Took A Ride To Orvis

[grampy]

The Mrs. and I drove over to Vermont today. Trout season will be here in a little over a month. So we just 'HAD' to stop at Orvis! I love going in there and always spend more than I should. But it's always well worth it. Picked up a few fly's some tippets and a new small stream, 5 weight combo. Oh, and fed the fish! Now I  just need to get better at this fly fishing! This will be my third year. At this point I've learned just enough to know, how much I  don't  know!.........hehehehe...

[Trial153]

That's always a nice drive and area. My wife and I go over every couple years for a short day trip

[turkeyfeathers]

Hey,

That's what grampy looks like !!!!

One of my brothers is an amazing fly fisherman. I dabble, so I more or less "suck"  I decline invites to go with him as I'll only embarrass myself more than anything.

[grampy]

I'm a terribly bad fly fisherman. But I'm determined to get better each year. Last year as I was moving to another spot on a local trout stream, I happened apon a truly gifted fly fisherman. I just sat on the bank and watched him effortlessly toss tiny midges 30 and 40 feet, to a cut bank and overhanging tree, on the drift. Everything he did was just so smooth compared to my own herky, jerky flailings. After a while he noticed me watching him and he walked over and said hi and he appreciated me not 'crowding' him. I told him I'm new to fly fishing and really enjoyed just seeing how he worked the line and water. He said he's been fly fishing for a "long time" and has fished "many far off places". And looked to be about my age. He then invited me to join him and I got the best advice yet. Let the rod and line do the work, don't force it! Little tips on how to mend the line with the tip of the rod were eye opening to me! I gained a lot in that half hour or so, but like I said, I know enough now, to know how much I need to learn. So I'll keep at it. Thanks Emory! Hope to meet up with you again sometime! Just to watch how it is supposed to be done.

[Jeremy K]

I asked my dad to get me a flyrod and teach me how use it for my 14th birthday . We camped next to the genesse river, just outside of wellsville (Shongo) . Probably my most memorable camping trip my whole life. 

[sfoulkrod]

I've tried it.  Spent 50% of my time tying knots in waist deep water, the remainder of the time was spent getting untangled. Before I got into a rhythm, a beaver swam up to me, slapped his tail on the surface of the water and had me running for shore.  Of course, I fell, my waiters filled with water and everything that floated began racing downstream.  Still, if you were to ask me in person if I fly fish I'd say, "Hell yea, I fly fish."  

[Doc]

The only time I will ever mess with a fly rod is when I am on the edge of a pond that hasn't got a tree anywhere near it. The middle of a lake is a great place for me to be whipping one of those suckers around, and even then I run the risk of burying a fly in the back of my head or somebody else's head.

I have been known to puddle around in the shallows with a small popper on a fly rod for sunnies and bluegills. That's fairly safe.

[grampy]

With a bass rig, I can skip a jig or worm, between pylons , well up under a dock. Or pitch a lure into a coffee cup from 30 feet away. But with a fly rod in my hand, I'm barely able to make the most basic of casts. But it's still fun and I tend to laugh at myself, instead of getting frustrated. And I'm just to stubborn to give up!

[SuperMag]

I'm not the best fly fisherman when it comes to trout, but man i love fishing off the end of my dock for panfish with the fly rod.

[ATbuckhunter]

Just getting into fly fishing myself. I have a 10wt setup for salmon, steelhead and stripers, and I used it for the first time on the Salmon River. Just got a 5wt and im excited to get out there for trout and smallies. What outfit did you get? 

[Dinsdale]

Anyone know if Orvis- Manchester still holds the open house mega sale in the spring? They would sell off all the last year demo rods, excess inventory, returns, etc for a song. Bought a few rods and kit that way.

Personally you can keep the technical trout fly stuff, I'll take walleye and pike for shore lunch any day.

 

[grampy]

The tent sale with 40% off ended today in Manchester.

[rachunter]

31 minutes ago, Dinsdale said:

 

 

don't want to hijack here but how do you like the float tube?

[Steve D]

Always have wanted to learn to  fly fish but I would probably be better of with the toothpick castle

or something similar.

[Dinsdale]

1 hour ago, rachunter said:

don't want to hijack here but how do you like the float tube?

I love my float tube. In that pic its almost 10 years old and has been on many week long trips into Canada(over a dozen), local ponds and ADK's. I carry it 2/3 inflated and finish blowing it up full when I get to the water. Some places I have gone I need to throw it ahead of me the brush is so thick, when semi soft it won't get punctured. Carry my kit and fins in a pack with a takedown 4 pc rod, either spinning or fly. There are several spot to clip on tools with bungee leashes so you don't drop anything.

Longer rod helps, a short rod is tiring casting all day; 8 foot spinning, 9 foot flyrod is what I use.

I did buy a new main bladder, but then finally found a pin hole in the old one and still using it after repair (just like inner tube, cement and a patch).

If serious about covering good sized ponds, those real dive/snorkeling fins pictured are a must. Stupid shorty/stiff plastic ones that come with it are worthless to cover water or hold a position in the wind, those happen to be Mares.

I don't think I'd use it with lots of boat traffic, not much above the water line and I'd be nervous about being run over. 

 

Edited February 27, 2017 by Dinsdale