Im Hooked On Fly Fishing

I have lived on the coast for over 30 years and have fished the local creek, river and several of the beaches over those years, with my trusty beach rod and a smaller boat rod that I acquired somewhere along the way.

I occasionally have had the chance to fish off shore, trolling for Mackerel, Tuna or Dolphin fish (Maui Maui) and bounced a few sinkers off the bottom chasing snapper, pearl perch and even the odd king fish.

Quite a few years ago I took a trip up North and spent 8 days fishing for Barramundi in the crocodile invested creeks of North Queensland, and catching coral trout, red emperor, and giant trevally out on the great barrier reef.

I’VE DONE A BIT OF FISHING

You could say I have done a little bit of fishing in my 41 years, but one thing I had never done until last week was fly fishing.

On a recent family trip down South I was given a chance to finally try fly fishing, and I must say I loved it!

We took a trip out to a fly fishing centre, and booked a lesson with one of the centres professional instructors.

Without a doubt this was the best way to learn this tricky style of fishing and probably saved us hours if not days of trying to learn by ourselves.

Our instructor Geoff, wasn’t just into fly fishing, he was passionate about it. I thought I knew a lot about salt water fishing, but what this guy knew about fly fishing put me to shame.

After an entomology lesson, and an in-depth explanation of trout behaviour, we finally got to put rod and reel in hand and headed out to a small pond for a casting lesson.

The first thing that was obvious was the difference between salt water fishing gear and what we were about to use to catch ourselves a trout.

Without any tackle at all, we practiced our casting and line management skills, roll, pickup, one, two, present.

One stage at a time, we went over the various sections of the cast until we were able to lay the line on the water gently near were we thought there may be a fish.

It really did take some getting used to, but after a while I started to get the hang of it to a certain degree.

TIME TO TRY A FLY

Geoff was happy enough with our new found skills, and decided to let us loose on the rest of the property.

We chose a fly from a huge selection he had ready for us, he tied them on for us, and we headed out to the various lakes and ponds to try our luck.

The small pond we learnt our skills in didn’t have any trees nearby or reeds close to the edge, so this presented a few extra obstacles as we worked our way around the edges looking for signs of life.

It was now past the middle of the day, it had warmed up quite a bit and not really the best time for trout to be on the bite (at least that’s what we told ourselves).

No one caught a trout that day, but I did catch a small Bass. I would definitely say it was more luck than skill, but it still gave me the bragging rights for the rest of the day.

HOOKED ON FLY FISHING

It wasn’t the most successful fishing trip I have been on, but it was certainly a great experience.

I wouldn't say I now know everything about how to fly fish, but I have a new found respect for this style of fishing and would definitely give it a try again if given the opportunity.

If you’re into fishing and haven’t tried fly fishing, give it a go, I loved it!