream. I had to be taught that and never figured that out on my own after many years of fishing! Good job!

[Jkilroy]

What is indie nymphing?

[Magnet]

JK,
I'm part Indian. That's how I fish. Lol.
Seriously though I type on a blackberry and just shortened the word "indicator" to indi.

[Jkilroy]

That's what I figured, but I thought I'd ask in case I missed something.

[outdoorsman816]

Yea JKillinger, I just shortened indicator to indie. Sorry for the confusion.