Why do you fly fish
- This topic has 15 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated Aug 4, 2007 at 4:30 am by
.
-
Posts
-
What I’m actually after is who or what influenced your decisions to take up fly fishing.
My personal story began easily enough: I had finished my last class for that particular day and was walking across campus. I met up with a close friend, who too, was done with his classes and told me he was going to the Piney River to trout fish–and, asked if I would like to go along.
well it all started when I figured out that I won’t kill so many stocked fish with flies as I did with worms, plus when a fish hits a fly you hook him or you don’t but when one eats a worm its a long drawn out process.
http://www.myspace.com/trouthotel
Me and my fishing pals site for posting our pics, a shared myspace page and a good idea if you want to share pictures and plans for fishing with friends.
In the early 1960’s, I was a student at John Marshall Jr. High in Pasadena, CA and was living in the upper Hastings Ranch area close to the mountains. Although I’d fished off the beach piers with my dad and caught a few cheese ball trout at Puddingstone I had never thought about Fly Fishing. The Pasadena Casting Club, a local fly fishing club, was sponsoring a weekend Fly Tying Class at the Pasadena Civic Center. I signed up knowing absolutely nothing about Fly Tying or Fishing. I learned how to tie a grey hackle yellow wet fly and dry fly. I was hooked.
Although it started slowly, I eventually acquired a 7′.6″Wright McGill Spin/Fly Rod and Medalist reel at a local hobby shop and began accumulating Fly Tying stuff. The old timers at the PCC clubhouse and pool taught me how to cast it and encouraged me with those tales of Montana trips and 5# Madison River rainbows. In those days, most of my trout fishing was in the San Gabriel Mt canyons behind the Water Company fences–small but fiesty rainbows.
In 1968, I joined the Air Force and only got back to the PCC a few times during the 1970’s. Since my parents moved away from S. Calif in the early 80’s I haven’t even been back to Pasadena in a long time. But, everytime I see the Rose Bowl on TV, it reminds me of the PCC just down the Arroyo. However, the Air Force gave me 28 years of wonderful Fly Fishing opportunities in Washington, Montana, Alabama, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, England, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Turkey. Since retiring in 1996, moving to Alabama and living on a Lake, Fly Fishing has been a mainstay.
To this day, I tie my own flies, build my own rods and thoroughly enjoy fly fishing year round for just about anything that swims–coldwater, warmwater, saltwater. And, I owe it to the great old timers at the PCC for their encouragement and instruction in the 1960’s. I am glad the Club is still up and running. The Club gave me the inspiration for 50 years of fly fishing fun.
http://www.pasadenacastingclub.org/
_________________
Mike Cline
Slapout, AlabamaSee Chapter 1 of “You Can’t Make a Living Tying Flies” at http://www.HATofMichigan.org – go to the e-book page and download the book – or not. You will need Adobe Reader. But there is an intresting reason why I didn’t start until I was 40 years old. You might enjoy it.
Bob Bolton
Marlboro cigarettes.
That sounds like an odd reason to take up fly fishing, but I owe it all to Marlboro cigarettes, or at least the Phillip Morris Company. A buddy at work had a brother that worked in marketing at Phillip Morris. They had some promotional items left over from a trade show and one of the items was a spin/fly combo. Well I ended up with one of them.
After trashing the spinning reel, I decided to turn the handle around, clamp on the plastic Pflueger click and prawl reel, and try it as a fly rod. I tried to cast it a few times. It became apparent that I needed some help. At this point, I immediately went out and purchased “Fly Fishing for Dummies” (I’m not kidding. Actually it is a pretty good book for beginners). With the help of my newly acquired reference manual, I reached the point where I could make a pretty good 50 foot cast.
I lost my cherry on a tiny perch on Lake Lucerne, Maine. From then on I was hooked. I made a deal with my wife that after the first real fish I caught on it, I could move up to a better rod. Shortly thereafter, I caught my first redfish on fly, a nice 24 incher. This earned me a Scott SAS along with all the acoutrements. I was off and running.
I couple of years ago I pulled out my old Marlboro rod, just to give it a try. It is amazing that the rod didn’t turn me off of fly fishing for life. It had all the feel of a broomstick. I fished it with a 5wt, level intermediate sink line that casts like a piece of rope. But I owe it all to this little piece of crap and keep it in an honored place in my fly rod collection.
I’ve always liked what Roderick Haig-Brown wrote about fishing, “Perhaps fishing is, for me, only an excuse to be near rivers. If so, I’m glad I thought of it.” I like the places trout fishing takes me. I got into fly fishing as an extension of hunting and camping. It was something I could do during the hunting off season. Now I hardly hunt any more.
Another good quote by Roderick Haig-Brown –
“I still don’t know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel.”
I do it because I love fish, all kinds – and fly fishing is the most satisfying way to bring them to hand.
thats a great story Greg 🙂
My father came home with a rod and reel he’d picked up at a garage sale and a book. Passed it over to me for Christmas and with many patient friends and mentors…flyfishing.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.