As a kid I became interested in fly fishing in the mid 1960s. I found an old bamboo fly rod with a sticky fly line in a small storage closet in our garage. My dad did not fly fish but had bought it for worm fishing in small streams. He told me he tied 50 feet of mono on the end of the fly line. The fly line never got out of the reel.
My only casting instruction was from an indian barber in Upper Pennisula of Michigan(Grand Marais) He showed me how to hold a book under my arm while casting. He also showed me how to tie an extremely sparse squirrel hair streamer that as he said was a killer on the brook trout in the area.
I got a cheap Herters vice and hooks and my main reference book was Joe Brooks fly fishing book. I had lots of feathers and fur because we hunted and all our friends hunted. Later I got a book by Polly Rosborough"Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymphs" which greatly transformed my tying & fishing.
It interesting in hindsight how long it took meto be proficient at casting and tying more or less struggling on my own. A fishing buddy and I got a friend interested in fly fishing and in just a few years he casts and ties like a pro.
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