Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss How Many Species of Fish caught on Fly Tackle?

OK ...

Here’s another challenge – who has caught the most species on fly tackle?

Now this is getting fun …
I’m putting my list together ….

FRESH WATER Species:
Warmwater:

Northern Largemouth Bass
Florida Largemouth Bass
Smallmouth Bass
Spotted bass

Striped Bass
Palmetto Bass
Sunshine Bass
White Bass
Yellow Bass
Northern Bluegill
Florida Coppernose Bluegill
White Crappie
Black Crappie
Hybrid sunfish
Long ear sunfish
Redbreast Sunfish
Green Sunfish
Tilapia
Channel Catfish
Blue Catfish
Common carp
Grass carp
Freshwater Drum
Buffalo
Longnose gar
Spotted gar
Gizzard shad
Redeye shad
Skip Jack herring


Cold Water Species:

Rainbow trout
Brown trout
Brook Trout
Arctic Char
Dolly Varden
Silver Salmon
Grayling


SALT WATER Species:
King Mackerel
Amberjack
Cobia
Tripletail
Bonita (false albacore)
Dolphin (Dorado)
Red fish
Speckled Sea Trout
Lady fish

Sand Trout
Shark

Are you ready....

the envelope please...

the number is....

3

Bluegill

Greensunfish

Rainbow trout (when I was 10 or so with the assistance of my uncle who made cast, hooked the fish and handed me the pole).

I have never thrown a lure with a flyrod.

Well that is your first mistake, you cast the line, not the lure.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

AND you don't normally use a lure, you use a fly.

Here's my short list:
Largemouth Bass
Bluegill
Coppernose Bluegill
Golden Shiner
Common Carp
Pumpkinseed
Rainbow Trout
Brook Trout
Channel Catfish

I have caught Steelhead and Chinook on a fly, but it doesn't count because the fly was fished on a spinning rod/reel. I've never had a fly in salt water.

Obviously you've never seen me fly fish.

Looks like I am on the bottom, I've only went after and caught Brook Trout.

That was an easy list

Jeff, I thought that I remembered seeing a picture of you and a nice bass,
or was that one that Ricki caught?

See, I don't even know the terminology. I'm stil trying to figure out how to catch fish on standard tackle. Can't go getting fancy.

Hmmm... I haven't caught nearly as many fish with a fly rod. No saltwater fish at all. I have caught the following on a fly rod:

brown trout
brook trout
rainbow trout
bluegill
green sunfish
redbreast sunfish
longear sunfish
rock bass
largemouth bass
smallmouth bass
black crappie
golden shiner
common shiner
creek chub
fallfish
yellow perch
American shad
hickory shad
alewife
blueback herring
striped bass
common carp
white sucker

23 total

There's hope for you yet. Just make a promise to only flyfish next year. Retire the conventional fishing tackle for a year and you'll get it down pretty quick! I'm sure George can teach you how to cast at the Conference in April.

George, I sure hope you make it there.

While everyone I know who flyfishes raves about it, I still haven't had a great desire to pick one up and learn. Isn't a ML spinning outfit still more versatile for situations I might encounter in my area right? I would be honored in any case to receive a lesson from such an accomplished flyfisherman as George though. For sure.

I caught the LMB on ultra light tackle.

Ricki did however catch a RES (the one and only RES ever caught on our pond) using her fly rod.

I have an ultra light rig and love it. IMHO a traditional rig (as opposed to a fly fishing rig) is more versatile just because you can using it for any type of fishing.

Fly fishing is fun just because it is completely different. The pole sensitivity, the casting movement, it's just a different experience.

I am a complete amateur fly fisherman but I have fun with it.

George encouraged me to give it a try and I did and I have learned that several of the fly fishing myths are completely false:

Fly fishing is elitist: Like any other hobby it can be. Heck when I restored muscle cars there were purists that insisted every nut and bolt had to be factory correct and then there were guys like me that wanted a practical and reliable car to drive. Fly fishing does not have to be elitist it you don't want it to be. Just have fun with it. You don't need fancy vests or hats with 37 flys stuck on it. You can add pieces of worm to a fly to improve your chances of a catch. You can do what ever you want.

Fly fishing is very hard: Like anything else fly fishing has a learning curve. It's just a completely different casting motion. There are a few tricks that make learning the casting motion easier. There are a couple of DVDs that I think are great for learning fly casting, one is "Lessons with Lefty" and the other is "Lefty Kreh on Fly Casting." I had never used a fly pole. I watched "Lessons with Lefty" several times, made a few notes, picked up the fly rod and tried it out. I was surprised how quickly I picked it up. At the PB 2 conference George gave us a lesson and I learned even more. Then Brandon showed FMB, JWHAP and I how to double haul. All three of us picked it up withing minutes. After that I could sail a fly out twice as far as I had been. It's just a different casting motion that needs to be learned. It's more of a fluid motion instead of a whipping motion.

Fly fishing is expensive: Hog wash. You can get starter fly fishing rigs on sale for under a hundred bucks. I got my rig for on sale at Bass Pro Shop for $79 including rod, reel, carrying case and line. I bought an assortment of starter flies for $20. I paid much more for that for just a bait casting reel that I hated, never could get it set properly to keep from bird nesting. That bait casting reel was the only thing that was stolen from our property that I said "good riddance" to - I hope the thief spends hours of misery untangling fishing line.

Heck if I can fly fish anyone can fly fish.

Fishing is all about having fun. If you are having fun with the fishing equipment that you have then good on ya, that's what it's all about. If you want to try something different just for variety then fly fishing is a fun alternative.

Omaha, I tell folks that fly fishing is not in place of conventional tackle - it's in addtion to conventional tackle,
And much more versatile in many cases.
You can keep a fly in the "strike zone" much longer than with a plug or jig.
If you want to cast to a different location, you don't have to reel fast to retrieve the lure and re-cast - you only pick up the flyline and cast to desired location.

Different species of fish can be fished on different weight flylines - floating or sinkers.

It can be a money pit just like my closet full of casting and spinning rigs ....

I wish some of you guys lived closer - I often have new friends learning to cast in my backyard on weekend afternoons.

Like Jeff says, it's not as complicated as many folks make it out to be. Remember you are casting a flyline - not the fly.

Jeff's recommended Lefty Kreh's DVDs are priceless.
Try it - you'll like it - and catch more fish in the process ...

I think I may be able to boast the LOWEST variety of fish caught on a fly rod - 1. Brook Trout.

All the fly fishing threads have gotten me thinking again, though, that I need to get back into it. During law school I had two buddies who were avid fly fisherman and taught seminars, plus they had really nice, really expensive gear, and extras, so that made them perfect fishing companions for me! Every Friday during the season in Maryland, we'd skip classes for the whole day and head across the state border to fish little tributaries of the Savage River where there were great creeks to fish for little native brookies. A big fish in those places was 10 inches, but man was it cool fishing.

Thanks guys. I will likely take this up sooner or later. Lately, I haven't been able to do much "pleasure fishing". Shoot, the last time I was out just fishing for fun was at Bruce's place and that was a couple months ago now with the wife and kid. And even then, we only spent about an hour at it. I've either been fishing with kids, which is great, but I probably wouldn't have the opportunity to practice flyrodding with them around, or I've been fishing to either analyze a fish population or transfer from one pond to another. Just haven't seen many opportunities to fish either by myself or with an experienced friend this year. So even if I owned a flyrod it would have gotten little to no use this year. Maybe next year, I'll get out more often. I've got a lot of fishing buddies that love to flyfish from their float tubes and I've been dying to give that a shot.

LMB, HBG, GSF, CNBG, BG, CC

I think I'll dig my rig out and get it freshened up. Three years ago I moved and only live a half mile from the Muskegon River, and never hit it except for taking my dog for a swim. Dang, I also sold my river boat a year before I moved.

Maybe I can add to my list. Coho, Kings and Steelhead for fall and winter fishing.

The Skamania should be starting pretty soon, shouldn't they?

The Skamania strain of Steelhead make their spawning runs in late spring to summer. The St. Joseph River is supposed to be the best place to fish them. Thats close to you. From what I have read, Indiana stocks that quite heavily.

Michigan also stocks the Manistee River with Skamania.

I've caught a lot of fall run Steelhead out of the Grand River on spawn and spoons, a fly rod would be fun.

I've been reading up on the Muskegon River and that is quite a productive fishery. I gotta get me another boat.

Yep, you're right. I've fished the St. Joe for both of them, but my comment tells you how long ago. I forgot what species ran when. I was thinking the Skamania started now & overwintered in the river, and the regular steelhead started in Feb.

Coho should be starting soon. Kings (Chinook) probably in a month and Steelhead in November.

I got one of these maps: Professor Higbee's

I should have been putting it to good use

Figures, none for Indiana.