In the 1970s I started learning from fly fishrers of the Great Generation.

These men lived through the Great Depression and most were involved in World War II.

They started fly fishing before or after World War II and pioneered fly fishing on the West Coast.

The 30 foot shooting head system was developed during their youth, after World War II, by Jimmy Green and friends.

The fishing in Northern California in the 1940s was "off the chart" with fewer people and bad roads.

In the 1960s they formed the "fly fishing only" fishing club "California Fly Fishermen Unlimited" in Sacramento, California.

In the 1970s us Baby Boomers joined the CFFU and met these local fly fishing legends.

They were like uncles to us, sharing their knowledge with us and taking us fishing to good places.


During their youth, a #7 weight was the trout-size fly rod in split cane and fiberglass.

During my youth, the popular size trout fly rod was a #6 weight and was mostly a fiberglass rod.

With the onset of graphite, the most popular size trout fly rod is a #5, in 9' and 4 pieces.


These wonderful men are all gone now and we Baby Boomers are the "Gezzer Patrol" or "the old dudes" now.

I started in the fifties. My dad was a WW1 Vet and drove an ambulance in the war. I've got a picture of him somewhere standing in the Consumnes River fly fishing still wearing his Army wool pants.

He got me going when Bell Lang had his show and "The Flying Fisherman". About then he got me a Heddon Tackle Tier kit for Christmas and it was fly fishing ever since. I remember picking up all kinds of dead animals and collecting bits of feathers and fur to add to that box.

It's good to think back about old times and growing up then.
Tony

I started fly fishing in 1970. I have three mentors to help me out. Back then there were a few sports shops in the Monterey/Salinas area. I got my first fly rod from a "blue chips" stamp outlet. I'm sure all of you baby boomers know what Blue Chip stamps were. It was a Martin yellow fiberglass rod with a tin made fly reel and a floating line. I advanced to a Fenwick Feralite glass rod. Back then I paid $35.00 for a 7' 5wt rod. Today I still use that rod for fishing in the Sierra's for those small trout.

I just recently started using a Fenwick Feralite down in Baja for anything that swims. This past October, I hooked into a Yellowfin Tuna that was more than I wanted to handle. I had a 650gr. shooting head with 100' of amnesia backed with 300 yards of 30# Dacron. Long story short, the fish pulled so hard that it separated the shooting head from the 50# braided loop. The braid didn't fail, the line was just pulled out of the loop. Both nail knots were still in tack. I tried lifting the rod to bring up the fish but to no avail. I just pointed the rod straight down and let him do his thing. I caught a few other fish and was able to get them in.

We used these rods on the Smith River fishing for salmon, that was until Fenwick came out with the Fenwick graphite FF9010. That was like throwing a broomstick.

If I wasn't able to fish another day, I wouldn't regret it because I've pretty much done what I wanted to and traveled to where I wanted to.

The good memories


Bill,
did you ever sell Saxton fiberglass blanks? They were sold at the Cigar store in Santa Cruz

Jay,

Over the years we heard of many of the shops that sold fly fishing equipment in other towns around California.


We heard about a cigar store in Santa Cruz, CA that had some fly fishing going on. Ernie Kinzli worked there.

I think they had some split cane action going on there as well.


Ernie and Diane Kinzli later opened the famous "Ernie's Casting Pond" in Soquel, CA.

In my lifetime I think they were the most genuine and lovely shop owners I ever met.

Ernie and Diane were the best. I loved his shop. It was small and crowded but it had everything you ever needed. If you couldn't find it Ernie would know exactly where it was at. I loved his collection of old antique reels. Yes, he did work for the cigar shop before opening Ernie's Casting Pond. I tied a lot of flies for him from trout to steelhead to bass. One day I was in the shop and he asked me if I remembered the old Saxton fiberglass blanks that he used to sell at the cigar shop. He then brought out two blanks and asked me if I would like them. I never turn down a good deal. These were 9' blanks in one piece. I had a friend in Salinas Eddy Davis who made rods and he cut them and installed a glass spigot ferrel in the blank. I still have a rod that Hal Janssen designed and J Kennedy Fisher made for Hal. It was a two-piece glass rod in which the butt section was about 12 " shorter than the top. I still use that rod every now and then.

Funny, I can remember things from way back when but have a hard time remembering things I did yesterday.

I started out on my dads bamboo rods, pflueger medalist reels and that dark green line that you had to stretch out to get rid of the memory coils. Never heard of a shooting head and running line until the Spey rods became popular. I also used and liked the automatic fly reels as a kid. Bought my first graphite rod in the early 70s. Still use my old pflueger medalist reels.

Great great grand dad Kennedy was herding sheep and mapping the Sierra around the Monache Meadows area before the turn of the century. He always carried a fly rod. Meadows, mountains and lakes were named after him. My great grand dad was fly fishing the Sierra in the 30's. My grand dad was building rods in the 40's and my aunt Pat was tying flies commercially in the 50's out of Visalia. Fly fishing has run strong in our family for many generations. Now my daughters and grand sons are avid fly fishers.

Keep it going Ralph.