[Alex C.]

Just curious how everyone else got into flyfishing, how they got started or who got them into it, how long it took you to catch a fish and what it was?

[ArkieFlyGuy]

I have fished for bass, crappie, catfish, and bluegill all my life. But four years ago, I was in the office of a co-worker (I had only been there a few weeks) and noticed a picture of him during a snow/sleet/freezing rain storm in the middle of the Little Red River holding a 23" Brown Trout lookin out from under his raincoat hood. We started talking about that and he asked if I fly fished. I replied I had never but had wanted to try it... He said to me, "There is nothing like the feeling of catching a nice fish on a fly you tied yourself." Well, he invited me to the next fly fishing club meeting and I went. I bought a fly rig and some "store bought" flies the next day. After practicing casting for a couple of weeks, I headed to the river. Within four or five casts in the middle of the Sping River, I had hooked a 10 inch 'Bow and I was also hooked!

Three years later I started to tie my own flies and now I am OBSESSED and POSESSED!!! (Just read my "Obsession" story on my website and you'll see what I mean... )

By the way.... My casting and spinning rigs are gathering dust now. I have not fished with anything but a fly rod in those four years....

[Michigan Trout Guy]

What got me into flyfishing was a book my dad had lying around the house: Fly Fishing For Dummies. I was getting so tired of winter and not being able to hunt or fish, I decided I had to do something related to the outdoors. My dad told me about that book and I started reading.

I finished the book that same night. A few days later, there was a sporting goods store near us that was having a customer appreciation day. They had all kinds of discounts going on. I bought a fly tying kit and a rod and reel a few days later. I joined this forum and have been tying and fishing like crazy ever since.

Unfortunately, this all happened about three months ago, and I've been getting skunked that entire time! Hey skunked, have you proven your name wrong yet?

[mcfly]

First off Skunked you MUST always include your story when starting a topic like this !! So where is it!

It was during a Jeep Jamboree that I saw a fly fishing class. I didn't join it but I watched a few of them practice casting and thought it would be worth a try. Not till a year later did I pick up my first fly rod kit for 60$ at a local sports store and tried it. I had a heck of a time learning how to cast on my own and eventually after reading a book got to the point where I could get a fly into a general area.

After a full season of trying to catch a fish on a fly and failing I almost put up the fly rod for good but then it just so happened the next season I figured I'd go out and give it another shot since I had tied up a few of my own flies. I caught my first fish, a 14" brown, on a cased caddis imitation that I had tied over the winter. I've been hooked since. Things have only got better since I found the FTF on a search. I may not be a great fly fisher/tyer but the thing I most like about the sport is the fact that no matter how much you know there is always more to learn.

[steeldrifter]

Around the spring of 88 after my grandfather passed away my dad and I were at his house cleaning up some of his stuff when I came across grandpa's old fiberglass fly rod. I took it home and started casting in the back yard with it and decided I wanted to give fly fishing a try.

A couple months later my dad took me to burtons landing on the holy waters of the Au Sable in Grayling MI and I caught my first trout. About a 6/7 inch brookie. I was as hooked for life after that.

[bentflyrod]

My son bought me a fly rod for my birthday last year and it's been down hill every since! In Oct. I took up fly tying, what an obsession!!! I figured with tying I would be able to decorate one fly fisherman's Christmas tree every summer. Along the river you will see a shimmering tree with beautiful ornaments of stoneflies, streamers, and multitude of multi colored wooly bugger's. Tree two, for this year, has started off nicely.

My first fish was a 7" brown on a olive wooly bugger!

BFR

[Minnesota Fishing]

I was alway interested in watching fly fishing when they would show it on television, so I got an old fly rod from a garage sale and started to mess around with it to catch panfish. From there, I would read as much as I could. Ended up getting a Pflueger rod and reel and continued to work on my casting until I could get the fly line past the end of the rod, than I started to catch fish. From then on, it has taken over my life!

I fish for panfish, bass, northerns and have started trout fishing. I started tying just over a year ago. I think the tying changed my hobby to an obsession, because I can do something everyday, whereas, I can't fish everyday.

Minnesota Fishing

or

Fishing in Minnesota

[Alex C.]

Well heres how I got started. I've been hooked on fishing, LITERALLY, ever since my first cast with a spinning rod went around, and around, and around, my head, and the hook got impaled in my ear at the age of 3 or 4. I took up small game hunting, deer hunting, trapping, ice fishing and about every other type of hunting and fishing along the way but I always stayed away from fly fishing. Not from a lack of interest. But simply because of the "mysticism" surrounding it. How in the heck could I ever match a hatch? Everything I'd ever read about casting made it seem like each cast had to be executed with the uttmost perfection. When going through sporting goods stores the fly fishing stuff was always way out of my price range. Even the thought of tying my own flys seemed ludacris. There is no way I would ever have the patience or coordination to accomplish tying my own. Add to all that, that up till Good Friday of this year I had never saw a real live person fly fishing. Let alone have a family member or friend to introduce me to it. I'd met people who fly fish but when I'd ask them questions and they'd spout off some stuff including the scientific names of cetain insects I'd feel like an idiot and be turned off from it. So to put it quite simply the reason it took me till I was 25 years old to start fly fishing was that I was intimidated by it.( Kinda feels good to realize that as am writing it )

BUT THEN..........

One day when I got home from running my trap line last fall my wife and I had a discussion about all the time and money spent trapping. How I was missing out on a lot of things at home, etc. So I put my family first and started gathering all of my trapping equipment to sell/trade away. But I am a very outdoorsy person and had to have some type of serious hobby in the outdoors that I could do WITH my family. So I thought, "What about flyfishing?" The next day I put some of my traps for trade on a trapping forum for a fly rod/reel. Then I traded all of my traps to a guy who used to be a steelhead guide here in MI for all sorts of flyfishing stuff. Then I entertained the thought of tying my own flys and for Christmas my mom got me a book on fly tying. I read it from cover to cover and thought, "I can do that!" Then I found this forum and most of you saw that first fly I tied. That was 4 months ago and already when I look at it I get a good laugh Yet at the same time I am still very proud of that goofy looking light cahill.

My first time flyfishing was on the Au Sable River and I quickly realized I'd be able to utilize all of the skills from other outdoor quests while flyfishing. I got skunked. I went again with Flyfishenvy, but to the Pere Marquette after steelhead and got skunked.( But so did he ) Yesterday I went back to the PM, but this time with Fishigan. I got skunked.( And as small as that brown was you might as well say he did too ) So MTG, I have lived up to my name, and to be honest I really don't care in a happy sort of way. Because to me the best part of flyfishing is enjoying all of the other aspects of it, it's ironic but, I actually enjoy it for all of the reasons I was too intimidated to get into it in the first place But I will start catching fish eventually, I am going back to the Au Sable this weekend. I learned a lot on my trip yesterday and have a feeling I will atleast get a hook up on one of my next trips. I am getting ready to go through all my spinning gear and will pick out certain things to keep for my son to use one day. Everything else will be sold. I sold all of my ice fishing equipment. Why would I ice fish all winter when I can tie flys? I doubt I'll ever fish with spinning tackle again. I've almost got my wife talked into starting too. I'll wait till the gills are on the beds and that should be the perfect opportunity to introduce her to this great sport. The kids are real interested in it too. They think the casting is cool.

So quitting trapping, my greatest passion, turned out o be a great thing for me. One of the best parts of the trapline was all the wildlife I'd encouner out in the woods and swamps. Critters deer hunters never see. Just during the few times I've gone flyfishing I have had some close encouters with some of my favorie critters. I like to think they're stopping by to say hi to an old friend

I'd like to take this moment tothank a few people on this site who have helped me go in the right direction, without their help I probably would have gave up. Particularly Steeldrifter and DFix. DFix, thanks for those PMs you sent me when I first started tying, I am still truly greatful for that info. Steeldrifter, all the info you've gave me and questions you've answered are also truly appreciated. Everyone else on this forum, y'all rule

[B.C.TroutHunter]

A close family friend got me started on fly fishing. Last year June I got my fly rod, so we went on a fishing trip, where I caught my first fish (a 13 in. cutthrout) while fishing from the shore of a lake with a rabbit strip leech. I was also the only one to catch a fish over 8 in on that trip .

[Steelheader69]

This has been covered, but will give you the condensed version. LOL

Found a flyrod in my Dad's fishing locker at home. Found out it was my deceased uncle's, he loved to flyfish for steelhead. My Dad let me take it out. I was totally self taught with the flyrod and flytying. Had to learn to tie flies, since I couldn't afford to buy them. So first flies I tied were ones out of Trey Combs book. They were tied using materials from my Mom's craft stuff and my Dad's hunting stuff. Tied on Octopus hooks. First fish was a summerrun steelhead caught on a polar shrimp (tied on an octopus hook). Was around 1980/81.

[Graham]

One of my best friends and fishing buddy moved back to Batesville Indiana and I flew out to spend a week and go to the Indy 500. His family owns a tremendous amount of land in that area with lots of little lakes and lime stone streams. We fly fished for LM bass and bluegills in the lakes and smalllies in the streams. I was hooked.

Graham

[Peddler]

I turned a small brookie inside-out trying to save a Mepps spinner. That was 20 sum years ago and its been 100% fly rod ever since.

[Sean Juan]

I was lucky enough to have a father who obviously suffered from mental illness since he bough me my first rod a 7' fenwick fiberglass rod for my 4th birthday, although I couldn't use it without help until I was about 6.

My first fish was a brook trout had a stream full of them behind the old house - but I was more excited about rolling over rocks and finding bugs and salamanders.

I take a lot of pride in the fact that a number of people in my life would answer this question that I taught them.

[artimus]

Cool thread here skunked!!

My fly fishing story starts back when I was around 12. My step father was a hardcore bait dunker and metal chucker for bass and pike. The salmonoids were those 'mystery fish' that we dreamed of catching but never pursued because they were to 'hard' to catch. He decided to add fly tying and fishing to his many interests and I got a small taste of tying at that time (cheap kit with crap materials). In the next 2 years or so, I lost all interest in fishing. I was more interested in girls and the darker things in life. When I met my wife 9 years ago, her brother was just getting out of the US army, after being stationed in Tennesse. Rods, reels, hand tied flies, Caddis that, mayfly that, match........Forget it, besides he was too much of a redneck for me!!

A couple of years later enters a good friend now Davey. The salmon were running hard and he was after me for a week to go fishing. Finally I agreed, so we grabbed to noodle rods and away we went. I hooked into a 8 lb + hen and was hooked for life. In the follow two years I bought spin this and bait that, but avoided the whole fly thing. I got into tying at first, looking for a hobby and flies for steelheading only. A crappy kit from Wally World, but it was enough. I was into this fly thing good!! I started collecting materials as needed and tied only when I needed to. Right before the fall and spring runs, I'd go on a tying spree, just enough to get through the season.

Due to a desision that I made 2 yrs ago, I sold off all my bait and metal gear. At the time I also got rid of most of my materials as I was planning a large move and was trying to lighten the load. In the end I was left with one fly rod and reel, and my float rod and reel, and a select amount of materials for 'Rocky Mountain Trout'. The move never happened, and I was left with no tools to just run down to the river for hell of it (bait/mindless fishing). I finally surrendered to the fact that I loved fishing and fly was going to be the only way for me. Started recollecting materials again, new rods and reels, and found this place last year.

Since then, the transformation has almost been complete. I don't fish bait or lures at all anymore. I still use my centerpin setup for the majority of my steelheading, especially when the rivers are up. The hatches are still abit of a mystery, but are starting to sort themselves out. I've met some great people on this site and other places due to the fly, and look forward to meeting many more in the years to come.

Art