Where else has it taken you?

[maddog48 0]

I've started to enjoy photography. Not to the extent of Graham and some of you here, but taking pictures all the same. My camera rides with me everywhere I go since you never know who or what you will run into. It has also gotten me very concerned about the quality of the water I am fishing so I have started "stream team training" here on the Little Red. We will go from place to place on the river and do different checks on dissolved oxygen, phosphates, nitrates and quite a few other chemicals. We also are studying the effects the water quality has on insect life. I have set up contacts with local colleges whose science classes are also interested in the results of the testing.

 

 

Mike

[Inconnu 0]

Hey Mike! That is really a great idea. Is that something that alot of people are doing now? I will have to check on how plausible it would be up here, to do something similiar.....Kerry

[riverfisher99 0]

Fly fishing to me has turned me into somewhat of an environmentalist. It has taught me to apreciate what is there besides the fish. That has led to annual river clean-ups, and me passing this clean-up attitude to my kids. So much so that if I leave the house on a fishing trip without a trash bag I get dirty looks and complaining from them :headbang:

 

 

Good Stuff,

 

 

Shawn

[Alex C. 0]

I'd say the biggest thing for me is entomology. I love studying insects now. Then of course photography even though my camera sucks There are just so many different aspects to flyfishing/fly tying and I think that is what keeps it interesting

[maddog48 0]

Kerry... I was actually elected president of a conservation commission here in Arkansas and managed to get a grant from the state to buy an actual kit. It's actually pretty easy down here. Arkansas has too much water and too little enforcement. I find problem areas .. I send notice to the state and they look into it.

 

 

Mike

[Carver 0]

It led me to wood working and turning. That's mostly from the rod building side of things.

[bart 0]

When I started fly fishing, that also meant that I started tying too. First off I didn't know you could buy flies, and secondly tying flies was part of getting ready for the weekends trip, so it gave me something to do when I couldn't get to the streams. And of course tying got me into entomology which got me into learning about healthy water. I even did a a water quality research project for Stroud Water Research where me a buddy put trout eggs in little plastic mesh boxes in different places along different streams in PA and took water samples everyday until the eggs hatced... or didn't for 6 weeks. That taught me about the impact of we all have on the environment... and now I try to have to as little impact on the environment as possible. Fly fishing also got me into traveling to new streams with the same friends and has forged life long friendships with those guys. I like photography more and more each day (and work less and less as a consequence as it just gets in the way of me taking pictures of these incredible fall colors). I had to learn how to row a boat to float the western rivers, with a 100lbs dog on the back of my boat. I had to learn how to train a dog to fly fish, both wading and floating, with and without ducks flying overhead! But most important to me is those friendships... and fly fishing brings us all together a few times times each year. Sure, I read books, get 'em signed, take photo's, tie, kill/skin/tan hides, rod building, and teaching others whatever I can, and generally have a darned nice time doing it all, but the friends are the strangest place that fly fishing has taken me. Who knew?

 

bart

[Isonychia 0]

Fly fishing literally launched my career.

 

I started fly fishing when I was 23 years old, shortly after I graduated from college, got married and started working as a television news reporter. I joined a local TU chapter and quickly became its newsletter editor. I got bitten by the outdoor-writing bug.

 

A local newspaper lost its outdoor columnist about a year later. I wrote a couple of sample columns and got the job. Eventually the paper offered me a full-time job as its outdoors editor and environmental reporter. I also started writing free-lance articles for regional and national publications. Twenty-seven years later, I'm still doing the same thing. It's been fun, it's been rewarding, and I've met some of the nicest people you can imagine.

 

John

[Hamp 0]

Does the Poor House count?

[Thibodeau 0]

I hunt and tan the hides for my own tying. Getting the most out of an animal is important to me because it makes it more worth wild. less waste is better.