Members' Bio: Where'd you come from?

[midger]

One thing I have learned in all my years is that you NEVER know everything. Fishing is an never ending learning adventure.

No truer words spoken. Welcome to the fray, and I look forward to your posts of Utah Trout.

[flybob]

I retired in 2009 and moved out of Southern California ( whew!) and now reside in Cedar City, Utah. .

Funny, there is another gent on this board who is interested in retiring there!

Welcome to the board, hope to see some posts of this beautiful paradise you speak of!

[WanderingBlues]

Bob, welcome aboard. When it comes to the fly, I think you'll enjoy this a lot more than Bloody Decks. Less BS, more quality. Next time I'm in the Zion area, I'll hit you up.

[ifishinxs]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.
We are getting our first snow of the season tonight..So Its getting time for some serious fly tying on the bench.

[Deaddrift Gregg]

I
Grew up in Portland did most of my fishing on the Columbia river and on the the bar then moved to
Seattle fished the straits and Puget sound all spin fishing moved to Southern Cal 28 yrs ago .My neighbor took me Flyfishing about 10 yrs ago and i have been hooked ever since .Iv'e fished From Kodiak Island to New Zealand .Sierras are my favorite lots of time on the upper Owens Hot Creek (if it's mid week ) I try and only hit the San Gab during the week but sometimes i sneak in a early am session on the weekend .It's frustrating but when it's the only game in town .

[WanderingBlues]

Welcome to the site, Gregg. Man, I'd love to visit some of those locales you have visited. Look forward to reading TR's from your travels.

[cutt lover]

Hello all..... My name is Zach, I'm 37 years old and have been fishing since I could walk. I started out with a bait caster and it has progressed from there. I grew up fishing the local ponds and regional parks moving away from bait to lures and picked up my first fly rod at the age of 12. I'm pretty much self taught and have fished pretty much exclusively with a buggy whip since I was 18. I have been blessed with a family that likes to travel and have gotten to wet a line in many famous streams. I have explored the local so cal mountains extensively and love to spend time in the Sierras. I've been tying flies for almost as long but need to make a new years resolution to sit down and tie. I'm looking for others to fish with, my local partners have all moved away. Hope you all have a great new year!

[Barrie Mann]

I’ve been following this thread since its inception. I will admit that the amount of interest it has garnered surprised me, and I found many of the posts fascinating. For the longest time I decided that my history wouldn’t be of interest to anyone, so didn’t post on the thread. I still feel that way to some degree, but for the last two months I’ve been restricted and not allowed to fish so I’ve been sitting around and remembering fishing experiences I’ve had. I re-read this thread and decided I would share a little of my background.
Many of you know me; I’ve had the pleasure to meet many of you face to face, plus the honor to fish with several of you at one time or another. As many of you know, I was born, raised, and educated in the UK, but I’ve been in the States since 1967 so I’ve lived here longer and consider myself a Yank with an English Birthright.
I’ve been fishing for as long as I can remember. It’s been a life- long passion for me and one that hasn’t lost its thrill. I started learning the nuances of how to catch fish when I was just old enough to know how to dig for worms and thread them on a hook and throw a line with a float (bobber) into a small pond and catch Dace and Perch. I graduated to bigger fish when I was introduced to Salt water fishing by a friend and I spent many happy hours learning about Plaice, Flounder, Cod Haddock etc. and fishing for them from a small boat. It didn’t take me long after I arrived in the US to start chasing Trout. I lived in Washington State and so I migrated to the rivers and streams located in the Cascades. Before long I had a fly rod in my hand and the addiction started. Since then I have fished almost exclusively with a fly-rod.
I’ve had the opportunity to fish many of the well- known streams here in the states as well as internationally, but some of my fondest memories are fishing the streams of the Eastern Sierra and the Kern. I was fortunate enough to also make some friendships that I still value today. Fly Fishers like Dr. Creek, Chris Morrison, Papa Sequoia and others will always have a special place in my heart. I also had the Honor to be elected President of the Southern Sierra Fly Fishers and am proud of some of the events such as Man of the year, the annual Rendezvous and the Kids Academy which the club members held during my short tenure.
These days I chase spotted sea trout and redfish on the flats of the central eastern coast of Florida. I also have the opportunity to fish for Tarpon and Blue fish as well as Jacks, but I still miss the streams in California as well as all my good friends that inhabit those streams along with the fish.
Well there you have it, a little bit of who I am and where I’ve been and if you’re still reading I’m surprised.

[midger]

Welcome Zachary, and Barrie you're an old hand here but it is nice to read your story. It' actually interesting seeing how folks came to flyfishing and I don't know about others but I read this thread quite often.

Barrie, hope you get back in the swing of things soon,and Zachary, hope to see you on one of the SoCal locals

[1mocast]

Welcome Zach and Gregg,
Hope you both enjoy this site and post a couple of your trip reports in the future.

Barrie,
Hope you are healing well and see ya back on the waters soon.

[PVFlyGuy]

Hello. My name is Jeff, and I’m a Fly Fishing Addict. I’ve been a member of this board for about a year now, but I haven’t posted much. I do come here every few days to have a look around and to live vicariously through the other members. Thank you all for sharing your stories… they’re a good substitute for the real thing. I’m also a member of the Kern board and the Fliflicker board, posting under the same user name.

2012 was a lean fishing year for me, without much to report. My lack of postings reflects this. However, I resolve to change that in 2013, and I will post more. I look forward to the community. For those interested, I’ve provided a bit about my background here.

I live in costal LA County, having moved here from Chicago in 2002. I grew up in Chicago and started fishing when I was 10. I first picked-up an Eagle Claw fiberglass fly rod when I was 12, but my experience was limited to casting poppers for bluegill in a small nearby lake. I also tied a few flies back then… mostly large, gaudy flies on an old Thompson vice. Nonetheless, these experiences formed the foundation for my Addiction. As commonly occurs, around the age of 15, social life took over as the priority, and fishing took a backseat.
Fast forward to 2006 and my first visit to the Sierras. It was in June of that year, after a winter that saw an above average snowpack. I got my first up close look at a cold, rushing stream, and something changed in me. Fly fishing called to me, and I jumped back into the sport. Since then I’ve steadily worked my way down the rabbit hole. I started tying flies again in 2007 and started building rods in 2009. Now, I tie most of my own flies and I’ve (poorly) built three rods.

When I do get a chance to fish, I consider south bay beaches to be my ‘home waters’, although I do sometimes fish local So Cal streams. Every summer, I spend a week in Yosemite with my family, and I do get some fishing in during those trips. I have never fished the east side of the Sierras. People tell me I’m missing a lot.

I take care of the resource, fish barbless, practice C&R, wet my hands before touching, and leave no trace. I know this forum has many like-minded individuals, and I look forward to participating.

-JeffW

[Autodave]

Welcome Jeff! I am from Chicago myself. I hope to see some reports from ya.

[WanderingBlues]

Cutt, Barrie, & PV, thanks for some good intro's. Barrie, when Dr. Creek says good things, I tend to believe him him and he was singing your praises on our Sierra trip last fall.

Cutt and PV, looking forward to your posts. You'll find some characters in this forum, but to a T, they are are great folks.

[Barrie Mann]

Barrie, when Dr. Creek says good things, I tend to believe him him and he was singing your praises on our Sierra trip last fall.

WB, Thanks for the kind words, I think the Doc was probably stretching things a little far again.....LOL.

[Jason]

I gave a brief introduction / trip report in the “Other California Waters” Area, but thought I’d post my fly fishing biography too. I recognize some names from High Sierra Topix, where I post on occasion, and I’m looking forward to participating.

I've spent most of my life in Lodi Ca, so I guess that makes me “NorCal”. I grew up fishing the Delta for stripers with my dad, most often from a boat. We'd also make an occasional trip into SF Bay for Leopard Sharks. We'd also go Trout fishing once in a while in the foothill reservoirs, usually fishing with worms or Powerbait.

It's funny how one thing leads to another, which leads to another; seven degrees of separation if you like, and now I can look back and see how all the pieces fell into place for me to become a fly fisherman.

Back in 1992 a friend of mine convinced me to go on my first backing trip to climb something called ‘Half Dome’, and this was also to be my first trip to Yosemite. Although I had been car camping as a kid, I think this trip is what really got me interested in exploring and hiking. A few years later, when my wife and I started dating we began hiking and exploring and eventually doing some short backpacking trips. I usually brought my spinning rod.

I knew fly fishing existed, but I was never really interested until a backpacking trip my wife and I took up to a reservoir in the Sierra. It was October and in the morning there were fish rising all over the place, but every time I threw my Kastmaster into the reservoir the rings would disappear, and reappear a minute or two later some distance away. I would walk over, cast, spook them all and repeat the cycle. Bummer. Maybe this is where that fly fishing thing would have an advantage? I was intrigued, but didn't pursue it.

Next was a trip to 20 Lakes Basin. It was really windy and I wasn't getting any action in the lake where we were camped, but I could see some small fish in the feeder stream which was only about 8" deep. No Kastmaster here. In my box I had a few small flies someone had given me. I had no idea what they were or how you would fish them with a fly rod, but I tied one on to my spinning rod, held the rod in the air, and the wind would hold about 15ft line and the fly out to the side like a kite. I lowered it down and set the fly on the water in the feeder stream and 'splish!', a take and fish on! I thought to myself 'how cool was that?'. I caught a few more and really considered looking into fly fishing, but once again didn't pursue it.

Finally, my brother in law invited me to go a meeting of the Delta Fly Fishers to see what we could learn. We got some casting lessons and information and eventually bought an Albright Rod / Reel combo. And then waders. And boots. And a vest. And flies, fly boxes, a gear bag, forceps, leaders, tippet (My God!) another rod, another reel, etc, etc.

But before spending all that money, I took my first setup on a backpacking trip for my inaugural attempt at fly fishing. After the hike in and setting up camp, I grabbed my rod and went to the lake; which was surrounded by trees. Now what? I had no room to cast and setting foot in the water seems to be the absolute opposite of stealth. But with no other option, I stripped down to my t-shirt and underwear and waded into the lake (my clothes were sweaty anyways). So there I stood: cold, alternately stubbing my toes, scraping my feet and stepping on sharp sticks. But there was enough room to back cast, and so I did. I whipped the line forward, backward, forward, and...... wrapped it around the rod tip. Over and over. When I did get a decent cast, I'd look out at the fly and think "Now what? It's just sitting there on the top, floating. Do I just wait? Did I scare off the fish? This is boring. Should I retrieve? How long should the strips be? I wish I had my spinning rod." I kept at it for a while, but eventually gave up in a midst of whirling arms, cursing, and my fly rod sailing towards shore in a graceful arc. No fish, no understanding, and lots of frustration.

Still, I kept at it and finally about a year later, at the club's Bridgeport outing, I felt like I was begining to get it. To be fair, it was a steep learning curve and I didn't work that hard at it, but once the parts began to fall into place I really began to enjoy it, much more so that I had with my spinning rod.

And so began my descent into madness and poverty. I feel like fly fishing fits nicely with my love of hiking and the mountains and rather than being another hobby, it's more like an addition to what I already enjoy doing in the mountains. My current preference is to fish in the Sierra Nevada, in relative solitude, catching wild fish. The size of the fish isn't really important right now, which is a good thing I suppose or I'd probably be disappointed.

At any rate, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.