Members' Bio: Where'd you come from?

[Flymeariver]

I grew up in south Texas fishing lakes and rivers. Graduated from Zebcos to baitcasting for bass, stripers and redfish in the power plant lakes south of San Antonio. My buddy and I bought a couple of Martin fly rod combos to play with the panfish when we weren't catching bass, but did not commit to fly fishing.
In 89 moved to California. Discovered the Sierra in 1994. Dabbled in fly fishing but always reverted to bait dunking. In 2005 made up my mind that I would only fly fish, and that if it could be caught on spinning gear there is a way to catch it on the fly. In 2010 knee injury and surgery immobilized me and I ordered a Cabelas fly tying kit for trout to pass the time. At that time I got it seriously bad. I could not get enough. First it was learning what a hares ear was, then what was it imitating. Then came the entomology part. Never figured I would be so interested in bugs. The fly tying has brought out an "art gene" that I never knew I had. All my life I was a "bull in the china closet" type, now, fly tying has made me more detail oriented even at my work. I currently live in Lancaster and go to The Eastside every time I can get someone to go with me. Once I hit Bishop an almost palpable wave of peace, warm, "happy place" feeling comes over me. My wife told me "fly fishing is the only thing you want to do", yep, pretty much!

[midger]

My wife told me "fly fishing is the only thing you want to do", yep, pretty much!

That kind of says it all. There are lots of sports we can waste our time with, but the sport of flyfishing, for me anyway, sure hits the spot. I love the places that trout, salmon, and steelhead live, especially, and fly fishing takes me there quite often.


Welcome to the forum and look forward to hearing about your Eastside exploits.

[troyholter]

I grew up fishing because my dad was an avid fisherman. He passed away when I was 10 and I moved from Florida to Arkansas. I later had a father-in-law who was also an avid fisherman with a bass boat and I fished with him quite a bit. Eight years ago I moved to Colorado and took advantage of my opportunity to take up fly fishing. For me, there is no better place to be than on a stream. Now I'm in Southern California and wondering where to fish. I met a guy a few days ago that told me about this site and told me about some places to go. That's how it work's when you're new to the area, you have to find fly fisherman and pick up a few secrets here and there.

[WanderingBlues]

Troy,
Welcome to SoCal! There's a myriad of opportunities, from salt to warm water, to coldwater, and all within a few hours. Just stick around on the board and read some of the posts and you'll figure out what's up. Many of the board members don't mind a private message to ask about areas. The hardest part for us lately has been the drought. A lot of the moving water for trout is just gone...

[flybob]

I grew up fishing because my dad was an avid fisherman. He passed away when I was 10 and I moved from Florida to Arkansas. I later had a father-in-law who was also an avid fisherman with a bass boat and I fished with him quite a bit. Eight years ago I moved to Colorado and took advantage of my opportunity to take up fly fishing. For me, there is no better place to be than on a stream. Now I'm in Southern California and wondering where to fish. I met a guy a few days ago that told me about this site and told me about some places to go. That's how it work's when you're new to the area, you have to find fly fisherman and pick up a few secrets here and there.

Hey Troy, welcome to the Fray, or at least what is left of it....it seems that this place called Facebook has kind of taken its toll here, but there are few that still stop by. And some of the best people I have ever met!

[Man2316]

Hey, everybody! I'm new to the forum and just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Rusty and I live in Visalia. I am 36 and have been fishing most of my life. I got my start on family camping trips to the Bridgeport area when I was a kid and got addicted to the tug. As a kid, I typically fished salmon eggs and Powerbait for hatchery fish. As I grew older, I developed a desire to catch more than just stocked rainbows. I started going on trips with my cousin, fishing relatively seldom fished waters with crickets and having great success. 40-50 fish days were the norm, an even mixture of rainbows and browns, and some of the biggest fish I had ever caught. I would occasionally keep a couple for dinner, if I were camping, but mostly C & R. Eventually, my focus began to shift to waters that were extremely difficult to access (read: long hikes), or waters with special regs. I also became interested in backpacking to reach some of those waters. As a result of this, my interest in flyfishing also grew. My first flyfishing experience was when I was around 12. We were camping at Buckeye Creek near Bridgeport and I told my dad that I wanted to learn how to flyfish on the East Walker. He told me that "Going to the East Walker to learn how to flyfish is like going to Vietnam to learn how to shoot a .22." He was not wrong. I have developed more of an interest in the last few years and even had some success, but I feel that I ultimately end up returning to crickets when I don't see results on the fly. I am hoping to take the next step this year. I have plans to do a backpack trip into the GTW near Kern Lake, as well as trips to the Truckee and Upper Owens. I also have a couple other backpack trips planned that lend themselves to fly rather than spin fishing. I am hoping that joining this forum will afford me the opportunity to meet more people who share my passion for fishing, as well as the outdoors in general, and help me obtain the knowledge and skill required to be an effective and successful flyfisherman. Thanks for reading. Tight Lines!

[WanderingBlues]

^^Howdy Rusty!^^ Welcome to FFA and it sounds like you'll enjoy perusing the site and meeting some of the folks. Look forward to reading a report or two from you.

[stanbery]

Welcome aboard.
Jon

[yikes]

Hi everybody! First-time caller here. I live in the San Gabriel Valley. I fished as a bit as a kid, mostly off the public pier at Balboa Island, and at Green Valley Lake, without much strategy or success. I got bored just watching a bobber all day and wondering if fish liked raw bacon. I tried a spin outfit occasionally while backpacking the eastern Sierra in my 20s, but again, no sense of what was going on in the water - - just random casts.
In my 30s-40s I started going on occasional short trips with a friend who brought his boat and Great Lakes trolling techniques to the Delta and to Shasta Lake. I found myself more interested in piloting the boat than staring at downriggers. About 3 years ago, it occurred to me that what I was missing in my angling experience was a more thoughtful, strategic approach.
I showed up at the Pasadena Casting Club pond to ask about fly fishing, and a guy there volunteered to take me to our local river. My first fish was a 4" wild rainbow that shot up from under a log to grab a Parachute Adams. I had never seen anything like it, and instantly I was hooked on this sport. I find it both challenging and relaxing way to enjoy the outdoors; I tell my friends that it's like Mother Nature's 3-D chess game, but she gets to change the rules at whim.
Since then, I've fished in southern and northern California, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, and B.C. I love the big rivers, but ever since that first small fish, my favorite remains dry flies with my 3 wt. on our small local mountain streams.

[Dry Fly Rie]

A belated "welcome aboard" Yikes. If you're a small stream enthusiast, this is the place for you.

[stanbery]

Hi everybody! First-time caller here. I live in the San Gabriel Valley. I fished as a bit as a kid, mostly off the public pier at Balboa Island, and at Green Valley Lake, without much strategy or success. I got bored just watching a bobber all day and wondering if fish liked raw bacon. I tried a spin outfit occasionally while backpacking the eastern Sierra in my 20s, but again, no sense of what was going on in the water - - just random casts.
In my 30s-40s I started going on occasional short trips with a friend who brought his boat and Great Lakes trolling techniques to the Delta and to Shasta Lake. I found myself more interested in piloting the boat than staring at downriggers. About 3 years ago, it occurred to me that what I was missing in my angling experience was a more thoughtful, strategic approach.
I showed up at the Pasadena Casting Club pond to ask about fly fishing, and a guy there volunteered to take me to our local river. My first fish was a 4" wild rainbow that shot up from under a log to grab a Parachute Adams. I had never seen anything like it, and instantly I was hooked on this sport. I find it both challenging and relaxing way to enjoy the outdoors; I tell my friends that it's like Mother Nature's 3-D chess game, but she gets to change the rules at whim.
Since then, I've fished in southern and northern California, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, and B.C. I love the big rivers, but ever since that first small fish, my favorite remains dry flies with my 3 wt. on our small local mountain streams.

Yikes
Sorry I missed your OG post as well.
Welcome aboard.
Jon