What got you into Flyfishing

[Tom H]

I was brought in as a young boy my Dad got my brother and I into a fly fishing club San Diego ,well I fish until I got into sports and girls :D:D,and I had not fly fished or fished at all for many years ,well I went to Montana ,and the only place I could stay was right on the Madison :D,and I went to Bear Tooth lodge and picked up a really nice Rod and reel ,and when I went back to the house ,and my second cast I landed a 13" brownie :excited::excited::excited:,I now be hooked the feeling of presenting a fly infornt of a fish is priceless ,I now ordered a Salmo Steel head rig ,I can not wait to hook a Steelie or a Salmon ,and this spring I`am taking my twin boys to Montana and we will be stuck right there on the Madison :smirk::smirk::smirk:,

[C-lice]

The realization that one can catch more summer steelhead on flies than on corkies/eggs, spinners, or jigs.

[etacada]

I 1st got into flyfishing in highschool. But it was the spey rod that put me over the edge. Dont touch reg gear no more.

cb

[D3smartie]

I got started early. Was carried around in a backpac by my dad for year and he would hook a fish and hand up the rod to let me play it. By the age of 3 I was catching fish on my own on the fly.
Its been a constant in my life since then. There is nothing better than the feeling of a fly rod in your hand on a fine piece of water.

[Got One!]

It was yet another method of catching fish!

I actually started using a fly on Lake Erie with a Zebco 202? combo with a inline "bubble" on a 4' leader, fishing for white bass. The the natural next step was the fly rod (when I became a bit more coordinated)

[MsOutdrs]

The desire to get away from the "main track"...love getting into the outback, so to speak. Fished quite a bit in Montana, Wyoming, some in Idaho and BC. Have found some still waaaaaayyyy outback in Montana...love it. Not to mention the thrill of what I consider basic fishing...I haven't graduated to catching a steelhead on a fly...still trying to master catching a steelhead on ANYTHING. Have you spey casters ever tried a centerpin? Hubby has just started with that and he loves it.

[uhmw]

A fat alaskan rainbow exploding on my dry fly as I droped it on the ring.:bigshock:I think I was 10 or 11 been hooked for 30 years since. Now I love the simplicity and serenity of a rod and my 2 fly boxs and a float tube just about heaven for me. I feel the same way about bow hunting.

[nookslayer]

I went to the Deschutes with a friend to fly fish for the first time almost ten years ago. I had fished since I was a young boy but had never tried fly. I haven't touched a casting rod since, well except for a chinook or two but that is next on the list!

People just don't understand that it isn't always about catching the fish; it's how you caught it, on a fly you tied and the whole experience leading up to it. I could fish all day, be blanked and still have a good time (I'd be ****** I didn't catch anything though). This is my zen.

I can't wait to put a rod in my son's hand (he's only 2 months old and has a rod ready to go) and teach him not only how to catch fish on the fly but why you are fly fishing in the first place. Reading the water, stalking the fish, setting the hook and landing the fish only to gently release it.

My Shangrala is on the river witha fly rod in hand.

[Grantspastor]

Went fishing with a high school friend who owned a drift boat. We spent a summer afteroon and evening on the lower McKenzie. In addition to the beautiful and large Redsides...what really hooked me was how "visual" dry fly fishing is. It really hooked me. That was 40 years ago

[sothereiwas]

Born and raised. First fly caught fish at 5, first landed steelhead at 8, and first hooked and landed steelhead at 12. Its a wonderful past time. I took a few years of during high school to chase girls and tinker with cars. But the draw to the water never leaves for long. I couldn't imagine life without flyfishing.

Brad

[Frozen_Arrows]

Started as a youngster on Grayling and Arctic Char progressed on to rainbows and salmon!! I cant think of a better way to spend a day and cant wait to teach my daughters how to fly fish as well.

[stoneflyguy]

My great grandfather built me a fiberglass flyrod for my 10 yr old B-day. I practiced and practiced and caught several trout. I helped start a fly fishing class in the 5th grade and had 2 great teachers who took me under there wing. I have been tying flies since the 5th grade. I have been fly fishing now for 27 years. I pick up a sturgeon rod or pull plugs now and then but fly fishing is my passion. Now I am a guide and can't believe I get paid to it.

Jeff

[Pete]

I first remember fly fishing from watching Curt Gowdy on The American Sportsman in the early '60's. I don't know what about it fascinated me, but I bought a fly tying kit (or my mom did) and it was all down-wind from there.

[Nicechromer]

Went to college. A couple of friends took me to LAke Lenice and hooked my first 20 inch trout. WOW!! What a rush, and hooked 4 life

[Old Coot]

For some reason, in the late 60's I got into tying flies. After a couple of years I had a LOT of flies and needed something to do with them.

Logically, I decided to take up bowhunting. I went down to Wayne Doughton hardware in Salem to buy a bow and Wayne said, "No, no, what YOU want is this flyrod."

After that there was no looking back. I've been fortunate enough to take rainbow trout, kokanee, brookies (one over 6.5 lbs), bull trout, dolly varden, whitefish, chinook, chum, silvers, humpies, and peamouth. But I'm a true master at catching tui chub.

[oikophobia]

My Dad worked for 3M and he and his outdoor buddies hooked up a bunch of gear when they bought Phillipson. We had always fished as a family and extended family, but mostly coldwater lakes and fish. I had moved to New Mexico and started fishing the high country, and for fun, started whipping around a fly with some of the hand me downs. It was the superior tool! I'd catch more fish from difficult places than any of the gear/bait crowds. My favorite was a slow, 6', 6wt. Perfect for the small, steep streams up high. I liked it so much, I took a few extra years off to check it out and lived in the Jemez for a while. Fast forward a few decades and I still fish a lot, but with the added inconvenience of a full time job. My daughter, now 8, loves the same rod I do and catches more fish than a lot of my friends. She's excited about steelhead and even chinook! Looks like I'll have to upsize the arsenal though...

[dirtyCut]

I guess it was probably '96-'97 - a couple of us working in the snowboard factory were talking fishing and one of the guys headed up a trip for about 4 or 5 of us to go "throw some worms" on the north santiam. We all ended up hooking tons of "little trout" (smolt). I thought that was alright, but not all that exciting really. A few years later the company was bought out by K2, and quite a few of us did'nt make the move, instead I myself moved to Bend. Another buddy did the same and shortly after he took me to Fall River. WOW I thought.... check those beasts out! First trip out was hookin' into some nice 12-15" bows. Prince nymph and hares ear were the norm as well as tossing bwo's and midges and such... after the initial trip, that is were I could be found if I wasnt at home. I met a few people and some other friends who had already done a bunch of fly fishing turned me onto steelhead. "Head down to the Umpqua, Mott bridge and toss this n that".... whatever I thought and had a day to kill so I did. Third cast, felt hung up and oh boy.... not a good idea on a 5-6 I thought. Brought that beast in with the cork handle creaking the entire time. That was it! Ive been chasing mostly steelhead since, and yes have gone from both gear to fly with most of my success on the jig. I absolutely love to fly, some days the shoulder can not handle it as well as some other factors.....

sorry so long, but so many things come to mind -

KC

[Steelie Mike]

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder

Cure-Swinging for Steelhead

[TillamookChinook]

Bought my fiberglass flyrod and automatic reel from the fishing tackle corner of the appliance store in Junction City in about 1960. Flyfishing was something different than soaking a worm or casting a spinner. The first trout I caught "flyfishing" was by impaling a grasshopper on the hook and dapping it along the water of Ferguson Creek.

In 1974 I returned from a few years in Texas and camped along the Metolius. I caught a bunch of hatchery rainbows on dry flies and have never looked back. Now I love it because it's fishing, it's often in beautiful places, and I like casting. Occassionally I even enjoy landing a fish.

TC

[Yoons02]

Regular fishing became exciting at a very young age. Got a fly rod in high school but did not fish it much until I got to college at the U of O. The idea that I could trick a trout to biting a dry fly made me want to take it up. I would spend many evenings out on the MacKenzie throwing a fly to feeding trout which rose from beneath the surface. After the first one hit on a mosquito dry it was over. Feel in love ever since. Also Norman Maclean's "A River Runs Through It" book and movie helped. I think I can recite all the lines in that movie.

[Kenai Cruz]

Raised in Alaska, And when I was young we had been fishing for sivers and just slaying them! I told my dad that this is just to easy! He went to the truck and pulled a old fly rod out from behind the seat. At the time I don't remember him fly fishing. We used spining gear for every thing,Trout,Grayling, Pike, Salmon. I do not know the fly hey put on, But he explained and showed me how to cast, A few trees a rock and the back of my own hat I finally got the fly out in the water. I fished fo what seamed like a long time. And I was a little frustrated with not catching any thing and was ready to go back to the spinners. When BAM I had a siver on!! this pole was for trout but it had 20lb test leader that my dad took of my other pole. This fish ran me up and down that river! I experienced the line burning thru my finger tips and relized that wont work then started cupping the reel I was already on the backing, When I finally got to reel in some line and what seamed like 1/2 an hour I drug this fish up on the bank!! Wow! I was hooked! I don't buy the most expensive but if I have three trucks then I have three fly poles!! Thanks for reading!!:meme:

[Kenai Cruz]

Just read my own post I was typing so fast!! What happend to the spell check!! Fishing just get's me exiiteddd!!!:nerd:

[otterduck1]

Raised from the time I was old enough to hold the rod with my Dad, an old bamboo rod, a vintage Martin auto, and the upper Mckenzie River.

[NCL]

My journey into fly fishing started much later in life. As a kid I read Outdoor life about fly fishing but I didn't know anyone that fly fished and even through I wanted to try my hand at it I didn't know how to get started. My dad and everyone that I knew spin fished so that is what I did also. Anyway as I said, I always wanted to try but at the same time was a little intimidated by the thought of trying to cast without weight. That just seemed counter intuitive. As I got older I spent more time hunting and shooting and less time fishing. At the age of 52 I had met a couple of people that fly fished and they got my interest going in trying it again. I decided I don't care about what people thought about my feeble attempt to master this sport I am going to try, and if they laugh, then they laugh. I went into The Fly Shop in Redding and found they offered an all day class for free to get you started. I took the class and have never looked back. I think the thing that intrigues me about fly fishing is that there is so much to learn about the different aspects of the sport. From casting, still not very good but getting a little better every year, to entemology and fly tying. I believe that fly fishing makes you become more in tune with your surrounding than other types of fishing. At any rate I am still continuing to learn and enjoying every minute.

[Slow and Low]

Obsessive compulsive disorder. I think it is a degenerative disease... it's also contagious so be careful when spreading the germs.

For real, trout got me into fly fishing. There is no other legitimate pursuit of trout than with a fly rod. That is not an elitist statement just a fact.

Steelhead have beome my obsession as well as two handers, driftboats, jetboats, and the rest. A bad day on the water just makes my obsession worse. Oh well here we go again.

[Newbs]

My father. He started fly fishing in the 40's when he was a teen. I can remember when I was about ten (1969) and I was going on a fishing trip with a friend. Dad gave me his bamboo fly rod to take along. He almost cried.

It took me a lot of years to understand that.

[Steelie Mike]

Obsessive compulsive disorder. I think it is a degenerative disease... it's also contagious so be careful when spreading the germs.

Steelhead have become my obsession as well as two handers, driftboats, jetboats, and the rest. A bad day on the water just makes my obsession worse. Oh well here we go again.

I thought I was the only one............

[Yeti]

Boredom.

While running big game yachts I had the evenings to fish while at anchor. You can only catch so many fish on chovies. I wanted a new and more challenging method to catch fish. After a few hundred bonita, barracuda and bass I was hooked!

[NCL]

Obsessive compulsive disorder. I think it is a degenerative disease... it's also contagious so be careful when spreading the germs.

For real, trout got me into fly fishing. There is no other legitimate pursuit of trout than with a fly rod. That is not an elitist statement just a fact.

Steelhead have beome my obsession as well as two handers, driftboats, jetboats, and the rest. A bad day on the water just makes my obsession worse. Oh well here we go again.


This sums it up perfectly.

[motoxaaron03]

I got into flyfishing at a very early age. My dad taught me how to cast out on the front lawn about about age 6 or 7. I had been fishing traditionally since before I could walk I think. LOL. Anyway, once I caught my first fish on a fly rod, I was hooked. It is SO much more fun catching fish on flies. I REALLY got hooked when I started tying my own flies at about age 10. Something about tying your own flies and then catching fish on them - Too much fun...

[wapiteaser]

Because it was a four minute jog to the river and a usual evening of fishing was about 30-50 redsides hooked. :)

[Seansquatch]

I was just looking for a better way to catch cuts in the local stream and was offered a setup that i gladly excepted and i have not looked back. The best way to catch trout in streams cause its so much fun. I can have fun just casting i dont even have to catch anything. Also it calms me down. I get home from school all stressed out or something i can juts grab my fly rod walk to the creek and completely forget about it and have a great time.

[gthfish]

Dad was a fly snob so I started fly fishing at about age 6 with a 9 foot South Bend Bamboo with a Martin auto. Had to buy my own gear (spin rod and reel) to worm and hopper fish with the neighbor kids ( bikes and dusk to dawn 25 fish limit of bows, cuts and browns before we.d quit for the day==only to repeat the next day!) When Idaho started getting good steelhead numbers in 2001, I had to learn how to use a level wind , and eventually started catching fish. Then I saw fly fishermen and the spey rod and a light bulb went on in my head===Hey, I know how to do that" Caught my first steelie on my 6 weight, then bought a cheap spey and haven't touched my curado since.

[Meskel]

Girls!
:thisbig:

[salmontime]

A buddy in Southern Oregon told me he'd take me fly fishing for steelhead if I bought a fly rod. He said no bait fishing with him around. So I did and we hit up the Rogue one morning running an Otis Bug/Prince nymph combo and I hooked one on the 5th cast on the 6wt. Ended up hooking a 30" buck later on in the day that took me for a ride. Finally landed it. Was addicted after that. Went back the next morning and got into some more.

[Clack]

Catch and Release,those words changed the sport of fishing for me.

[Poindexter]

I learned it late in life - in my mid-twenties. I've fished since day one, but with terminal tackle. I think it's just a more natural way of fishing -- it's a lot like hunting when you're dry fly fishing for rising fish. I like the elegance of the sport and the preparation -- tying flies, leaders, building rods, etc. It's a nice add on to a very fun sport!

[squishyduck]

I am in my mid-30's and just started flyfishing. What got me interested was just seeing video of guys out in the streams casting. It just looked so... zen. I love being outdoors in the peace and quiet, and those guys always look so connected to everything.

I got hooked after I started reading up on it. All the planning and preparation. Learning the habits of the fish. Learning what flies to use when and where. There's just so much more to it than dropping a hook with some bait into the water. Very exciting to me.

[Geoff Pace]

I didn't know what a spinning rod was until I was 10 , thought flyfishing was the only way to fish. I was brought up kinda like Tiger Woods except at the age of 3 I was whipping fly line instead of swinging a golf club.

[mikelee]

I think it was that movie by Robert Redford and the fact that I caught my first steelhead on my first fly fishing trip in the Deschutes.

[hpalmer]

My Son Asked What I Wanted For Father's Day About Six Years Ago. He Had Been Into Fly Flinging For Some Time. He Took Me To The Upper Mckinzie River For The Weekend. I Got Hooked Real Bad, And It Is Now Father's Day Is An Annual Pilgrimage. Along With Once Or Twice A Month Throughout The Year.

[Steelie28]

Good friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to the Metolius one afternoon during spring term of my freshman year at OSU ('93). I'd never been there, but it sounded like a cool place and Santiam Pass when it's sunny and some Zeppelin playing was a good enough idea for me to waste an afternoon. I sat back and drank a sixer while he fished. A few days later, we went up to the Middle Fork of the Willamette, this time with a 4 wt Thomas & Thomas in my hand. Landed my first fly caught rainbow on a size 14 orange stimulator. That would be the beginning of about an 9 year compulsive obsession with fly fishing. I still love it, but don't get out nearly as much as I did back in school. Those were good days when absolutely everything revolved around fly fishing. One thing I always liked about trout fishing was that it always took me to really cool places. Metolius, Dechutes, Hosmer, Davis, Gold, Frying Pan, North Platte, South Platte (Cheeseman Canyon), San Miguel, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Flaming Gorge, Alaska, all places I probably never would have traveled to had I not been a complete fly fishing freak.

[MacFish]

I was attracted to it 35 years ago because it seemed like the purest form of fishing. I was self taught, so there were some frustrating times early on, but having a big redside rise to a home tied fly tends to hook you as much as the fish.

[AndyK]

"He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman."
Norman Maclean: A River Runs through It

[SGIndigo]

When I was about nine (27 years ago) my father bought me a 7' Fenwick 5wt fiberglass rod and a pflueger medalist. He would work four 10s so we could head directly to the Deschutes Thursday night, head after the Fri AM hatch to the Metolius at Allen Springs until Sunday night, when we would hit the Deschutes evening hatch on the way back to Portland. Every weekend of every summer until school started again. I spent all weekend on my log across from the Allen Springs campground. Sadly, that log is no longer there, but the Bulls are.

The Deschutes of today I don't know. I don't have much desire to go there anymore. Heck, I'm no longer really into trout (except for Bulls). Ever since I started fishing for Muskies (gear, flies, whatever) I haven't wanted to do much else (Salmon on the Vedder, Fraser and in the Sound is a nice distraction). Pike on a fly in Alberta is about the most fun I've ever had. 12"-20" fish just don't do it for me now. I'm going to do whatever I can to spend as much of my summer in Minnesota as possible :pray:

[TroutGirl]

In my 20's, I had spinning rod my dad had bought me for my birthday. It had done its time in the garage for awhile. Then for a few years I thought I would always keep it in the backseat of the car hoping to "catch" the right kind of guy. I figured I would resume fishing with that guy. But, none rose to the occasion. Or if they did, they didn't show any interest in my love of hiking and camping. And they didn't notice my cute spinning rod. And truly I was just being a poser and hadn't fished in years.

About 7 years ago, I was amidst walking with the dog, when the handsome new neighbor fella, joined me for my walk in the woods. We went hiking the next weekend. He invited me over for dinner. I was a bit skeptical. He grilled up a fine fillet of steelhead, some potatoes, and made a salad. He didn't have hardly any furniture but camp furniture. All his stuff was hunting, fishing, hiking, camping stuff. He could cook. sigh.

That guy kept distracting my hiking along the river, by catching fish, and putting a flyrod in my hand. We had a mighty nice run of it together. But it was a run, and when it was done, it was done.

I thought I would test the universe and see if I was only flyfishing becuase of a man. So with a broken heart, I hit the Metolius. I vowed if I caught a fish, I would keep at this fishing thing. If I didn't, well, it was a sign, I had only been doing it to make someone else happy. I had 1 hour to answer that question, then I had to hit the road and drive home. I would either sell the gear when I got home, or I wouldn't, it was up to the river.

Thank heaven, in that brokenhearted state, that reluctant river gave me my first Metolius rainbow. That river gave me a fish and a sense of dignity that I hadn't been false to myself. For minute, with that fish on, I forgot about my broken heart.

Up to that point, I had been willing and happy to go fishing, but not passionate about it. I wouldn't have really considered myself a flyfisher, but someone who knew how to flyfish. That fish, that day, changed it. I didn't realize how it would help give my soul back, when I thought I had lost it.

I fished alot the next year. I fished by myself for the first time. After awhile, I made new fishing friends. I actually learned what to do, without having to ask someone else. I learned how to watch the river, pick a fly, and completely lose myself working the fish.

So, a man started me fishing, the Metolius taught me to love it. Dang, I love fly fishing.

[fishkisser]

Geez I was gonna write something ...
But how the heck do ya top that one ...
You go Girl !!! :applause::applause::applause:
Barney:wave:

[gottafish]

It wasnt till I moved to Oregon that I got into fly fishing. Always wanted to just never had the time or money to. then I got a bonus at work that the wife didnt know about:flowered: I bought a good rod&reel and great line&flys and went to the big D and had fun.

[NCL]

In my 20's, I had spinning rod my dad had bought me for my birthday. It had done its time in the garage for awhile. Then for a few years I thought I would always keep it in the backseat of the car hoping to "catch" the right kind of guy. I figured I would resume fishing with that guy. But, none rose to the occasion. Or if they did, they didn't show any interest in my love of hiking and camping. And they didn't notice my cute spinning rod. And truly I was just being a poser and hadn't fished in years.

About 7 years ago, I was amidst walking with the dog, when the handsome new neighbor fella, joined me for my walk in the woods. We went hiking the next weekend. He invited me over for dinner. I was a bit skeptical. He grilled up a fine fillet of steelhead, some potatoes, and made a salad. He didn't have hardly any furniture but camp furniture. All his stuff was hunting, fishing, hiking, camping stuff. He could cook. sigh.

That guy kept distracting my hiking along the river, by catching fish, and putting a flyrod in my hand. We had a mighty nice run of it together. But it was a run, and when it was done, it was done.

I thought I would test the universe and see if I was only flyfishing becuase of a man. So with a broken heart, I hit the Metolius. I vowed if I caught a fish, I would keep at this fishing thing. If I didn't, well, it was a sign, I had only been doing it to make someone else happy. I had 1 hour to answer that question, then I had to hit the road and drive home. I would either sell the gear when I got home, or I wouldn't, it was up to the river.

Thank heaven, in that brokenhearted state, that reluctant river gave me my first Metolius rainbow. That river gave me a fish and a sense of dignity that I hadn't been false to myself. For minute, with that fish on, I forgot about my broken heart.

Up to that point, I had been willing and happy to go fishing, but not passionate about it. I wouldn't have really considered myself a flyfisher, but someone who knew how to flyfish. That fish, that day, changed it. I didn't realize how it would help give my soul back, when I thought I had lost it.

I fished alot the next year. I fished by myself for the first time. After awhile, I made new fishing friends. I actually learned what to do, without having to ask someone else. I learned how to watch the river, pick a fly, and completely lose myself working the fish.

So, a man started me fishing, the Metolius taught me to love it. Dang, I love fly fishing.

Wow. I got caught up in the antcipation of whether or not you were going to catch that fish on the Metolius.

[Steelie Tamer]

My older brother got me started about 15 years ago for summer steelhead. I spent the first 3 years trying to remember what it was like to catch a summer run and was about to give up half way through my third summer and go back to fishing gear. Made a trip to the so. fork skykomish early august and caught 2 beautiful summer runs in less than an hour needless to say I got hooked.