How did you get into fly fishing?

[kennebec12 0]

I grew up in the outdoors with a bunch of rowdy old drunks, ten times my age, and learned a lot more than fishing. Mostly we trolled Moosehead Lake for togue and landlocked salmon with sewn bait. Then we started fishing beaver dams and streams with lightweight gear catching little brookies that were far more beautiful than the big green togue and the silvery salmon. My grandfather fly fished with an old blind man, telling him where the trout were rising, but I never got to go on those trips, so lightweight spinning gear and trolling was all I knew. Then the old blind man died and my grandfather gave me his fly rod since he only ever used out with him, I think it made him sad when he fly fished. It sat in the corner of my room for years, and I went off to college, a small private environmental school with many people like me who loved the outdoors and fishing and hiking and hunting. I ended up bringing my fly rod with me for spring semester and learned a few casting tips from my geology professor, who was an avid fly fisherman that had spent many years studying the impact of forest fires on streams in Montana. I went all summer and never caught a thing except trees, and could still barely cast. Then I bought a fly tying kit, tied up a few terribly ugly flies, and went out to the stream. First cast and whammy, a nice little brookie. Haven't bought a fly since, and use mostly my own patterns that mimic the insects I catch while I'm out fishing. And over time I've developed my own casting techniques that suit me and the small streams and rivers I fish.

[Knuckledragger 0]

 

 

A good fishing buddy of mine died suddenly a few years ago. Shortly after his death, and after his kids had looted his house as relatives often do, his wife called me up and told me to come over and take what I wanted of his fishing gear. What I didn't take, she was gonna take to the dump.

 

While gathering up rods and gear, his wife hands me a long tube case and said "Maybe you'll get some use out of this." Hell I thought it was a pool stick or something.

 

A few months later I was respooling some of the reels I got from his wife when in saw that long case leaning up against the wall. I unzipped it and found a Browning fly rod. Never knew my buddy ever fly fished. Put it back in the case and forgot about it.

 

Few months later I was bass fishing and Was having a rough year finding big fish. I was getting burned out and I was losing sight of what fishing to me is all about and that's having fun. I remembered how much fun I used to have catching bluegill on grasshoppers and stuff, and I remembered my friends fly rod.

 

After about a months worth of YouTube instructional videos, I bought a reel, line and a few flys and went to one of the ponds on my place and started "casting" for little bass. After my first one, I was hooked.

 

Been several years since I first strung my friends rod. Lots of hours on youtube learning how to do stuff because I dont know anybody personally who flyfishes. I own several fly rods now, and keep one with me on all my travels.

 

I've caught barramundi and saratoga in Australia, jack crevalle and redfish in Texas, Mayan cichlids and peacock bass in Miami and crappie and catfish in my local lake all on my flyrods. Always have room for a flyrod in my truck or travel bags!

[RickZieger 0]

I was in a hardware store going out of business. There was a set up fly rod, with reel, line backing leader ect that was marked $20.

I picked it up to look at it. The owner said give me $10 and you can have the rod and two of the round containers that held poppers and dry flies.

I bought it as it seemed a good deal. The next Saturday I was out fishing. Bluegills were right against the shore. Casting gear spooked them.

Tried the fly rod. First cast parted the water like the movie, "The Ten Commandments", shows the Red Sea being done.

In a few casts was doing better. Caught a gill on the rod and was hooked.

Later a guy in town gave me fly tying stuff as he said I needed to learn.

Now you know who to blame for having to put up with me.

Rick

[Jaydub 0]

My story is starts out the pretty much the same as several other posters.

 

I have fished for trout as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of family camping/fishing trips. Dad had a South Bend bamboo fly rod with a Shakespeare automatic reel and one of those round compartment boxes with some flies. We really only thought of using flies when fish were actively rising. My self, not having a clue how to effectively cast with a fly rod, usually fished flies with a casting bubble on my spinning rod.

 

In the fall of 1978 I went off to college in Klamath Falls, Oregon, ostensibly to study engineering. The college had three fly fishing classes that could be taken for PE credit. Fall term was Fly Casting, Winter term was Fly Tying and Spring term, Fly Fishing. I was able to cut my teeth on the wealth of good streams in the Klamath Basin.

[Stevester 0]

Like pretty much everyone else I started fishing fairly young with a spinning rod. My dad taught my brother and I simple bait fishing since he wasn't much of a fisherman. I fished off and on till I could drive which gave me more flexibility. About the time I was a senior in high school I ran across one of those shrink wrapped all in one fly fishing outfits in a now long gone sporting goods store and bought it on a whim. I knew about fly fishing but had never seen anyone doing it. I found a couple of books in the library and taught myself to cast on our lawn. Which explains the hitches in my casting to this day. One thing led to another and before long I had the bug even though it took me a few years to actually catch fish with any degree of regularity. For you young guys this was when there was one fly fishing magazine, no videos and the personal computer was about a decade away and the web another decade plus after that. Oh, and the movie of A River Runs Through It was about two decades in the future. The amount of information available now days, both useful and bull**** is staggering.

 

Steve

[afraid not 0]

Like virtually no one else, I never fished until I was 64! However, my grandson has been fishing since he could walk. When our daughter and the kids came to live with us, Nathan (then 7 years-old) would ask me to take him fishing. I had never fished. No one in my family fished. But, I would take Nathan and watch him. It was obvious that just fishing (worms, corn, chicken liver) made him happy. When he did catch something, which was often, I saw pure joy. After about two years, and as a way to keep him close, I asked Nathan if he would teach me how to fish. That started it. About 18 months ago my wife was asked to participate in a Casting for Recovery program. She used to throw worms as a kid with her grandpa, and really took to fly fishing. So, to be with her I decided to try the fly. I like it much better than spinner casting. Now i am teaching Nathan a little bit, though we both realize we fish for different reasons. So, I have been fishing for just a little more than two years.

[planettrout 0]

I have been fishing since I was about five years old. I started in the creeks that flow off the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevadas. About the time the picture below was taken, on Reverse Creek, June Lake, CA I got my first opportunity to watch someone who knew what they were doing, dry fly fish on that Creek. The guy was Ralph Dadasman, a member of the Long Beach Casting Club and the same person who built a 9' fiberglass fly rod for me that same year. I had to wait a few years to learn how to use it...moved to Georgia when my Mother remarried and fished for bass and everything else that swims in fresh and salt water in Alabama and Florida...

 

 

I came back to California after getting out of the Army and finishing college at the Uni. of Miami in Coral Gables. I started tying flies before I ever wet the first one. It was just too easy catching Trout in those same streams...what motivated me was reading Ray Bergman's "Trout" on a business trip to Dublin, Ireland - that was in 1974...These guys became my partners in Fly Fishing:

 

 

My oldest daughter Nadia on Hot Creek, CA...

 

 

My son Michael on the South Fork of the Kern River in Monache Meadows...

 

 

My youngest daughter Ally on the Stillwater River, at Buffalo Jump, MT ...

 

The real joy of this whole experience is doing it with those guys...

 

 

PT/TB

[onebadmofo 0]

I was working as a park ranger at a state park in Colorado and was tasked with welcoming and showing where to set up an fly fishing demonstration. The man was Ed Marsh, a fly fisher/tyer who wrote for Outdoor Life and other magazines. He got me into fly fishing, and fly tying in 1975, teaching me a lot, of which I am still learning everyday. I have since been able to give programs on fly fishing, and conduct instruction of fly casting and fly tying. I consider myself privileged to have been introduced to Ed and having the opportunity to learn from him.

[WallyWabash03 0]

I was invited on a Guys' Trip to the Trout Hunter Lodge on Henry's Fork in Island Park, Idaho. I caught eight trout on my first drift trip and was hooked instantly. The science of the gear and presentation, the serenity of being outdoors, the connectedness of being on or in the water and finding the fish--it was truly a life changing experience. For Christmas, my family got me a ton of gear, a trip to the South Holston (which was fantastic), and a fly tying set up. I'm quickly turning into an addict, but I'm trying not to fight it!

[vicrider 0]

Well, I guess like most of the guys on here who started young it was with Dad with old baitcasting junk and then Zebco. I and friends used to haunt the waterholes and creeks at night on a local big name golf course and gather golf balls, clean and sell them to guys who hit them in the water the day before. Gave me enough to first buy my own Bache Brown Spin Reel and solid glass rod. Dad did some fly fishing and I talked him into letting me use one of his rods. For the many years after that ( 70 now ) I did not prejudice myself against any gear. In fact, for many years I got into tourney and serious bass fishing and fly rods hardly got a play during that time. Just dug 'em out when I took kids fishing 'gills. Well, hard core bass fishing is not for the old and tired so when I retired I also decided to sell the bassboat, get into less serious fishing for other things. Friend got me into bamboo rods a few years back and after using them on a few trout and 'gill trips it just gets into your blood knowing your using a once living and growing piece of grass to fish with. I now use bamboo bait cast, spinning and fly and love it all.

 

As for tying, I earned a Boy Scout Merit Badge back in about 1955 for tying, did it for a few years while I had no way to fish them except spin and bobber. For next many many years about the only thing I tied was feathers on spinners and jigs. Poured my own jigs for years ( probably why lead inhalation didn't help COPD ) and tied and sold them. I am without a doubt a feather jig is the best crappie pattern you can use...but I still mix it up. Hope to make another trip to White River this spring health permitting, or maybe spend a week at a cabin on the Little Red River in AR and get a guide for a few days. Knowing there's limited amounts of trips down the road makes one want to spend enough to have a few good ones while he can.

[mikechell 0]

I think I have this right. I just felt I had to relay this "journey" I heard from a friend.

 

I was taught how to fish … with dynamite. It’s not as easy as you might think. You still have to find the fish. I mean, dynamite isn’t cheap, and you can’t buy tons of it without drawing suspicion. You can waste a lot of it “fishing” unproductive water, like septic tanks, etc.

 

But, it is an easier method than any other I’ve since experienced … let me explain.

 

I wanted more of a challenge. So I bought a spin-casting rod and reel. Seemed almost as easy as dynamite, at first. Considering it’s only a bobber, a little weight, a hook and something for bait. That last part was the easiest. With all the “left over” parts from dynamite fishing, the maggots out on the garbage pile were everywhere.

Then I got my first twist in the line. The reel would fail to catch the line when I set the hook. The line balled up inside the cover. Then the hole in the cover cut the line. Well, I actually fixed or learned to live with most of that … and I was still looking for the challenge of fishing.

 

So, I bought a spinning reel and rod set-up.

Right from the get go … the line twisted on the spool and I had a snarled up line that took me three days to untangle. I didn’t have the new-fangled anti-reverse button on during one hook set, and the reel spun backwards and took half the skin off my knuckles. But I learned what I was doing wrong, and it got easier. Too easy … I now needed to look for the challenge again.

 

So, I bought a BAIT CASTER. HA ha ha ha (Evil laughter) The first cast gave me a snarl … I think they call them “bird’s nests” … but this one was fit for an eagle. A year later, after getting the line untangled, I was ready to try my second cast. That “bird’s nest” only took me 6 months to get undone … so I was improving. I was 28 when I started with the bait caster … at 36, I finally got it under control and went fishing. Broke two depth finders, my Spin-casting and Spinning rigs and the live well … all from stomping around getting the “BIRD’S NESTS” out.

At 41, I finally figured out how to use the reel. I fished with my bait casters for nearly 5 years, with nary a backlash. It got so easy, I felt the challenge had departed. So …

 

Now I am ready to try Fly Fishing !!!

[Jaydub 0]

Ah yes the old DuPont spinner.

[fshrmanms 0]

I can't remember when I started; I was very young. Granddad got me hooked he was an old coot that tortured me by making it a two day event. The first day was the bait day. We drove to a rocky creek where we would seine for our bait which had to be "soft craw" for granddad, the smallies weren't going to bite on any thing else, although occasionally I stripped down to my shorts and he would force me into a local canal, the water was stagnate but after what seemed like forever asking if I could get out I would emerge with a bounty of leaches I hated that part but the bass liked them. The bait would be stored in the fridgidaire in milk cartons and there was usually enough for several trips. On the second day we would pile in granddad's old studebaker and head for the creek. Did I mention that granddad never drove over 25 mph (more torture). Our tackle consisted of two fiberglass rods and one steel rod with bait casting reels that took a lot of lead to cast as they did not have a free spool function. I used to walk to the river which was quite polluted and fish dough-balls for carp. I met a young fellow down there that had this newfangle thing called a spincast reel when I told granddad he said we ain't buying that junk!! I sneaked down to the sporting goods store and bought one, a True Temper push button! Used money I'd earned cutting grass. Also had lots of adventures with the old cane pole at some of the local gravel pits and ponds. Another influence on my fishing career was Vernon the man next door who had no sons and we loved to fish together he was in charge of canvas canoe project that turned out well and also introduced me to the mitchell 300 and the fly rod both of which were bought at the local sporting goods store using the lay away plan I still have both they are at least 50 years old and have retired to a place of honor in the garage. I fished every where I ever lived and every where I was stationed while serving in the Navy for six years. I started my kids with breambuster rods as soon as they were big enough to hold them I didn't start fly tying until I retired six years ago a big regret on my part. But I love it now and apparently I am turning into some kind of fly tying materials hoarder trying to figure out what to tie next did I really need a whole peacock???? and...

[PENZZZ 0]

It was in my DNA, I just didn't know it. My maternal grandfather was an avid fly fisherman who tied his own flies. My mother remembers being a five year old, sitting on his lap while he tied flies, sneaking his little scissors now and then to clip hair from her forearms. That was around 1930. She also remembers sitting in the back seat of the family sedan, whining siblings around her, darkness setting in, father off on a trout stream. Her mother tried to sooth everyone by saying he'd be back soon. She knew better.... My grandfather died one year before I was born in 1953.

 

A few years after college I was spin fishing the Little Lehigh creek during an evening in May. The trout weren't interested in my spinner, but they sure were interested in the insects on the water's surface. My mind raced off to the deer hide (another story) in the trunk of my car. I went to the car determined to create a fly using monofilament to attach some hair to a snelled hook - I failed. I also realized I had no way of presenting my creation. This experience led to the purchase of a fiberglass fly rod and a Pflueger reel. A fly tying vise soon followed.

 

None of my mother's siblings ever showed an interest in fly fishing, so I guess my grandfather's fly fishing genes leapt over a generation. Over the years I've had the good fortune to receive his fly box with flies, and his tying vise, from relatives.