New to Fly fishing!

[upyun]

Hi my name is Brian and I've lived in Bergen county since I was 4. I'm an avid fisherman and just before I went to college, I started getting into fly fishing but quickly lost my ability to with school and whatnot. I have a Cortland 8' 5wt rod and a St. Croix 6'6" 4 wt rod as well as reels with 5wt and 4wt fly lines.

I'd really like to explore the rivers and streams of Bergen and Passaic county as much as possible. Some of the places I'm interested in fishing are:

Bear Swamp Brook
Ramapo River
Saddle River
Tienekill Creek
Hohokus Brook
Pascack Creek
Ringwood Brook

If anyone could give me some pointers in what size tippet to use as well as the typical flies we use around north jersey, that would be great!

Brian

 

[sstasiak]

Hey Brian

I tried to send you a Private Message, but you must have it disabled. If you enable it, send me a message and I'll get back to you.

Steve

 

[upyun]

Hey Brian

I tried to send you a Private Message, but you must have it disabled. If you enable it, send me a message and I'll get back to you.

Steve

Hi Steve

Thanks for the quick response. I don't believe I have the PM option because I never got an email notification to "activate" my account. I waited the whole night..but I couldn't wait and posted without activating my account I guess

However, I'd love to hear anything you wanted to tell me

Also, if anyone knows any of these streams intimately, I'd really like it if we could meet up one day and you could show me all of the "spots" throughout the river. I know that Fly Tier said he knew that Saddle River well which is one of the rivers I really wanted to focus on and I planned on walking from Dunkerhook Park to the state border in one weekend so that would be great if he could do that. I've fished the Saddle River once (behind the post office off of East Allendale Rd) where there is a nice pool below a little fall right off the parking lot, but I didn't catch anything.

I'm gonna get to know the Ringwood Brook pretty well since I know the area (from waterwater fishing so much) and its quite small and I think it would be a nice place for a beginner like me to learn.

I've fished the Pascack Brook for panfish, but no trout and I'd like to fish the Hohokus Brook and Tienekill creek as well since I'm a fan of small streams.

 

[CR]

If you've lived in Bergen County since you were 4, and are an "avid" fisherman, then how could you not be familiar with those streams? Something sounds "fishy" here....

 

[AKSkim]

Fishy

Lads, I would have to tend to agree with Mr. CR on this point. The ability to list that many streams, "having onced fished" is a tad on the fishy side. Dread the thought someone could be looking for other's special spots on those streams? Maybe the Lad needs to get out and find out for himself. Lad, if you do go out and are still having trouble, just drop me a line and I will be more than happy to assist you become a better fly fisher.

 

[Fireman202]

saddle river

i've fished it since i could remember.. my dad first started taking me to the small park by the hollywood ave bridge. I've fished places from dunkerhook to just above lake st. but still prefer the area around hollywood ave. bridge. (probably anywhere from rt. 17 up along saddle river rd. is some of the most enjoyable waters).

I too am new to fly fishing.. I've used bait most of my life and fished tons in saltwater, but it wasn't until my friend got a small piece of land and a cabin up in the catskills that I've really hit up trout fishing again.

as mentioned any tips on just the right flies to use would be helpful..i've tried to read up on hatches and match that with the entomology pics on this site.. very useful thanks!

 

[duncan]

Suspicious or not, I think it's a good thing to get more people "hooked" on the support and in line to help protect the few good streams we have left around here.

As far as streams go, just drive around on opening day this weekend and see where the cars are parked...those are your good spots generally. If you talk to the fly guys you see and have some knowledge to share, you'll get plenty in return. I personally look at opening weekend as comraderie among fishermen more than a time to catch fish, much like I do march madness pools to have fun and argue with friends rather than make money. There's plenty of season left after opening weekend to return to the hot spots when they're less crowded and catch a lot more fish.

As far as flies go, I'm a Simpleton with a capital S. Make sure you have the major patterns and don't be afraid to switch flies. If I feel like matching the hatch more precisely, I pull a pair of my wife's old panty hose over my landing net, dip it in the stream and tie on a fly that looks kinda like whatever got caught in the panty hose even if I don't know the name of the bug or the artificial.

 

[upyun]

If you've lived in Bergen County since you were 4, and are an "avid" fisherman, then how could you not be familiar with those streams? Something sounds "fishy" here....

Hi guys

Maybe using the word "avid" was a little too presumptuous. I love fishing and I've loved the sports ever since my dad took me to a pay lake in PA when I was about 4 or 5 for some stocked rainbows. Like I said before, I'm VERY new to fly fishing and for that reason, I'm not familiar with our county's river and streams at all. Most of my freshwater fishing has been on ponds and lakes in Bergen and Passaic Counties so please excuse my "newb" status on not knowing what are the "good spots" on these streams and rivers.

AKSkim - I have not fished Bear Swamp Brook, Hohokus Brook, Tienekill Creek or even the Ramapo (not any longer than about 20 minutes) so I didn't say I fished all of them. I have fished one or two of the streams I mentioned once or twice though.

Thanks for the advice Fireman! Hope to see you guys around.

Keep the positive posts coming!

 

[Pete]

Re: Ramapo, Bear Swamp

Use the "search" function of this forum using the stream name as the search keyword.

You'll find more on the Ramapo than you'll care to read in one sitting, and quite a bit on Bear Swamp.

Tippet: You can use the "rule of four" or similar criteria, but if the tippet fits comfortably in the eye of a standard hook, you won't be too far off.

Rule of four: Divide hook size by four to get the "X" size of the tippet (give or take).
eg:
Size 16 hook...4X tippet
Size 14 hook...3X or 4X tippet
Size 12 hook...3X tippet
etc.

 

[upyun]

Re: Ramapo, Bear Swamp

Use the "search" function of this forum using the stream name as the search keyword.

You'll find more on the Ramapo than you'll care to read in one sitting, and quite a bit on Bear Swamp.

Tippet: You can use the "rule of four" or similar criteria, but if the tippet fits comfortably in the eye of a standard hook, you won't be too far off.

Rule of four: Divide hook size by four to get the "X" size of the tippet (give or take).
eg:
Size 16 hook...4X tippet
Size 14 hook...3X or 4X tippet
Size 12 hook...3X tippet
etc.

Thanks for the tippet info Pete. I can't wait to get out there!

 

[AKSkim]

Tippets

Lads there are some good tip posted here that I will agree with. But you also have to experiment and learn for yourself. These are good pointers and a place to start.