When did you start?

[axle27]

I think I started this sport a little late in life. Not that I'm old, but I wish I had started sooner. I had no one really around to teach me anything about fishing, much less fly fishing.

Just wondering how old some of you folks were when you started.

 

[Fishstick]

1983 while in Ketchikan Alaska with the U.S.C.G. Wanted something a little more of a challenge. No mentors or friends who danced with the fly, so I learned primarily by trial and error on an old 9ft glass fenwick 8wt and a pocket full of mosquitos, black gnats and muddlers sloshing around Ward Creek in hodgman rubber waders searching for bows, cuts and dolly varden without a clue as to what I was doing. Took several weeks before I got lucky enough to actually catch a fish. Sure wish I had the forums and/or a mentor back then, it would have made the learning curve easier.

 

[mcnerney]

Early 80's while I was in the Air Force stationed in Colorado Springs. I learned on my own primarily reading books. It definately was the hard way to learn, but I really enjoyed the time on the streams even though it was a long time before I caught my first trout.

Larry

 

[therussian]

Thinking about it I was in my mid twenties. Its a life long hobby!

 

[Jackster]

5-10 which would put it sometime around 1955 to 1960.
Though I fly fished, it was just another way to fish for me back then.
It was in the early '80's that the fly bug bit me bad. So bad I foresake all other forms of fishing since then.
Come to think of it, that ain't so bad at all!

 

[peregrines]

I grew up in Brooklyn, and it was TV programs like ABC's Wide World of Sports with fishing segments with Kurt Gowdy and a program called Gadabout Gaddis that got me started. I'd go to the library and go over back issues of Field and Stream, bought a Herter's tying kit and a book by Helen Shaw on tying. I was about 8. No one in my family ever fished, and they all thought I was nuts. They still do.

Had some great adventures in the wilds of Prospect Park (like Central Park but with more gunshots) chasing "trout" (that turned out to be sunfish) and tadpoles and keeping them as pets in the bathtub (until the parental units came home). Spent most of those early days absolutely clueless, but luckily so were the fish. And it was all downhill from there.

peregrines

 

[Jimmie]

Got absolutely hooked on fly fishing at 65. I've already spent too many $$ and haven't even gotten my fly line wet. Tied my sixth fly tonight. Not a pretty sight but for some crazy reason I'm half proud of it. All of the guys at Sportsman Warehouse call me by name and me theirs. About every other night I go there and stand in the fly tying section like a dog watching TV.
Oh, first trip next week and I can't wait to toss my ugly Wooley Bugger.

 

[KRD]

Started when I was 18. Taught myself how to do it.

 

[jlajoie]

I grew up in Brooklyn, and it was TV programs like ABC's Wide World of Sports with fishing segments with Kurt Gowdy and a program called Gadabout Gaddis that got me started. I'd go to the library and go over back issues of Field and Stream, bought a Herter's tying kit and a book by Helen Shaw on tying. I was about 8. No one in my family ever fished, and they all thought I was nuts. They still do.

Had some great adventures in the wilds of Prospect Park (like Central Park but with more gunshots) chasing "trout" (that turned out to be sunfish) and tadpoles and keeping them as pets in the bathtub (until the parental units came home). Spent most of those early days absolutely clueless, but luckily so were the fish. And it was all downhill from there.

peregrines

Luckily(for me), the Brooklyn trout continue to be clueless!

 

[arfishinbear]

My mom gew up in Fort Colliens CO. and we use to go back out there every year when I was younger, I voted 11-20 but I may have been around 10 come to think of it. The first time I tryed it I was hooked, brought the love back to MO the first year I tried it and figured out how to catch other fish(besides trout), for mnay years, until I got back into tournaments (bass) and guideing and fishing for walleye and stuff all I did was fly fish. Bass ,bluegill, crappie, carp, gar, trouts, white bass, and anything else I could find.
Bear:fishing:

 

[jcl]

I was about 15. I was out fishing a couple times when a hatch came off, and the fishing with bait or lures would come to a halt. My dad and an 8wt rod that weighed about as much my arm and an old automatic reel that I think he used once or twice. The only flies he had were poppers, and I had no idea what I was doing, but I waded out and flailed around. Somehow, I got into it, started catching sunnies and got into the magazines, books, and videos to learn. I'm largely self-taught, and the influence of that uncertified teacher still shows up in my casting form now and again, but otherwise it's worked out well.

 

[jclampwork88]

I started with my dad just out of high school off and on, but didn't get really into it until about 5 years ago when I got married and my father-in-law was a big fly fisherman.

John

 

[DMV]

HI: All

I started to fly fish around the age of eleven after my Dad bought some fly gear and tying gear at a yard sale. From that Day about 19 years ago. I've been fly fishing, and now that I am married My wife would like to do some traveling and fly fishing at the same time.... :icon_bigg

Cheers: Dave

 

[BadKarma]

My Grandpa got me started when I was about 6 in 1968. He was a die hard Bass Fisherman and believed that a flyrod was the only "Real" thing to use.

He passed when I was 9. I still have his bamboo rod.

 

[Fishstick]

I got back into tournaments (bass) and guideing and fishing for walleye and stuff all I did was fly fish. Bass ,bluegill, crappie, carp, gar, trouts, white bass, and anything else I could find.
Bear:fishing:

I slipped into a local charity bass tournament a few yes back on a local lake and at weigh in had 13.7 lbs, 5 fish limit in the livewell. When they (as they always do) ask what I had used, I broke out the chart/white clouser minnow and the fly rod and was disqualified based on BASS rules governing max rod lenght. It didn't matter. I had a standing bet with one of my bass buddies that I could catch as many on the fly as he could on the standard bass gear and got a six pack out of the deal.

 

[Troutwhisperer]

I think i started fly-fishing unlike anyone else. when i was around seven my granpa taught me how to cast in a coffined area to start out and then he put a fly rod in my hand and told me to walk out side while he watched from inside, and the reason he stayed inside is because it was downpouring. not the best way to learn but it worked

 

[arfishinbear]

I slipped into a local charity bass tournament a few yes back on a local lake and at weigh in had 13.7 lbs, 5 fish limit in the livewell. When they (as they always do) ask what I had used, I broke out the chart/white clouser minnow and the fly rod and was disqualified based on BASS rules governing max rod lenght. It didn't matter. I had a standing bet with one of my bass buddies that I could catch as many on the fly as he could on the standard bass gear and got a six pack out of the deal.

Cool, and I agree, as a matter of fact at times i catch more on a fly then other bass gear, there is just somehting natural about a fly that crankbaits, worms and spinners just cant match at times. I have been toying with the idea of buying the new sage bass series since they are under the 8' rule. With todays tiers and ideals there are some great new bass patterns to. Hey maybe Sage would sponser me LOL
take care
Bear

 

[Fishstick]

Cool, and I agree, as a matter of fact at times i catch more on a fly then other bass gear, there is just somehting natural about a fly that crankbaits, worms and spinners just cant match at times. I have been toying with the idea of buying the new sage bass series since they are under the 8' rule. With todays tiers and ideals there are some great new bass patterns to. Hey maybe Sage would sponser me LOL
take care
Bear

Ya just never know. Ole' Sage may just jump at that idea. I sold the bass boat a couple years back in prep for retirement and relocation. Those plans got delayed a couple of years, but I picked up an old tri-hull with a solid engine just to play with for the next couple of years. I've put in a front bass deck and this time I've kept the floor fairly clear of clutter and stuff to keep the fly line from tangling up on stuff. I'm even thinking of a tiller op trolling motor to keep the foot pedal off the deck as well.

Fully agree that sometime the fly catches more. Most likely because is a more realistic action and it's not something that they don't see everyday and get aclimated to.......

 

[arfishinbear]

Ya just never know. Ole' Sage may just jump at that idea. I sold the bass boat a couple years back in prep for retirement and relocation. Those plans got delayed a couple of years, but I picked up an old tri-hull with a solid engine just to play with for the next couple of years. I've put in a front bass deck and this time I've kept the floor fairly clear of clutter and stuff to keep the fly line from tangling up on stuff. I'm even thinking of a tiller op trolling motor to keep the foot pedal off the deck as well.

Fully agree that sometime the fly catches more. Most likely because is a more realistic action and it's not something that they don't see everyday and get aclimated to.......

I could live with a boat that says Sage and a fly rod under the logo for sure . I dont know what your wanting to spend but you could put one of the new remote control trolling motors on your boat. Sorry to hear your plans got delayed a couple years.

 

[FISHN50]

I moved to NJ from PA when I was 28 yrs old. I mostly spin fished for Bass & Trout. A friend talked me into coming to a CJTU meeting & I won a Flyrod in a raffle. I picked up a reel & line & jumped into the sport with both feet. I met some lifelong buddies in TU & we've fished all over the country..