I Fish Therefore I Am - fish stories

[gzacckey]

It seems it's traditional for new members to introduce themselves. Somehow I didn't pick up on that when I joined last month. I'll remedy that situation now by sharing my auspicious and somewhat odd introduction to fly fishing.

It all started when my father and his hunting group built a cabin on the banks of Kettle Creek near the town of Cross Fork, PA. At that time Two Guys department store was going out of business and my father just purchased a bunch of discounted fishing equipment. He was primarily a hunter with very little knowledge of fishing or fishing equipment. As a result he purchased a mixed bag of gear including various lures, lines, gadgets, one spinning outfit and three fly fishing outfits. So armed with little knowledge and mismatched equipment we made our first family trip to the cabin. This trip occurred almost 35 years ago and included my father, 9 year old brother and me at age 11.

Now, I grew up in Upper Darby, PA which is just outside of Philadelphia and basically void of outdoor nature activities (unless you count keggers in the park). So this trip to "God's Country" was a real eye opener for me. I don?t know how many trout we caught but I remember immediately being hooked. I remember the hole we fished in and how we "rigged" our rods. You see we had no idea what fly fishing was or how to setup our equipment. My father rigged the fly rods by attaching leaders to the fly line, tying on a #8 bait hook and adding some split shot. On the hook we placed a nice juicy night crawler. I'm not sure what the gods of fishing would say about the setup but we caught fish and had fun. While there have been many fishing trips since that day there can only be one first and I will remember it forever.

I fished that same rig for about a year before I figured out to use the spinning outfit my father had purchased. It wasn't until a subsequent trip upstate that a neighbor showed me the proper use of my fly rod. I'd like to say I've been fly fishing ever since but that's another story for another day.

Also, as with all fish stories, exact facts get tarnished with age but the feelings and fishing have been with me ever since that day.

Okay, now it's your turn. Let's hear some of your funny/interesting stories.