Members' Bio: Where'd you come from?

[rayfound]

Fishing wise. Share your story. I'm interested to hear how everyone got their start, and what path people took to get where we are today.

Gabe asked me this in an email a while back, and I've been curious about everyone else.

[rayfound]

I'll go first. When Gabe asked me (hey - has anyone seen or heard from Gabe lately????), this was my (very long winded) response:

I grew up in central canada, my family always vacationed on lakes, and i was taught how to fish. My dad has never been a big fisherman, but he did enjoy it once in a while. His father, who passed away when i was 6mos old, was an avid fisherman - everyone assumes i got some weird fishing gene from him.

Anyway, as a kid, my family would go about their business of vacations, family outings, etc - and I would fish. I would vistit my grandparents, and they would drop me off on the side of Picton Bay (On lake Ontario) http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bay+St,+P ... 91202&z=11

and I would fish all day long for 8" Yellow perch (catching dozens) and eat raspberries. (and find my way into poison oak/poison ivy.

My other grandparents had (still have actually, but the lake health is no longer good) a cottage where I would fish the small lake (about a mile or so square) for Largemouth bass, Sunfish, and Yellow Perch. The lake, before the die-offs had a great population of decent sized bass, and some fairly hefty perch and sunfish as well - after the dieoffs, the bass were basically gone, and the forage fish become overpopulated and stunted. Anyway, the family would play cards, swim, eat, etc - and I would fish - from a dock, from a row-boat, whatever.

I never touched, or really knew much of what a fly-fishing pole was - but where I grew up, or at least with the people I grew up around, fishing was a sport. It wasn't to eat fish (though pan fried yellow-perch is about as good as it gets, that and Walleye ("pickerel" where I come from) ). So i grew up catching and releasing lots and lots of fish.

As a kid I was obsessed with fishing - we once lived in a hotel for about 3 months when we fist moved to the US - in Elkhart Indiana, and the hotel had a little pond out the side - i could see the fish, but my mom would not let me get my pole and have some fun. So I scrounged some line from somewhere, found a rubber worm, and a hook, and would go out to "walk the dog", and secretly be catching bluegill by line and hand. (no pole).

After that, we spent the entire summer living in a cottage on a small lake. I fished virtually every day, didn't really catch very much, but the really memorable thing about the lake was catching a Gar. Weird-ass fish. Lifted him out of the water And realized the hooks of the lure never actually punctured the mouth on him... they were just barely holding in the bony tissue.


When we moved to california, I would try and fish the big lakes my parents would use our boat on, but never had much luck, so I started to look locally, and being all trout-stocked, that's what I went after. Bait first of course, and often filling a stringer. It wasnt until about 6 years ago that I became interested in fly fishing ( admittedly when my buddy and I started thinking about flyfishing, we went out an rented "A river runs through it"), and I began reading, eventually asking for a fly rod for christmas. I had a lot of fun at a couple local lakes when the trout action was slow - but the crappie would bite like crazy. I also began to vist the WF, and rode my bike up the the wild trout area and fished along. Then life got in the way - I got married, finished college, worked a lot, etc... and never made much time for fishing (just a couple times a year).

Until I was on a business trip in Portland this winter, and a customer I was talking to was telling me how sweet this 3wt fly rod he had was. I thought to myself that would be the perfect thing for the little creeks (was thinking about the WF), and bought one on ebay. after a few outings I decided I needed a little bigger and got a 7'6" instead of the 6'6".

But, I'm a research nut - i read books, magazines, online, etc... and just get hungry to learn about things. so here I am.

[fflutterffly]

Many years ago I was a competitive archer. I traveled this country and abroad shooting my way to three national titles. My discipline was field and 3D archery, but with an Olympic Recurve bow, not a compound. One sunny day, (over 100˚) I had finished a 'tune-up' competition in a small town called Bodfish, just next to Lake Isabella, CA. The lake is very large as local waters are concerned so my girlfriend and I decided to drive the rim and head up the Kern River for a look see.
As we transitioned from highway 155 to Kernville Road, we passed through the town of Kernville. Traveling at 25mph it isn't hard to look at each store front, read their signs and take in the general 411 of their goods.

Like all small towns things begin to thin out as you leave. The same with Kernville, except they sort of drag the process along. As we crossed the bridge over the river to our left was a row of small shops. I notice a 'fishing shop' and pushed it to the back of my mind.
We proceeded to drive the 55 mile up and back trip, looking at the water, driving up into the higher elevations, noticed a hidden archery field course tucked back in the scrub woods and than turned around and headed back down the way we had come.

Passing the 'fishing shop' I turned to my girlfriend and mentioned that, having nothing better to do, we should stop in. I had no idea that it was a fly fishing store, but the greeting was so warm and inviting that we spent over an hours.
There I met a Guy Jeans and David D'beaupre. They may as well have been speaking in Martian. There was all sorts of information about bugs, hatches, lines, rod flex. David picked up two rods and took us out into the parking lot. There he showed us how to cast and handed me two rods so I could see how they casted differently. Frist he handed me a soft action rod, than the other rod. I was curious as to how different they felt, so with one in each hand, at the same time,I cast away and there stood David. David do you remember this? "you've never casted rods before?" I answered I had not. He took the rods from my hands, walked back into the shop with a laugh.
That day I purchased my first fly rod, which I still have and consider one of my best rods.
I haven't shot my bow since.
*************************************************************************************************************
(Sidebar: Just recently I did pick-up a Hoyt Helix recurve bow and just might begin shooting again.)

[midger]

I "come" from Idaho. Been fishing my whole life--most of it with a flyrod, but in the very beginning without one. Started fishing with my Grandfather (a certified fishaholic much to my now, 102 year old Grandmother's chagrin). He fished every chance he got. He was a farmer out of Emmett, and us grandkids job was to gather worms in cans when he was plowing so we could adjourn to the local ponds after we'd gathered enough worms. We used long cane rods back then. Not boo, but real cane. 10-14 feet long. Line tied to the tip, big red/white bobbers if you get the picture. Caught lots of bullheads, bluegill, crappie, small bass.

Fast forward a couple of years. Gramps got me into fishing a casting rod using minnows on Willow Creek. Small Doc Creek kinda stream. Pocket water. Dead drifting. A lot like nymph fishing with a flyrod. This was one of my favorite streams as a kid, and one I fished often with Gramps. Unfortunately, he passed away on opening day of trout season in 1958 while fishing this same creek. My mentor was gone. He was only 58 years old.

Keep fast forwarding. I continued fishing, developing skills with my Dad on Willow Creek, slinging lures for steelhead on the Salmon, fishing for bass on the Payette, trouting on any and every stream I got a chance to hit. Got to develop skills using Gramps old bamboo rods. Got very proficient with Conolon ultra lights using 2 weight lines, and Shakespeare rods with Mitchell reels slinging bait for salmon/steelhead with 30 # test line. Started tying flies and weened myself away from spinning and casting gear, bait, plugs, and lures.

The rest is history. I still own some of the "other" types of tackle, but haven't used it in over 25 years (who knows those shad raps, rappalas, daredevles, bombers, colorado spinners, etc may be worth something someday and they are antiques now, but rubber worms don't age well).

Nothing against other methods of fishing or the folks that use them as I've been there and done that, I just prefer the flyrod and it's techniques--all of its techniques--streamer, nymphs, midging, drifting eggs, and even dry flies. Light rods, medium rods, heavy rods. It's all good.

[Papasequoia]

I grew up on a river, the Sudbury River in MA. It has unfortunately gone from a river where we could catch and eat trout when I was a kid to a dirty, polluted, wasted river. In any case, we (five kids and lots of others in the neighborhood) all fished every day. Dad was a fly fisherman and tried to teach me, but it didn't take at the time, so it was worms from the garden mainly, then later on lures and other stuff. Getting older we would ride our bikes for miles fishing different waters, most often for bass, but other trout streams and lakes too. And of course bluegills, etc.

We fished every day after school and all day on weekends, but towards the late teens, sex and drugs and rock and roll took precedence and I stopped fishing for several years (I'm not sure if I should blame Black Sabbath, girls or marijuana for that ). I eventually ended up in CO while hitching my way to CA in the late 70's. I lived in CO for a few years and I picked up fishing again. Didn't make it to CA for four more years. Tried some fly fishing there with an impatient friend who wasn't a very good teacher, and again it failed to take root. The closest I came was switching back to my spin rod out of frustration, but using flies instead of lures or bait (does that count?) Did a lot of backpacking and caught a ton of fish (all eaten) using a bubble and a mosquito fly.

Moved to CA in the early 80s, didn't fish because my job consumed my life. Went to grad school in MI, came back to CA with a job where I have a lot more free time. Started fishing again. Then I started fly fishing for the third time, which ended up being a charm, because this time it took hold and hasn't let up. I haven't used a spin rod in years. It was a rough road because except for what basically amounted to a casting and knot tying class I took here in Ridgecrest, I was trying to learn how to fly fish on the water by trial and error. There were a lot of trips where I got few to no fish, but I kept at it. After quite some time of hacking away like this, when I thought I was maybe, finally, starting to get the hang of it, Guy opened his shop in Kernville and I booked a half day with him which really helped. Then some time later a full day with David. That was the real boost to the learning curve that I needed. Now I spend about 60-70 days a year on the water, all of it fly fishing, 99.9% of it C&R.

So far I have resisted trying to fly fish in the ocean, buying a float tube or other expensive additions, but I did start tying flies a couple of years ago. My dad was happiest when he was fly fishing, so I'm glad that I finally learned how and stuck with it, I think of him often while I'm on the river. One of these days I'd like to learn how to hunt as well. He hunted when he was young, but when he got married my mother asked him to stop and to not teach us kids about it. So I feel like there is still some unfinished business out there. That's my story. Jon

[JGray]

As long as I can remember I've been fishing in one form or another. When I was only 9 years old my parents would drop me and my best friend, Kevin, at a park in Mississippi called Queeney Park to fish. Looking back at it now ,I can't believe my parents would drop us off there for 5 or 6 hours with a container of chicken liver and 1 gallon jug of kool aid (gosh, I am, a red neck ). Child abduction I guess wasn't a concern in the 70's. Any how, many a summer day was spent catching channel cats on the old zebco 33.

When I was 12, my family moved to Pennsylvania, near the edge of Valley Forge Park. I definately didn't fit in in the Northeast! I thought there was nothing better than catching those cats and bass in Mississippi ,and I was really depressed about moving away from all things familiar. But it just so happened that flowing through the park was Valley Stream and at that time it was one of the best trout streams in the region. We were one of the first families to move into the new housing development and it was early summer. That meant no school ,which was great, but it also meant I had to entertain myself a lot of the time. I started taking walks along Valley Stream and even though I was pretty down about my circumstance, I grew to love the shade and coolness of the Northeastern woods. The sense of calm that I felt then still comes over me to this day when I am around running water.

I started to learn pretty much on my own how to catch the trout that swam in the stream. At first it was just drifting worms through likely looking spots,
eventually leading to spinners. I convinced my father to buy me my first pair of rubber waders, also. Flyfishing hadn't had the boom that was to hit it in the mid 80's yet. The time spent on the river helped me with my boredom, and the skills I learned eventually helped me to make friends once school started.

In May of 1981, at the ripe old age of 14, I saw my first fly fisherman and was immediatly hooked. There just couldn't be any way cooler to catch fish than that! I begged and got my first fly rod for Christmas that year, a 9ft 6wt grafite rod from Eagle Claw. It was still Eagle Claw back then not Wright Mcgill and grafite was a pretty new thing, too. Needless to say I was pretty proud! There wasn't all that much information out there about flyfishing. We didn't get a VCR until about 1983 and except for a few articles in Field and Stream and some instruction from the few guys I ran into on the stream, it was pretty much trial and error. I taught myself how to cast well enough in the back yard. And, from what research I was able to do, I learned some basic ways of rigging up. For quite some time it was a struggle. I almost gave it up because I knew I could be more successful with the spinning gear. Gettin snagged in trees, snapping off flies, wind knots, all were becoming too much. Then I finally got my first fish on the fly! As you all know there is nothing else quite like it!

The boom to fly fishing occured not many years later and information became easier to obtain. And my hobby became an obsession!!!!! At 15 I was tying my own flies. When I was finally able to drive and my parents were not afraid to let me go on longer trips, I started exploring. Fly fishing all over Pennsylvania and New York state throughout my High School years are some of my most treasured memories.

In 1986 I came to college in Colorado and was in heaven. The rivers in the Northeast were closer to home and beautiful, but the rivers and streams of the Rockies..... to call them beautiful doesn't do them justice.

I am now on the water at least one day a week year round. I own multitudes of rods, waders, flies, float tubes etc. It is as this website says, my addiction. When I am watching that dry or indicator, all my attention is there and all my concerns, depressions,and worries disappear. Fly fishing has helped me through a bad divorce. My ex wife says that when I die I am going to come back as a fish or fishing pole. It has helped me overcome other personal issues including alcoholism. I have made one of my most enduring friendships with Aaron (Colorado XJ) through our mutual love of the sport.

I just turned 40. It is hard for me to believe that I have been at this for over 30 years. I still feel like a kid every time I get on the water and hook up. THE TUG IS THE DRUG! My addiction keeps getting greater with each passing year and Fly fishing is something I hope to be doing for another 40 years.

[Rockstar Fisherman]

I fished for trout, trout, catfish, stripers, and when I got bored carp were always an alternative. It was all done using bait, I never liked using lures very much. But I seemed to notice that those * fly fisherman always seemed to be in the middle of things and catching all the fish. So eventually I convinced my dad to buy me a flyrod package and I had read a lot about it. The rest is history, I was self taught for about 10 years and only taken some lessons and fished with fellow flyfisherman in the past year thanks to forums and meeting Zee while on a hiking trip with my Czech mom and uncle.

Since then I've learned a lot and have applied it to many other species, some successful some not. I'm good a carping, working on stiper fishing, and haven't taken the time to try smallmouth bass but it'll happen as well as salmon and steelhead.

I grew up fishing Hat creek are, Lake Almanor area and of course from Big Pine to Topaz. After reading many books and gazing over maps I adapted to my own style of fishing which was based on Fly Fishing which now I'm working on making it the only way I fish.

Also my trips to Montana and Wyoming made me try even harder to get better at fly fishing. Just like old people say, "I wish I knew then what I know now!"

[StevenOjai]

I grew up north of Santa Barbara in an area known as Goleta. There were very few people at the time and only 1 school (Goleta Union) in which we would walk 2 miles through the orchards and walk across Hwy 101 (since it had no overpasses, just a stop sign) to get there. The area grew quickly and I ended up going to a different school each year until I graduated as the first class from the newly built Dos Pueblos HS. Went to SBCC and UCSB and worked for 5 summers as a Beach Lifeguard.

Throughout my teen years, my buddies and I would hike into the Agnew Lake area behind June Lake in the Eastern Sierras. We would challenge ourselves by bringing just salt, oil, and flour and see how long we could subsist on fish. A week would be the limit despite the available fish * hanging in camp. I think this enforced fish consumption led to a habit of C&R as our taste for fish certainly diminished.

I went onto UC Berkeley where I graduated as as Forester. The school was ranked #1 in the nation at the time and I had the privledge to study wildlife with Starker Leopold, fisheries and aquatic entomology with Don Erman, and was a research assistant to Dr. Ed Stone in ecology. My work led to starting Forest Tree nurseries in California, Oregon, and Washington. In Washington, I lived in the town of Woodland which had a number of flyfishing businesses such as Angler's Workshop, GL Loomis, and Lamiglas. I grew about 45 million trees and helped in replanting the Mt St. Helens area soon after the blast.

Moved to Ojai in the early 90's and became much more involved in flyfishing. My mentor was the late Bob Johns. I started my flyfishing website around 2001 mainly to help myself remember all the bits of information I was collecting. It has been important to me to recognize the sources of that information so I try to cite origination wherever possible. I'm enjoying this sport and activity, and it works well with my first love of hiking within the Sierra.

Regards, Steve

[Flyjunkie]

I am the Black Sheep of my Family.. No one else in either My mother's side or My Father's side of the family Flyfished... My Father's Family is a Buncha of Catfish Anglers from Alabama.. When My Father moved out to California after Service in the Air force during the Korean War (There was No Work back in Alabama at the Time, so he came out to So Cal).. he learned from New friends about Trout fishing in the eastern Sierra.. Got into a longtime Ritual of Going up to Crowley for the Opening Weekend.. this started in the mid 50's and except for a few stretches, went pretty much every Year until the Mid 80's.. When I was Snot nosed Kid, I used to listen intensely to the Stories of Opening Weekend and Dreamed of going... But there was one Condition.. Couldn't go 'til I was 10 years of age.. I remember after I turned 10, all i thought about was going to Opening weekend.. I even had the wrong Idea that it was the end of March.. so i was bummed when i had to wait another Month.. Finally I got to go and it was alot of Fun.. Don't think I slept much the entire weekend, i was soo Pumped to go... I did this for 3 years.. until i realized it wasn't as Great as i thought it was... (it had something to do with us bringing home a sizable amount of Fish and then 5 months later Throwing it away)..

Later that Summer ( I was 12 years of Age at the time) Our family went on Vacation to Camp Nelson, on the Tule River. My Father's Boss owned a Cabin up there and would kindly allow his Employees to use it.. At this Time I was really effective with a 4' Spinning rod and Panther Martin spinners... I could get those rainbows most all the time... I was fishing along the Tule near Camp Nelson and had afew (Hatchery) Rainbows on my Stringer.. when I came around a bend and saw the First Flyfisher I had ever seen.. I was Very impressed with His casting and what he was doing (even thought I didn't know a * thing about what he was doing). I sat on a Boulder and Watched him for at least 50 minutes.. I was enjoying watching him Cast & fish... He left and I went back to the Cabin and told My Father , very excitedly, "I watched this Guy and He was swinging his Fishing pole around with Line that looked like yarn!!!!" My father said something Like "I think that's called Flyfishing Son..." I was HOOKED!!! I had my first Flyrod in about 2 months (a Fenwick Fiberglass Rod that I did a really Crappy job of wrapping it myself) with a cruddy Martin reel and some Cortland line on it. I was given a Copy of Joe Brooks' "Trout Fishing" about the same time from one of My father's Co workers.. it had illustrations of Casting techniques and talked about all Items related to Flyfishing... I attempted to teach myself to Fly cast from that Book... ( not such a hot idea)

The Next summer My family went back to spend a week at the same Cabin... I was out on the Tule trying to cast.. but I was terrible at it... Another Gentleman came across me on the River, watched me for a while and then stated that i wasn't casting very good (he was very kind in the way he said it..)... Sooo this Gentleman decided to give a 13 year old some casting lessons... He worked with me just over an Hour... Showing me how to properly Cast (not break my wrist during the Casting stroke, those Kinda things..).. I guess I picked up on the instruction pretty well, cause there was a Marked improvement in my casting after that...

Those two, Unknown Gentlemen were my Undoing.. they set Me down the Road to where I am now with Flyfishing.. I mentally thank both of them from time to time to this day...

After that I started to increase the amount of Flyfishing I did every year.. Gradually my use of the Spinning rod fell off to nothing.. I improved at a slow, but steady pace.. The Last time I used a spinning set up was when I was 19....

I spent alot of Time Flyfishing for Bluegill & Small Bass in Malibu Creek State park (as it was close enough to home to drive over in the Afternoon after school or Work) and I learned alot about presentation and Drag free drifts while casting for those Sunfish....

I spent a lot of My summers fishing all around the Sierra, Backpacking and Road side fishing.... Those trips were very Helpful as well...

Ventured to British Columbia's interior to fish for Kamloops when I was 22 ~ that was a Great time.

I decided in the mid 80's to give Surf flyfishing a try, and while it was a slow thing to learn (none of the Various Boards and Websites and Books that are available today for folks getting into it) I did pick up on it.. Trips to Kings Harbour (back when it was a Great Fishery) were always looked forward to and Enjoyed Greatly... and very affordable if I got one of my Flyfishing Friends to split the cost..

Fly Tying was gotten into about the same time i got into Flyfishing... and being a bit of an Artist myself.. I learned it at a Good clip... becoming a Commercial tyer by the time I was 20 years old and doing that for 14 1/2 years.. then Getting out of Commercial tying... I love Tying and it is very therapeutic...

I still love throwing flies to Any Species that I can get to eat a Fly... But Saltwater is My favorite area of Flyfishing at this current juncture.. because it is such an adrenaline Rush... But I love every facet of Flyfishing... cause it is a Constant Learning Process and it is Most certainly a Thinking Person's activity....

That's My Little ditty about where I came from...

[Sasha]

I grew up in Southern California spending most of my time surfing such places as “C” Street and Rincon. I was also into fish keeping and fishing. Nobody in my family was really into fishing so most of my fishing in my early years was done with friends or on my own.

I would go every summer with my grandparents in their RV to places such as Northern California, Oregon and Idaho. I would spend my time Fishing, Skateboarding and chasing after girls (not necessarily in that order). On one trip to Oregon I saw someone fly fishing and he was catching all kinds of fish so I wanted to try it. I was 13 almost 14 at the time and asked my grandmother to get me a fly rod. We went to the store and got an Eagle Claw fly rod combo, man I was so excited.

I fished the rod for the rest of the summer with very little success (I only caught two fish). I ended up running out of flies so I took some thread from my grandmother sewing kit and cut some feathers from her cowboy hat and made some new flies. I ended up using Krazy glue to hold them together.

As time went on I went back to fishing my spinning rods, I ended up moving to Arizona after high school. I did not do much fishing out there, mostly due to the fact I thought there was not any good fishing there.

After I decided to move back to California in 98 I got right back into fishing. I would go with my friends all over the place. However I found that I was starting to enjoy taking my ultra light spinning rod to the ocean. I would take this little thing surf fishing and to the harbors in Ventura Co. I also enjoyed fishing it on trout streams, and got quite good at being able to C&R with it.

I met my met my wife in 2002 and we were married in 2003. We did fish a bit but after we had our first child my wife did not seem as interested in going. In 2005 we moved up to the Tehachapi area and I started really fishing the east side and the Kern. I was having so much fun I was going literally once a week when I was living there. I got away with it because I only worked three twelve hour shifts at the time.

One time in 2006 when we were down in Santa Clarita visiting her parents I got on the conversation of fishing in the Sierras with her father. His reply was you don’t know jack * about trout fishing up there, you need to fly fish up there. We had a good relationship and would give each other crap all of the time. I replied so when was the last time your precious fly rod has seen the light of day. We went back and forth for a few talking crap to each other when he said I tell you what take it with you on your trip next week and tell me what you think.

Honestly I was pretty excited, I knew nothing about fly rods at the time and I was curious what fishing an “expensive” rod was going to be like. I took it and got hooked on this sport. I spent the next months practicing but in reality I still sucked at it so I would end up fishing my old spinning gear by the end of the day. As time went on I got better and better and the spinning rod ended up staying at home.

My wife and I ended up moving Idaho in late 2007. Sadly my father-in-law passed away in Dec of 07, so he was not able to see what the end result was of turning me on to fly fishing. I ended up getting more and more proficient with a fly rod so I decided I wanted one of my own. I first got a 9WT because I was going to go fish for Salmon. But I remember reading about ultra light fly rods on a fly fishing forum. My wife ended up surprising me with a 1WT “compensator” rod for father’s day . I immediately fell in love and that is when I started to become a really crappy fisherman but hey I looked good

Wanting to go even lighter I ended up ordering a 000WT “compensator” rod. As my journey towards the dark side of fly fishing was in full swing I was invited to join the small group of crappy fly fishers known only as the BJAC.

[1mocast]

Started the fishing as a youth at a city park. Caught tons of gills on good old bobber and dough on a small spinning rig. Eventually, tried tying yellow threads to a bare hook, catching them gills. (My early attempts at fly tying even though I didn't know this at the time.)

Life eventually got in the way: high school, college, job and marriage. A friend invited me to go up to the eastern sierras about 5 years ago to do some trout fishing. I am glad I did. It brought back all the fun I had as a youth. I got better at catching fish with jigs and lures. Then eventually with the bubble and fly....It then progression to the fly rod full time about 2 1/2 years ago...Been tying for about 2 years...And that is the great thing about this sport: There is always something new to learn, something new to try, something new to target.

And its a great excuse to get outdoors and meet people. And I have made some great life long friends. Especially you compensator types...I personally don't need one...since the fish just hook themselves when they see me coming with my no-name rod...

I have been having a blast ever since then...

[Sheriff Joe]

I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. We lived on one of the big lakes in town when I was small, and we had a creek across the house at the other house where I spent my young, formative years. I remember that my dad first got me into fishing-he is a man of many varied interests, and we would go across the street with our poles and a can of corn or some white bread to ball up and throw out under a bobber. I remember I spent about half my time fishing and half my time feeding the ducks. I can still see the red and white bobbers dunking under the water when a bluegill or small bass would strike.
When I was 10, my family lived on a sailboat for a year. We traveled from the Chesapeake Bay down the east coast and then to the Carribean for 6 months. We had a trolling rod that I'd occasionally rig up and drag, but I never caught anything. I was really into crabbing-either nettting them off of pier pylons or standing at the bow as we were sailing and netting the free swimmers. As we got down to Florida and the Bahamas I was waaaayyy into snorkeling and spearfishing. 10 year-old heaven, let me tell you! Taking the dinghy and a Hawaiian sling and blasting off to some reef was liking taking out the family car 6 years early.
As I said, my dad had a lot of interests, and many of them were of the outdoor variety. When we moved back to Wisconsin I joined the Boy Scouts, and my dad ended up being the scoutmaster/trip leader/creative inspiration for me and a bunch of my friends all throughout my teen years. The first time I ever picked up a flyrod was at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. At a backcountry camp called Fish Camp, we did a fly-tying session, and I took my brownish unraveling caddis and spent the whole afternoon chasing fish on the Rayado River. I ended up catching one, and was hooked forever.
Fast forward to college. I attended Colorado College, which ha a block plan where you take one class a month, then get a block break from a Wed. to a Sun. once a month. I pretty much hiked every national park within 1000 miles of Colorado Springs, skied 40+ days all 4 years, and of course fished my butt off on the Arkansas, Eleven-Mile-Canyon, Deckers, Cheeseman, and all over the intermountain West (Thank you Ed Abbey for that beautiful phrase).
After school, moved to San Diego 6 years ago. A year later I hiked in the High Sierra for the first time, and found where I belong. The fishing, the scenery, the peaks. It's become my favorite place in the world. After that I started getting into flyfishing in earnest-bought a bunch of rods and gear, got employed as a teacher, and have spent every summer and much of my free time ever since chasing fish.
The good Dr. Mike Brown has become one of my dear friends (indeed, the phrase "butt Clown" was coined BY ME on ETC one day last year when Mike talked me into taking a Friday off and going fishing for the weekend. Something like this...."Hey, I wonder how my sub is doing right now with my 7th Period assclown class?" "Wait, na, I'm not gonna worry about it!") and fishing partners. Mike convinced me to buy a 0wt SLT, and nothing has been the same since. Sure, I'll fish with my 5wt or 3wt if the river and fish demand it, but 90% of my fresh water trout fishing has been with that rod since I bought it. I keep dreaming of bigger and bigger fish with it. My ultimate goal is a 20" fish on a 0. Closest so far was an 18.5" rainbow on the Upper Kern last summer.

Here I am, with a bunch of places on my "to do" list, and a contract year that consists of 187 work days per year. There are those who say that teachers don't make enough $, and that we are overworked and under appreciated. I agree with those statements, but when I can spend ALL OF JULY in the mountains, lost somewhere on the JMT chasing Samson or his millions of smaller cousins, I just laugh. There's not a better job in the world, if you ask me!


Joe

[Autodave]

Growing up in Northern Illinois I have always fished,so many lakes and rivers,always with a worm and bobber though.I moved out to So Ca.25 years ago and just could not get into freshwater fishing with the lack of places to go,but got into saltwater fishing quite intensely,I was lucky enough to have a few generous friends with large sportfishers!I have only been flyfishing for a year almost to the day.A friend and i decided to do a fishing trip to the Sierras-he had a flyrod so I said I'll give it a try.So we headed up to the Kern and had an awesome time.I have since learned that even though the Kern is a good place to fish,there are unbeliveable places to fish beyond it.About 6 months ago I was lucky enough to be invited to fish some local waters with a few people(Eric-1Mocast-the honorable Dr.Creek etc.)and had an awesome time,I felt amatuerish but they treated me like a great friend.I have realized that the best places to fish are way off the beaten track.I really only enjoy flyfishing for trout,big or small,I think it's a perfect marriage.So in this last year I have learned how to flyfish-tie flies-search for secluded spots to flyfish-backpack the Sierras to flyfish--and I made alot of mistakes!I love it! Dave

[Autodave]

Thanks Mike!Answers to your questions-1.)Soon 2.)when the economy picks up...things are a bit slow at work.

[flybob]

I am a native So. Californian, I grew up in the E. LA and Whittier area. I remember my first fishing trip to Legg Lake, I was about 5 or 6 and the neighbors took me. All I recall was running around and making a nuisance of myself, (wow not much has changed) but I did see them bringing a ton of bluegills. At about 12, my parents bought a truck with a camper on it and they joined a camping club. We went camping once a month and most of the sites had some kind of fishing hole/pond with cats and gills, probably some bass too, but I was never fortunate enough to have caught one. This went on for a bout four years, when I got my license I was on my own as far as weekends went. Needless to say, camping was the last thing on my list. I joined the Navy when I graduated from High School, and was fortunate enough just to have missed going to Vietnam, although part of me wanted to. I got married to my High School sweetheart and my son was born 2 years later. After the Navy we set up house and started the camping thing again. I got back into fishing, this time with a little money and a lot of magazines telling me how to catch LM Bass! For many years I tried in vain to catch my LMB, to no avail. I finally gave up.
When my son turned 12, we spent a lot of weekends backpacking through most of the mountains in So. Cal. We have been to the top of all the 10’+ peaks in the SC area, and we summited Whitney twice. Never even considered fish being in all those creeks that we filtered many a gallon of water for our cooking! Well when he got HIS license, same story.
About 3 years ago my coworker Mark, asked me if I would like to go fishing with him, sure why not! Well we went to the East Fork of the San Gabriel. I had my old little spinning rod with some glowing bait of some sort and pretty much struck out. Mark handed me this fuzzy black thing and I tied it on, he instructed me to cast out against a rock and then start reeling it back quickly, giving short *. WHAMO, fish on, my very first WILD trout from a creek!

Fortunately we had a camera to capture the moment! Notice the ****eating grin!

And here is the beauty that started it all!

About six months later I am buying my first Cabela’s Fly Fishing Starter set! The rest you know! By the way, that was the first and only fish I have ever caught on a Wooly Booger!
I am currently living in South Orange County. I have been an Electrical Engineer for a major aerospace corporation for the past 24 years and enjoy the heck out of it.

By the way, I finally did catch my very first LMB, on fly rod and a Pheasent Tail, no less! That's him in my sig! Who knew I was using the wrong gear all those years!
Bob