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3. Advice for a young fisherman

Hello everybody! The site ist excellent! I am a new fan of the fly-fishing from Greece (i used to fish trouts in river with spinners). Here ist fly- fishing almost unknown. I would like to ask you, which kind of flies the most appropriate for March and April are. Are the nymphs better for this time of the year? I live in an area with mountains and the weather is cold during the spring.The trouts they live in the rivers i fish are very beautiful!

Nymphs and streamers will be best at that time of year in a cold climate. Nymphs will probably catch more fish, and streamers might catch some bigger fish.

I agree with Jason. Without knowing more about your area, it would be nearly impossible to get into any specifics, though. Can you characterize the type of water available to you to fish?

You might want to check out the threads on this site related to nymphing. There is a fine line between catching no fish and catching lots of fish nymphing, so the best thing to do is find someone who does it well to teach you how. But, if that's not possible, I'm sure some people on this site more knowledgable than I can recommend some good books to you.

Best of luck,
Shawn

Thank you very much for your advice. It was very kind of you to answer to my questions.
The rivers i fish are not so big but they are impetuous, especially during the spring. The water is cold and clear most of the time. In the water live wild stream trouts with red spots. They are very beautiful but clever too.The most fishes are 250-400 gr but there are also bigger fishes.
Could you suggest me some nymphs and the size you think is better for March?In Greece only few shops have flies, so i have to e-buy some and that΄s why i need your precious advice!

I wouldn't know any specific flies to recommend either. The closest thing I can think of would be to look for flies used in a more popular southeast Europe fly fishing destination, Slovenia. I know they're not right next door but you probably have many of the same insect species. I found some Slovenian flies at Josko.org. I don't think they're for sale but they might give you some idea what to look for.

250-400 grams is roughly 9 to 14 ounces, so the fish are probably in the 10-13 inch range right? If that's the case, you might want to rule out really large stonefly nymphs, and fish flies around size 10 at the largest. Those fish could take a little larger but you'd be giving them a decent mouthful with that.

Jaeger,
You must look in the waters you want to fish to see if you can find nymphs and then look at the flies that come out of the real water. Then,you must find flies that imitate those that you see. This may be hard, but you have the internet and can look for flies. This will make you a better fly-fisherman, because you will be using flies for where you are fishing.

Mark

Jaeger,

Here are two nymphs that work very well here in the U.S. They are very easy to tie also. It sounds like your trout are what we call Brown Trout. They are my favorite.

Fly 1. Simply brown or tan rabbit fur dubbed on thread and wrapped heavily on a hook in a cigar shape. We use hare's mask here, if you can get it. Many people wrap lead or other heavy wire around the hook before dubbing the body, and some use a brass bead at the head. This fly is called a Walt's Worm, and it works very well in all sizes. I have never fished anywhere that trout would not hit it.

Fly 2. Bright fluorescent green or chartreuse chenille wrapped on a hook. This is called a green weenie, or sinking inchworm. It also looks like some caddis larvae. Brown Trout here hit it all year.

Let me know if this helps. These patterns and pictures of them are on the internet.

I once visited Greece (Athens mostly) and liked it. People were very nice to me, and I had a lot of fun. Best of luck!!

Martin, nice flies for a start, although polluting a beginner's flybox with chartreuse phalluses is not the most elegant way to introduce him to our venerable sport. (I'm just joking, here - I, too, use a version of this atrocity.)

I would add the muskrat nymph or sowbug to this all-around list - essentially the same as a Walt's Worm, but with gray dubbing wrapped around a hook and picked out or dressed up in various ways. Almost impossible to find a place it doesn't work. Tying this style of fly in various shades of gray, olive, and cream is probably the best thing you could do if all you want to do is catch fish (not a terrible goal).

I also wonder if you might fish some freshwater shrimp (an appropriate color of dubbing with a bit of plastic tied under the ribbing and the dubbing picked out on the bottom). These crustaceans are pretty common, and I wouldn't be surprised to find some in your home streams.

Like Mark said, take a seine to the stream, pick up some rocks, and see what you find. Some of what's been mentioned is sure to imitate something you find. If not, you may have to tie some of your own flies. Be careful about getting into flytying, though - it's easy to become even more obsessive about it than flyfishing.

All the best,
Shawn

Thank you guys!I will try to find the proposed nymphs at Internet.
I think it is a very good idea to check out the waters i fish and find, which kind of nymphs live there, although it might be difficult.
But if it was too easy to catch fish,it would not be so fashinatig!

Best of luck to all of you!

Jaeger -

If you can't find flies on the Internet I'd be happy to send you some nymphs that should work anywhere there are mayflies and caddisflies. Just send me your address and I'll send you some flies as a gift to a new flyfisherman.

Jaeger,

It's always a special treat to hear from our fly-fishing friends from around the world. If I were you, I'd jump on Matt's (Wbranch) offer right away. (Very nice gesture, Matt. I'm sure that it is appreciated by everyone here--especially Jaeger.)

there is an amazing group of guys on this forum, you have struck a pot of gold.

Wbranch's generosity shames me - I'm often reluctant to part with two or three flies when I meet someone on the stream. Excellent model for the rest of us, Matt.

-Shawn

Hi Shawnny,

I mentioned to Louis that I have so many thousands of flies that if I don't give some away, to a good cause, once in a while I really can't get the urgency to sit down and tie very much.

Here are three pictures of some of my flies:







Also here is a not very good picture of a very nice brown taken in a secret channel of a MT river.

Nice flies and nice fish!

-Shawn

In my obvious idleness, I was going back over Jaeger's posts. I was struck by this:

I can't really say why, but I am captivated by that sentence! Sometimes, a person writing in a second language creates an expression that is so uniquely enchanting that it almost defies explanation. Thanks for that, Jaeger.

Hi Jaeger,
Take a look at a website about fly fishing in Greece...
http://www.fly-fishing.gr

Jaeger,

Please post pictures of your area, and your catches. It would be neat to see.

Ben

I've nothing to offer here...but, like Gonzo, am really enjoying Jaeger's descriptions. I'm reasonably sure I've never heard anyone use the word impetuous to describe a stream, but it's a very fitting adjective in this context.