Have you ever met that 'kid from the lfy shop' ?

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

I have!

 

Have you ever met that 'someone' that turned into a lifelong friend that you would go fishing with for the next 20 some years? I have and it has turned into a lifelong friendship.

 

It has almost been like having a guide on a stream that you wanted to fish.

 

It has been great... thank you Harry!

 

BCT

[FlatsRoamer 0]

I have as well, he happens to my dad

 

Too bad he's always in a pissy mood and likes to take it out on me

[Steeldrifter 0]

Yep, funny thing is he's 25 yrs older than me and I meet him when I was only 12 yrs old (sounds bad right? LOL). My best fishing buddy that I fish with all the time use to be my 6th grade teacher back around 1983'ish.

 

Long story short- My 6th grade teacher was always my favorite teacher I ever had through my school years. Later on in life my Niece ended up having him for 3rd grade which was his last year of teaching before he retired. She told me he was big into fly fishing so I ended up building a 2wt fly rod for him and gave it to my Niece to give to him as a retirement gift along with a note telling him how much I always liked him as a teacher back when I was a kid. He ended up calling me and turns out he remembered me as a student so he started coming over for coffee and to talk fly fishing. That was about 12 yrs ago, we've been best fishing buddies every since and hardly ever go fishing without each other these days. He turns 70 next month but still can keep up with me on trips no problem.

[Rocco 0]

My longest and best fly fishing partner is oddly someone I would normally not **** on if he was on fire.

 

We are diametric opposites. He of an overriding scientific bent -- me straight liberal arts. He Type A all the time -- me laid back if not passive . He committed liberal -- me Attila the Hun. He, the penny-pincher skeptic about new gear -- me the eager experimenter with new stuff. I could go on but why...? The pattern is the same across the board and by now you get the idea. I can't count the long hours of arguments to and from streams -- all futile in terms of narrowing the gaps between us.

We have fished together over twenty years or so and still keep in touch -- now at great distance across much of the US.

 

The common bond is love of the sport and a lifelong pursuit of getting better at it.

 

Sometimes I think we should air drop fly rods on the Arabs and the Israelis.

 

Rocco

[Fisherboy0301 0]

I can top that one Steeldrifter. My best bud George. He is in his 70s, I'm 17. Met him when I was 11. We fished, conventional and fly (his son in law got me tying, he got me fly fishing) (he actually have me some flies once that sparked my very first post to this site! I was trying to ID them to see if they had any value!) and hung out all the time. I'd walk to his house on the lakefront to fish, and watch football with him. He would eat peanuts and drink bud light. I'd do the same, just with coca-cola. Lol. We even hunted the Ocala Nat Forest together a few times. Wonderful old man. I miss him since I moved in 2013. Gotta get back down to see him before too long. Sure would hate to not see him again before his trip to the big lake in the sky.

[Flat Rock native 0]

Right on Rocco!

[Poopdeck 0]

Yep my A list boat partner has been a constant fishing companion for the last 25 or so years. Half the time I'm his A list partner since we each have boats. He's the one who turned me onto ice fishing as well. He's always on time, stays late, don't care what the weathers doing and he's always on time. Being on time is important to me.

[mikechell 0]

Nope. I am sure you'll all find this shocking, but I don't actually have any "long term" friends. I have a lot of online acquaintances, most of them right here on this site. There are a few on here that I've met, and I like them, each and everyone. If we lived close enough, we might even become fishing partners. But if I have the local population to compare, probably not.

 

Why do I say that? Because I've tried.

I used to hand out my name and phone number. Every time I met someone bank fishing ... someone fly fishing ... someone talking about either, I'd tell them I go fishing almost every weekend. If they're interested, "Give me a call any time of the week. We can hit the water that following weekend."

 

In all the years I did that, I had TWO people call me. In both cases, we went fishing a few times and then I never heard from them again. Could be my personality. Could be the way I fish.

What ever the reason ... I've yet to meet anyone who fishes as often, as long or as slow as I do, and so I don't have a fishing partner.

 

Don't take this the wrong way ... I am quite happy to be fishing all by my lonesome. Gives me the freedom to fish my way.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Mike I wish I had met you when I still LIVED on the big lake! I'm sure I could put up with ya!

 

(You putting up with me...? Different story...)

[Flat Rock native 0]

Well mikechell would not be on my Christmas card list, but I would fish 20 hours per day with him, any day, any place. Preferably from my Hobie Tandem Kayak with pedal drive! 2 gills out Fisherboy!

[mikechell 0]

... Thanks, I guess.

Haven't you guys seen the warnings about meeting people online?

 

[Flat Rock native 0]

mike, my comments were only directed towards your religious beliefs, or lack there of.

 

Personality had nothing to do with it.

 

And that is a funny video!

[Dave G. 0]

I think my fly fishing lot in life is grand kids right now. Or just anyone I meet along a body of water. On the boat it's my wife most times although she went back to work a year or two back now.. My stepson was a the long term buddy growing up right up into adulthood, that changed when he had a son of his own ( now that son will 17 this month, amazing). But I'm one of these guys who it just doesn't matter, last year I went to a pond I hadn't been to in 15 or 20 years , met a guy there who hadn't been there in 15 to 20 years and we fished for a few hours together on that April afternoon. I can go alone and be fine ( spiritually I'm never alone anyway), literally it doesn't matter to me if I fish alone.. I met a local native American about 25 or 30 years ago at a landing. I had a canoe on my roof and rods in my truck I had at the time. This guy really wanted to fish bad, I didn't know him from a hole in the wall but I said lets go then.. He knew that lake like the back of his hand and we had an awesome afternoon fishing for bass. People come and go from our lives,sometimes as though it's meant to be just for that day or sometimes a season. Often there is a message in it, other times it's more like a test. It's all counted as joy.

[shoebop 0]

My longest and best fly fishing partner is oddly someone I would normally not **** on if he was on fire.

 

We are diametric opposites. He of an overriding scientific bent -- me straight liberal arts. He Type A all the time -- me laid back if not passive . He committed liberal -- me Attila the Hun. He, the penny-pincher skeptic about new gear -- me the eager experimenter with new stuff. I could go on but why...? The pattern is the same across the board and by now you get the idea. I can't count the long hours of arguments to and from streams -- all futile in terms of narrowing the gaps between us.

We have fished together over twenty years or so and still keep in touch -- now at great distance across much of the US.

 

The common bond is love of the sport and a lifelong pursuit of getting better at it.

 

Sometimes I think we should air drop fly rods on the Arabs and the Israelis.

 

Rocco

That is an encouraging post Rocco. My fishing partner is a die-hard liberal and Democrat and is beyond furious about the state of our politics here. Me...I am more concerned about the fallout. I am seriously concerned about the future of our friendship if he continues his outlandish outbursts. I have always known about his liberal leanings and have not had any serious arguments but I am afraid that is in jeopardy. I will be tested in a role of a pacifier to a degree I have not known in the past just to keep things on an even keel. If we were only fishing buddies, I don't think I would have a problem but he is also my brother-in-law and we converse and have other social interactions as well and there will be my greatest challenge. Fortunately, I don't have the same political passion as him but when you are tired of the same ol shit being tossed around...well a person has their limits. My job is to keep setting the bar higher and higher for myself. Your story says it is possible and that is encouraging.

[Bimini15 0]

I don't mind to fish with others, but I actually prefer to fish alone.