How Did You Get Started Flyfishing?

[Nighthawk]

I can't remember when I started fishing, but I was just old enough to walk. We fished a small community lake near Chaffee, Mo called Tywapity for bass and bluegill. I began to notice guys fly fishing from boats and casting popping bugs to bluegill near the shore. They would deliver a cast pop the bug a few times and catch a fish, or failing that, just pick up the bug and recast. Pretty neat, I thought.

Soon Dad and i were looking for a fly rod for me and we found at a place called The Sale Barn south of Cape Girardeau, Mo. It was a bamboo rod, complete with reel, line, leader, and flies; all for $9.95.

I taught myself to cast and was soon catching blue and bass on poppers. Then it happened; we went to Montauk State Park, near Salem, Mo. and I caught my first trout on my fly rod. I was hooked for life. That was in August of 1961.

Fiberglass rods followed and fly fishing became my passion. Then, when I was in high school in the 60s we were at Montauk and were camped near an old woman with only one arm who was tying flies by the light of a Coleman lantern at her camp table. I was enthralled and figured out that if she could do that with one arm, I could do it with two. I dealt with a company in Cincinnati called Finnysports and my fly tying career took off.

Since then, I have fished in the west, Belize and Alaska.I have abandoned spinning and baitcasting and now fish exclusively with the flyrod. I taught my son well and now he is a guide on the NFOW near Dora, Mo.He is now teaching his boys, and it has come full circle.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

I was about 10-12 years old. I went to Carondelet Park ( a city park with 2 ponds about 4 feet deep in the deepest part). The pond we wanted to fish has a dock, and it was the "cool" spot to fish from. We may or may not have learned how to use an "open face" reel. Anyhow, we went to our park and went to our spot only to find that the dock had a caution tape blocking us from entering it. There was a guy who was older than my buddy and I, but not what we would consider old, who was on the dock. We figured if he could be on the dock, so could we, after all it was OUR spot. We went around the tape, and started on to the end where we fished at, and the guy told us to get off. We asked why he could be on the dock, but we could not. He explained that he was organizing a tournament for flyfishing. There were some kind of rings that kind of looked like hoola hoops floating on the water. We asked what the rings were for, apparently they were used for scoring.

We went to fish at a different part of the pond, and watched these people who we have NEVER seen in OUR park, use these funny looking fishing rods, and try to land there casts in these targets. I thought it was a neat thing, and it grew in my mind for years. I talked to many people about the idea and it just costed so much to start, I bought my first flyrod about 3 years ago, about 20 years later, maybe more. I am proud to say that I have caught 1 fish on it. I don't get much time to myself to practice, so when I get to go fishing, it is with my spinning gear with the kids. I do plan each year to use it more though. Sorry kind of a long story, but you asked.

DC

[FlyFishinFool]

Almost 50 years ago I was working at Sunnen Boy Scout Camp in Missouri, and while fishing Iron Creek that fed Sunnen Lake, a couple of Scoutmasters were working their way up the creek with flyrods. I knew they were using fly fishing gear based on reading Field & Stream, but had never tried fly fishing. When I asked about their gear, they stopped and showed me their rods, lines, reels and the flies they were using and then proceeded to let me try their gear and gave me a brief lesson in flycasting. The next day they stopped by my cabin in the Staff Area and offered me the use of a spare fly fishing rod and gear for the rest of the week they were at the camp. Because of their generosity in time (and risking their gear), I managed to catch several fish over the next few days...but I was the one who really got hooked! So, the next weekend I caught a ride into town and went to the Potosi hardware store (the only place locally where they stocked fly fishing gear) and proceeded to spend almost an entire week's paycheck on a Garcia 6wt fiberglass rod with a Pflueger clicker reel and a spool of level floating flyline. I used different weight mono fishing lines to tie my own leader and also for my tippet. Then I bought an official Boy Scout fly tying kit and proceeded to learn how to tie some basic flies, including wooly buggers, a couple of "fuzzy" nymphs, some type of dry fly (I don't remember what) and some really ugly little floaters using scraps of cork, left-over feather trimmings and even some hair from a couple of the critters in Nature Lodge! They may have been pretty rough and some were downright ugly, but they caught fish in the creek and the lake.

The next summer I was back on staff at Camp Sunnen, and one of the "adventure" options was a multi-day float trip down the Current River. We used to transport the troops to the Baptist Youth Camp below Montauk on Sunday evening and then they departed Monday morning for a 4-5 day float trip. That was where I first had the opportunity to fish for trout in the Current River below Montauk from the Tan Vat access to the Baptist Camp access. I caught my first trout on an olive wooly-bugger that I had tied in my tent working by flashlight.

Like most people, over the years my available time to go fly fishing has gone up and down a bit due to work and raising a family. So even though the knees, back and a few other parts are starting to wear out, I plan to still be fly fishing for many more years...after all, I have grandsons that need someone to teach them how to fly fish!

[RSBreth]

I don't remember when I first cast one of my brothers fly rods but I do know that flyfishing played a large part in my decision to move to the Ozarks - just so much good fishing - of every kind.

I have a sweet little 7' 4-weight that my son is trying to learn to cast this year. He's struggling and usually goes back to the spin-cast rig but he'll get it.

[blue79]

Just a Cub Scout selling popcorn, and I've still got some from 1995.

Anyway, it all turned out to be an elaborate practical joke.

So, what was the question?

ness..what happened to Danielle? was she ok? who was the guy with the big nose? you went for popcorn and then you never finished your story.its been two weeks and im still wondering about the guy with the big nose that pulled your wifes hair.

[dennis boatman]

...as a very young boy, we lived in Bishop, California, which is on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada. Some of the best trout fishing anywhere, so of course I started fly fishing at about 8 years old...pretty much had given it up till the late 80's when my son got interested...then picked it up again in 2010 on a trip to the Black Hills and haven't stopped since. Went back out to California last summer and headed back next week. We are seriously considering moving out there...fishing is unlimited...

[chambug]

I lived in New Mexico for 8 years up until I was 18 years old. I was flyfishing by the time I was 10. We fished Chama and Jemez Springs streams and the Anamas River. We move out of NM when I finished High School and I went for years without fishing for anything but crappie.

While I was in the Air Force a fellow airman got me started bass fishing In Altoona and Lanier Lakes in Georgia. For 40 plus years I was an avid bass fisherman....with the bass boat and all the riggin'.

In 2004 we visited our son and his family in Arizona. He had just bought a fly rod and reel and wes itchin to try it, We went to Sedona, AZ....he fly fished and I used a spinning rig. He caught one trout while i caught about a dozen. But he was hooked.

The next day i bought my fly fishing gear and we went to some streams in the White Mountain area. We each caught a few and I was hooked.

Since that time I have caught trout in six different states, most of them on a lure i designed myself. For years a little place named Greer in the rim country of AZ was our favorite place. I was hooked on mountain streams and cold lakes.

Then a friend told me about Taneycomo, and after a week at Lilley's Landing, I was hooked on two favorite places. Since then, up until my health took a nose dive, we alternated to each of the two favorite spots at least once per year.

I miss fly fishing, but i hope i have at least one more good trip left in me.

[On The Fly 6]

I was 13 when I started. I'd been invited by my friend and his dad to join them on the white river over spring break. When they said we would be fly fishing, I convinced my parents that I needed a "fly rod" for the trip, so we went to Walmart and bought me a 6' Shakespeare combo. Horrible horrible rod! I had no idea how to cast when we arrived and didn't catch a thing! The closest I got to catching a trout was allowing my line to drift as I waded ( in leaky waders that were too small) from one spot to another. Had it on for about 20 secs then nothing the rest of the time. ANYWAY, that was my first time.

There was a long hiatus after that because other things seemed to occupy my time: school, soccer, puberty, work, pursuing and getting rejected by girls...the usual stuff. The summer after I graduated from high school was when I got back into it. Bought my first decent rod, a TFO 5wt for about $90 and haven't looked back. Fly fishing is literally my favorite thing to do. I've introduced it to my brother in law, my wife, my uncle, my dad, and numerous friends and coworkers. Sure, none of them are as obsessed with it as I am, but I loved being able to share something dear to me with others. Even when I'm standing in a river fishing, I'm thinking about the next time I'll be able to escape the realities of adulthood and get back on a river.

[Jeff Tief]

Bought my first fly rod at a Sheriff's auction on the court house steps in 1966.It was a old Eagle Claw fiberglass rod with a Pfleuger reel that wasn't that good of an outfit but it served the purpose.Caught my first fly rod limit of trout at Montauk the fall of 1969 when a high school friend Roger Hood and I went on a camping trip and his spinning reel messed up and I loaned him my spinning outfit and flyfished.Stayed with it off and on but always took a spin outfit for backup.Now rarely use anything other than a fly rod and have fished quite a few places in the States and love it.

[vanven]

I have always been a fisherman. My uncle owns some land with a watershed on it and growing up my dad and I would drive down on the weekends with out 8 foot pontoon boat and fish. I have great memories of the two of us fishing.

In college I got into hiking and backpacking. My favorite part was the gear. We were always looking for the lightest, most compact, easiest to use, etc gear out there. Eventually, I realized that hiking the continental divide with 50 pounds on my back was hard work and I have the stamina of a tape worm.

Five years later, while I was in my early 30's we decided to take a guys fishing trip to the NFoW. The drive was beautiful and the river was even more beautiful. We camped at River of Life and I had a chance to chat a bit with Brian Wise about fly fishing while it poured outside. The river was up 3 feet and unfishable so we ran over to Rockbridge and paid to fish for the day. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, but the fish were plentiful even for a clueless noob. As soon as I realized that I can be on the river, fishing, and still get to collect the gear, I was hooked.

-Jerod