Not the film ... Why did you start ff'ing

[fcch]

The "other" thread got me thinking and wondering, Why did you start flyfishing ?

I started 'cause in BC's Kamloops Region, that was how one fished. Some life role models ff'ed, so that's what I wanted to do (be).

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Christopher Chin
Jonquiere Quebec

I guess I don't really remember. I used to dabble in fly fishing. I even took a casting class back in the early 70's. Then I gave it up and went back to gear. I was born and raised a gear fisherman. That's what Dad and I did. Then I stumbled onto FAOL's website and a flyfishing ember from long ago was rekindled. I bought some cheap rods and reels, and thanks to Al I actually started tying flies myself. So, when I went on my first real sojourn onto the St Joe in Northern Idaho, I thought I was in heaven. I even remember hearing and elk bugling in the hills that day. I suppose it was after I hooked and landed my first Westslope Cutthroat on a fly I tied that something special happened. I was standing in the middle of the St Joe on a cold day. Fog hanging on the river. And, the hot mist of bellowing laughter gushing from my lungs into the crisp air as I released that fish and watched it dissappear into the color of water. I was hooked. Dragging gear through the green water of low-land lakes, in pursuit of soft fish just couldn't compare any longer.


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A free gift waits for those who ask.
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Lotech Joe

[fcch]

Joe,

Thanx for sharing. I guess many of us did the same thing.

We got introduced to the sport as youngsters, left if for a while (or a few decades) then had something trigger a comeback.

Mine I guess was when I realized the company won't build a monument to you when you're gone. 80-100 hours a week at the office was too much.

I started to take some time off FOR ME. Then that certain sunday morning, freezing in 34deg water, landing that nice 6 lb sea run trout. ... Hooked (again).


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Christopher Chin
Jonquiere Quebec

[gadabout]

I became passionately interested in fishing at the age of about seven. Fly fishing was not available to me at that time but I was always aware of it through books, magazines, and the American Sportsman and Gadabout Gaddis TV shows, etc.

I did not start fly fishing until I was in my early twenties. By this time I had a car, a real job, and a newly broken heart so I was really primed to get into the sport. When I did I knew there was no looking back.

[Silverback]

No choice.... My father, grandfather, and both uncles were fly fishermen. I had the choice of going fishing, or staying home with the girls. At 12, staying home with the girls isn't a good option, so......

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Eschew Sesquipedalian Obfuscation

My father was among the very, very rare fly fishermen here in south Louisiana, and we fished old fiberglass Heddons during my childhood. As others have mentioned, I gave it up for decades, and only picked it up again two years ago. It happened because I was at my mom's house -- my dad passed five years ago -- looking for something in the old boatshed and I found our old fly rods, covered in dust and grime from years of storage. I took them out and got them in shape again, replaced the line on the old automatic reels and decided to see if I could still cast.

It was off to the races from there.

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[url=http://www.native-waters.com:0d9b7]http://www.native-waters.com[/url:0d9b7]

[fcch]

Silverback,

Lucky thing for you. Good thing they weren't into golf

Seriously, ... That must have been a wonderful way to get into an activity, or did you feel (at first) that you were being dragged off to the river?

My (new) son prefers getting out as often as possible during the season. has been a real confidence builder for him. Mom is happy too as it seems he'll eat ANYTHING while fishing (instead of the regular week long menu of straight meat and rice.)


Vince laying out a wooly on the #8 pool Oct 2004

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Christopher Chin
Jonquiere Quebec




[This message has been edited by fcch (edited 23 February 2005).]

My Dad brought me home a fly-fisherman magazine from a business trip. I'll never forget it, September-October issue 1985. Read the darn thing cover to cover about 3 times in a row. I decided right there and then I was going to learn how to flyfish, even though no one I knew could flyfish. I was, and always will be, hopelessly smitten with fly fishing ever since.

-John

[This message has been edited by ktokj (edited 23 February 2005).]

[Silverback]

Chris... bite your tongue.... Golf!!! I imagine there must have been a golf course somewhere within 50 miles, but fortunately I never saw it.

No, it didn't feel like being dragged off. Like most boys, at least in that time and place, going somewhere with "the men" felt like a privilege. That they could cast and I struggled in comparison was an occasional frustration, but with time that came too. I still occasionally fish with the old man's Dickerson Special Guide [a noodle now, but still....] and it takes me back 45 years and provokes maudlin nostalgia if I'm not careful.

I'm sure that the next generation you're introducing to the game will feel as thankful to you as I am to the older generation of my family. Not a bad legacy.......

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Eschew Sesquipedalian Obfuscation

[anglerdave]

I think I've told this story before. When I was 14 my dad came home from a golf tournament with a 3/2 8' bamboo fly rod that he won as a door prize. I ordered line from the Montgomery Wards catalog and a guy that lived down the street gave me some buck tail streamers that he tied. That was 41 years ago. I still have the rod, reel, line and two of the streamers.