How Did You Get Started Flyfishing?

[Justin Spencer]

Another thread on the current state of fly fishing got me thinking about how people get started in the sport.

I'll share my own uninteresting story to get the ball rolling.

During high school I had a fishing buddy who had a fly rod and hit local ponds and lakes as well as Roaring river and Bennett. One day hit a small local lake with him and he was fly fishing with a popper for bluegill that were on their beds. Wading the shoreline he was catching tons of hand sized fish as well as the occasional largemouth, and I decided I needed in on the action. Went to wally world and bought the cheapest combo I could find and that started my addiction. To this day that combo probably caught more fish and led to more fish frys than any other I have owned. Couldn't wait for the weekends when the bluegill were spawning to hit the pond and catch as many big bluegill as I cared to. For several years all I would fish with were poppers which led to some nice largemouth as well. I would occasionally tag along to a trout park, but was never a big fan. Moved to Florida at the end of 1999 and bought a 9 wt. for saltwater fish. My wife got me a fly tying lesson at John's flyshop in Stuart, and not long after I had a vise and was tying on my own. Enjoyed all kinds of saltwater flyfishing for about 4 years and then the rude awakening of the NFoW made me realize I knew nothing about real fly fishing for trout. Ten years later I am an okay trout fishermen, but am blessed to have new people here all the time from which to learn.

Look forward to your stories.

[flyrodman]

I started out 3 years ago at Roaring River. Some guy hooked a trout right in front of me and let me fight it and reel it in. After that I went home and bought the cheapest shakespeare fly rod I could find. Went back the next week and only caught one trout on a blue Copper John. I then got a fly tying kit for my birthday 2 years ago which really fueled my addiction. Thinking back, if it wasnt for the kindness of the man who let me reel in his fish, I wouldnt even know the slightest thing about fly fishing or fly tying.

[DaddyO]

I got started fly fishing later than some. (early 40's) I've always been a fisherman. I owned several varieties of spin cast equipment and had several tackle boxes full of lures for different species of fish. However, Golf was really my activity of choice. Fly fishing, initially, was a once a year trip with my Dad and brothers. When my back and ankles started bothering me too much to play golf, I started focusing more on fly fishing.

I found this forum and utilized it, extensively, before each of our Father/Son annual fishing trips. The byproduct of using this forum resulted in me meeting Zach Bearden, one day, on the Lower Illinois. Some of you know Zach, also. He is a very nice young man and he took time out of his day to fish with me and even gave me a few flies. Whether he knew it or not, Zach inspired me to begin tying my own flies. That is what really kicked off my addiction to this hobby/sport/black hole that sucks in all of my time...

I, very rarely, use a spin cast anymore. I'm not an elitist. I just have more fun catching fish on a fly rod with flies that I tied. I'm not a trout or salt water snob, either. I'll chase any species of fish with a fly rod, if given the choice.

Tight Lines, Brothers and Sisters!

[Idylwilde]

Started as a kid about 8 years old fishing with a 15 foot bamboo rod and black nylon line with a three hooked beaded red worm with spinner, dragging it around Lilly pads for bass. Then wanted to be able to get further out in the water and found a old bamboo fly rod and auto reel. I was hooked! Now as I get older I seem to be reverting back and trying the Tenkara rigs and loving it. (Same as the bamboo rods) I have to say the High Tech is better.

[Feathers and Fins]

Always fly fished but didn't get serious till I was in my early 20's. I had a friend who owned a fly shop we got to talking one day about striper fishing the local lake. I was catching them pretty easily on a variety of baits and he said that he thought he could get them on a Fly. I kinda chuckled as it was not something being done in SoCal at the time but after a few months of trial error and screwing around he started producing good numbers and that got me going. From there the natural progression took me to the bone fish flats of Florida and backwaters for tarpon and its been an addiction now for 20 years.

Ducky came up with a fly that has produced almost all of Beavers game fish last year and I sent it to friends in FL that have been catching Tarpon, Snook, Reds, Sails and Dolphin on it. I think about fly fishing sometimes as the purest form of fishing because the lures used in it are so universal you never know what will bite them and the casting has to be so perfect and silent on many days. It to me anyways just embodies fishing.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I started when I was about 12 after watching my dad catch bass on top at a pond. My dad had actually just started himself at the urging of a friend. It took a little while to collect the money, Kids earned most of their own money then. Eventually I got the rod, don't remember the brand, but the reel was a .50 cent Sears and Roebuck and a level line in some alphabet weight. I used the outfit until the late '50's and then bought a Shakespeare President and a Medalist. My first trout came about 1954 from Roaring River on a multicolored streamer. I was pumped because It was my second day at the park and i had been skunked the first day in spite of seeing that the place was full of fish.

I started tying when I was about 15 when a friend ,and fellow fly fishermen, decided that would help alleviate a lack of funding for flies. My first big challenge was to tie nice Royal Coachmen, I never did, but I learned a lot trying.

[exiledguide]

I started around 1970 fishing strip mines near Millstadt IL One day bank fishing for big bluegill in a very small pit I ran into a guy with a fly rod who was catching bedding blue gill and wasn't stopping to put on a cricket every time he got a bite. After talking to him for about an hour while fishing I was sold. The next week I had a cheap fly rod with a level line and a Eagle Claw small reel. I still use that old reel today with my 30 year old 6' 6" St Croix 5/6 wt Birch Bark glass rod for bedding bluegill. Unlike a lot of people I like to fish a wet Tom Nixon black gnat plain for bedding bluegill. However once we moved from St Louis I no longer nave access to ponds with 10 to 12 inch bluegill except for Fellows Lake and I just sold my boat and am in the process of buying a jon boat to fish Lake Springfield. I'm planning on fishing that lake and the river most of the time, if I can't find big bluegill I'll spend time with my fly rod up the river .................

[ness]

The Cold War was reaching a crescendo that spring as I careened toward graduation from medical school. My specialty in psychotropic medicine put me in high demand, and soon I was on my way to Washington. In those days, the training was much more demanding than it is now, both physically and emotionally. When it was over I was immediately whisked into a shadowy world where no one could be trusted, the scar on my left cheek the only reminder of who I was and where I'd been.

My new wife was an heir to the DuPont fortune, a former Miss Delaware and a Boston Patriots cheerleader. We were deeply in love. Between my assignments, we would vacation at our summer cottage in Newport and dream of the day when I could leave that life to fully devote myself to our philanthropic endeavors, restoration of our historic home and, most importantly, to her. Sadly, it was not to be. Four shots from a Mannlicher-Carcano changed that forever.

Sorry -- can't finish this right now. I'll try and pick it up later.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I always thought there was something different about you. Now that I know what it is I'm going to keep it too myself. No I won't, You're Paul Dallas's cousin.

[Greasy B]

The Cold War was reaching a crescendo that spring as I careened toward graduation from medical school. My specialty in psychotropic medicine put me in high demand, and soon I was on my way to Washington. In those days, the training was much more demanding than it is now, both physically and emotionally. When it was over I was immediately whisked into a shadowy world where no one can be trusted, the scar on my left cheek the only reminder of who I was and where I'd been.

My new wife was an heir to the DuPont fortune, a former Miss Delaware and a Boston Patriots cheerleader. We were deeply in love. Between my assignments, we would vacation at our summer cottage in Newport and dream of the day when I could leave that life to fully devote myself to our philanthropic endeavors, restoration of our historic home and, most importantly, to her. Sadly, it was not to be. Four shots from a Mannlicher-Carcano changed that forever.

Sorry -- can't finish this right now. I'll try and pick it up later.

That's a better story than mine.