I went to bible college for 4 years and never missed a day even though I had to drive almost an hour each way. I was dedicated but every day I drove by a number of great trout fishing streams, brooks and rivers. It was tough on those perfect fly fishing days but I never once stopped to wet a line.

It seemed that all my off time was studying and working to pay for college.

The college sat on a hill top overlooking a valley that had streams full of brookies and even some salmon criss-crossing the landscape. About half my classes had a view of that valley and called to me daily until finally I couldn’t take it any more and went to the main office where I explained that I had never missed a day, even when students that lived on campus missed days because of bad weather.

And then I asked for a day off to go fly fishing for trout. Well the profession I was talking to laughed and told me that he had to fight that urge during classes, but that he lived right there and was fly fishing every evening for an hour or two.

Then he not only said that I could have any day off I wished, with his blessing. He also added that he knew of some great hot spots that he would share with me if I promised not to share these spots with anyone for 4 years.

For a minute I was thinking he was pulling my leg but he wasn’t. I agreed.

The next day I went fly fishing and had a great day. I think I was blessed with the perfect day, maybe because I never gave in to temptation during those months of classes.

The professor I was talking with did take me fishing, in some of the areas I already fished but he showed me how to catch the big trout, 16 and 18 inch brook trout. And I kept my promise not to tell anyone for 4 years. At that time I took my best fishing buddy, who I told about this promise from day one, so he waited 4 years to get this same opportunity.

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I never enjoy getting a hook stuck in me. I really don’t know of anyone that does, although my son might like it as he really enjoys getting tattoos.

Over the almost 50 years of fishing I have had a few hooks stick various places in my body, from my foot to ears but they were all self inflicted. However this story isn’t about me hooking myself. This is about my buddy Roland, who I haven’t fished with for a few years, nothing to do with him hooking me though.

I always were a fishing hat as it keeps a lot of hooks from nailing me in the head when I am fly fishing on those windy days. I wear glasses because I have to if I want to see but I would wear glasses as a safety feature even if I didn’t need them to see. I have only ever ripped my glasses off once but better my glasses than my eye.

Back to my buddy Roland.

We were on Grassy Lake, it’s more of a big pond than a lake but we have pulled many tasty speckled trout from that little lake. Although the year Roland started using a fly rod he only managed to get two trout, on the fly rod that is. And he wasn’t casting at the time, he was just letting the line drag behind the canoe while I was paddling across the lake. He was a great sport about it and never got upset when I teased him about his first year.

Oh yeah, he did how one fish while he was casting. Unfortunately that fish was me. Right in the side of the neck at the speed of sound. Instantly Roland’s face went right into a look of horror and then he couldn’t look at me again.

It was so fast that it didn’t even hurt, no pain at all but of course I could let him know that right away.

Roland was of no help at all as he was too busy looking away and begging me to forgive him.

I tried for a few minutes to get the hook out of my neck but just couldn’t get it to come out and Roland couldn’t look at me so I just left it in my neck and cut the line. He was going to have to tie on a new trout fly.

I fished the rest of the day and when we returned to the car later than evening it only took me about 1 minute to get the fly out of my neck once I could see what I was doing in the rear view mirror.

I should have taken a picture so I could show his wife how he tortures me when we going fishing.

Fly Fishing Tips – How to Catch Rainbow Trout

Fly fishers, both men and women spend a great deal of their time hunting trout, and particularly rainbow trout. The beautiful rainbow band that runs along the the sides of a rainbow trout (from their head to their tail) is how one can identify a rainbow trout. As rainbow trout is a delicious fish to eat, and as they also provide excellent sport because of their fighting abilities, rainbow trout fishing has become very popular. Unlike other trout species, rainbow trout can also be tempted to take properly presented flies as well as streamers and nymphs, and are therefore the ideal fish for fly fishing.

Today, rainbow trout can be found in many regions in the United States, but the rainbow trout species originated west of the Rockies. Rainbow trout prefer cool streams, rivers and lakes, and are found in the northern parts of the US where the water temperature falls between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The main diet of rainbow trout includes plankton, immature and adult insects, worms, crustaceans. They sometimes even feed on small fish. Rainbow trout will remain in streams until they reach 6 to 9 inches in length, and then migrate to lakes or oceans where they spend years bulking up before returning to streams and rivers to spawn. Rainbow trout that have adapted to the saltwater environment are known as steelhead trout.

Rainbow Trout Fly Fishing Equipment

The fly rod used to catch rainbow trout varies depending on the size of trout you want to catch and the body of water you are fishing on. When fishing for medium to large rainbow trout in lakes and large rivers, use a 4 weight through to a 8 weight fly rod. When fishing for small to medium size rainbow trout in small streams and rivers, use a 1 weight through to a 4 weight fly rod. A recommended rainbow trout fly fishing rod for small streams is the extremely light Sage TXL fly rod.

The fly line used for rainbow trout fly fishing is typically a floating line if dry fly fishing on the water’s surface. When fishing below the water’s surface using a nymph or streamer, a sinking tip fly line is used. A fly fishing reel is not essential for rainbow trout fly fishing, and some anglers prefer hand stripping the line to using a fly reel. A fly reel is often just used to recover and store fly line and backing not in immediate use. For more information on fly reels, take a look at the following fly reel introduction.

Rainbow Trout Fly Fishing Flies

Two basic types of flies are used for rainbow trout fly fishing, wet flies and dry flies. Dry flies masquerade insects are used with a floating fly line which floats on top of the water. A wet fly can imitate a bug, a worm, a minnow, small fish or any other water creature that lives under the water surface. A wet fly is different from a dry fly in that it sinks under the water’s surface. Nymphs and streamers are classified as wet flies and are used normally with sinking tip fly fishing lines.

For rainbow trout fly fishing, different types of flies are used in different regional areas. It is a good idea to find out what flies, nymphs and streamers work best from local fly shops or local anglers for that particular region. A good technique when fishing for rainbow trout is to start out with dry flies on the water’s surface, which causes less water disturbance. If you have no success with dry fly fishing, then start using wet flies below the water’s surface.

For more information about saltwater fly fishing gear, take a look at the news feed for Fly Fishing Elite (Feedraider.com).

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Trout fishing tips come in quite handy especially when you are a beginner. First of all, it would be a good thing to know that trout are fish whose metabolism depends on the temperature of water. Their metabolism accelerates as the temperature gets higher. If the water where they live is cold, as it is in deeper waters, they show lethargy and need to eat less.

Moreover, around January those interested in catching trout start to be directed to warmer and warmer waters as trout leave behind cold deep waters so they could spawn. Also, during fall trout start to move towards colder and deeper waters where they would be better off during the cold season. Yet fishermen should not expect them to cover distances very fast. The migration cycles from one place to another follow the seasons and last for several months.

Also good to know when trout fishing is that these animals live in large groups. They tend to stick together in schools, especially the ones of the same size. Therefore, should you get lucky and get a capture, be sure that there is more trout in the area to catch as long as you do not throw the dead caught fish back in the sea to panic the rest of the school.

In addition, trout fishing areas are easy to spot. trout prey on smaller fish, but they are not great hunters due to their slow motion features. They would rather wait patiently and lazily for a victim to come by and unexpectedly get in their way. Sometimes, they feed on injured marine animals even though this kind of food might not be on their regular menu. Their regular menu consists of frogs craw-fish, worms, minnows insects and so on. If fishermen learn such things on trout, together with their feeding and mating habits, fishing would be much easier and more fun.

On the other hand, these fish are prey themselves therefore, in the normal habitat, there should be rocks and alls sorts of sea vegetation to provide them a safe retreat. That is why trout fishing gets carried out in areas where they could find safety like small or big rocks, weeds and other shady or sunny well-lit areas where the eye makes it difficult for them to be spotted.

Successful trout fishing may also depend on the type of bait that is chosen by the anglers. Bait should vary according to both the season – spring, summer, autumn or winter – and the spawning cycle of this fish species. For beginners, let us not forget that there will always be experienced anglers ready to come up with tips.

One of the most important things that any fishermen won’t have to forget is to bring along his tons of lures so that he can enjoy catching all the fishes in the lake all throughout the day but according to some Banjo Minnow reviews, why try to bring a whole lot of fish lures when you can only bring just a few of them in order to catch all the fishes in the lake? You may not know it but lots of fishermen like you who are now entertaining the idea of buying artificial fishing lures that can look exactly like a fish and there are some that even smell like fish and can even move like a fish to simulate a small fish to lure the big fishes. If you really like to enjoy fishing, you better bring your own artificial “larger-then-life” fish lures along with you.

Actually, there are lots of companies who are dealing with Banjo Minnows because of the hype and the popularity of this fish lure. Sad to say, the Banjo Minnow fishing lure that they are promoting on the Net are not what they seem to be. Some don’t conform with the standard regulations and you might think that what you have purchased is a reliable Banjo Minnow fish lure but it’s not. So, how will you ever prove to yourself that what you have seen and would like to buy is the best and most reliable Banjo Minnow?

The only way to find out if what you are investing in is the real thing is to go to the Internet and read some customer or product reviews that will give out testimonies from people who have tried to buy a Banjo Minnow 006, for instance, and how they have enjoyed their fishing trips because they have caught a lot with the help of this fish lure. Once you have read a review or two, that’s the time that you can decide what kind of Banjo Minnow would you like and where to get them.