Overcoming Doubts

[DShock]

When I was young in the early 70's, I took my spinning rod and fly rod with me when I fished. One day I told myself, "Your never going to learn to flyfish if you keep doing that!" From that day forward, I only took my fly rod with me and that is how I learned to flyfish. 25 years later, I decided to learn how to flyfish still water, so that is what I dedicated myself to, until I felt like I knew something.
How did you learn?, to tie flies, to flyfish?, to build your own rod?
Thanks,
Doug

[Flyandtie1]

My fly tying started with spin fishing ironically. I had been using jigs and things for trout and crappie, And I saw a guy who tied his own jigs. I thought how cool it would be and started tying jigs with sewing thread and holding the hook in my fingers with no bobbin or anything. I quickly learned that, tying that way sucked. So I got a vise and got materials and a bobbin. I then tied jigs for a while and got pretty good at it.

That's when I saw fly fishing in action...I told my parents and they took me to sportmart or whatever and bought me one of those little cheap starter kit things. I used that for a while and caught a good many fish with store bought flies.

Thats when the real fly tying started. I got different things and started to tie all kinds of wierd things and guess what? they caught fish! That shot my confidence up and I left my spinning rod at home and started using this crappy combo with crappy ties I had done.

I was catching fish and my tying was improving. I then hooked a carp on that crap rod and it broke one of the guide feet.

I told my parents about my broken rod and they bought me a cabelas traditional combo w/ a CSR reel and cabelas prestige line.( I have very understanding parents, who spoil me a bit)I then fell totally for fly fishing. I saw what I had been missing with that cheapo set up!

I then started getting necessary materials for the most popular flies and started tying those. I now have gotten more gear, stuff, gotten proficient at tying flies and fly fishing. I love the sport.

Anyways, Sorry for the long post, but you asked!

[JohnScott]

Doug -

Like a lot of folks, I started out with a spinning rod - just over five years ago. I thought fly fishing was for others, certainly not for me. After several months with the spinning rod, and I did have a lot of fun and learned quite a bit about fishing with it, I happened to be on the Henry's Fork one morning. I had fished over a nice section of water for about an hour, catching only one rainbow.

Along came a fly fisherman. He took four really nice bows in about twenty minutes. That got my attention. I started watching other fly fisherman and began to realize the things you could do with a fly rod that you couldn't do with a spinning rod. About a month later I bought my first fly rod - a Scott SAS 905-2. After four days of fly fishing on the Henry's Fork without a hit, I finally caught my first fish on a fly. An 18" bow. About an hour later, I took a 19" bow. I still spin fish, occasionally.

The fly tying thing was a matter of economics. That first year I fly fished about 150 days. Early into the second year, I realized buying flies was going to break me. So I started tying my own. I fly fished about 175 days that year and realized a lot of "savings" at the vice.

Then one day I realized that I really was going through a lot of leaders. At $3.50 a pop. I started tying my own knotted tapered leaders out of Maxima Chameleon. Not too long after I started down that road, one session of an Intermediate Fly Tying Course sponsored by our local TU was on furled leaders. Built a jig, bought some thread, and never looked back. Have fly fished somewhere around 400 days since I started using thread leaders. Between the ones I used myself and those I've given away, the fly leader industry has lost hundreds of dollars in sales.

Then I started wandering around the FAOL BB. All this talk about rod building. How do you go about "overcoming doubts" when it comes to that part of fly fishing ???

John

[J Castwell]

You don't. You just take the bull by the tail and face the situation. I have never made a mistake, but I sure have had an awful lot of 'learning situations'.

[ohiotuber]

Doug,
I did EXACTLY what you did. My favorite spinning rod was always with me & I finally made the total commitment to the fly rod by giving that spinning rod to a pond owner who has become a very close friend.
Mike

[Bamboozle]

I always a plan that included graduating to fly fishing at some point in my trout fishing career. I assumed it was a natural progression like graduating from the penny whistle to a flute or sax.

I planned it for years; read about it, studied it, talked about it and asked as many questions as fly fishermen I knew could stand to answer. I finally took the plunge and with the help of my fishing buddy who got into it a few years before me; I became an EXCLUSIVE fly fisherman and a bit of snob about it to boot.

Like an idiot I gave away all of my spinning tackle and with it my connection to a lot of my non-fly fishing friends who couldn't accompany me to the fly-fishing only streams I preferred to fish.

Years later I came to realize that life is too short to be a snob and I happily re-entered the world of conventional fishing. I started fishing with spinning & casting tackle again and had a BLAST. But most importantly I made wonderful new friends who I never would have met if I still was an exclusive fly fisherman and I stared fishing again with old partners who would never change over to the long rod and felt excluded.

So for me the journey came full circle. I fish with both the long rod & short and am happy where I ended up and how I got here!

[Betty Hiner]

Some of you are aware that I had no intention of fly fishing, or fly tying, or rod building, or anything else when the thought of flyfishing was introduced to our family. I was just simply looking for something, anything, to keep Cary busy after he retired. (He has a tendency to "help" me, and I didn't think he'd live very long retired, and helping me daily!!) I bought him everything he needed to get started even before he retired. My introduction was to condescendingly purchase a lite spinning rod, and one fly, that I figured I'd take with me, cuz I knew I'd never be fishing! The first rainbow I saw taken from the water, (not even by either of us, just some guy fishing!) convinced me I needed more! When I saw the cost for flies, I suggested to Cary, that he may want to learn how to tye. Nope! So I took a class. I was totally hooked! Of course the lite spinning rod wouldn't do for the flies I was tying (for the both of us), so we got a couple travel rods from Cabela's. One never being enough, of course we needed rods for different locations, and conditions!! Rod building seemed like a logical extension of the process and you cannot build just one. I had to build matching, though "different" rods for both of us. And for different waters, locations, and conditions. And hand made by me rather than store bought ... Oh, it's a slippery slope we get on!! I have never looked back, and I'm thankful everyday that we found something we love to do together.

[Bobinmich]

My first trout fishing was with and ultralite spinner and a meps. From “You Can’t Make a Living Tying Flies”

“Next thing you know we are headed for Michigan’s UP. Steve started me out on a light weight spinning rod with a Meps. Said I should get used to wading before I started in on a fly rod.”

And

“I was fishing the Meps along a likely looking undercut just above where a little stream came in and wham. A little bolt of lightning screamed up from the bottom and grabbed the spinner. He wasn’t big, maybe 6 inches or so. I brought him in to my pre-wetted hand – just like the Old Master had been told to do. I have never seen anything so beautiful. Pretty reds and golds and worm tracks on the back just like Steve had told me there would be. I quickly got him unhooked and back into the water before he was harmed.

Something happened in that few minutes that has influenced my fishing ever since. The most important thing was how beautiful and fragile that little brookie was. And how it was important not to do him harm and to try to put things back right as though you had never been there.

The second thing is that it is not important if anyone else sees you catch a fish or even knows that you did for that matter. Catching a fish is a truly personal event in its purest form. It is only between you and the fish. Steve had told me it would be like this. It’s not how many, it’s not how big, it’s only this moment and you and the fish.

In that one singular event, in that one special moment, all the lessons Steve had started teaching me achieved meaning. I was hooked more than any fish ever could be.”

Godspeed,

Bob

[DShock]

John,
Quote;Along came a fly fisherman. He took four really nice bows in about twenty minutes. That got my attention. I started watching other fly fisherman and began to realize the things you could do with a fly rod that you couldn't do with a spinning rod. About a month later I bought my first fly rod - a Scott SAS 905-2. After four days of fly fishing on the Henry's Fork without a hit, I finally caught my first fish on a fly. An 18" bow. About an hour later, I took a 19" bow. I still spin fish, occasionally." End Quote.

"Things you could do with a fly rod"
This is precisely what I found out, when I fished the same river, with a fly rod only. It opened up the river to me. I found trout in the shallow water that I would have never fished with my spinning rod.
The typical spot was on the far side, small pool, under a root. I cast my fly upstream, it drifted into that small spot and wala! fish on!
Doug

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

Doug My first fly rod. Believe it or don't it was a bamboo.

An article I wrote for Fly anglers on Line a while back.
Explains how I got my first rod and then my first real flyrod.
With a short note about my stinky meany sisters.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/readerscast/rc423.php

I have also sent in a story to Deanna about my first real flyfishing expedition but It hasn't made the cut yet.