How Did You Start

[fire8702]

Hello Everyone,
As I have said in the few posts I have posted I am new to this sport and I am trying to learn all that I can. I have got all my info from books, talking to guys at the fly shop and here on the forum. It incredible how much good info is on here!
I got to thinking, how did everyone get into the sport? How did you learn? Did you see someone fishing and thought, I want to do that or were you lucky enough to have a parent interested and taught you? I am sure everyone is still learning to a certain extent, but how long did it take before you felt you were proficient at it? Just curious!
Bryan

 

[Ard]

Hi Bryan,

I want to say welcome to the forum because your other posts have escaped my eye. It is always a pleasure to get positive feedback like what you have written here I wrote the short story of what inspired me and how I began fishing on the profile page here. Rather than copy it to here I would invite you to put your cursor on my screen name and tap, choose public profile and the tale is told. Your approach will get you into fly fishing, reading and then taking what you learn in theory to the river or creek and turning it into practice is a time proven means for people to learn about fly fishing.

I hope you will continue reading here and post often. Questions are the life blood of a forum such as this and there are many experienced folks here who will lend you a hand with anything you come up with.

Ard

 

[evan_aff]

Some of my earliest memories in life are fishing with grandpa for perch on various lakes in central Washington. When I was 6-7yrs old, he handed me a fly rod and taught me to cast well enough to start getting fish. From then on, that was how I fished most of the time.

So, it's not some big epiphany I had at any point in my life. Just something that has been in my life as long as my memories can go back. I plan to have it as part of my life all the way until my memory fades in the other direction!

 

[okuma]

About 25 years back, I watched a man fly fish for gills at a local lake. I was fasinated. So badly in fact, I sold all 27 rod & reel convention fishing combos I owned. Along with all the lures. Bought me a fly rod and reel and never looked back. I do own one spinning rod for the cold here. Other than that, from March till November, I fly fish. And yes, I am self taught.

 

[ghocevar]

A week after watching a River Runs Through It (back when I was 16) I ran down to my local Orvis Shop and bout an outfit...Still have it although the rod is now hanging on my 20 month old son's wall. Many people will say that it was the rebirth or rejuvenation of fly fishing, but for me it was the beginning of a life-long passion.
You can only do so much reading before your head wants to explode with all the knowledge you're soaking up (I have been there), but the best thing to do is get out on the river and get after it. Take a guide out every once in a while because their knowledge is invaluable. Find a fishing partner and learn from him as well. Keep talking to those shop owners and folks on the river you come across - all of them will be willing to share information except on where their favorite spots are!
Hang in there, it doesn't happen over night...I have been doing it for 17 years and still feel like a novice when I hit the river.

 

[theboz]

Only fishing show back then was Gaddabout Gaddis the Flying Fisherman. After seeing a show with fly fishing in it i was hooked . Told my dad the only thing I wanted for Christmas was a fly rod. So on my 8th birthday I got a Wonder Rod and Medalist reel. From that day until the first wArm days of spring found me at the baseball field teaching myself how to cast.
Then the first family trip to the beach caught my first snapper Bluefiish on a beatup bucktail that I had removed from a tin (spoon) used for surfcasting.
Later that summer on a family vacation to Lake Wentworth N.H. caught my first Bluegill, White Perch and Smallmouth on a made in Japan Royal Coachman.
Hooked for life.

 

[JoJer]

I had always been interested in fishing, but never pursued it til I was out of the service at age 26. I caught my first trout on my future BIL's gummy old spin cast outfit with hoppers for bait. 5 yrs later I was getting the hang of spin fishing and I was intrigued by the notion fishing without carrying a tackle box and bait. Then one day I was fishing a local reservoir with worms on the bottom and my wife and I were swarmed by a blizzard hatch. I watched every trout in the res all over the top and around my line eating bugs off the surface. I knew I had to learn how to fish at every depth in the water column. Soon I bought one of those horrible Shakespeare composite fly rod outfits and began to learn the sport. 'Course, I've never seen another hatch like that one since!

 

[grassonfly]

friend told me he had a fly rod and i bought it off of him. I am self taught which is the reason i hate teaching people. check out Hardy reels blog he has a great story about his introduction to fly fishing

 

[jcw355]

Started out bait fishing for trout because that is what the guys did that wanted me to go. Eventually it got boring and wasn't challenging. I got interested in fly fishing just watching people do it and decided I would try it. Tough at first but being self taught can be tougher for a beginner. After a couple of months of trying one day I caught several and lost some on an olive wooly bugger. I fish probably 99 percent of the time on my flyrod now and occasionally will throw some spinning gear for trout. I enjoy it, read books, watched video and watch people. Never had any real instruction from anyone.

 

[countr21]

I've been backpacking the Colorado summers since I moved here in 1994. For the first ten summers or so, I never packed a rod. I just never knew much about fishing of any kind......I never had anyone show it to me. But for ten summers, I backpacked into areas loaded with trout lakes and headwater streams. And sometimes I would see trout swimming in the water and other hikers fly fishing, so I naturally had to try it for myself. But anyone I would talk to about fishing would always say, "fly fishing??? no way, that's too complicated!!" I still wanted to incorporate backcountry trout into my backpacking fun. Also, the inherit lightweight nature of fly fishing tackle was a huge lure. And I love eating seafood, especially salmon........so I envisioned myself consuming copius amounts of trout around the campfire at night.

One off season during the winter I googled something like, "fly fishing and backpacking." The first book that came up was Osthoff's - Fly Fishing the Rocky Mountain Backcountry. I bought it off Amazon months before ever buying my first fly rod. Rich Osthoff's experience fly fishing the Rockies immediately captivated me. Not only is the guy an amazingly good bacpacker, he is an even better angler. He also has thorough descriptions of hundreds of backcountry fisheries. The man is simply a world class backcountry fisherman. I dived into the book head first and never looked back. It became my bible.

I eventually bought a cheap fly rod and reel combo, a few cheap videos, watched youtube, and taught myself the basics. I taught myself to fly fish on high-altitude backcountry lakes and small connecting streams. I was immediately hooked, mostly because of walking in Osthoff's footsteps fishing the same waters he describes in his book. Backpacking-flyfishing is now my passion. I used to go backpacking just for general fun. Now, my main short term goal in life is to hike and fish as many Rocky Mountain backcountry waters I can. Since I picked up fly fishing I have yet to do a dayhike or an extended trip that didn't target trout waters. Last summer was a down year for me but I still covered 300 miles with the pack on in three different states.

Fishing high-lakes can be an artform in itself, but mainly having fished high-lakes only, I now want to raise my skills so I can attack (big) moving water.....like the bigger rivers along the Front Range. And I would love to make it onto rivers like the Madison or Bighorn when I am traveling through Wyoming and Montana. I've never been to Yellowstone and I hope to get there next summer and spend at least two weeks hiking and fishing the spectacular backcountry rivers.

As for eating all those backcountry trout I set out to, I only eat fish when its practical and good for the fishery. Many backcountry lakes are loaded with smaller, stunted fish (especially brookies). When I am hungry for a meal of trout I do harvest from these lakes. But the better fisheries that produce fewer numbers of larger trout, I catch & release at all times and I always follow the rules & regs to a tee.

 

[Rip Tide]

My maternal grandfather fly fished, but didn't drive. My father was an "outdoorsman" and had a car but didn't fish. I guess they got together as a bonding thing. When I came along, they started taking me too
Granddad died when I was young and dad never did become the greatest fisherman, so while I was introduced to fly fishing at an early age, I as much learned on my own as was taught.
I learned to cast by watching others. When I was young it was Ted Williams at the old Boston Sportsman's Show. I learned my flies by studing cataloges from LLBean and Orvis and learned to tie from an old book of my grandfather's and again by watching people at shows. Eric Leiser, Dick Talleur and others .
Mostly I learned by fishing a lot. Nothing beats the experence of time on the water

 

[swirlchaser]

I've been fishing as long as I can remember. Mostly a bait and lure guy but about 7 years ago I was fishing with a buddy who is a saltwater guide. We were livelineing bunker for Stripped Bass when I looked up on his T-top and saw two fly rods from his previous charter. "You catch Stripers with those things???". He took one down and dropped a fly behind my bait, when he hooked up we switched rods. I bought my first flyrod that day and now I'm flyrodding 90% of the time.

 

[tbblom]

When I was a kid, I fished for stocked rainbows in the Sierra foothills. My dad absolutely hates fishing, so that didn't last long. One of those summers was the first time I saw a guy fly fishing. He was getting his limit of stockers every day, I was impressed.

Backpacking in college, we met a group that was staying out for 3 weeks. Their plan being to eat lots of fish to supplement their dry foods. Very intrigued.

Fast forward a few more years years. I had a roommate who fly fished. If we stopped in the canyon for 20 minutes he would catch a couple. I was intrigued by the casting and the beauty of the scenery. He let me borrow his rod and reel for a road trip. I got skunked, but I loved wading and looking for fish and being in the river in general.

Jump ahead about another 6 years. My favorite hobby, rock climbing, was beginning to take a toll on my body. I needed something fun to do outside that did not involve hauling my 200lbs up a rock. I got a $50 starter kit and just started trying to cast. It was three weeks before I caught anything Little did I know that Spring flood was not a good time, oh well, I was having fun.

My drive home every day was along Boulder creek, so I would fish for a few hours almost every day (still do if possible!) I was having a blast, but I was only getting good at fishing Boulder creek.

Last summer I had foot surgery, and rock climbing took a major back seat in my life. Fly fishing became an obsession to be reckoned with.
I started tying my own flies, traveling to heavily pressured waters to try my 'skill' or lack thereof, and started catching some much larger trout.

I quickly learned how little I really knew on those famous waters . So I started reading and doing internet searches, and ended up here. This forum has helped me severely steepen my learning curve in the last few months.

I now own a 'quiver' of rods (5,5,6,7,10,11), although some have yet to see a fish. Given enough time I am sure they will. Thanks again NAFFF for providing a space to share tying ideas, debate, ethics, and advice. Extra thanks to those that are very experienced and willing to help teach some of us who lack proper mentors!

For my relative lack of experience, I make a lot of posts... I hope this is ok, I try to add a disclaimer every now and then to own my lack of experience. I just love talking about fly fishing though and learning everything I can. When time permits, I get out almost every day for a few hours. I think 180 days a year is a very lowball estimate at this point (my girlfriend says I fish EVERY day).

The best advice I have been given is to "remember to have a good time, even when you are getting skunked" ie. any day on the river is a good day.

 

[wannafish]

I guess my start in flyfishing was in large part due to the fishing regulations requiring atlantic salmon be fished only with a fly. That's the reason my father picked up an old bamboo rod and a Hardy St.John reel (the one in my avatar) in the '50s and stepped into the then famous Hartland salmon pool on the Saint John river. The other fishermen called him "Brown Ferry" because that was the only fly he owned and he fished it half the summer catching 16 salmon before the season ended.
A number of years later he had a few fly boxes full of flies and an extra rod or two plus a fishing partner--me

 

[classicfc]

I've fished many of the famous rivers and tailwaters. I'm now almost exclusively drawn to long distance hikes that also include trout. The scenery and solitude are the draws. Last year I walked over 500 miles.

Having recently moved to Colorado I picked up Osthoff's book and Schweitzer's RMNP book. I'm looking forward to hitting as many places as I can, while I can!

 

[trs]

I started fly fishing through Project Healing Waters, I cant say enough about the kindness and encouragemet of the volunteers from the middle tennessee fly fishers. I have been throughly bitten by the bug, and look forward to many, many days of fly fishing.

 

[Unknownflyman]

I think I posted in greater detail on another thread but my best bud and neighbor and his dad were going to Montana fly fishing for two weeks and he was teaching is son and then me cause I wouldn't leave, in their back yard. I was seven got my first fly rod for my birthday when I was nine. I am now middle age, ok old there I said it.

 

[spm]

I think I probably started fly fishing because, as a kid, I didn't have the patience to sit and watch a bobber for hours on end. With fly fishing, I was doing something.

steve