Members' Bio: Where'd you come from?

[beachbum]

Welcome, Rey! Have fun here.

[lucfish]

Good bunch of guys here Rey, welcome.

[flybob]

Hey Rey, Glad to see another Old days Legg Laker join the board!

Welcome, and I hope you have a good time here.
Bob

[Reyne]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Hope everyone had a great holiday. I haven't been out fishing much during them, but did get on my pontoon in Big Bear between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The warm weather had made for an unexpected algea bloom but I still managed a few fish in deeper water. I fished well for me in the fall. Anybody else put time in up there during fall and winter? I hear of and seen big carp there, but never fished for them...

[WanderingBlues]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Hope everyone had a great holiday. I haven't been out fishing much during them, but did get on my pontoon in Big Bear between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The warm weather had made for an unexpected algea bloom but I still managed a few fish in deeper water. I fished well for me in the fall. Anybody else put time in up there during fall and winter? I hear of and seen big carp there, but never fished for them...

There are some monster carp in Big Bear. I'm just too * type A to stay put in a float tube! Welcome to the board and I look forward to seeing some great posts.

Curtis

[Mattman]

I was born in SoCal, but moved with my folks to Colorado when I was 2. My dad changed jobs a lot and we lived in at least 9 homes in 6 different towns in 11 years we were there. Dad was a trout fisherman and taught me to fish streams with spinning gear when I was no more than four. I have a great picture of us taken at Rifle creek when we lived there in Rifle when I was four, I'm holding a couple fish, possibly my first. Not having much money, my parents idea of a good way to spend Saturday was a drive in the mountains. If that drive went near some promising water, we'd fish a little. I don't recall ever catching a whole lot of fish except a couple times we went with friends who must have been better fisherman than my dad. We never caught much of anything but pan fish in lakes, and that pretty much still holds true for me. I also remember fishing some with other kids in park lakes and farm ponds, mostly for blue gill, or sunfish.

My dad bought me one new fishing rod in my childhood and the first trip out we capsized the raft a buddy of mine and I had built to fish a farm pond. The raft wasn't built for a grown man I guess. I was paddling and my rod was laying on the deck and it went in the pond. The water was no more than about 10 feet deep but had probably 3-4 feet of weeds on the bottom. My dad dove repeatedly trying to find that rod, but he never did, we even came back out with a diving mask, but still didn't find it. It was from Kmart and probably cost under $10 back then.

We moved back to SoCal in 1976, when I was 13, settling in Whittier. My dad tried to make a living and struggled as he pretty much always had, but at least we stopped moving so much. Dad didn't fish too much here in CA other than a few trips we took to fish off the piers at the beach. I got hooked up with some other kids who fished and we joined the high school fishing club when I was a freshman. We had a good group and went on quite a few fishing trips. I had almost as much fun doing stuff we did on campus after school. We learned to wrap rods, I couldn't afford the nice new Saber blanks some of the other kids were wrapping, so I re-wrapped my dads tired old rod that he was holding in that old picture at Rifle Creek. We also poured worms, made spinners, carved, painted and rigged plugs and practiced knots. I was also in backpacking club and some of my best fishing was actually done on those trips well into the San Gabriel, San Bernadino, and San Jacinto Mountains.

After high school I fished off and on with friends who fished, it was kind of random. Somebody would ask if I fished and I'd say sure. I fished some in the Sierras, some off the piers at the beach, a little surf fishing, and some boat fishing in lakes and the ocean.........everything but fly fishing. My grandpa who I don't think I ever fished with died when I was about 25 and I inherited his Montague Rapidan fly rod, my first cane rod and first fly rod.

When I got married 16 years ago, I started going to Colorado regularly, at least once or twice a year. My wife's sister lived there and a few years later her parents who had been career missionaries in Japan retired there as well. I bought a couple spinning rigs I kept there and fished a little most every trip. I had more fun rediscovering places I'd been as a child, when I was along for the ride. I did some mountain biking and road biking around Colorado Springs.

About 6 years ago my in-laws bought a cabin just outside a little town situated almost in the center of Colorado, at the edge of a high mountain valley at 9800' elevation. The first trip to "the cabin" I brought my mountain bike and my son's little mountain bike on the top of the car, we quickly learned that you just can't really go from LA and virtually sea level up to almost 10,000' and expect to ride. You pretty much go like normal for about 1/4 mile and then stop completely winded and gasping for air. So what to do at the cabin? Hiking yielded about the same result as the biking had. As we explored the town we saw evidence that the area considered itself the trout fishing capital of the state.......the big signs were my first clue. The local fly shop and sporting goods store confirmed this was fly fishing country, and the town was just the beginning. Some of the state's best know waters were within an hours drive. That trip was in the Spring, and when I returned a few months later in late Summer, I was equipped....marginally and had taken some fly fishing lessons at a famous shop near my current home here in SoCal. I won't say I had great luck, but I caught fish and I was myself well and truly hooked on fly fishing....the fish were released, I was hooked for good.

I now fly fish there at least one or two weeks every year. I've fly fished the Sierras a bit and have made many day trips into the local SoCal mountains. I'm even trying my hand at surf fishing with a fly rod, but after about 3 trips I'm so far skunked. Initially I bought a cheap 6wt 3 pc. rod and reel combo, I left it in with a nephew in Colorado after my first trip. The next year I had a few decent quality name brand graphite rods in 4-6 wts, but now I have moved on, or is it back to bamboo. I really like the feel of casting bamboo, and I just love the craftsmanship that goes into making them. I have not fished my Grandpa's Rapidan, I probably never will, but I did fix it up so it's fishable if I wanted to. Its really interesting to me that my Grandpa who fished a bamboo fly rod, never even showed it to me while he was alive. He did spend time with me and taught me woodworking and how to work hard all day at all kinds of other stuff. Now I have his old rod and a passion for fly fishing that skipped my dad's generation completely. I have already taught my son to fly fish, he started at age 7. He has caught fish, but does not yet share the passion. At 11 now he is still maybe too young. Fishing is cool for an hour or two, if he's catching fish within the first 1/2 hour. I hope he'll eventually get the passion, I'm just trying not to push it. I'd truly love to spend the rest of my life going on cool fly fishing trips with him.

[WanderingBlues]

Most excellent intro Matt. Welcome aboard!

[beachbum]

Welcome aboard, Matt! That's a pretty good into. Hope to see some of your reports on the board.

Bill

[1mocast]

Welcome Matt and Great Bio! Hope to see some trip reports with you and your son.

[RackEmRack]

How are y'all doin!

Guess I'll start at the beginning.

I was born in '79 at Fishermans Hospital in Marathon, FL during a 1.5 year stay in the Keys while my father was working down there. After that we moved up to the panhandle, where I grew up and have lived the majority of my life, Milton, FL (just east of Pensacola). In '98 I joined the Marine Corps Reserves straight out of high school and worked as an electrician as my civilian job. Was mobilized and did a tour to Iraq in '06, came home and did the electrician thing for 3 more years. In '09 I got tired of working for douchebags and did something I should have did in '98, I went active duty. I moved to Long Beach, CA in Jan. '11 and work on the active staff at a reserve unit in Bell.

Now, to the fishing.

Up until I moved to CA, I had been a dedicated bait fisherman. Not that I had anything against fly fishing, there just aren't that many fly guys around and I never really was exposed to any of the ones that were into it. I have probably caught just about every species of fish in Florida except for the bigger pelagic guys.

Why fly fishing?

It has always intrigued me. There is something about watching someone cast a fly, work it and fight a fish that is like watching art in motion. I want to be a part of that. When I first moved out here I quickly realized I didn't know anyone out here that fished. I had never really enjoyed doing charters, unless it was for a batchelor party, and my boat and my friends were back in FL. So last March I walked into Bob Marriots with my tax return money and walked out with a 5wt setup and a light wallet. I've been working on my casting and even tried to catch a few Carp down at the river near where I live. Notice I said tried. I've been unsuccessful and thats what eventually led me to this board. You have a Carp forum and I have read just about every thread in it in the past week. Just trying to figure everything out. I mainly just read, but I wanted to introduce myself just in case I do decice to post something. I look forward to the wealth of knowledge on the forum and learning more about this new craft and maybe meeting some of you folks out on the river one day.

Christian

[WanderingBlues]

Christian! If you want to get out on the locals, let me know. Once you get in the groove, there ain't no turning back!

[Rasputinj]

I was born in SoCal and lived here most of my life except a few years in the Bay Area. I grew up fishing Lake Casitas for Bass, Bluegill, Catfish. I became interested in fly fishing at Lake Shasta on the Pit River when I was 10. I did not have money to take it up until I was around 19. I started fishing SG East fork, where my Grandfather took me the first I fished. I fished FF on PC (back then in late 80's never saw anyone camp there) in the C&R area. I would fish for Steelhead on Malibu Creek and caught 1 in 89, 16 inches. Later on I worked on building cellular/2way radio/data networks. I would fly fish with my boss, on a creek on the backside of Keller Peak, by Snow Valley, and sometimes one above Lake Arrowhead. I used to fish Kings river when I worked on Fresno, Kern when working in Bakersfield hills, American River when working east of Folsom, Russian River, Yuba River to name a few. 11 years ago my daughter was born and I changed jobs, had my gear stolen and did not fly fish for a years.

1 year ago I decided I really missed fly fishing, I started back at PC and SG. Went to Mammoth in August fished all over there. I go a couple times a month, just went today. I live in the burbs of Ventura county. Heading up to Kern next weekend to get daughter her first trout and do some fishing myself. I fished in Oct in 11 degrees at Upper Owens and caught a 18 in Brown, I will be fishing there again when we go skiing next month. I am lucky to have trout streams somewhat near me, and to be close to Kern and Owens, Bishop, Mammoth.

Still working on getting my casting back in shape, but it always fun to be on the water.

[stanbery]

RackEmRack

Welocme aboard.

Jon

[OutThereAngeler]

My family growing up has always been ones to travel around aimlessly because we could. Camping was a big part of my childhood, and instead of staying around camp doing a whole lot of nothing I would fish. Most of the time it was with my father's spinner rod that was his when he was a teenager (and had some how survived being thrown against a rock by a bear), but it was better then nothing. Some how my Dad would get permission from my Mom to fly fish for a weekend, and leaver her with 3 children.

I grew up in Modesto and our go to area of operations for camping and fishing was the sierras. When I was 9 years old I wanted to with my Dad to fly fish in the Mammoth area. Well having 2 older sisters who couldn't let their little brother go and not them, they had to come too (this was Mom's payback, Dad didn't get much fishing done). Our first time out was on Hot Creek, where the fish seem to have Ph.D's in what not to eat. The wind was blowing and cause it really hard to make any kinds of casts, and many knots in my leader. I was already kind of mad because my sisters where complaining about how they were not catching fish and nothing was going right. I didn't want them there, because I wanted my Dad to show me what I was doing wrong. After being hooked in my back by my sister, my wish came true and they both left to go read a book . Although I didn't catch anything that day I was determined to catch a fish on a fly rod. I had seen a "River Runs Through It" and new that I could catch fish like that too. Finally I eventually caught fish and began to learn what worked and what didn't, mainly through trial and error. I think my sisters not catching anything that day worked to my advantage, because as I got older just me and my Dad would continue to wonder around the eastern sierras looking for new places to fish, and visiting our favorite spots.

I can't count how many times I have been over the top of the sierras with my Dad, but I loved each and everyone of them. Normally he has been my fishing partner and there would be no question to whether he would go with me on a weekend. When I went to college I had to finally go out on my own and discover new places I have never been, and I continue to each and every time. I won't every give up fly fishing, I just keep setting more goals to catch more fish, or just going on more trips. I don't have to catch anything to have a good fishing trip, doing so just makes it better. Just the fact that I get out there and throw some make shift fly at a fish and pray he too doesn't have a Ph.D in crap flies is more then enough for me.

[Yellowrock]

I made a rookie mistake and didn't read the intro before asking questions here on this forum. I'll get right to the point.
I was born and raised in L.A. I started fishing when I was in the 2nd grade when my uncle used to pick me up from school claiming that there's an emergency and that I must leave school immediately. To my surprise it's because he had an itch to fish so needed a "buddy" to take. =) We fished the piers of Redondo Beach for Macks, Butts, Nitos and occasional Ray. On to High school, my best friend and I used to head out to the docks of Marina Del Rey and go after Yellowfin Croakers, Cudas, Nitos and Macks with Rapalas on a school night. My parents were ok with it because it was just for fishing and I stayed away from the street life and as y'all know.... the streets of L.A. ain't an ideal place to learn life's lessons. While most of my classmates were gangbanging and doing gawd knows what, I stayed clear from that mainly because of my best friend. He's my guardian Angel.
On my Sr. year my sisters bf took me to Crystal Lake and introduced me to freshwater fishing and I was like whoa... it's different from Saltwater but dayum..... i like it! We caught Bull Cats, Bows and bucket mouths. We used Power bait, Night crawlers and meal worms at first, then I was introduced to the "Super Duper" and "Cast Masters". I put the baits away and just used jigs from that point on. Love the action and the feel when they hit. Fast forward a few more years and I was going to Castaic, Irvine, Santa River, Corona, East Fork and West Fork and was getting to love freshwater more and more. Then my best friend who I was fishing with back in high school decided to introduce me to "deep sea" fishing and told me that it's way more fun so I said...sure... i'm in! He worked at Sport Chalet (fishing dept) and also at a tackle shop in Canoga Park so he knew a thing or two about saltwater fishing. I didn't have gear so he allowed me to use his Calstar and Shimano TLD Star for rock fishing. Had a blast so the more I went the more I loved it. We went quite often and got the typical local inshore species of Calicos, Sandies, Cudas, white fish, Nitos, Butts, rockies and Yellows. We did the half day to 3/4 days to the full days quite a bit and the freshwater rods were just sitting at the house. Fast forward a few more years and during work one day a co-worker came up and was just talking about fishing and immediately a my enthusiasm kicked in and was like...what about it?....(of course smiling uncontrollably) He wanted to try it so as a good co-worker and friend, I took him on a few 1/2 day and 3/4 days and he was hooked. Then we went on our very first Overnighter for Albies and that was when the Albies were off the hook!! Yeah, for the ones reading this and know what i'm talking about, you know what i'm saying. The fishing was Epic! WFO and Albies were hitting anything that hit the water. We went from over nighters to 1 1/2 to 2 day trips. I was doing these SD trips 2-4 times a month for YF, BF, Albies, Do Do's and Yellows. I was beyond nuts! I even stepped up and did a 5 day fishing Guadalupe Island. (now that was FUN!) But then the economy hit and boom.... back down to reality.
I started freshwater again back at the local waters. Fished West fork for small brooks, DVL for monster Bass and Paylakes for stockers. I heard about this place called Pleasant Valley Reservoir from somebody at work so I went with spinning gear in hand without a clue. The fishing there was ridiculous! Every cast on the jig practically produced something. Then one day I was shooting the breeze with a friend about fishing and then the topic of Fly fishing came about and I remembered my best friend had given me a Fly Rod a few years back and thought to myself....why haven't I used it? I read as much as I can on the sport and decided to head out to Bass Pro to talk to the guys there and see what i'll need to get into it. They set me up and I headed out to the Eastern Sierras and hooked up on a nymph and Whoa!!! what a different feeling! I think i'm gonna love this sport! (see the trend here? I get excited really easily. hehe) I went back on several turn-around trips to Independence, Lone Pine and Bishop to fish the Gorge, L.O. , PVR and Sand Traps. The times that i've gone, the wind decided to pick up speed so making casting the fly difficult so I ain't gonna lie, I brought out the spinning outfit. I'm getting the hang of this Fly Fishing business but still need more time on the water to really get the feel. So far it's been a few months into this and i've all but geared up and am ready to hit this season opener head on and hopefully I get the privilege to fish with some of y'all on this forum. Happy fishing!!