fishers_fisherman
Well-known member
Hi everyone. As you can probably guess from the title, I've recently been able to figure out how to cast the old Shakespeare rod that's been gathering dust in my basement for the last few years and now I can't seem to put it down! Thanks again for the quick tutorial last weekend if you happen to be reading this Kristina!
As for a little info regarding myself, I grew up in the midwest (IL/IN), did a brief stint in TX, and back in central IN now. I've been fishing since I was a kid (late 30's now), mainly in local ponds/resevoirs etc. Ran trot lines at a cousin's catfish camp in So. IN, spent plenty of cold days on the ice pulling out buckets of gills/crappies, and had the chance on a couple occasions to head out in the gulf. Have 2 youngsters of my own now that are finally old enough to enjoy heading out to the pond and have been able to get out myself quite a bit recently (much more than I've been able to for about the last 7 years!).
Always thought fishing with a fly looked like a blast and right around 7 yrs (and roughly 9 months) ago I picked up an inexpensive fly combo from Dick's with the intent of learning how to do it. My first attempt after getting everything assembled was probably high comedy to anyone that might have been watching. Had the best of intentions to keep at it but not too long after the purchase my wife had some surprising news for me in the form of a First Response test with a little "+" sign on it. One more of those a couple years later and needless to say, most of my free time for the last several years was essentially non existent.
Now that the ankle biters are getting big enough to hold their own I've been able to get out to a nearby park with some nice creek access that feeds into the nearby resevoir on the northeast side of Indy. Dug the old Shakespeare out of the basement on a whim the other day and headed out to give it another go. The park I ended up heading to was pretty crowded that afternoon and not wanting to run the risk of hooking someone's lip, I decided to just toss a few crankbaits out and save the fly's for another day. As luck would have it, a lady with fly rod happened to walk up a few yards down from me, threw her line out a few times and promptly pulled in a nice sized bluegill. We struck up a conversation about fly's and it inspired me to go ahead and give mine another go. She gave me a few tips on my cast, what types of flies the local fish like to hit on, and within a few minutes I was actually getting my line into the water without completely tangling it around myself or sticking it up in a tree! I've been out close to every night after work this last week and I'm actually starting to feel like I have an idea of what I'm doing. Even caught a few a fish in the process.
Came across this forum today while looking through a few sites for a fancier rod, and thought I'd sign up. Been able to visit two local shops as well and can already feel myself geeking out pretty hard on this new hobby. Anyway, I'm very glad to have given it a second chance, to find some good local resources, and to have this whole new experience starting to unfold ahead of me. Probably looking to upgrade my equipment sometime in the near future once I get a little more proficient with what I have, so any advice along those lines would be greatly welcomed. Gotten some good tips from this forum and the local shops already, just trying to restrain myself on picking anything up for the moment as I feel I could easily go nuts on the old AMEX card. Hopefully I'll be able to run into a few of you on here out on the water in the future. Looking forward to spending a good amount time checking out the forum posts as well.
Best regards--Jon
As for a little info regarding myself, I grew up in the midwest (IL/IN), did a brief stint in TX, and back in central IN now. I've been fishing since I was a kid (late 30's now), mainly in local ponds/resevoirs etc. Ran trot lines at a cousin's catfish camp in So. IN, spent plenty of cold days on the ice pulling out buckets of gills/crappies, and had the chance on a couple occasions to head out in the gulf. Have 2 youngsters of my own now that are finally old enough to enjoy heading out to the pond and have been able to get out myself quite a bit recently (much more than I've been able to for about the last 7 years!).
Always thought fishing with a fly looked like a blast and right around 7 yrs (and roughly 9 months) ago I picked up an inexpensive fly combo from Dick's with the intent of learning how to do it. My first attempt after getting everything assembled was probably high comedy to anyone that might have been watching. Had the best of intentions to keep at it but not too long after the purchase my wife had some surprising news for me in the form of a First Response test with a little "+" sign on it. One more of those a couple years later and needless to say, most of my free time for the last several years was essentially non existent.
Now that the ankle biters are getting big enough to hold their own I've been able to get out to a nearby park with some nice creek access that feeds into the nearby resevoir on the northeast side of Indy. Dug the old Shakespeare out of the basement on a whim the other day and headed out to give it another go. The park I ended up heading to was pretty crowded that afternoon and not wanting to run the risk of hooking someone's lip, I decided to just toss a few crankbaits out and save the fly's for another day. As luck would have it, a lady with fly rod happened to walk up a few yards down from me, threw her line out a few times and promptly pulled in a nice sized bluegill. We struck up a conversation about fly's and it inspired me to go ahead and give mine another go. She gave me a few tips on my cast, what types of flies the local fish like to hit on, and within a few minutes I was actually getting my line into the water without completely tangling it around myself or sticking it up in a tree! I've been out close to every night after work this last week and I'm actually starting to feel like I have an idea of what I'm doing. Even caught a few a fish in the process.
Came across this forum today while looking through a few sites for a fancier rod, and thought I'd sign up. Been able to visit two local shops as well and can already feel myself geeking out pretty hard on this new hobby. Anyway, I'm very glad to have given it a second chance, to find some good local resources, and to have this whole new experience starting to unfold ahead of me. Probably looking to upgrade my equipment sometime in the near future once I get a little more proficient with what I have, so any advice along those lines would be greatly welcomed. Gotten some good tips from this forum and the local shops already, just trying to restrain myself on picking anything up for the moment as I feel I could easily go nuts on the old AMEX card. Hopefully I'll be able to run into a few of you on here out on the water in the future. Looking forward to spending a good amount time checking out the forum posts as well.
Best regards--Jon
