What made you start fly fishing?

[TaylerW]

wellmy interest started from my neighbor who is pretty well known for being one of the better steelhead fishermen in northern california, and i would always get to see his amazing pictures from around the U.S. of huge steelhead and trout and i just wanted to learn. over the next couple months i picked up a 3wt because he told me it would be easier to learn with a lighter rod on a trout stream. started fishing the sierras for small trout and various valley lakes for bass and bluegill and i got hooked. started going for more challenging fishing so went over to steelhead and salmon and now im addicted to the silver. after getting really into ffing and becoming a decent caster and proficient at tying we ended up moving to oregon and thats where my addiction hit new levels. i was on the nestucca, trask, miami, willamette and deschutes every weekend for the whole summer, and once school started i would stick to area trout streams that were willamette tribs. after another year i ended up getting a job a the salem G.I. Joes in their fly fishing area and there i spent every dime i made on fly fishing. started doing salmon in salt and thats my passion now.

ever since then its all i really want to do
tight lines,
ls

[aaron]

Saw 'the movie' and brad pitt was pretty hawt! been doing my best imitation ever since.

[Fats]

My father got me started... We had a cabin on the North Branch of the Au Sable River in Michigan. The North Branch was "fly only" on the stretch were we had our cabin. My Dad wasn't the best teacher but... he planted the seed. I had some basics down for trout but I really got into fly fishing going after large mouth bass. Once I got the big stuff down throwing bass bugs for large mouths it was logical that I went back to figure out trout.

After college I ended up working in an Orvis shop for about 5 years. That was were I really accelerated my education. In the end I was teaching fly tying classes, fly fishing classes and figuring out I like teaching more than working retail.

It still all goes back to Brookies hitting streamers and wet flies with my Dad. I'll never be able to thank him enough!

[Hairstacker]

I had been really nuts about fishing ever since I was a little kid when, around 1981 or 1982 when I was in my very early 20s, my dad and I were at Berryessa one spring casting Kastmasters for trout and started getting hookups on just about every cast. We ended up catching and releasing over 30 trout each. Cast out, hook a fish, drag him in, let him go, repeat. I actually got bored and quit fishing even though they were still biting, which I thought I would never do and even felt kind of depressed about it.

So the following week, went to Long's Drugs in Fairfield and bought a Garcia fiberglass 7 wt. fly rod, Olympic fly reel, a double tapered fly line, enough mono and tippet to make some leaders, 3 size 14 Adams, 3 size 16 Light Cahill dries, and a bottle of floatant.

Returned to Berryessa the following week with my new outfit, some 9' 4X leaders I had tied, and my new flies and floatant and taught myself how to cast. Flailed away and couldn't get anything on the Adams but got a few on top on the Light Cahills as long as I managed to get the fly to settle lightly on the water surface. I was stoked after that and fished nothing but Light Cahills there for a couple of years and caught a bunch of trout and even a couple of bass.

So, for me, it was the challenge and desire to do something different. Plus, unfortunately, I was intrigued and still am by all the neat gear.

[jbird]

http://kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12434

[Scott V]

My story:

Once I decided to sell my bass boat I kind of gave up fishing because there was no way I was going to fish from the shore. I had no want to hang out next to bait dunkers. So one day I really started missing fishing so I decided to do something different and got a fly rod. I headed up to the Silverfork with no clue of what I was doing and caught no fish. The next day my wife and I went to Kienes to try and get some info on what would help me catch a fish. I got alot of good advice and headed back up to the Silverfork. After about 40 or so minutes of no luck I got that first tug from a very small rainbow, it could have not been more than a 5" beauty. But in my eyes it was a monster and I was instantly hooked. Little did I know that my wife was video'ing me from the bushes so I have pictures of my first fly caught fish. This was about 1.5 years ago, I am still real new to fly fishing. Needless to say I am addicted to the fly, I had always enjoyed fishing but with a fly rod has come a new found love for fishing. Now I spend every moment I can fishing.

And I want to thank everyone who has helped and supported me on my way to becoming a better fly fisher, and a real big thanks especially to Ed who has taken me and taught me the ways of the jedi. For that I will always be in your debt and proud to be.

[jbird]

No Problem Carl

This forum (as with most forums) can always benefit from a topic that is unlikely to cause waves.

So my story is...

I was in the bushes on the american with a needle hangin from both arms. Some well to do fly fisherman pulled up and as they headed down the bank,,I jumped out and shoved em in the water. I took em for everything they were worth. As I was driving their brand new 4runner to the pawnshop, I ran over a kid with a dog and one of the flyrods I had in the back bounced up and whipped me in the back of the head. I pulled over and broke it over my knee. I realized It wasnt gonna be worth anything now. So I call loomis and they sent me anew rod for nothin. Well that customer service just blew me away. I decided to turn over a new leaf (One that didnt have big greasy buds attached to it) and Ive been hooked ever since!!!

[Darian]

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

As a youngster I use to read those old fishing & hunting magazines and they had articles about fly fishing in them. Hard to tell from pictures and text what they were doing.

As a teenage spin fisherman I was on a summer family vacation in Yosemite Park at Tuolumne Meadows around 1960.

Camped near us were two old time fly fishers with a really old car and an old travel trailer. Every evening they would put on their old hip boots, old vests, old hat and old split cane fly rods for the evening hatch.

I would sit and watch them cast and it was so cool. They caught fish and netted them with their old wooden nets. I would hang around them in the day time asking them all kinds of questions.

I wondered if I had to be born in Europe with a certain genetic makeup to be able to fly cast properly.

[Garrett S]

Mike N took me up to a stream when i was 7 and then i was hooked