Yes, at 69 I am a TOTAL novice. I spent most of my fishing career down just on the mainland from Galveston Island, TX. My wife and I had a stilt house on a canal with a 21ft. Gulf Coast low side boat in a boat lift in Bayou Vista that led out to West Bay. I was pretty much a Redfish addict and participated in area saltwater tournaments. After I retired my wife and I bought a small mom&pop canoe and kayak resort on the North Fork of the Spring River just south of Mammoth Springs, Arkansas. We are fully retired now and living just south of Castaic Lake north of Los Angeles, CA to be near our youngest grand-children. I just bought my first fly tying book so now I will be looking for what equipment to buy to start with.
My one regret is not taking advantage of getting Fox Statler to teach me how to tie back when I lived in north Arkansas and we worked together.