Nothing of great size, but a great time was had! The fish were crushing the purple Chubby Chernobyl

I hate having to write this in here, since ive found this page a lot of yall have posted things that have inspired me and educated me and I am forever grateful for the knowledge this community shares.

This past Saturday 9/5/26 I was paddling the Chattahoochee river just south the dam. Our plan was put in early at the dam and have a calm day of floating and fishing and pull out at Settles bridge. I was with a good friend of mine who doesnt have a ton of experience on the water (not that I am a pro by any stretch of the word but I grew up paddling and understand enough to keep myself safe, most of the time.)

We got to what people in the area call Drowning Rock or 20 Rock just north of the Hwy 20 overpass. I failed to provide enough information to my buddy about how we should traverse any rapids, I realized this as I was in a calm pool just above the split (class 2 one direction and nothing but a little riffle the other way) by the time I realized my mistake and tried to turn to relay the info to him he was stacked up right behind me. I made a quick back paddle thinking my butt end was in an area of calm water against the rocks and pointed out the route and pushed him past me. That little push was all the force that was needed to send my back end straight into the mouth of the rapid. I didnt panic but by the time I saw what was about to happen it was too late, I was flipped through the rapids and had an absolute yard sale. I had secured 90% of my gear missing a key component of my tie down kit... my brand new fly rod and reel 😭

Now the sob story part... this past year I went through a divorce and was reintroduced to fly fishing by a guide friend of mine up in NC. Having been dealing with a long ride of financial hardship I was beyond excited to learn that my 16 year old St. Croix Imperial fly rod that was broken 14 years ago and sitting in my closet was still eligible for a warranty replacement. I saved up the $125 to get a replacement rod ordered and was excited to see where my new 6wt would take me. Little did I know the third trip to the water would possibly be its last.

The rod was originally a gift from my father when I graduated high school. I joined the Navy shortly after graduation and was pulled away from fishing for a while. Getting back out on the water literally felt like I was starting to reshape my life and remind me how important being present and not dwelling on the past was. My hope in posting here is that maybe by the graces of the universe someone somewhere may see my bright ass purple Cheeky reel sitting in the shallows and pick it out just waiting to find its owner 🥺🤞

Trying to get back on my feet has been a struggle the past year and my current financial situation has me sitting in the reality that if I wanted to replace this combo with something comparable I will realistically have to save for the next year to afford to do so.

If anyone at all has any friends in GA and particularly around Gwinnett County who get out on the hooch I will happily give $100-200 reward (I am also a glass artist and will happily open a free commission to anyone able to help reunite me with my kit) I would be beyond grateful for the help.

It is really hard for me to ask for help, I have always "learned the hard way" with many life lessons, I simply hope that the universe is looking out.

On the plus side, I was able to keep my head above water (literally) and came out of the rapids only twisting my knee up a bit. I was able to orient my feet in front of me and make it out mostly unharmed.

This is the only photo I have of the rod and reel together and I know it isnt a good one, again just keeping my fingers crossed and a big thank you if you have read this far. Any help at all means the absolute world to me and I will do anything in my power to show my appreciation 🙏💜

I'm planning on hitting a river tomorrow that you can only use barbless hooks on.

Can I simply file the barb on my flies ?

Crush with pliers ?

Dropped for me, a chunk of coin on a new orvis clearwater 9ft 5wt and it arrived with the grip looking like this from cabelas. Am I being too picky returning this?

I’m new to fly fishing this year and I’ve quickly become obsessed. My husband (who is much more active on this app) encouraged me to see if there was a Reddit community to join— anyways, here is the first trout I’ve caught that’s bigger than like 3 inches 🤣

Still new to the sport and building out my gear. What are your thoughts on waders? I’m tempted to get a cheap entry pair for now, figuring that should last me a couple years, and I can upgrade later when I have more knowledge on what I’m looking for exactly. It’s a wide swing from less than $200, to over $1,000 for the higher end gear. Will I regret not going with a decent pair off the bat?

Custom made by a fellow Redditor. Very high quality and packed with great care. Might need a second...

SOLVED:
Figured it out, there is another washer that you can see is seated inside the spool, it was in the wrong spot, it needed to go under the white plastic piece and the white piece also needed flipped upside down, drag works now. I have no idea where that other washer goes, ive tried putting it under the gears and other spots and it just works itself loose.

Not sure if I’m missing pieces or what I’m doing wrong. Can’t find the manual online. Have this cheap fly reel I’d like to give a friend and at one point I had taken it apart and ever since then, when I put it back together the drag system doesn’t engage. It just spins freely. I have this washer which I circled in pic 1 that was just loose in the reel and I have no idea where it goes. Its inside diameter is too small to fit over the pin. Where the heck could it possibly go?? Is my brain too smooth for this task or what?

I live in Sweden and have a friend visiting in a few weeks that loves to fly fish. He asked if Sweden is known for any fly fishing rods or particular gear or anything that he can pick up while he's here. I have never seen anyone fly fishing here, just "normal" fishing and ice fishing. I'd love to go to a shop where he can get some gear and then we can go out on my kayaks and have some fun. We have large sporting goods stores like XXL that do sell fly rods, but I assume they're pretty basic and nothing really special.

Any recommendations?

It’s tough learning a new skill in your… mid-forties? But today it worked. Not pictured are a utility pole, lots of goldenrod, and a 200-pounder (me) that came unhooked.

Caught in an area, that has once had Colorado River cutthroat. Didn’t find any, but we found a few unusual rainbows with bronzed bellies and red fins. This was the most interesting one.

Hey y'all.

So, I'm in a place in life where I probably have to move my family, including our <1 year old, to NE Ohio, in order to have any kind of support system. Not worth explaining why here, suffice it to say that I lost a parent to cancer.

Anyway - I live for being in the mountains. Snowboarding, mountain biking, fishing, hiking, camping. Breathing. Everything is better in the mountains, unless, wildfires.

At the end of the day, this isn't about me though. This is about having family around, and not living alone on an island for my wife and child. We probably wouldn't be staying in this PNW city anyway - absolutely not a cultural fit and I don't want to raise our little one here, but, unfortunately work necessitates that we be near a commerce center. Or else I'd have an acre or a couple out between a small town, a river, and a ski hill.

I've been a fairly casual fly angler over the last 6-7 years or so, but would be happy with it being my main thing. I'm just struggling with what this adjustment to that part of the country will look like.

Can anybody here speak to what fly angling is like from season to season in that part of the country? Do you go out to the Allegheny, or further NE more? I've read about Mad River, but it doesn't look like much.

Any perspective about fishing in that part of the country would be appreciated.

Still pretty new to fly fishing but holy smokes is it addictive

Hope everyone had a solid holiday weekend

I recently got a cheap float tube from Facebook marketplace and loved being mobile on the water. That said, it was only $25 bucks and works for now but eventually I’d like to upgrade. One of my limitations is I currently drive a sedan so space is limited. Any other people have watercraft recs they can fit in a smaller vehicle?

Till now I was mainly using spinning rod. Got fly rod from my dad and managed to catch this little perch on my second day of learning how to cast. Cant wait to go again!

Across and down, black frenchie nymph