I embarked on the 3 1/2 hour journey to Weavers tackle shop and Campground on Tuesday night 4/23/19 for 2 1/2 days of fishing and camaraderie. The weather looked questionable prior to the trip but the rain ended up being light showers at the heaviest.
The cabins were more than adequate for our lodging needs. In fact, we got the cabins for $50 per night each. I believe that's because we rented for 2 or more nights and because it was middle of the week. GREAT DEAL. Weavers is always a good place to stay, the store always has what we need and the staff are always friendly.
I am happy to report that I had a successful first outing trout fishing with the fly rod. I fished mainly wooly buggers and maribou jigs, some type of "muddler" and even a glo-ball and MegaWorm. I caught fish on ALL of them, even a few around 1 1/2 pounds. Wow, the "connection" between the line and the fly was surprising to me. It felt like the trout were hammering whatever I was throwing. I've never felt this type of "connection" with spinning gear and sometimes have trouble feeling fish on spinning gear. It was a strange sensation.
I caught 15-20 fish the first day and 6-8 fish the 1st half of day 2. I finished the trip with spinning gear as the crowds increased and I was less comfortable using the fly rod with the bigger crowds. I am not near perfect but feel solely committing to fly fishing for a day and a half really benefitted my technique. I was able to learn to load the rod and get a better feel for it. Next time I will fish slightly heavier flies as the larger fish are generally closer to the bottom OR possibly add a sinking front section of line??? I need to learn to roll cast and feel I could have been more successful had this cast been in my arsenal. I did have the opportunity to watch a couple of fellow fly fisherman who has obviously been doing this much longer than I. The smoothness of their casts and the distances they achieved were very impressive.
Here's the only stringer I kept. All the others went back for the rest of the fisherman to catch. Thanks for looking!
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