Members' Bio: Where'd you come from?

[Sasha]

Welcome to the recent additions to the addicts site!

[stanbery]

Mike

Welcome abaord.

Jon

[Eric]

mike and gabe welcome to the board.
Eric

[midger]

Welcome, Y'All.

[RichardCullip]

I've been remiss about working thru and documenting my journey but I've resolved to fix this oversight. So here I go:

I grew up fishing in the lakes of Minnesota, mostly around Detroit Lakes. My Dad loved to fish for walleyes but would take pike, bass, bluegill, crappie and yellow perch whenever the walleye weren't biting. He really enjoyed his fishing and passed on his passion to me. In fact, he was out fishing the night I was born. It wasn't his fault, I came 6 weeks early and surprised both my Mom and my Dad. This passion for fishing took a fairly big hit when we moved to Tempe Arizona when I was in Junior High but was revived somewhat when we moved to Southern California during my High School years (late '60's). Of course the target species changed once we were in California (not many walleyes to catch in the southern Calif lakes). All of this fishing was catch & keep for eating with a spinning rod in hand. We would use lures or bait, it didn't matter. The key was to find what was effective for the day and the target species and pursue catching with great passion.

Once I got married (1977), I put up the fishing rod and didn't fish for close to 20 years. It became quickly apparent that my lovely wife had no interest in fishing (she still doesn't). The first few years of marriage where devoted to building a lasting relationship with my wife (now married 31 years and still counting) and once kids came (I've got two lovely daughters) weekends were spend helping them pursue their passion of horseback riding. They both got into riding english hunter-jumpers at an early age and pursued it with even greater passion than my Dad had for fishing. I quickly got into the routine of taking them out to a local stable each and every weekend for either lessons or competition. Before they discovered horses, we did some family camping (Redwood Meadow Campground was a local favorite) in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter but we never found time to get into fishing as a family.

Finally, in 2000, as my older daughter was getting ready to go off to college (Fresno State on an equestrian scholarship) I realized that my weekend horse duty was coming to an end and I figured I better find something to do to fill my time. I decided to go back to fishing and, since I had never tried fly fishing, I decided that I would give it a try. I asked for, and received, a Cortland fly fishing package (rod, reel & line) for Father's Day and then looked for a way to learn the sport. With just a bit of Internet research, I found out that Chuck Newmyer, over in Ridgecrest, was offering a weekend fly fishing class so off I went. What a great introduction to the wonderful world of fly fishing. Shortly after that, I found the Kern River Fly Fishing club in Bakersfield and started attending meetings, mainly to gather information about places to fish and to find people to fish with.

Over the past 8 years, I developed a great routine. I get every other Friday off from work and those Friday's are my main fishing days. I will target any species (freshwater and saltwater) as long as they might take a fly and they are within a 2-3 hour drive from Bakersfield. In addition to my Friday's off, I will attend a couple of weekend club outings a year but I do try and minimize the number of weekends where I leave my wife home alone in Bakersfield. Each year, my wife and I devote a week's vacation to find some place new for me to fish. Last year it was Jackson Hole, Wy in Sept and this year it will be in SW Colorado about the same time frame. She doesn't mind me fishing, and often encourages me to fish, but she still stumbles over my catch & release passion. She'd love to eat some of the lovely creatures I catch and so gently put back. She can't understand my passionate adherence to strict catch & release and I'm having a hard time thinking about killing and cooking them. I'm sure we'll reach some sort of understanding some day soon

I try to treat each and every other person I meet on the lakes or rivers (bait and spin folks included) in the manner in which I wish they would treat me (putting the golden rule into practice). I try my best to keep learning and to pass on what little knowledge I've picked up along the way. I try and keep active in several fly fishing oriented online communities and work hard at maintaining and growing my every expanding fishing network.

Hope to see most of you, at least once, on a river, lake or bay in 2009. If that happens, it will most likely be on a Friday

[flybob]

Hey Richard Great bio!

Isn't having a lasting relationship for that long just great!

I really do hope we can hook up on one of our off Fridays!

Just to see if wee are on the same schedule, the 23rd is my next.

Bob

[RichardCullip]

Hey Richard Great bio!

Isn't having a lasting relationship for that long just great!

I really do hope we can hook up on one of our off Fridays!

Just to see if wee are on the same schedule, the 23rd is my next.

Bob

We are on the same schedule, Bob. We will have to arrange a meet & greet somewhere this year.

[beachbum]

Interesting bio, Richard. We share a lot of things including daughters, and daughter's horses. Fishing is our reward for those years! Good read!

[tyingfool]

That is an awesome post Richard.I too have that same day of the week off. EVERYBODY Lets fish!I too have kids grown and moving out.Well they keep coming back, life happens.


David

[darrin terry]

Nice bit o background there Richard. This is consistently one of the best sections on this forum. Thanks adding a taste of your history for us all.

[midger]

Nice bio, Richard. Looks like you are making up for lost time. My two daughters were into club soccer so we got to travel a lot--most places weren't "fishy" either. They are both off to college now in Idaho, where the fishing is good and the streams are clean for the most part.

I also am off Fridays and Mondays also. Hope to see you on a stream sometime. Probably a Friday.

[MattyD]

My name is Matt Downs. I was born in French Camp, CA. I moved to Fresno shortly thereafter. I spent my early years in church and watching my father fish sporadically with bait in the waters near Fresno. I only remember the first time I actually fished for myself when I was 11 or so. I was with my friend at his parents farm pond fishing for bass and blue gill. I was using a spin casting rod and something with a treble hook. I cast one time and was abe to hook two of three treble hooks in the back of my arm. It took 3 hours to get it out and a lot of crying. I did not want to fish ever again. Sometime shortly thereafter my mom brought home a fenwick fiberglass rod with a Pflueger reel. I fished with that same set up on the San Jouquin, South Platte, Rocky Mountain NP, Kings, And many other locations until I was near 18 years old. That same rod sits on the fence at my house on the lower Kings to this day. I lived for most of my life on the lower Kings Fishing dries for rising trout. I caught many trout but when the fish were not rising it was difficult. I started to fish nymphs when I was around 20 but was never any good at it til my 25th yr on earth. Then everything broke wide open when I met some cool guys on the Kings one day. I have learned so much from such good guys and I will continue to build on my knowledge base. I still frequent the same waters that I grew up on but they are not the same as years past. I hope that someday the better water years will return. As for my name on the board "Cheap Stuff" only one person can truely tell that story I can but you need to get me drunk first.

[darrin terry]

Hah!

[ashtree1]

will be out there on the LKR tomorrow, whats is your poison

[stanbery]

will be out there on the LKR tomorrow, whats is your poison

Crown or Makers Mark works well. It is a lot quicker then his normal drink.

Matt
Welcome aboard.

Jon