Who am i?
Annis Popp
Chicago 63 yrs. ago. Adopted, my dad died when I was three and my mom
left home. My adopted grandmother took me but when grandpa died (I was
4) she had to put me back so she could work, so I spent 3 yrs at Angel
Guardian in Chicago, then 3 yrs in Guardian Angel in Joliet which was
closer to Dwight Ill. where she lived. Then 3 years at Glenwood Manual
Training school (really a military school). At 12 I came home to live
with her in Dwight. At 13 I ran a trap line while other kids had paper
routs. In those days you got supplies from Sears and paid back from
pelts. I learned the ways of the creeks from muskrat, the ways of the
plains from rabbit. When I was 14 I bought a rifle (much better than a
club) and hunted for meat or/and fur till a few years back. At 14 we
moved to Portland Oregon and from 15 to 16 worked on a ranch. We
returned to Chicago and at 17 enlisted in USAF reserv. Came down with
polio 19,sept,1954 and spent a yr in hospital. I slipped on the ice one
day about a wk out of hospital and had to crawl a half block to find
steps to help me stand up. When I got home I told my grand
mother,"that's it. I'm headen south." We did and ended up in San Mateo
Fl. on the St. Johns river, my grandma, cousin, his wife, five kids and
me. No jobs and no money, but I still had my rifle and the river was
there. Between Gopher stew, swamp cabbage, rabbit, sguerall, and fish we
all ate and I learned earnest fishing bass and bream, what the beds
smelled like and thier hidy holes. I finished high school, worked as a
DJ and staff anouncer for small local stations and taught myself
electronics, passed the FCC 1'st class license test so worked as an
engineer too. I've lived in Fl. since 1955 and except for about three
years always within a mile of the river (st.Johns). I've fished every
type of equiptment and species both fresh and salt. But enjoy most light
fly fishing. Now what used to be a matter of survival is more for
relaxation and enjoyment. I've caught bass and bream, angel fish, sheeps
head and flounder on handlines, open and closed faced spinning and fly
rod and trout on fly rod. One of the most fun times was a three foot
flounder on an 8'7wt fly rod. I am now a dad, granddad, and great
"grandpaw" and all of them respect nature and fish. My life has been
blessed and full.
John Popp
in Sanford Fl.
Wayne Harrison
>A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
>to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
>a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
>My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
>here's mine.
and, jon, here's mine: i am 56 years old, rode hard and put
up wet, as they say in rowan county, north carolina, where i was born
and bred. red clay country, with the blue ridge mtns about 3 hours
away.
while i fished with a fly rod from the age of 9 or 10, i never
saw a trout until i graduated from law school in 1969. i went to work
for a law firm in greensboro, nc, and one of the partners was a native
of the catskills, grew up on the banks of the east branch of the
delaware, and maintained a family cabin up there. my first trout was
a spindly little brown on a muddler minnow in ankle deep water on the
delaware.
we paid our dues in the blue ridge and the smokies in the
70's: it was hell to wade, and there were no hatches to match, but we
learned to hunt fish rather than to fish for fish. down here, the
best fisherman is he who most resembles an otter. i have past my
prime, now, on the creeks, because i can no longer spend eight hours a
day bent over at a 45 degree angle to the water, with about 6 feet of
line out, drifting a 14 adams behind a big freestone rock, with water
moving at 6fps.
at any rate, i ended up a rat-ass criminal defense lawyer with
the nickname "cocaine wayne"; the fourth amendment still means
something to me, as does my oath to defend the entire constitution.
i have three offspring: a 36 year old man, a 12 year old girl
who owns me, and ol anthony, a 10 year old who would rather fish than
eat.
to the horror of my good buddy from the shore of the frying
pan, i am also an avid golfer. i played for the university of north
carolina as a "student athelete", and have never been able to
completely give it up. my only real vices are too much whiskey and a
relentless need to compete in all my endeavors, from the courtroom to
the golf course. the beauty of fishing for trout, for me, is that
when i do that, i don't compete. i just make an effort, and feel the
joy that comes from spending time where *they* live, and try to
respect them when i invade their lives. and if i kill them, i try to
honor them.
finally, i must say that it has been my pleasure to come to
know, in the last four years, some of the most interesting,
thoughtful, provocative, and literate individuals in my lifetime
through this remarkable medium. as neil young said, "long may you
rule".
a. wayne harrison
Peter Charles
Hat's off to whoever came up with the idea. Long overdue when your
think about it. So you're a prof. Jeez, I'd love to live in the
deset for a couple of years; must be beautiful. And wayne, a lawyer!
Being in love with good whiskey is no vice, it's an art form.
How do I describe myself, beyond short, plump and 47? Well, first
there's the family attributes. Married 24 1/2 years, boy and a girl,
21 and 19. Firmly ensconced in Burlington, Ontario, 50km. west of the
centre of the universe, a.k.a. the big smoke (Toronto.) Origins:
Born in London, England, emigrated with my parents as a kid, moved
back to join the RAF, returned to Canada to go to college. Quit
college and joined a bank. Did a spell in the reserves. I was a
typical lovebeaded, Woodstocked, 20 something, didn't know what to do
with myself. Marriage finally settled me down.
What am I now? Still in banking but I'd be loath to describe myself
as a "banker." While navigating the shoals of Canadian banking
bureaucracies, I've been an admin manager, personal, mortgage and
corporate lender, small business educator, writer, human resource
trainer, new product developer, programmer, systems analyst and now a
computer everything person for 20 of our offices. I also managed to
be the photo editor, chief photographer and occasional writer for our
two house publications. Since banking paid so badly, I raked in some
extra cash as an evening class business teacher, technical training
course designer/writer and an environmental portrait and stock
photographer.
My high school and early college education was all technical, mostly
chemistry and instrumentation in college. About 20 years ago, I took
a stab at being an accountant, but after a few courses, my soul
rebelled. Never did finish college, nor did I get a university
education, something I began to rectify about seven years ago. Now
I'm one full course away from completing my undergrad in honours
anthropology with a minor in Indigenous Studies. Things look good for
acceptance into a Masters program in the fall of 99. I hope to take
early retirement after 50 and use the MA to work in the North in the
development field, with maybe some university lecturing afterward.
Interests? One of my biggest regrets? I only have one lifetime to in
which to fit them. In no particular order; flyfishing, fly tyer,
woodworker, birder, golfer, aviation history nut and wannabe pilot,
ex-fine art photographer (B&W figure and landscape), working on being
a conservationist, computer stuff, bad bridge player, wannabe
astronomer, wine and beer lover, eclectic music collector (Bach to
Black Sabbath), R/C modeller, ex-hunter, pasta lover, ex-shooter,
novice webpage designer, taco lover, wannabe novelist; plus a few
other interests lurking on the fringes, looking for an opening.
As far as the fishing goes, at six years old, I launched my first fish
into the campfire with a massive hookset (an early indication of my
propensity for the South Sauty Heave.) Since no one in the family
knew anything about fishing, I muddled through childhood and
adolescence, fishing the Cornwall canal and the St. Lawrence River for
perch, pike, sunfish, catfish, etc. etc. Around 18, I tried to get
going as a flyfisher, but with no one to help, my results were dismal.
I tried on and off for about four or five years, then gave up and
stuck strictly to spinning gear. Recently, I came across one of my
two glass rods and I'm in the process of restoring it. For the past
ten years I've left the spinning gear on the rack and plied my flies
for trout. I've managed to dovetail my fishing with the usual
wanderlust and business travel to fish NWT, Alberta, Maine and PA as
well as much of Ontario. North Carolina is next on the agenda.
Anyone down there need a computer fixed?
ROFF is a special place with some special people. I'm starting to
meet some of you and form friendships that I hope will last a long
time.
Peter Charles
Rick Fletcher
: i am 56 years old, rode hard and put
: up wet, as they say in rowan county, north carolina, where i was born
: and bred. red clay country, with the blue ridge mtns about 3 hours
: away.
Hello A. Nice to meet you.
--
Rick
T. Rick Fletcher - http://www.chem.uidaho.edu/~fletcher/
Associate professor of chemistry | That's Idaho, not Iowa. | ad hominem
University of Idaho | Upper Left Hand Corner. | ad hominem
Moscow, ID 83844-2343 | No, I don't grow potatoes. | ad hominem
John Richardson
>
> A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
> to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
> a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
> My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
> here's mine.
>
Here goes:
38 years old, grew up in Jacksonville, AL. My grandfather developed my
interest in fishing. He'd take my brother and me crappie fishing on
Weiss Lake when we were young. Once my grandfather got too old to go, I
did some sporadic fishing through my teens, but spent most of my time
playing golf. And not improving much, I should add.
After spending six years in the Army, including 14 months at White Sands
Missile Range (near Las Cruces, beautiful area, but too damn dry and
windy for my liking), I spent four years at Auburn University earning a
degree in Electrical Engineering. I started fishing again while there,
mainly because it was cheaper than playing golf, and my wife objected to
fishing less than golf. About halfway through, a friend I grew up with
came down to get his Master's in fisheries. This gave me a willing
fishing partner plus access to some research ponds at Auburn.
I bought my first fly rod while at Auburn. I had no interest in trout,
but caught a ton or two of bluegills and some bass with it. We mainly
spent our time bass fishing with baitcasting gear and hunting for giant
stripers in some of the reservoirs near Auburn. My best: 26 lb. and 36
inches. Joe's: 35 lb. and 48 inches. I keep telling myself I've got to
catch a striper on a fly, but haven't put much effort into it.
I graduated in '92 and began work with the FAA. I work in the
Implementation Section. We install the equipment Air Traffic
controllers use to direct air traffic. For five years, I actually did
the installation work at various facilities in the southeast. Two weeks
here, six weeks there, nine months somewhere else. More than 20
different locations in all. I traveled throughout the southeast, from
as far north as Paducah, KY to Key West, including a 6 week stint in
Nassau.
While on a job at a remote site on Whitetop Mtn, VA, I started trout
fishing. I was staying in Abingdon, VA and driving past many miles of
trout water on my way to work every day. I thought "How hard can it
be?" Little did I know. I ordered a pair of waders and fished my way
home from work. I didn't have much luck, even less skill, and even less
an idea of what the hell I was doing, but I was hooked. Sadly, my time
in VA ended after a month.
The following year, I spent the summer in Winston-Salem, NC. On
weekends, I'd travel back to Abingdon and fish. I learned a lot more
and became more intrigued with trout fishing. Still, I wasn't a very
good trout fisherman, although I did catch more fish.
I made it back to Abingdon at least once a year for the next couple of
years, but I continued fly fishing for warm water species.
In May '97 I moved to Atlanta and began doing engineering work in our
office. I had no idea that Georgia offered so much trout fishing until
I moved here. I didn't get to fish much last year, but I devoted a lot
of time this year to catching trout. My knowledge and ability increased
an order of magnitude. I got out the fly tying kit I got for Christmas
about three years ago and started tying my own flies this summer. I've
upgraded just about all of it, and can tie flies that are passable
enough to catch fish.
Although I'm not a big fan of Atlanta, I've got a pretty good life now.
I play golf during the week and fish on weekends. I'd rather not catch
fish on dries than catch them on wets, but I still fish wet flies
occasionally. One thing I enjoy about fishing is the solitude, so most
of my fishing is done in more remote locations in Georgia. I practice
C&R the majority of the time. I've never kept a trout I caught in a
wild trout fishery. All the fish I've kept were from stocked waters.
I've also been brewing beer for about four years. All good. Some
really good.
JR
Walt Winter
I was born in 1954 and was raised south of Miami, Florida. This was a time
of dirt roads and picturesque sub-tropical wilds. It was a wonderful place
to grow up and learn the outdoors. I graduated from high school on time (and
like Wayno, played on the high school golf team) and decided I'd had enough
of school for awhile. I worked various jobs, partied, and of course, fished
until I left Miami in 1975. Miami had gone drug- crazy. I moved "north" to
Keystone Heights to re-establish my life. My cousin, who owned a chain of
steakhouses, offered me a job in Daytona Beach which I accepted. I was later
transferred to manage the franchise in Sarasota. It was there that I landed
my first real catch. Anna and I were married and bought a condo on Siesta
Key.
The stark realization that I wasn't going anywhere slammed me one day and I
decided to go back to school at the age of 25. I enrolled at the local
community college and found a part-time job with a local island small
grocer. I studied hard, worked hard, and ended up divorced two years later.
I transferred my life and college credits up to Gainesville. I was accepted
at UF (go gators!) in the business school. One day on the links, I revealed
my unhappiness to my golfing buddy Scott. I couldn't stand the thought of
punching numbers all day on a calculator for the rest of my life.. He asked
me what I liked. I told him I enjoyed history. His simple advise was to
change majors. I did the next day. I graduated from UF with a History major
and business minor.
My options were plain. Grad school in either history or law. I chose to
accept a managerial position at the local off-campus bookstore where I had
worked part-time. I was tired of eating peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.
That is where I landed my second real catch. Marie and I married and we
still are, I'm happy to report.
That career decision is why I am now an "Antiquarian" Bookseller. I buy and
sell used, rare, and out-of-print tomes. The business has evolved from the
simple beginnings of a storefront with a thousand or so books to a
warehouse with over 30,000 titles that is strictly a catalog and internet
(www.mercury.net/~wgwinter) business. We specialize in the natural
sciences, history, and of course, flyfishing.
Three years ago, in what Marie claims to be a mid-life crisis, I moved the
business and our lives up here to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North
Carolina. I did it for three reasons:
1) to leave Gainesville...it is becoming another Miami.
2) to get closer to her aging parents in Hickory, NC. (Marie is a native
tarheel)
3) and most importantly, to learn how to catch Trout.
so the angling bio.....
I started fishing at a very young age...pre-school. Our next door neighbor,
Jack "Schlitz" Woods would take me along with him on saturday mornings out
to Tamiami Trail to catch bass and panfish for his table. The first fish
that I remember hooking, landing, and tossing in the bucket was a 3 or so
pound bass caught on an unsplit bamboo cane pole. I "matched" the hatch with
a live red crawler (size 2 or 3) down-rigged from an old cork bobber. From
that moment in my life, I was hooked on fishing. I became a fisherman.
Later, my close elementary school buddies, Ed, Tom, and Joe (who are still
my closest friends today) would hop on our bikes and go-a-fishin'. Those
were the days of zebcoes and spinnin' reels. We loved it, every glorious
moment. One fine day, I managed to land a 10 pound hawg out of Snapper Creek
(to this day, my real homewater) and dragged it on home for supper. My mom
wasn't real pleased with it (she doesn't like fish) and made me bury it in
her flower garden. From that day onward, I "practiced" catch and release
out of necessity. I wasn't going to kill a fish just to bury it.
I was very lucky to have grown up in Miami. I became adept at both
freshwater and saltwater fishing. By the time I was in high school, I had
caught most saltwater species that are most glorified by us today. Tarpon,
bonefish, permit, and my personal favorite, the toothy barracuda, were
regular denizens on my lines and were summarily released. Grouper, snapper,
triggerfish, and flounder weren't so lucky, they became table fare.
After I left Miami and moved north I became interested in tournament Bass
fishing. I was ok, but by no means a champion. In fact, I grew disgusted
with it and actually gave up fishing. Fishing for me was a heavenly state of
mind not to be confused with ones ego and personal glorification (I save
that for the golf course). Hence, I quit.
David A. rekindled the flame by introducing me to flyfishing in 1987 or
thereabouts. He took me to some FFF meetings, helped me purchase equipment,
taught me the basics of tying, and basically taught me to fish all over
again. For this, I am most grateful and forever in his debt. That is why
whenever he can get away from G'ville and make it up here, he is heartily
welcomed. We fished fresh and salt water all over N. Florida with varying
degrees of success. I was in love with angling again.
After moving the store and our lives up here, actually during, I purchased a
4wt and started pursuing the trout. I was terrible. It was a long time
before I figured them out. A store customer and I became fishing buddies.
Matt "McFly" M. and I have fished all over these mountains in the last three
years. We both share a love for the sport and have a great time when we are
out sharing the experience.
Lately, I have been experiencing a craving for salmon. Marie has let it be
known that we are not moving any farther north. Oh well.......
and furthermore.....
I'd like to thank that "unidentified man" who realized that personal bios
here at ROFF are needed. It is a cleansing, a baptismal of sorts. This damn
internet can digress to serious road-rage (I'm no angel) and we must do what
we can to establish honorable friendships. Recently, I posted a multi f*!k
you message to Mr. G. From the moment I clicked the send button, I regretted
it. My father told me many times, once you utter it, it can't be taken back.
The same is true here on the interned, once you send, it's public. I believe
I'm going to heed that bit-o-wisdom from here on out.
to all of you....Tight lines, screaming' reels, and near-buskin' rods,
Walter "Wataugan Walt" Winter
p.s.
I really do use any excuse to go fishing... if you're ever up this
way....call or e-mail and we'll get wet.
DavPLaC
<<<How do I describe myself, beyond short, plump and 47?>>
I've fished with you Peter, and you are not
short and plump. But you are a fine
fisherman. On the other hand:
At age 61, I am 6’1" and weigh 205 pounds.
I was born and raised in Springfield, Mass.
My father (a truck driver)
and my mother (a retail clerk) loved to fish.
We fished mostly with bait for trout and
bass, but especially liked night fishing for
bullheads.
Somewhere around 1946 or so, my dad bought
a spinning rod/reel and my mom bought a
split bamboo rod from Sears. Both taught
themselves how to fish this "new way".
Fly fishing won hands down, and by 1948
everyone was fly fishing. Our favorite haunt
was the Connecticut Lakes in Pittsburg, NH.
But we fished the Deerfield, Westfield, and
Swift rivers every weekend.
In 1956 as a disinterested youth who did not
know what he wanted to do, I enlisted in the
Navy and to my surprise, made a career out
of it. I retired 20 years later as a Senior
Chief Petty Officer. For that entire 20 year
period, I never picked up a fly rod. Upon
retirement I went to work as a technician
and later an engineer working with infra-red
detectors and still later with laser/fiber
optics. I retired from GTE in 1992 (early
retirement buy-out) and
became a house-husband. My beautiful wife
has a PhD from UNC and is well known in the
laser-fiber-optics field. She continues to
work for GTE. She and I discovered the Rapid
River in Maine while white-water rafting in 1988.
The visceral effects of the river, the sight, sound,
smell of the woods brought me back to my childhood.
I *had* to return to fly fishing. I visited an Orvis
store and was surprised at the change in equipment
from the 50s to 1989. Graphite, waders, leaders, new
knots even, and a whole bunch of new "stuff". Even
the nippers were different. And zingers! Wow.
They replaced that old piece of fly-line.
I started fly tying in 1996, the year my mother
died. While going through her things, we discovered
two old Wheatley Boxes filled with flies she had
tied in the early 50s. I gave the boxes to each of
my grandsons. Without my prompting, they said
they would keep the boxes and flies and not use
them. BTW, the torch has been passed on – it skipped
a generation, but my grandsons (14 and 15) are quite
the fly fishermen.
In my spare time, I help teach a high performance
driving school to police officers and other "government"
agencies, as well as civilians. On occasion I also teach
an anti-terrorist driving school to body guards and
"others". Joanne enjoys gardening and country &
western music. We both enjoy and collect jazz.
I have two wonderful daughters (36 and 31) from a
previous marriage, and two terrific grandsons (14 and
15). My grand-daughter (9) is the perkiest most
adorable little girl. She has set her eyes on Pop Pop
teaching her fly fishing AND shooting a BB gun.
I am a fortunate man.
Dave LaCourse
W.D.Grey
<jc...@cs.nmsu.edu> writes
>A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
>to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
>a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
>My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
>here's mine.
You've started something to be proud of in this thread.
I am quite insignificant compared with the highly qualified personel on
your side of the pond. I am 62 yeards of age 5ft 10ins tall and too
short for my weight! Sorry Wayne and Walt but I do not drink:-( However
most of my best friends do!) Academically, in the U.K. we had Grammar
Schools in my day, and in 1952 I left school with what we call "O"
levels, I had 7. Most kids go on to do "A" levels and then University.
I did pick up on my education with attendance at a Technical college
where I gained an Ordinary Certificate in Electrical Engineering. I was
employed by the South Wales Electricity Board from 1952 till 1993 first
as a clerk for 4 years then a draughtsman for 5 years, and the remainder
a surveyor working on overhead line design.
I married my wife Anne in 1961. My interests have been many and varied
from scuba diving to photography, and for many years I was the musical
director of a local Operatic Society. Anne and I play bowls both
outdoor and indoor. Anne is the star, as she and her friend won the
Welsh Indoor Bowls pairs championship.
I ahve always been fascinated by calculators and computers, but really I
am a duffer in these things. I get by with a lot of help from my good
friend Phil Jones. I use my computer mainly for typing my Welsh
language essays amd translations, and for keeping the records for the
Tawe Disabled Fishers Association of which I'm Secretary.
Not much more to say other than I'm thrilled to have been in touch with
such folks as John Popp (proud to have corresponded with you John) and
My good friend Wayne Harrison - another Welsh learner:-) I have had e-
mail dealings with other friends and am glad to have made their
acquaintance.
Best wishes to all, from Glais in the Swansea Valley, South Wales.
--
Bill
W.D.Grey
<jc...@cs.nmsu.edu> writes
>A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
>to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
>a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
>My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
>here's mine.
alt.binaries,pictures.fishing for a pic of my village Glais in the
Swansea Valley - damn I know its not fishing, but the nights are long!
--
Bill
Charlie Choc
>A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
>to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
>a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
>My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
>here's mine.
>
Good idea, lot's of interesting folks here it seems. I'll give mine a
shot:
51 years old, born in Cicero, raised in Kansas and have lived in north
metro Atlanta for the past 11 years. Was working on a PhD in
theoretical chemistry when I drifted into the 'dark side' of making a
living writing software; went up and then down a couple of corporate
ladders and am now just marking time career wise trying to have a
little fun once in a while.
I started fishing with spinning tackle and bait, mostly for catfish,
when I was a kid in Kansas. I've fished with cane poles, hand lines,
limb lines, trot lines, spinning gear, bait casting gear and, of
course, a fly rod. I started fly fishing about 20 years ago and it's
probably been 15 years since I fished with anything else, for no good
reason though. I own too much stuff, some of which is Orvis, and am
really not that great a fisherman - but I do enjoy it. I like to tie
flies but my close up eyesight is fading so I stick mostly to
saltwater patterns when I do tie (a 4/0 BWO just isn't that effective,
even on these monster eastern brookies<g>).
Met some mighty interesting people, both here and in 'real life'. Hope
to meet some more as time goes by.
--
Charlie...
Brian Watson
After reading all of these wonderful bios, I think that I am the
youngess one to respond. I, Brian Watson, amd 34 years old, married, 2
kids (5 and 2). I'm sitting im my mother-in-law's garage writing this
post. I am in the process of building a house and have setup camp here
for now. Not in the garage, that's only where my computer is. :)
I have fished most of my life, but have taken it up most seriously the
last couple of years. I live in Austin, TX and work in the computer
industry. I started Fly Fishing last spring. I was at at a local lake
the fall before when I saw this guy and his daughter Fly Fishing. I was
suprised to see that you could Fly Fish for bass too! To make a long
story short, I fell in love with Fly Fishing big time!
I'm lucky enough to have some fishing spots very close to work. I fish
during lunch whenever I can. The place where I go the most is a small
creek in a state park. It's full of alot of fisty sunfish and some good
size bass. Back in the spring I have fished there almost everyday of
the week. Right now the water is too high. Just as soon as it comes
down I'm gona try out my new waders and boots.
Well it's time to pour me another bourbon and maybe sneak out to the
back porch for a cigar. My mother-in-law has a small fountain that runs
down to a goldfish pond with 3 goldfish in it. I wonder what pattern
there taking...
Brian Watson
Austin, TX
rw
Started flyfishing when I was about 10 years old, in Baltimore, Maryland. I
tied my own flies with an unbelieveably cheap vise, following instructions in
a Family Circle book. (They were some of the most God-awful flies you've ever
seen.) I devoured flyfishing books, and was especially fond of Joe Brooks. I
read every issue of Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, and Field and Stream -- cover
to cover. Loved Ed Zern, a very funny guy. I spent hours in the Enoch Pratt
Free library, reading ancient books about flyfishing written by Englishmen and
New Yorkers at the turn of the century. I was a charter member of Trout Unlimited.
I grew up without a father, which was a little unusual in those days. My
next-door neighbor, Mr. Grant, took me fishing. He was a saint, but he wasn't
above giving me his fish so he could catch some more. He gave me a couple of
rods, which I still have but never use. My mother used to take me to Little
Falls and wait in the car all day, reading, while I fished.
I never really had much luck fishing for trout in Maryland. My best day was
landing two 5-pound largemouth bass from Lake Montebello, the city reservoir,
where fishing was prohibited. What the hell. What could they do to a
12-year-old kid, I figured.
After graduating from high school I stopped fishing. Then there was college,
work, graduate school, marriage, moving to California, more work, kids, and so
on, with little or no fishing, aside from some spinfishing for Northerns and
smallmouth bass in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota.
Now, over the past five or six years, I've rediscovered flyfishing. It's
nearly all I think about when I'm thinking clearly. I'm not exactly rich, but
I figure I have enough that I can indulge myself for the rest of my days, as
long as I don't get carried away with trips to Alaska, Argentina, Chile, New
Zealand, and all the other places I hope to fish someday. I recently bought a
cabin in Stanley, Idaho and plan to spend next season there, exploring the
Middle Fork and Main Fork of the Salmon, the backcountry lakes of the Sawtooth
Wilderness, Big Lost River, Big Wood River, Silver Creek, Henry's Fork, up to
Montana, etc., etc. I can't wait to leave this human anthill known as the SF
Bay Area.
Sometimes on wilderness trips people ask me why I like to fish. They're
typically people who love wild places and wild things, but they are puzzled
about why someone would want to harm a animal. I tell them that for me it's a
matter of exploring a mystery. I'm fascinated by wildlife of all kinds, and
there is a complex world below the surface the water that you will never begin
to understand unless you fish. I've never met a person, even the most radical
"tree hugger", who didn't finally understand that point of view.
--
Please reply to royalwulff@REMOVE_THISearthlink.net. (Reply-to set to
something bogus to avoid spam)
George9219
hunting were a way of life here, and I really can't remember a time when I
didn't fish. My father had no interest in outdoor sports, but he supported my
interest and introduced me to a few people who helped me get started on the
right track. I started fly fishing and tying in 1952 mostly fishing for panfish
& small bass in the Ware River. I caught my first trout the following year.
My first "outfit" was a tubular steel rod with a Pflueger Sal-Trout reel loaded
with level line.
Following high school I attended Umass and Holyoke Comm. College for a few
years, and eventually completed a toolmaker apprentice program at the
Springfield Armory. I was employed in tool & mold making for 30 odd years in
positions from journeyman to project manager. I was caught in a downsizing in
1996,(they didn't need any 56 year old project managers), and began a new
career as a technical sales rep for a steel service center. My territory
includes northern CT, western MA, NH & VT, so I am occasionally able to mix in
a lttle fishing with business.
I was married in 1962, and my wife Mitzi and I have three daughters ages 35,
34, and 28. We also have two grandchildren ages 5 and 3 which we enjoy very
much.
Fly fishing has always been a central part of my life, and my wife (like my
father) has no interest in it, but supports my interest. When the kids were,
we spent a great deal of time in northern New Hampshire, which allowed me to
fish the upper CT river as well as The Androscoggin, Mohawk, and Perry Stream.
Most of my fishing these days is pretty local. (Swift, Deerfield, Farmington,
Willimantic, Quaboag), but I still occasionaly fish from Michigan to
Pennsylvania & New York.
I primarily fish C&R, but occasionally keep a fish. I have no quarrel with C&K
as long as the proponents don't call for an end to C&R.
I too, consider myself to be a lucky man.
George Adams
Wayne Harrison
wrote:
>jc...@cs.nmsu.edu (Jonathan Cook) wrote:
>
>>A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
>>to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
>>a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
>>My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
>>here's mine.
>>
>Good idea, lot's of interesting folks here it seems. I'll give mine a
>shot:
>
>51 years old, born in Cicero, raised in Kansas
(good stuff snipped )
this is really fascinating; i would have bet that charlie was
about 35, and born and bred in hotlanta. you can't tell a book...etc.
keep it up, guys!
wayno the curious
FiddleAway
interesting and inspiring to hear of some of my fellow roffers
accomplishments. Here's mine.
For anyone who's curious, my name is David Collins but my alias also tells
you something about me...I do play the fiddle.
Now 47 I grew up in Long Beach, CA and was fortunate to be a youth during a
time when there was plenty of money for supporting the arts in public
education. As such, I benefited from music program that was 2nd to none
(though I'm sure other communities throughout the US did as well). So
while growing up, being part of some musical organization or another was
pretty much the center of my social universe.
However, I was not destined to be a great virtuoso, and the life of a
journeyman musician was just a little too unsure for a security conscious
guy like me...and I had an out. I was good in math too. So I graduated
from UCSD with a math degree (with lots of computer courses under my
belt...they didn't have a Computer Science degree in '73) and a year later
landed a job with Linkabit Corporation...the little San Diego company that
spawned most of the telecomm companies (including Qualcomm) in San Diego
today. After working for essentially the same people at Linkabit and then
Qualcomm for 20 years, I was finally a little burned out on the high
pressure from that industry but I had put myself in a position to be able
to stop and smell the roses for awhile. That was in '94....they still
smell pretty good.
In the mean time, I didn't let my fiddle chops go down. While at UCSD I
was introduced to 'old time' fiddle styles and was soon playing for weekly
contra dances. This lead to an interest in Bluegrass and eventually a
place in several local bands. My current band is the 'Unstrung Heroes'.
You'll never hear of us, but we've been a local band here in San Diego
where we were fairly active in the 80's. Since then, we've slowed way down
on the gigs as family and careers have taken priority.
Like many of you, my interest in fishing was imparted to me by my
grandfather. He started me out fishing the Kern River, near Bakersfield,
CA and then began the annual trek I'd take with him and my grandmother up
the Kern above the Johnsondale bridge. The annual fishing trip with
Grandpa became the highlight of many of the summers of early youth. For
those of you who have never seen the Kern up where it's wild, you've missed
a great river. I still make at least one annual trek to angle it's emerald
green waters at a time of the year when the rafters from LA have vacated it
(and of course I still long for the old days before it's waters became so
well known to the hordes from Smell-A). Unfortunately, the 10 fish limit
that used to be law on the Kern, and the accessibility of much of its
length, has rendered it an average fishery. Still, if you're willing to
hike in a couple miles above the Johnsondale bridge, north of Kernville,
you can still catch some beautiful fish, many of which I'm sure are stream
bred. Just the beauty of this fast, powerful (and dangerous!) river makes
for a great day of fishing even if it doesn't involve too much catching.
Though Grandpa taught me how to fish with worms, I learned many lessons
about fishing for trout in a river and at the same time gained a love for
nature that will always be with me. I continue to favor river fishing for
trout over lake fishing, though as a San Diegan, the latter is more often
the rule. (Believe it or not, there are some back country streams in San
Diego county that have beautiful wild trout...and there are some
authorities that claim these are ancestors of the Steelhead that eventually
worked their way up the pacific coast!).
Though I don't like to admit it, my first wife did do a couple of things
that enriched my life. One of these was to sign me up for a week of fly
fishing school at Clearwater House on Hat Creek. I had always been
interested in trying fly fishing, but until my week on Hat, I had never
tried it. Like many of you, once I tried it I was hooked for life. The
technical challenges presented by the medium, the excitement of seeing a
fish rise to a fly that I tied and the joy of jawing with curmudgeons the
likes of you are but a few of the facets of this sport that will make me
love it forever.
For me, one of the finest things in life is to be knee deep in a pretty
little stream casting upstream to a rise and just stopping for a second to
realize what a lucky guy I am.--
-dnc-
>
Mike Connor
Aged 46, I was Born 1952 in Liverpool England. My Family moved to North
Yorkshire when I was three years old. I started fishing when I was five,
catching minnows and things like that with my dad in the local becks. I was
always fascinated by anything to do with water, or fish, and spent a large
part of my schooldays playing truant and fishing or wandering around the
Yorkshire dales fishing. I tied my first flies when I was eight after being
presented with a fly dressing kit for my birthday. ( I still have a lot of
it ! ). I left school at fifteen, and went to work as an apprentice fitter
and turner. I was fortunate enough to meet quite a few passionate dressers
and anglers during this period, some of them really great men, and learned
an awful lot from them. I did quite a bit of exhibition tying for various
organisations at this time, always on an amateur basis.
I went to night school after work and got my O levels in English, Math,
Chemistry, Biology and Physics. I met my wife in England where she was doing
part of her teacher training, and we moved to Germany shortly after that
when I was 25. I started work as a fitter here ( difficult at first, knew
no German ! ) but had a bad accident at the factory where I was working and
landed in hospital for quite a while. When I came out I was told I could no
longer work as a fitter, as my back was too badly damaged, and so I went
back to school here in Germany . I studied Electronics after aquiring the
necessary qualifications over a period of three years, and went to work for
a large international news company afterwards as an electronics
communications engineeer. I worked for this company for ten years in
Hamburg Frankfurt and London and finally left in 1990 when I was technical
manager for Europe, to start my own company. I now run my small engineering
company from my house in a small village in the north of Germany, and am
reasonably successful. My wife teaches English and History and Politics at a
Grammar school not far from where we live, and got her state fishing licence
some years ago, because she finally wanted to know what the fascination
was. We fish together occasionally when we both have time. She doesnt like
boats much, as she gets seasick. We have no children.
I have always been a passionate angler, and I will fish anywhere for
anything that swims. I have now been tying flies for nearly forty years, and
I prefer to flyfish usually. I am a member of several German angling clubs
with excellent river water in the area, containing Brown-trout and Grayling,
and a few Seatrout in season , and I also fish in Denmark and Sweden fairly
often, also for species such as Pike and Perch. I especially enjoy fishing
the Baltic Sea for seatrout. I also flyfish for Cod from the shore in
winter, and have a couple of boat trips each winter, usually with a fairly
large group. The last one which was a couple of weeks ago was in the Baltic
with a group of people from my village most of whom had never fished before.
A few always get interested and stick with it though, some eventually
getting into fly fishing as well. I have quite a few regular fishing
companions, as I fish quite often, and I regularly take beginners out in
groups and singly.
I spend a lot of time in the off season doing stream restoration and similar
projects for my clubs, and am heavily involved in the various stocking and
restocking programs they run. I teach flydressing and casting at the clubs,
and also run some of the theory evenings for people wishing to obtain a
state fishing licence, and am appropriately licenced myself.
I have fairly recently discovered that I enjoy writing, and that some people
even enjoy reading the results ! I write articles for a few magazines on
fishing, and I am also a regular contributor to fly anglers on line, one of
the largest flyfishing websites on the net. I love anything to do with
fishing, and am an avid reader and collector of fly fishing books.
I play Guitar Mandolin Banjo and Flute, I like traditional English folk
music and country and western, and a few classical pieces, and read vast
amounts of science fiction. I have a very large collection of flytying
materials collected over the years and a fairly large collection of tackle
and materials for all sorts of fishing. I also spend quite a bit of time
online, and subscribe to various newsgroups and lists mostly to do with
fishing.
I build my own computers and various other electronics in what is left of my
spare time.
Tight lines !
Mike Connor
MikeC
Mike here, I'm 31 years old and raised in the beautiful state of
Colorado.
I am currently spending my 9th year working with a downtown Denver based
Architectural firm as the company's Systems Admin / CAD Manager
(Computer Aided Drafting). We specialize in commercial design, mainly
corporate headquarter's type work with some Institutional (college
buildings), and Public Works projects. I just recently wrapped up my
effort on a 50 million dollar project that kept me longing for the
river. This daily ritual that I'm immersed in is equally as challenging
as the sport of fly fishing. Both can make your head spin!
Luckily, I had parents that valued the experiences that this wonderful
place can offer. Living in and around the Denver area for 30 years, I
began fishing bait and tackle for trout and warm water species at around
6 years old. My father and I both realized that fishing a fly and
bubble on spinning gear was a terrific way to entice fish, I was around
10 years old. For a number of years, my father had been whining about
the cost of flies. He said "we should tie our own". That Christmas, he
presented me with a customized fly tying kit that he procured from the
only quality fly fishing shop around, the then Jim Poor's Anglers All.
They set him up with high quality materials and tools (my dad gave me a
pin vise to begin, if I liked the hobby, I would get a true vise) and
Jack Dennis' book Western Trout Flies. That was all it took. I
recently told my Dad that of all the gifts he has ever given me, my
intro into fly tying has been the greatest. Thanks again Dad.
I began building rods, tying flies for local shops and fishing every
chance I could. At the age of 21, I spent an entire summer guiding "fly
in" week long trips to fly fishermen on the Togiak River outside of
Dillingham Alaska. That summer is one that I will never forget. A good
buddy of mine had gone up two years prior and when the opportunity arose
for another summer excursion (the camp owner was looking for quality
people), my buddy suggested myself and another mutual friend. Huge
Chum, Sockeye, Kings, and the most wicked Silver run (according to
veterans of the area) in quite some time. We had a blast! Lots of
Brown bears though, some closer than I was comfortable with.
At age 28, I married a wonderful gal named Ann Marie. For our
honeymoon, we spent a week on the Henry's Fork of the Snake in Idaho.
Beautiful trip in more ways than you might think! She goes with me
occasionally, but this year she wasn't up as often as me. I spent 2 1/2
weeks on the Madison River below Hebgen Lake in Montana in mid July of
this year. Other than landing in the hospital on the first day of camp,
the trip was my best ever! I had lower back nerve issues that caused me
to crawl 1/2 mile back to the car and eventually end up at the Madison
Valley Hospital in Ennis, MT. Doc Haywood was a MD/DO (bone specialist)
and he set my back and provided lots of pain killers and muscle
relaxers. Thank God. He did me right, that Doc Haywood.
Anyway, my buddy and I spent our every day on the Madison with the same
decisions to make: "Where do we eat breakfast?", " Which 20 inchers do
you want to go after today?" and "Where do we get a beer" at days end.
That fishery has come back, and come back strong.
The area rivers here in Colorado are all fishing fantastic. The Blue
River below Dillon, the Roaring Fork between Aspen and Glenwood Springs,
The South Platte Drainages (Cheesman Canyon, and Middle Fork), and lest
we forget our own "mini Madison", the Colorado River as it travels from
Rocky Mountain National Park (similar to Yellowstone National Park in
age) to the Kremmling area.
There are some mighty big boys in these rivers, and they are all
HUNGRY!!
Thanks for this opportunity,
Mike Chadwell
eaguilr
> Jonathan Cook wrote:
>
> > A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
> > to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
> > a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
> > My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
> > here's mine.
One other thing about me..
i cant type for shit.
edwin
eaguilr
> A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
> to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
> a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
> My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
> here's mine.
Here is my little bio..
Basic info:
Greetings. As you might know, my name is Edwin Aguilar. I currently
live in College Station ,Texas, where I am an assistant prof of
political science at Texas A&M university. However, I will be moving to
Albany New York mid Januray, so back I go to land of coldwater
fisheries...
personal baloney:
I am 32 years old, married for 7 years, and ahve a 2.5 year old little
girl. I am happy to report that at the ripe old age of 3 months, i took
my daughter "fishing" at a little pond nearby. she touched a fish that
day, though i dont think she had any idea what was going on. at about
10 months, i took her fishing behind a dam at a nearby lake. i would
get a fish on, and let her hold the rod . She seemed to enjoy this
quite a bit..
Anyway, as I said i am an assistnat prof of polisci. I got my ph.d.
from the university of north carolina in 1995, with a specialty in latin
american politics, and statistics and methodology. much fun,,, really,
please believe me.. And, as i said, I m moving to albany in a few
weeks. i will be teaching at SUNY albany, and my wife will go back to
school to puruse a dr.ph (doctorate in public health). with any luck,
she can polish this off in good time, and at least one of us will be
doign socially useful worl.
FISHING:
I have been fishing as long as i can remember, but have been fly fishing
for a realtively few 8 years. Considering that many here have been fly
fishing for 40 and 50 years, i consider myself officially a well trained
novice.
Up until 1990, most of my fishing was with bait and lures... bait mostly
when fishing in salt water, lures in freshwater. I lived most of my
life until college outside of the country, and did most of my fishing in
northern mexico at the beach with family, and in irrigation canals for
bass and the like. I had not seen a cold water fish till i was 24.
I started fly fishing in north carolina while at grad school. I started
doing so via a self-recruitment process. I just thought it would be
fun. My very first fishing trip was to stona mountain state park in
nc.. with about 40 bucks worth of equipment.. no waders, no fancy fly
boxes or vest.. just rod, pfleuger, eagle claw rod by the way, and about
6 flies.. all of which were in trees in about 30 minutes. i had to go
home then cause i was out of flies.. but i decided then and there that
this was something i really enjoyed doing. my basic training was then
done by fishing a pond in a park in carrboro nc for panfish.. learning
how to cast thee damn rod, how to control line, etc... i didnt catch a
trout till about a month later when I finally felt like i knew what i
was doing.
During grad school i started fishing with a buddy who runs the fishing
section of the great outdoor provision company ( some of you nc types
may have been to some of their stores). the guy is a good friend, and
is my age, so we get along just fine. my last year in nc i was going to
the mountains 2-3 times a week. this kept me from finishing my
dissertation within one year, but it was well worth it.
since then, I have fly fished in california ( in kings canyon), arizona
white mountains, idaho, montana, virginia, tenessee ,texas, costa rica,
and mexco, for all different kinds of fish. my only current regret is
that where i live right now trout are all but nonexistent. but, the
move to new york should fix that little problem.
I catch and release most of my fish, but i eat em too. my position on
cr is public record on this ngroup, so no need to go into that.
Assorted recent fishing thoughts:
i love to fish for brook trout.
my last big trip was to bob marshall wilderness, involved a 24-25 mile
hike, and was well worth it.
catching panfish in nc farm ponds is tough to beat.
hauling a float tube up to a mountain lake is a pain in the ass, but
well worth it.
finding wild onions in the middle of nowehere makes a trout over the
fire MR TROUT over the fire.
Whoever decided to start off this "who am i" thread should get some sort
of medal..
edwin
Ken Janik
Jonathan Cook <jc...@cs.nmsu.edu> wrote:
>If you're game, post a little about yourself. (though I certainly
>understand why you wouldn't in this electronic frontier.)
Great idea, but I'm not sure where to start.
[looking back, it looks like I figured it out alright :-)]
Biographical Info
I'm 28 years old which places me smack dab in the middle of the GenXer
generation and since we're comparing stats 6'4" and 225 lbs. I spent most of
my formative years growing up on the south side of Chicago in a not-so-nice
neighborhood. I've had guns and knives pulled on me and carried a steel pipe
in my bag walking to and from high school. The girl who sat behind me in
Spanish class got raped walking to high school during my sophomore year.
This is why I now live in Oregon (although every member of my family still
lives there). I'm second generation born in this country and was practically
raised by my grandparents. Neither of whom have/had a high school education.
They were married 60 years when my grandfather died a few months back...the
day that I passed my final defense. ;-( The Ph.D. suddenly didn't seem so
important. ;-((
Anyway...I left Chicago at 17 and went to the University of Illinois in Urbana.
Got my BS in Computer Engineering four years later. Decided that I didn't
want to go back to Chicago and went to Oregon State University for grad school,
again in Computer Engineering. Oregon is in incredible place. Especially to
someone who had never seen a mountain or the ocean in his life. At 21, I saw
my first mountain and fell in love with the place. I'm NEVER leaving. So, I
worked hard during the school year and got internships working at Intel up in
Portland. BTW, if you own a Pentium II (266-450MHz) I worked on that processor.
About a year and a half ago, with my research mostly done, I took a job
full-time at Intel as a Senior Design Engineer working on a future processor
(that I can't say anything about for obvious reasons). Working 50+ hours a
week at work and trying to complete your thesis is rough, but I managed to
finish with my sanity mostly intact. Even fishing now and then. :-)
Fishing Info
I've fished for as long as I can remember. One of my oldest memories
is when I was 3 or 4 catching a smallmouth at a forest preserve pond on the SW
suburbs of Chicago. It was the biggest fish I had ever caught for a long time,
and I was mad because we didn't have anything to bring it home in so my
dad gave it to the guy fishing next to us. Almost all my experience was at
those ponds fishing with worms. We always seemed to carry tackle boxes full
of stuff, but all I ever remember using was a hook and a worm. :-)
I don't remember why we carried them, but my dad brought his so of course
I brought mine. :-) All fish worth eating were brought home and eaten.
Of course this was with a hundred other people crowded around small acre
ponds doing the same. The ponds were stocked of course and would be pretty
much fished out by season's end. I've only been on opening day once and
would never want to go again. Undergrad at UofI (in engineering) is hell,
and I don't think I fished at all those four years.
Then there was Oregon. I had never fished moving water before in my life,
and a spinning rod with a worm just didn't seem to work very well. I saw
a guy fly-fishing and it seemed more suited for the waters of the state, so
I asked for a fly-rod for my birthday. My dad, not knowing anything about
fly-fishing (he still doesn't fly-fish) bought me a fiberglass rod/reel set
for $15 and an unmatched line. Me, not knowing the difference set out to
learn. That was a painful process. I now know that it was an 8 weight rod
and a 5 weight line. Try casting that sometime, now imagine a complete
beginner trying to learn with this outfit. Somehow I still caught fish
and survived long enough to build my own rod (which was the only way I could
afford a new rod at that point). I now have the money to buy whatever
rod I want, but I still fish 90% of the time with that first rod I made.
I live the ultimate high tech life, rarely going more than 4 hours
without checking my email. When I go fishing it's an escape from it all.
I don't want any gadgets or to stand in a crowd. I either go by myself or
with my girlfriend (a native Oregonian who is also a Computer Engineer)
and try to get as far away from technology as possible. I don't own
a vest and carry everything in a simple generic fanny pack. Total cost
of all the equipment I carry is probably less than $100. Unless I'm
carrying my SLR, in which case I don't want to think about what a fall
in the water would cost me. :-)
Other Outside Interests
Astronomy, photography, snowboarding, backpacking, kayaking, windsurfing
and of course fishing. Oh yeah, I program and design computers too. :-)
I've been programming computers for 18 years now and been on the internet/
usenet for 10.
Well, that's my life in a nut shell, which is probably a good place for it. :-)
Later,
- Ken
P.S. If you're curious, here's my web page. http://www.ece.orst.edu/~janikk
No fishing stuff, but lots of pictures from hiking around Oregon.
FFer
eaguilr wrote in message <365999BD...@polisci.tamu.edu>...
>Jonathan Cook wrote:
>
>> A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
>> to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
>> a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
>> My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
>> here's mine.
>
GREAT IDEA
My Name is Andrew
I am a propeller head for a large engineering company, I am responsible for
Lotus Notes for Canada, US and Central America. I am 27 yrs old and a father
of a sweet 14 month old baby girl.
I fish mostly for trout, ( browns, specks, and steelhead) but also fish the
salt a few times a year in Florida. I am looking to become FFF certified and
start guiding this spring, if all goes according to plan. I have lived in
Canada and Europe for a number of years with work and school, so I have been
able to fish a number of different locales. Of which I love my home and
native land the most :-)
Well that's all for now, and I would like to second the motion of a medal
for the guy who came up with this idea. :-)
Redd Tarp
my dad got out of the army, he did a short stint as a U.S. Attorney,
then moved his family to Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
In our town, back in the sixties, the DOW had what they called the
‘Fishing Derby.’ They dammed up a section of the main drag with
sandbags, turned loose a bunch of hatchery trout, tossed dirt in the
water to hide the fish, and unleashed a heard of fourth graders on the
hapless pond. There were prizes for catching the most and biggest trout,
usually a reel and a rod, respectively. I couldn’t wait for the fourth
grade, especially when a friend of mine, a year my senior, bagged the
biggest trout and took home a large rainbow in a plastic bag and a
spinning rod. The next year, I won the full rig, and took my newly
discovered trout catching ability to the more challenging arena of the
Roaring Fork.
It wasn’t long before bait and spinners left me bored, so I lifted my
dad’s Berkley, salvaged a broken Medalist and began fly fishing.
Cut-offs, and a tin Perrine fly box full of Renegades suited me just
fine.
School was not hard for me, but I didn’t excel at what didn’t interest
me, which included scholastics. I did great in art and English, but when
the guidance counselor suggested I pursue a vocation, I applied for a
job at the coal mines above Redstone and started applying to colleges.
The only acceptance I got was to Abilene Christian. I managed to prove
the guidance counselor wrong and pay for private college tuition, not to
mention graduate school at Colorado State and London University.
Eventually, however, I decided I better find a job that didn’t get my
clothes dirty.
I got my first white-collar job in my home town writing technical
manuals and doing phone support for a computer-based stocks and
commodities analysis system. Did hard time in Boulder (weird place)
working for NOAA, then moved back to Carbondale, where I met Tim Walker,
who introduced me to the genteel practice of Catch & Release, and taught
me how to tie a humpy that doesn't look like a spider. That was around
1989, I think.
I moved to Redstone and married in ’94. My wife and I have a son now,
and mostly I enjoy being a husband and father. I still guide for Roy
Palm part-time during the summers, but I look forward to the time when
my son’s old enough to learn about the outdoors. There’s much I want to
show him—chiefly, how to row a dory.
Mitch Mulhall
Steve_Cooper
Jonathan Cook wrote:
> A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
> to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
> a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
> My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
> here's mine.
This has been very good reading and I have read every bio to date.
It would be unfair to know so much about everyone else and not join in,
so here goes....
I am a 37 year old Industrial Buyer who works for a prominent university
in Burnaby, B.C.(A suburb of Vancouver). I am 6', 205 lbs. and I
guess, slightly "undertall". Vancouver traffic is not a place for the
impatient so I am blessed with opportunity to commute my way up a 1300'
mountain via trails on my mountain bike every day. I am married with two
children (boy-10, girl-5).
My father introduced me to fishing off-hand due to his love for the
ocean and sailboats. I remember at age five, fishing off the docks for
bullheads with handlines while my parents loaded the boat for weekend
jaunts to the Gulf islands. I would fish while they loaded, troll a
bucktail while we sailed across the Strait of Georgia, and then handline
for fish or bottom fish for rockcod from the dinghy when we got there.
As a kid I was absorbed by fishing, particularly salt water fishing. My
dad became a scuba diver when I was about 8 and I joined him in this
sport when I was 12. I crewed racing sailboats during high school and my
love for the ocean and all it has to offer has never left me. At this
time the only other sport I had a passion for was hockey (and still is)
.
During my high school years, our biology class had access to a small
creek for salmon enhancement and I became the most active participant in
the project that saw the first releases of approximately 20,000 chum
fry. I was hooked. After high school I went to B.C.I.T. where I received
technical diplomas in both Forestry and Fisheries. I also worked as a
hatchery technician at the Seymour River Hatchery for two years on the
weekends.
Graduation sent me working for DFO (Canadian Department of Fisheries and
Oceans) for a couple of years as a hatchery tech, field tech. and
fisheries researcher for DFO's Kemano Completion group. I have had
pretty good exposure to all 5 salmon species. I also worked for a couple
of environmental research companies on contracts for DFO. After
realizing that traveling all over the coast was playing hell on my
social life I went back to BCIT and graduated from the Business Admin.
program, got married and began work as the Operations manager for a fish
farm company in Campbell River, B.C. ( I feel no shame in this, but I
believe the moratorium on fish farms should be maintained). While in
Campbell River, I rediscovered my love for fishing. I moved back to
Vancouver and began work for a commercial fishing company as their
aquaculture and packaging buyer. Here my love for fishing turned to
local rivers. I learned a great deal about the politics of commercial
fishing and recognized the writing on the wall as to the future of the
industry.
10 years later I now work for a university, spend weekends camping and
fishing rivers, lakes and the ocean throughout lower B.C., and am a avid
fan of all types of fishing, fly, gear, bait, whatever, as long as it it
uses a single barbless hook and good angler ethics. I practise Catch and
Enjoy (meaning I will kill em if; they are in abundance, and I'm allowed
to, and I know I'll eat it). I have just rediscovered a local river,
the greatest salmon river in the world, and all it has to offer to
anglers who have boat access. All I want now is a 14' jet boat, and more
time to use it.
I have discovered that I write too much in these posts, but enjoy more
reading about other areas and other angler habits, and know that most
everybody in this group are kind and good people who love the banter of
a good debate on a topic so close to their hearts.
Wayne Harrison
Ken Janik wrote in message <73c7c9$coa$1...@news.NERO.NET>...
>In article <734pv0$ods$1...@bubba.NMSU.Edu>,
>Jonathan Cook <jc...@cs.nmsu.edu> wrote:
>>If you're game, post a little about yourself. (though I certainly
>>understand why you wouldn't in this electronic frontier.)
>
>Great idea, but I'm not sure where to start.
>[looking back, it looks like I figured it out alright :-)]
>
>Biographical Info
>
> I'm 28 years old which places me smack dab in the middle of the GenXer
>generation and since we're comparing stats 6'4" and 225 lbs. I spent most
of
>my formative years growing up on the south side of Chicago in a not-so-nice
>neighborhood. I've had guns and knives pulled on me and carried a steel
pipe
>in my bag walking to and from high school.
kj: may i, ahem, take this opportunity to, um, apologize for anything i
may have said to you in the past which might have tended in any way,
directly or indirectly, to offend you, your family, your dog, cat, or
automobile.
wayno, whose mama didn't raise no fool.
around Oregon.
WRKnight
In article <73c7c9$coa$1...@news.NERO.NET>, jan...@nc.ENGR.ORST.EDU (Ken Janik)
writes:
>(although every member of my family still
>lives there). <<and a lot of other good stuff>>
If you ever come "home" from a visit. The first three rounds are on me.
Wayne Knight
Geneva IL
WRKn...@compuserve.com
WRKn...@aol.com
eaguilr
edwin
WRKnight wrote:
> In article <73c7c9$coa$1...@news.NERO.NET>, jan...@nc.ENGR.ORST.EDU (Ken
> Janik)
> writes:
>
> >(although every member of my family still
Bob
Whitehall, NY
I've really enjoyed reading the posts in this thread.
I was born in upstate NY in 1961, and spent the summers of my youth at
the family camp at Lake George. A small Adirondack brook trout stream ran
through the yard, and another was down the road a hundred yards. Between
the brookies and Lake George's beautiful smallmouths, I was hooked on
fishing at a very young age. I was the only boy in the family, and my Dad
was not a fisherman or hunter. I got my outdoors education from the pages
of "Outdoor Life," Field & Stream," and "Sports Afield," which I read
religiously as a kid. And so I also learned that fly fishing was the
highest form of the black art of fishing, and I aspired to learn it. Mom
bought me a fly tying kit for Christmas when I was ten. It was all down
hill from there.
Actually, I didn't really get into it until after some attempts at
college, and a hitch in the Navy as a Journalist. It was being away from
the Adirondack wilderness that made me really appreciate it, and when I
returned home, I became an avid fisherman and hunter. I am a post office
Letter Carrier in the small town where I grew up. Fly fishing, fly tying,
and duck and deer hunting keep me from becoming disgruntled. ;-)
I live close to the Battenkill River, the Metawee River, the West Branch
of the Ausable, and lots of warm and cold water fisheries of all sorts. I
go on an annual one- or two-week spring vacation to Cape Cod, where I fly
fish for stripers and bluefish. As far as size goes, I'm 6'2" and 250. I
wear a size 14EEEE shoe, and have a hell of a time finding waders, wading
shoes, etc.
I am a bachelor under pressure from a long-time steady girlfriend. She
is almost figuring out why what she calls the "kitchen table," I call the
"fly tying bench." (No meals have been served there in years!). I have
her youngest son completely hooked on fly fishing. He is eight, and is
learning to cast. We wear safety glasses. He is a budding fly tyer, and is
doing pretty damn good at that. He ties a wooly bugger that scares the
fish into submission!!!
This was actually the first year I fished with someone that knew what
they were doing... a retired guy that had been fly fishing since childhood.
It was a relief to find out that I was doing everything OK!
I have no lofty notions of what fly fishing should be. I'm just as
happy catching bluegills on a two-weight as I am catching stripers on a
nine-weight; or casting tiny dries for browns , or dragging flies for
landlocked salmon. I am really just starting to find out how much I love
the sport.
Glad to meet you all!
matthew
First off, I'm 25 years old which makes me the youngest so far. I was born in
New York and moved to Las Vegas, NV at age 5. Grew up there till I was 22
when I moved to WA state. My father took me fishing a couple of times in
Vegas to Lake Mead but I never caught a fish. I didn't catch my first fish
until I was 17 and on a weeklong camping trip during spring break of my senior
year of high school. Caught my first trout on a spinning rod and a flatfish
and was hooked. Fished Lake Mead _alot_ with spinning gear, lures and bait
for stripers. Saw a flyfishing show on TV when I was about 18 and decided I'd
like to try. Started doing a lot of research on it. Read a lot of books, a
lot of magazines and hooked on to the flyfish@ email list. I was going to
UNLV at the time and one of the professors there, Bruce Pencek, told me a
story of a friend of his that landed a 22 pound striper on a flyrod. Well, I
was at work on a golf course a little while later and was talking to one of my
coworkers about it. My coworker told me his brother was big into fishing and
that I should go talk to him. his brother worked on the golf course below us
on the same property so I went down there that day. Turns out his brother was
the guy who caught the 22 pound striper. His brother is also the guy who
taught my to flyfish. Joel Silverman, who is also on the cover of
flyfisherman magazine this past month holding a chilean brown. So, Joel taugh
me to flyfish and I suddenly found myself in utah every weekend as well as
catching stripers on a flyrod in Lake Mead and Lake Mohave. I finished 3
years of college, quit my job in Vegas, took some cash advances off a credit
card and learned to deal poker. Came to Seattle in 1996 for a concert and
ended up getting a job. I saw so much water when I first moved up here that I
didn't fish for 4 months. I was overwhelmed. There were lakes, rivers, and
the saltwater everywhere. Finally went out a few times and decided I had
landed in heaven. Now I deal poker at night and find myself fishing most
mornings and afternoons around my home. I used to have to drive 3 to 4 hours
to get to trout fishing in vegas and now it's within 10 minutes of my home.
My other interests are computers (I accidentally bought a new one last night),
cigars, good restaurants, movies, racquetball, and poker, and since I have
neither children nor a steady girlfriend I can spend as much time and money at
all of them as I like.
Matthew!
=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Matthew W Kaphan
mailto:mat...@heterosexual.com
http://home.sprintmail.com/~mwk
Silverdale, WA
=-=--=-=-===-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Peter D Fetzek
I'm 47, live in Springvale township of Isanti County, MN, (about 50 miles
north of MPLS/STP) with my wife Nancy of 23 yrs and 3 of my 5 (count 'em!)
kids. The two girls, or I should say young women, (23 and 20) are on their
own and the boys (18,14,12) are home yet. I'm a career carpenter/cabinet
maker/woodworker that's spent the last 15 yrs at the U of MN (good pay
and benefits, no-brainer work).
My first run-in with flyfishermen didn't go too well. How would you
feel about two guys, walking downstream, right down the middle of the
river in low water, right past where me and my sons were busy drowning
worms, casting in every possible hole a fish might be in,
ignoring my hullo......not a good first impression. But about 2 years ago
I saw a rod & reel combo on clearance at Target, took a chance, and with a
little help from a buddy at work, started casting....and I never looked
back. Since then I've upgraded, and last winter started tying, with the
help of my oldest son, who's been tying and ff'ing for about 5yrs now. I
believe I've found the thing that's going to get me thru my mid-life
crisis. Some guys buy a fast car, a gold necklace, and start chasing
nubile women...I buy chicken skins and pick up roadkill.
My onwater time is sparse and precious, so
when I get time to fish it's mostly in the local lakes. There's plenty
around, my favorite being one nearby that's too small for fast boats but
just right for tubing. Plenty of panfish and bass reside there. My
absolute fave, though, when I have the time and money, is the Root River
system in SE MN. But lately I've been exploring the rivers
closer to home and found some excellent smallmouth water. Did I say my
oldest lives near Bozeman, right on the Galatin River, but it's a
rare treat when I can get out there and toss a bug. It's
envigorating to me when I realize how much there is to know about this
sport, and what a long way I have to go. I'm gratified to recieve so much
help from so many folks, both online and off, that are willing to share
their expertise, so thank you all who've answered my questions.
Other than this, most of my waking hours are spent raising my family and
providing for them. I'm also in the eighth year of building us a 3000+
timber frame home, about 90% owner-designed and built. Just about everyone
that sees it says it's beautiful, so I guess it is. That's about
it....a lot of work, a little fishing, tying and rodbuilding, some
Young Life and Habitat for Humanity work.....that about sums it up.
later,
pete
W Hart
Born in 1949 right here in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Grew up in Newport
News. Off to college at N.C. State University where I graduated in 1972
with a BS in Wood Science and Technology. After stints with several
furniture and veneer companies in NC (lived for a few years in High Point) I
brought my family back to Virginia. I have worked for Virginia Power for
nearly 19 years now and I'm currently the Senior Planning Engineer at the
North Anna Nuclear Power Station (frightened?!! You should be!).
I fished ever since I could remember anything. Saltwater was a specialty
living on the coast and I particularly liked the trips to the Outer Banks to
surf fish. I have not had much time to fish over the past 15 years. Two
years ago I was the victim of an auto vs. pedestrian accident. I was hit by
a car doing about 50. After a few days they decided I might live. After a
few months they decided I might walk again. Damage to my left leg and right
shoulder was severe. The other 8 or 10 broken bones were not as bad. After
18 months of therapy I was getting around with the aid of a cane and the
physical therapists had done all they could. I saw one of those Saturday
morning fishing shows about fly-fishing. The motion of the fly rod looked
similar to my therapy exercises. The scenery looked like something I needed
to experience. A week later I bought a "complete" fly-fishing outfit by
Cortland which even included a "how to" video.
A week after that I headed to the mountains of Virginia and stopped by
Murray's fly-shop in the Valley. A young lady suggested I try Big Stony
creek just down the road from the shop. I stepped into the water and looked
around. Three trout took up station 3 feet to the right and just behind me.
A few casts later and I caught my first Rainbow Trout, first trout, first
fly-rod trout. 6 months later, several casting lessons later, and a greatly
enlarged fly box later I am still at it. My shoulder has improved
dramatically. Special exercises for my leg were instituted by my trainer to
allow me to navigate the streams. Yesterday, Sunday Nov. 22, I fished the
Jackson River for the first time without a cane attached to my wading belt.
I walked all day today for the first time in over two years without a cane,
crutches, or wheelchair. Perhaps this explains my interest in finding a way
to support the Casting for Recovery (Casting for Health) program.
The solitude and wonderful scenery have done wonders for my emotional
recovery as well. Even my hand coordination is coming back to tie knots.
Wayne
To fish is human...to release divine.
Walt Winter
>then moved back to Carbondale, where I met
>Tim Walker,
>who introduced me to the genteel practice of
>Catch & Release,
>and taught me how to tie a humpy that doesn't look like a spider. That was
>around 1989, I think. >Mitch Mulhall
GOD I LOVE THIS PLACE :^))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
--Wataugan Walt
Charlie Choc
[wonderful stuff snipped]
>allow me to navigate the streams. Yesterday, Sunday Nov. 22, I fished the
>Jackson River for the first time without a cane attached to my wading belt.
>I walked all day today for the first time in over two years without a cane,
>crutches, or wheelchair. Perhaps this explains my interest in finding a way
>to support the Casting for Recovery (Casting for Health) program.
>
>The solitude and wonderful scenery have done wonders for my emotional
>recovery as well. Even my hand coordination is coming back to tie knots.
>
Awesome. Way to go!
--
Charlie...
Ken Janik
Wayne Harrison <wa...@netmcr.com> wrote:
>
>Ken Janik wrote in message <73c7c9$coa$1...@news.NERO.NET>...
>>
>>
>
> kj: may i, ahem, take this opportunity to, um, apologize for anything i
>may have said to you in the past which might have tended in any way,
>directly or indirectly, to offend you, your family, your dog, cat, or
>automobile.
> wayno, whose mama didn't raise no fool.
:-) Cute (-:
- Ken
PIERRE RENAULT
> Jonathan Cook wrote:
> >
> > A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
> > to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
> > a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
> > My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
> > here's mine.
> >
>
Great Idea! Let me bore ya a bit>G At 43 and 6'3" 225... this might make me
one of the oldest newbies to the sport I guess on this ROFF anyway...
I grew up a military brat and moved all across North America and have
had the opportunity to fish in some of the most remote bases known to
man..some unkown to many men I am sure because the Military wanted to hide
my dad from the enemy so they put him where they would never find him ! I
remember fishing at the age of 5 with my Grandfather for barbut in Ontario
and was hooked on the sport from that time on.
As I grew older I fished for pike and musky across Ontario and Quebec and
managed a few sturgeon in my time but most of it was trout bass and pike in
that order lots of pickerel and some Atlantic salmon as well when dad
got posted out there..
Much of this was on lures and trolling I had only heard of ff'ing but
had never seen anyone try it until 1972 when a friend of my fathers
introduced me to his fly tying kit and then I really wondered about the
sanity of anyone doing this.... but after we went out together on the rivers
in Colorado and he got everything and I got repeatedly skunked I knew that I
had to look into this one day.
I forgot about it and concentrated on playing semi-pro ball and studying
for med school doing one helped to get me thru the other as the pay was
shitty in those days and studying to be a lab technologist and then
carrying the ball seemed a good way to work out stress . I am currently the
father of two great teenagers and have taken up the sport with my bro inlaw
here in Calgary Alberta..we have been spoiled by the beauty of the scenery
and the ff'ing is magnificient and we both wish that we had taken this up
years ago but life seemed to get into the way of things at the time. I am
the charge technologist in the pathology department where I work and look
forward to getting out as often as I can my kids are also getting to wonder
about the love of this sport and I intend to get them into it instead of
waiting like their old man did..Well that is it for my 2c worth.
Pierre
ahab
When I was 10 years old, in 1845, I stowed away on whaling vessel out of
Nantucket. The Atlantic stocks were depleted so we rounded the Horn and headed
straight into the Pacific, off the Hawaiian Islands. The days were long and
hard, chasing and harpooning blues and humpbacks. For sport we'd go out after
sperm whales, eight to a boat. We'd cast giant squid patterns with a 40-foot
rod made of a single Norway spruce, all eight men casting and hauling a
fast-sinking double-taper braided copper line with a hemp tippet. Man, you've
never lived until you've got a bighead on the line, running deep -- and then
the line would go slack for minutes, and out of nowhere he'd breech right over
the boat.
After we used up all our harpoons and rations, on the way back to
Massachussetts, we'd stop off at the Farallon Islands and cast "dry-fly"
harbor-seal patterns for Great White Sharks, or sometimes we'd go up to Puget
Sound and fish sea-otter patterns for Orcas. Use the gaff on those babies!
After the whales were gone -- for all practical purposes -- I became a meat
hunter. I used 20-foot-long broadcast shotguns to "harvest" passenger pigeons
in Ohio and Kentucky. We'd pack them in barrels and send them east. After they
got scarce I hunted Canada geese and canvasbacks on the Chesapeake Bay. You
could sneak up on them at night, with dual scattershot guns mounted on swivels
in the front of your boat, and take a whole raft of birds, one shot after
another. They had no idea what was happening. Boom! You'd kill a bunch, and
the rest would take off, fly around, and then land right back in the same
spot. I'd get 5 cents a pound in New York. After these birds became scarce I
moved to Florida and hunted herons and egrets for the plume trade. That was
very profitable, but then those Audubon Society busybodies shut it down.
Then I moved west. The buffalo were pretty much gone. I missed that. There
were still pronghorns, but they were too small and scarce and fast to be
worthwhile, and the homesteaders were taking over their territory
In California I hit the jackpot. On the eastern slope of the Sierras you could
net giant cutthroat trout -- 60 pounders -- all day long. They were much in
demand by the miners and the railroad crews.
By about 1890 it was pretty much over. I spent a time hunting grizzlies,
lions, and wolves for the government. It was fun, and the ranchers would pay a
little extra, but I could see it was going nowhere. I'm a realist, so I moved
into real estate speculation and then into leasing oil-drilling rights in the
Southwest. Now I have billions of dollars, but you don't know my real name.
I'm a private person and a self-made man, owing nothing to no one. At 163 I'm
starting to slow down, but I have some hotshot scientists working on a cure
for old age. They say it's just a matter of resetting my "telomeres", whatever
they are.
Now I'm a catch-and-release kind of guy. I like to catch itsy-bitsy brook
trout with a 2-weight rod and #28 midges that I can barely see. I can't tie
them on the 7x tippet so I have a 16-year-old Vietnamese girl in waders right
next to me at all times. I swear, that girl has microscopes for eyes.
I've been quietly buying up huge tracts of prime hunting and fishing land in
Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. I don't use my real name, of course. I prefer to
work through movie stars and media moguls on my payroll. People complain
because the land is posted. Hell, I say if you want to fish go make a billion
dollars and buy your own damn river.
Danny McMillin
I'm 43 and live in Seattle, Washington. I grew up on Puget Sound, and
fishing went with the territory. On summer days, I'd go out at low tide
and dig up clams and worms to fish from the rocks of Alki Point at high
tide. I'd catch perch, sea bass, rock cod, bullhead and ratfish.
Salmon were a big part of my late 20's and 30's. I'd row out a bit from
the shore of Alki and cast out buzz bombs (a lead lure) and catch silvers
and kings. During an El Nino year, I once netted a 15 pound sunfish, which
I then let go after identifying.
I've been fly fishing since 1977 when I picked up the sport while working
in Fairbanks, Alaska. My first fish caught was a 6 inch artic grayling on a
mosquito dry fly on a stream about 3 feet across and 1.5 feet deep. I
always remember fly fishing at 2 am in the morning in bright sunlight.
What a long days they have up there in the summer!
Since then, I've taught myself many of the differing aspects of this great
sport. I mainly stream fish for trout. I l've lived most of my life in
Seattle, Washington, USA and have fished the Snoqualmie River system
extensively. I love dry
fly fishing and have just started to explore nymphing, streamers and wet
flys this year.
Here's a little story I wrote eariler this summer on my best day on the river.
--
Earlier this summer, I fished a new section of the South Fork of the
Snoqualmie River in Washington State, USA. A friend and I walked in until
we found an access point to fish.
I've had great success on the Snoqualmie with a #10 parachute Adams and
this stretch of river was no different. It seems the local cutthroat trout
just can't resist it. I caught and released many cuts that day.
Then I saw a deep pool with a fast water entrance with a low branch
protecting a deep hole with some slower water. I got to my knees to make a
lower profile cast. By making a side arm cast, I was able to get the fly
under the branch and upstream of the hole for a natural drift. Up came a
giant trout to lazily sip my fly. I set the hook and the fish was on, then
off. "What happened," I asked myself. I checked the hook and sure enough,
the tip of the hook was missing; broken off on the rocks behind during a
false cast from my knees. "Nooooooooooooo," I screamed. I retied another
para-adams, but to no avail. The fish would have none of it. I marked the
spot well and vowed to return.
We've had a great end of the summer here in Seattle, Washington. The sun
was shining and the temperature was 75 degrees F today. I thought what the
heck; the first day of autumn should be fished. I cut out of work a bit
early, jumped into the car and headed for that stretch of the South Fork.
After a pleasant ride through the fall colors of the vine maples, I got to
the access point and set up my rod and reel. Once again, the #10 parachute
Adams didn't disappoint. I caught and released 11 native cutthroat trout
with the biggest about 9 inches.
I worked my way up to that deep pool with the branch protecting it. Once
again, I cast side arm to work the fly upstream of the pool. The fly
drifted naturally down into the pool. And ever so slowly, the big cut
drifted up and sipped my Adams. Just as slowly, I lifted my rod tip and
set the hook. Fish on, my friends. That beautiful cutthroat put on a
mighty battle for about 2 or 3 minutes before I was able to land, measure
and release that princely fish. He measured in at 14.5 inches: the biggest
cutthroat ever caught by me on the Snoqualmie! I'm still beaming over the
experience of it all. Thank God for second chances.
Danny McMillin
--
Danny McMillin -- Remove XX from email address to reduce spam.
Flyfis4fun
and I are on the opposite sides of it. I live just outside of Spokane which
just happens to be 15 minutes from my favorite lake!!
I don't really remember the first time I held a fly rod. I would assume that
it has been a part of my life for about 27 of my 30 years on this planet. I
grew up in the North Central part of Washington in the small town of Okanogan.
Those of you who live in the Northwest will associate that name with Chopaka
and Blue Lake. I must say that I grew up in some very pristine fishing
environments and have lived a life blessed with unspoiled mountains and large
trout.
In 1986 I left home and moved to Cheney, WA to attend Eastern Washington
University. Since they didn't have a degree in flyfishing I opted to become a
Recreation Therapist and help folks who incurred a recent disability return to
their love of outdoor sports. For the last 2 years I have been a stay at home
dad during the day and work graveyards to pay for my habit of flyfishing. I
must say thay being a stay at home dad makes it really easy to tell the spouse
about the unexpected week long fishing trip!! Hard to argue with the
babysitter.
My true passion is fishing a small river in British Columbia that most of you
have never heard of. My Dad first brought me there when I was 9 or 10 and I
have continued to fish the river yearly since his passing in 1985. The trout
are wild and I don't see another fisherman the whole day. What else could you
ask for? As life tends to come full circle, I now take my 5 year old son and 2
year old daughter fishing with me and look forward to the day that they can
wade the river with me.
Mike Wilson
Fishing!! What else is there?
Wayne Harrison
wrote:
>My turn, My turn!
(neat, enthusiastic bio snipped)
>
> mailto:mat...@heterosexual.com
now that's what i call my kind of email address!
wayno the straight
Ken Janik
WRKnight <wrkn...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>In article <73c7c9$coa$1...@news.NERO.NET>, jan...@nc.ENGR.ORST.EDU (Ken Janik)
>writes:
>
>
>If you ever come "home" from a visit. The first three rounds are on me.
>
>Wayne Knight
>Geneva IL
At least you're a west-siders, not one of those DAMN north-siders. :-)
I'll have to take you up on your offer some year, although I'm working on
getting my family to move out my way. Sister wants to go to college in
Seattle (I guess it's trendy or something) but my brother wants to go to
college in Oregon (he came out for a visit and has been talking about it
ever since...he's 16 btw).
Now I just have to take up drinking. :-)
Later,
- Ken
WRKnight
In article <73ddpv$1an$1...@news.NERO.NET>, jan...@nc.ENGR.ORST.EDU (Ken Janik)
writes:
>At least you're a west-siders, not one of those DAMN north-siders. :-)
>I'll have to take you up on your offer some year, although I'm working on
>getting my family to move out my way. Sister wants to go to college in
>Seattle (I guess it's trendy or something) but my brother wants to go to
>college in Oregon (he came out for a visit and has been talking about it
>ever since...he's 16 btw).
>
I just live here, I'm a southern boy relocated to the land of Daly, cubbies, no
trout, and winter.
The offer stands whenever you're ready ....but probably not in your old
neighborhood <g>.
pihlbe
I'm a 38 yr..old native Floridian married to a girl from Berea ,Ohio.
I am a freelance Bass Trombonist. ( And no that has nothing to do with
largemouth. ) I met my wife while we were playing in a local Orchestra
together.
I was born in Winter Park ,Florida and moved to Clermont ,FL at the
beginning of 3rd grade.
I grew up on the shore of Lake Minnehaha, which is one of the Clermont Chain
of Lakes.
I was lucky enough to have experienced Pre-mouse Florida.
I moved to Jupiter in 1980 and now reside in West Palm Beach .
Because of my occupation I get to spend a lot of time on the water.
I love casting to Mangrove shorelines and fishing tidal rivers for
Snook,Tarpon,Redfish, et al.
I also spend a lot of time fishing the surf where big Jacks are the main
attraction.
I release at least 99.9% of the fish that I catch and do not feel any guilt
for doing so.
One of the things I enjoy most is helping out people that are trying to
figure out this whole saltwater flyfishing thing.
Anytime you plan on coming to South Florida feel free to contact me.
I do have a confession to make.
I have never been Trout fishing.
I hope to remedy this horrible situation this coming summer somewhere in
Appalachia.
(note to Wayne: please forgive the intrusion of another jerk from FL.)
This is my first home computer and I love all the things that you can do
with it.
I read ROFF for about a month before feeling compelled to post.
I think this is a very interesting group and am very happy to have found it.
Phil Beebe
Charlie Choc
I'd hate to see what my old neighborhood (Cicero) looks like now.
Wasn't that much when I lived there 45 years ago, but the Czech and
Polish food was sure good<g>.
--
Charlie...
Bernie Picklo
My name is Bernie Picklo, but all my friends call me "Pick." I'm 29 years
old, married to a wonderful woman, and expecting our first child in a few
weeks (How soon is too soon to buy a fly rod?). I'm 6'8" tall (which I
believe makes me the tallest so far--you think YOU can't find waders? :-{)} )
and go 250 pounds. With my 9' rod in the air, I make a good lightning rod!
I was born in Johnstown, PA and lived there almost all of my life. I
graduated from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in December 1991 with
a B.S. in Secondary Education. That's right, I'm a teacher--Earth and Space
Science, Astronomy, and Geology. I moved to Bradford, PA (home of Zippo
lighters and Case knives) in 1992 for my job, where I then met my wife.
I've been fishing all of my life, but only discovered fly fishing 3 years ago.
I've learned an incredible amount of information from reading, watching fly
fishing shows, and this news group. Thanks, folks! I've also spent a weekend
learning at Kinzua Fly Fishing School here in Bradford. It's run by a couple
friends of mine, and they do a great job teaching fly fishing and fly tying.
Joe Humphries also teaches for one of the three days. It was great to spend a
day on the stream with him. I learned an incredible amount of information
that one day!!!! They also do a fly tying class that runs five weeks in
Jan/Feb when the "shack-nasties" kick in. I'm not one to brag, but I have
gotten pretty dang good at this game in the last three years. Carl Zandi (one
of the instructors) calls me a "sponge." They have invited me to assist them
with their school next year. They have a web site if you are interested, but
I can't remember that address. Do a search if you are interested.
The streams here in NW PA are nice, small freestone streams that hold small to
average trout that are stocked by the PA Fish Commission. The trout aren't
the best, but the scenery is beautiful. I hope to someday fish the other
limestoners in Central PA, and eventually get "out west" and be one of those
tourist people.
To tell you the truth, I enjoy just being on the stream. I have grown in so
many ways because of my interest and love of this sport. I try to integrate
it into my classes as much as possible, and the students either get sick of
hearing about it, or want to hear more, depending upon their interest. I'm
thinking of starting a fly fishing club here at our high school with another
teacher. I'd like to get them involved in TU and the Fish Commission. Float
stocking and stream restoration are needed in this area, and it would be nice
to get the younger generation involved in a positive way. If anyone else out
there is involved in anything like this, e-mail me with any ideas that you
have. Thanks.
Well, I've taken enough time. Thanks for letting me introduce myself. If
anyone else out there is from this area, let me know you're there.
Bernie Picklo
Bradford, PA
Walt Winter
Phil,
just give me a ring when you're up and i'll take care of that trout
discrepancy for you. don't worry 'bout wayno, you're a native
southerner, but ummm, a bottle of swedish breath should mollify him...
--Walt
Walt Winter
>
>I'm 163 years old -- the last of the Yankee whalers.
Brian?
--Wataugan Walt
Rork D. Kuick
month-long vacations in boundary waters or north of Lake Superior (in the days
of northerns on every cast). This was in areas known to my grandfather since
the 30s. I do not know why he knew how to flyfish. But it was assumed.
I was educated in Germany and Austria in the ways of browns and how to
(usually illegally) fish them near my mother's home, where we lived a year
here and there (Korea, Nam stints), til the last stint sent us back to the
states without my dad. I had a good year in Carlisle PA in there -much fishing.
Still spent summers up-north with my grandpa, traveling, fishing, in areas
where folks as white as me are few.
I went to the u. of Mich. in 75 and had my brother to go fishing/tripping
with, and in this era became more addicted to the fly. At this time we'd
started the backpacking thing, Idaho,WA,Montana - I forget just where ;),
which we continue.
In the mid 80's I got more sophisticated since my mom had a new man (Frank
Waterloo) who was an excellent flytyier, and had books.
In this era I discovered steelheading (and salmon) both here (MI) and out west
(brother lives on the Columbia). And it is a damn good thing I did not discover
it sooner, or I would have never studied. I am currently less addicted to
fishing than at any previous time I recall, so there is hope for all but the
worst cases.
Stan Gula
but having seen posts from two guys from my backyard, I feel obliged.
I'm a 45 year old software guy born, raised and living in Springfield,
MA. Attended UMass and thought I was a mathemetician, but fell in
love with computers a long time ago. I'm now self employed (thanks to
the greedmeisters who drove Monarch Life Ins. into the ground 10 years
ago). I figured out this year that I can make time to fish twice a
week without ruining my business, so I go flyfishing at least one
weekday and take my three sons (start playing Fred MacMurray's theme
music) or my dad to a lake on the weekends. Life is good.
I started flyfishing 2 years ago after re-meeting a college buddy at a
TU meeting. In the past I was mainly a spin fisher, most recently
using my ultra-light outfit with small spinners on small streams. I
am convinced that flies are more effective for most local fishing and
only use my spinning outfit for an occasional change of pace. I
started tying my own flies last winter and all 3 of my sons (music
still playing in the background) have started tying too. I now have
two vices so we can work side-by-side. They are really good at
palmering hackle and doing peacock bodies. (We tied a bunch of Zug
bugs and Griffith's gnats this weekend).
I usually fish local waters - the East branch of the Westfield, the
Swift, the Deerfield, and lots of panfishing in the smaller ponds. I
keep trout caught in the small ponds that get too warm to carry trout
over the summer, but practice C&R in waters that can hold over.
Nice to meet you all.
(note to George9219 - my Dad was a machinist at the Spfld. Armory for
many years. He ended up doing rifling for GE when they took over the
plant. He's the Chicopee Stan Gula...).
--Stan Gula
George9219 wrote in message
<19981122203901...@ng80.aol.com>...
>I was born in Ware, MA in 1940, when this area was still quite rural.
Fishing &
<etc. snipped>
DavPLaC
(lots of good stuff snipped)
<<(note to George9219 - my Dad was a machinist at the Spfld. Armory for
many years. He ended up doing rifling for GE when they took over the
plant. He's the Chicopee Stan Gula...).>>
Small world. My mom ran a lathe in the Springfield Armory during WWII.
Dave LaCourse
Stan Gula
to<G> Nice to meetcha. And if you ever see a 'way to big for his
waders' guy with a shaggy beard at the y-pool, say hello!
--Stan
DavPLaC wrote in message
<19981124114115...@ng14.aol.com>...
Ken Janik
Charlie Choc <cc...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>wrkn...@aol.com (WRKnight) wrote:
>>In article <73ddpv$1an$1...@news.NERO.NET>, jan...@nc.ENGR.ORST.EDU (Ken Janik)
>>writes:
>>
>>trout, and winter.
>>
>> The offer stands whenever you're ready ....but probably not in your old
>>neighborhood <g>.
>>
>I'd hate to see what my old neighborhood (Cicero) looks like now.
>Wasn't that much when I lived there 45 years ago, but the Czech and
>Polish food was sure good<g>.
That's probably one of the few things I miss about Chicago. The pierogi,
kielbasa and good kapusta. I miss real deep dish pizza too...Giordano's will
next day air you a frozen deep dish by the way. Not that I've ever done that. :-)
Man I'm hungry now. :-)
Later,
- Ken
Churchill
years there and in suburban Syracuse, NY. I am 6'1" and 240 pounds.
Former football player in HS and at Ithaca Colege in NY.
My parents divorced when I was in the 4th grade and then began my moving
around. In the 8th grade we moved to Cherry Hill, NJ where I got in with
some guys who loved to fish. I had fished on and off for most of my life
leading up to that. Mostly in the summers in the Finger Lakes to the
southwest of Syracuse when visiting my father. When I met up with this
group of guys my fishng fever kicked in. We maily fished for bass and
pickerel in small private lakes with minnows that we learned how to catch
ourselves. I got into flyfishing around this time. Mainly I caught
panfish and pickerel. In high school I moved back to Syracuse with my
father and started flyfishing for trout in the streams around that area.
I also discovered the waters of the Delaware watershed at that time. That
is really where I learned how to catch fish on flies. To have to put a
fly on a fish's nose from 60 feet away is something that I got to be
pretty good at and wonder if I could still do it today. I now live in
North CArolina and am a most of the time fishing guide. I fish on the
Roanoke River for striped bass, in the ocean around Cape Lookout for
anything that swims out there with the main emphasis on the false
albacore blitz in the fall. I have been married to a great woman for
going on three years now (We have beentogether for over eight years). I
know if I had married any other she would have left me long ago because of
this fishing thing.
I recently tried to catalog all the fish I have caught on flies in my life
and this is what I came up with:
freshwater-
sunfish (no differentiation between species), lm bass, sm bass, pickerel,
northern pike, brown trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, steelehad, king
salmon, coho salmon, bullhead, channel catfish, carp
satlwater-
pinfish,bluefish,striped bass, speckled trout, redfish(puppy drum in NC),
lizard fish, flounder, spanish mackerel, false albacore(little tunny),
ladyfish, jack crevalle
I think that is a fair documentation of most fish you could hope to catch
from here to New York on a fly. I am hoping to get some of the Floridian
fish to go on that list since a good buddy of mine recently moved that
way. I went to grad school at USF in Tampa but at that time flyfishing
for me was only for trout on streams and rivers. What a fool I was to
have missed out on that great saltwater action on fly.
My biggest thing is to help people who used to think the way I used to
that flyrods are for any fish that is out there and not just for trout.
That is why I also spend a lot of time fishing with a flyrod on the
reservoirs around the Raleigh, NC area. Jordan and Harris Lakes offer
great fishing with fly and I, and people fishing with me, are usually the
only ones with a flyrod that I ever see.
--
Flyfish NC
Gordon Churchill
flyf...@worldwideangler.com
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/3853
Redd Tarp
> In article <3659C757...@earthlink.net>, ah...@earthlink.net says...
> >
> >I'm 163 years old -- the last of the Yankee whalers.
>
> Brian?
>
Yea. Brian Kieth.
Redd
Phil Jones
I'm Phil Jones, a 48-yr old living in South Wales, UK. For those of you
who aren't sure where that is, Wales is one of the four countries making
up the UK, ie Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England in
descending order of importance. Wales is the bit on the left that
sticks out between England and the Irish Sea.
I grew up in the heart of the South Wales coalfield, surrounded by
coalmines, slag heaps and steelworks. The river in our valley, the
Ebbw, was said to be one of the most polluted rivers in Europe and
either ran black or red, depending on whether the mines or the
steelworks were discharging more shit at the time.. My only fishing as
a kid was for one-inch sticklebacks and tadpoles in the local canal
(disused by then but formerly the means of transporting coal down the
valley to the docks).
Schooling was not a huge success and after a few mediocre jobs I moved
to London in '72 for a job with UK Customs. After just a year in London
I transferred back to South Wales and settled in Swansea, described by
Dylan Thomas as the "graveyard of ambition". Certainly true in my case
- still here after 25 years, still with the Customs, and not likely to
move now..
Brought an English wife back to Wales from London but least said about
that the better.. (Wayne will know what I mean when I say "Twll dyn pob
Sais"). :-)
In '77 I discovered that there were fish in the local river, the Tawe
(pronounced more or less like "tower") and thought I'd investigate.
This was a novelty for me - I had assumed that all the South Wales
valley rivers had been killed off by the industrial revolution. I was
amazed to find that these fish consisted of brown trout and (some said)
salmon.. A friend took me out a couple of times and proved that it was
true - he caught trout and we saw what appeared to be salmon..!! I
immediately bought tackle and soon caught my first small fish on a worm,
then some half-decent ones on a small spinner and within four weeks a
wonderful four-pound sea trout (sea-run brown) which I shall never
forget. I was hooked..!
I progressed to flyfishing and flytying and have been through the usual
stages - gotta catch a fish; gotta catch a lotta fish; gotta catch a big
fish; gotta catch a lotta big fish... Have caught my share of sea
trout, the Welsh speciality (which we call "sewin"), and a dozen or so
salmon on fly and have now got it out of my system - don't mind much
whether I catch at all these days, as long as I know the fish are still
there and are managing OK..
There's more to fishing than catching fish, of course, and I've also
been active with fishing clubs and representative bodies, trying to do
my bit on the conservation front. Fishing also introduces you to so
much else - entomology, water quality, etc.. Met Bill Grey, a neighbour
who also posts here, through one of the local fishing clubs.
I like a drink, which probably shows in some of my posts here..
Currently in the middle of a mid-life crisis but looking forward to
winning 12 million (pounds) on the lottery and coming over to look at
some of the fisheries you all describe here.. :-)
This is a great newsgroup which has made me think far more about fishing
than I did before. I particularly value the C&R / C&K threads (we in
the UK are only just waking up to the issues involved), descriptions of
the differing threats to fisheries and enjoy the diversions into
drinking, etc.
Keep it up, everyone, and keep including local flavour in your
postings..!
--
Phil Jones
Mark Vinsel
Mark Vinsel - age 41, divorced, no kids, artist and telecom manager.
I grew up in Navy towns on the east coast, started fishing on my own with a
cane pole for catfish and perch, and learned to flyfish when we moved to New
Hampshire when I was twelve. In a family of eight kids, I think what
attracted me to fishing was the solitude and introspection, and the deep
metaphor that what is of interest there is below the surface. The woods,
lakes and streams shaped my personality and I spend as much time as I can
outdoors. My grandfather worked in a paper mill so we always had paper to
draw on, so I had an early interest in art.
I hitchhiked around the country when I was nineteen, including a fifty mile
hike across the North Cascades in November where I had a survival
experience. I came out to Lake Chelan and caught a 22" rainbow trout while
I waited for the boat down the lake. Back in NH I worked manual labor for a
pump company, where once I was lowered on a rope into a giant septic tank to
retrieve a pump that had broken from its pipe. I love the west and moved
out when I was 21 to work through school. Life has been comparitively easy
ever since.
I followed a sweetheart to San Francisco, married, we worked through school
and divorced with no kids. During my twenties fishing was always something
I had to negotiate time for. I know now that I cannot compromise on my need
to be in the outdoors a good bit of time.
I combined my art and engineering interests and graduated in Industrial
Design. I worked for a startup company that didn't do well then another
that did, and I ended up in data and voice telecom. Single and without
extravagant needs, I started taking fishing trips on three and four day
weekends with an excess of vacation time to whittle away as the company
calmed down to stability. Fishing with Jon Ernst shook up my eastern dry
fly approach and now I fish heavy nymphs and streamers just as often. I
really enjoy fish big enough that you are not in control; when one gets off
I feel great as it proves the challenge of it. Steelhead and the large
rainbows of western alkaline lakes are my favorite fishing, though I love
any time on any trout stream.
I had always taken art classes and especially enjoyed chinese brush painting
and outdoor watercolor, and about ten years ago I started painting when I
traveled and fished. I sold paintings to friends and acquaintances and at
open studio events, so I have never had enough to approach galleries. When
friends started an internet company and needed something on their web site
to demo (it was difficult to explain the WWW to someone who'd never seen
it), I learned simple html and made a web site showing my paintings. It
was popular and I have kept up with it with new works ever since. There have
beeen some sales and commissions, enough to encourage me to paint more and
work less. As an experiment I quit my job and traveled for four months last
year, painting and fishing and updating the web site as I went, to see if I
could be productive in a nomadic lifestyle. It was the most productive and
enjoyable period in my life and I look forward to more.
I read a lot and write a little, unpublished so far. I am especially fond
of travel and adventure writings, but I feel disgusted with psuedo machismo
and the notion of conquering a mountain. In this day and age our
relationship with nature needs to change to man with nature rather than
against it.
I currently have a part-time telecom position that gives me four day
weekends, so I have been traveling mostly in California and neighboring
states this year. I look forward to making a home base in northern
California to travel from to fish and paint, after another five to ten years
of paycheck work.
My freewheeling lifestyle for the last few years was enabled by my divorce;
what felt like tragedy then has proved to be opportunity. I have had a few
relationships and have a woman best friend that I once pined over, but long
term happiness came last year when I faced up to the fact that I may well be
single the rest of my life and should be living as I wish, not wishing for a
different life.
I read in this nice thread that most of you have families and kids, and I
envy those riches as much or more as you would envy my freedom.
I am just starting dating a woman from North Carolina, an artist and nature
lover, the first person I have met in eight years that gives me a sparkly
and giddy feeling I thought I had outgrown. Even if it doesn't work out it
is an awakening to feel attraction again. Anything can happen and I look
forward with an open mind.
I have a few personal mantras:
Roses have thorns.
The currency of life's true riches is experience.
Never underestimate the importance of having your fly on the water.
Mark Vinsel
www.vinsel.com
Moe Skeeter
--
Ralphbot
DAVID_...@ca.ibm.com
I've been a lurker on ROFF and other fishing groups for many
years. Make the occasional contribution on trickier aspects of
rod building.
Born in Liverpool, England in 1948 - the capital city of the
export Irish - and was dragged up willy-nilly in Surrey with
the river Mole (a tributary of the Thames) on my doorstep. As
a callow youth, spent much of my formative years up to my
knees in said river and learned how to 'tickle' trout before I
was 8 years old. Most of my fishing was with a rudimentary
steel (yup, not necessarily stainless you understand) rod, a
simple drum style reel without any of those sissie weights and
centrifigal brakes, and a float with worms or compacted bread
balls. With this primitive equipment, I illegally caught many a
trout and pike as well as the smaller denizens of the river such
as sticklebacks and gudgeon. Left Dorking Grammar school with
very little education (6 O-levels) and a contract to play pro
football (soccer) with Crystal Palace -- who soon tired of my
somewhat erratic genius and sent me to a team called 'Brighton
and Hove-Albion' for seasoning. I decided I wasn't going to
play for a team that was insecure enough to need two names
and never reported.
Instead, I emigrated to Canada and stayed with my grandmother's
sister in Stoney Creek until I found an apartment and a job
stacking empty bottles in the local Dominion grocery store. By
chance, the local bank manager dropped in one day for a case of
Adanac ginger ale and mentioned that the bank need trainee's. I
signed up and eventually became a bank manager in five years or
so, supplementing my income under the table by playing soccer
with several teams in the National League. Finding banking less
than satisfying, I left and got a job at IBM Canada costing
sub-assemblies and studied for my RIA (registered industrial
accountant) in the evenings. I soon found that computers and
programming were not as tough as I'd imagined and, to cut a long
story short after 25 years eventually ended up a Staff programmer
at IBM's Toronto Laboratory.
Moved to Toronto while still with the bank and met my first wife
Carole at their St Clair and Alvin branch. Fortunately she was an
outdoor type, so we camped and fished and lived happily together
for 20 years until she died prematurely of breast cancer at the age
of 40. Six years later, I met a wonderful, tiny Portuguese lady called
Ortelia who became my wife around 7 years ago. At the wedding I
quipped that the only reason I married her was that she had her own
fishing equipment and wouldn't have to borrow mine. Lots of truth in
humour... :-) Anyway, since then we've fished Ontario's lakes and
rivers for steelhead, salmon, bass, walleye, muskie, crappie, ling cod,
northern pike and lake (grey) trout with every kind of method that
can reasonably be employed - spinning, casting, fly, ice-fishing. I
started making my own rods over 30 years ago - purely then for
financial reasons and made some money selling the results to local
fishermen, who recommended me to friends, who recommended me to
other friends, who... well, you get the idea. Finally about 5 years ago,
I had to quit since I simply didn't have the time to keep up with the
demands and my eyes are not as good as they used to be. I still make
all my own rods and a few for friends, though.
Interests? When I when I read Peter Charles' list, I was struck by the
similarities. I'm a stocky 260lbs, middle-aged, slightly balding guy who
is an extremely accomplished beer drinker, and a wine fancier (although I
can't afford the fancier wines); also a painter and sometime graphic
artist. I love soccer still and play in the over-35 league in the winter and
an IBM house league during the summer - which usually leaves me in
considerable pain for the rest of the week. I am an ex-hunter, pasta
lover, ex-shooter (started with SMLE .303 at school), not-so-novice
webpage designer, taco hater, wannabe novelist...
Best thread I've seen in a long time...
David E. Malone
All opinions expressed are my own.
Wayne Harrison
wrote:
>Hello,
>Mark Vinsel - age 41, divorced, no kids, artist and telecom manager.
>
(truly moving bio snipped)
>I am just starting dating a woman from North Carolina, an artist and nature
>lover, the first person I have met in eight years that gives me a sparkly
>and giddy feeling I thought I had outgrown.
what the hell did you expect from a tar heel ? ground balls?
:)
wayno, proud to be in carolina
>Mark Vinsel
>www.vinsel.com
>
>
Tim Lysyk
>
> A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
> to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
> a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
> My newsfeed has been erratic, so I don't know if he did, but
> here's mine.
>
>
Hi All:
This thread is a great idea, so here is my bio.
I am 39 years old (no..really) and I plan to stay that way for a while. I was
born August 06, 1959 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. My father was in the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, and was transferred often. I lived in a lot of
different places. We left Ottawa when I was less than two months old, and
crossed the Arctic Circle to live one year in Inuvik and one year in Aklavik. We
returned to Ottawa for 3 years, then moved to Prince Rupert B.C. for two years,
Regina Saskatchewan for 5 years, Toronto Ontario for 3, then Edmonton Alberta. I
finished high school in Edmonton, then earned a B.Sc. in Zoology from the
University of Alberta. During the summers of my University years, I worked in
Lethbridge AB for an Agriculture Canada Research Station. My student jobs were
in entomology, and that was the career path I chose.
I completed a Master's degree in Entomology at South Dakota State University in
Brookings SD, then earned my Ph.D. in Entomology at North Carolina State
University. I lived in Raleigh NC for three years, and upon graduation, returned
to Canada to work as a research scientist in insect population dynamics for the
Canadian Forestry Service in Sault Ste. Marie. I stayed there 3 years, then
transferred back to Lethbridge, where I worked as a student, as a research
scientist in livestock entomology. My research subjects include blood sucking
flies and ticks that attack cattle. I am an adjunct professor at the University
of Lethbridge, and currently teach medical-veterinary entomology.
I was married in 1984, had a daughter by that marriage, but we split up in 1989
and were divorced soon after, My daughter is 13 and lives in Kansas City with
her mother.
I remarried in 1991, and my current wife is an avid fly fisher, excellent fly
tier and builds rods. We have a 20 month-old boy, Ted, who also seems to like
fly fishing and has tried his hand at casting. We also have a new child due in
January.
My first memories of fishing were trying to catch sunfish (I think) near Ottawa
when I was three. I fished with my brothers in Prince Rupert, but as the
youngest of 5, (3 brothers, 1 sister), I usually ended up carrying the fish
home. I fished quite a bit when I lived in Regina, and fished sporadically while
in school. I returned to fishing with a vengeance when I was with the forestry
service. I spent most summers on Northern Ontario, near Nipigon, and did a lot
of fishing for pike, walleye and the occasional brook trout.
My return to Alberta started my fly fishing career. My current wife and I
decided to take it up together, and we have really enjoyed it. She doesn't fish
as much now that we have kids, but she still gets out. I still fish frequently,
about once a week. I am fortunate that my employer allows flexible time, so I
can work a four-day week and fish one day during the week. I can then spend the
entire weekend with my family. I generally fish the waters in southwestern
Alberta, including the Crowsnest River and area. I also fish southeastern B.C.,
including the Elk and lots of other great streams. I also fly fish for pike in
the spring. My largest was 25 lb..
I have had a lot of very good and diverse fishing experiences. I have made very
good friends through fishing, and cannot imagine doing anything else in my spare
time.
I run a web page about fishing in our area. It is at
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/cnangler/html/
Take a look, and let me know what you think.
Tim Lysyk
timl...@telusplanet.net
Ralph H
Kevin Thornton
in my 2 cents.
I was born and raised in Tucson, AZ and now live in Colorado with my wife
and 18 month old son. There's not a whole lot of fishing in So. Arizona,
but I managed to catch a couple of dozen trout with my dad in the White
Mountains, Catalinas, and down by the border at Parker Lake (mostly on
Z-rays and salmon eggs).
Four years ago, after graduating from the University of Arizona in Civil
Engineering, I was transferred to the Denver area to work as a Highway
Design Engineer. I picked up my passion for fly fishing almost immediately
and talked my wife into buying me a demo Sage DS and Ross Cimarron for my
b-day. I still consider myself an intermediate fly fisherman, but I think
I'm improving every time I go out. I fish the Rockies, usually within a 3
hour drive of Denver, so it's semi-difficult to find an uncrowded stream,
but it can be done. My sister recently moved to Alaska, so I figure I have
a good reason to spend some dough on a nice trip now. I started tying about
a year ago, and now have just started building rods. I am a tackle junkie,
but try not to spend too much on stuff I don't need. It's for this reason
that I began building my own rods. I practice C & R, but have no problem
with the person that wants to keep the occasional fish.
That's basically the extent of it. You can tell I'm an engineer, because I
sure can't write worth a darn.
Kevin Thornton
P.S. It's amazing to read about all of the different backgrounds and
locations of all of these posts!!
Kevin Thornton
Kevin
Kiyu
>In article <3659C757...@earthlink.net>, ah...@earthlink.net says...
>>
>>I'm 163 years old -- the last of the Yankee whalers.
Ahhhh. And just when everyone was bonding so nicely.....
>
>
>Brian?
Nahhhh. Don't think Ahab has ever worn a Gore-Tex Piss Pouch.
>
>--Wataugan Walt
>
Kiyu
Peter Charles
>Hi, folks.
>
[lots of really good stuff snipped]
>
>Interests? When I when I read Peter Charles' list, I was struck by the
>similarities. I'm a stocky 260lbs, middle-aged, slightly balding guy who
>is an extremely accomplished beer drinker, and a wine fancier (although I
>can't afford the fancier wines); also a painter and sometime graphic
>artist. I love soccer still and play in the over-35 league in the winter and
>an IBM house league during the summer - which usually leaves me in
>considerable pain for the rest of the week. I am an ex-hunter, pasta
>lover, ex-shooter (started with SMLE .303 at school), not-so-novice
>webpage designer, taco hater, wannabe novelist...
>
>Best thread I've seen in a long time...
>
>David E. Malone
>All opinions expressed are my own.
>
David
This is getting to be like 'old home week.' Now, this is before I
read your post; I'm driving home from doing some installations in our
Barrie office and I started thinking about joining an old farts soccer
league to work off the pounds. I was never even remotely close to
Crystal Palace standards, but I used to coach and play in an
industrial league. Talk about coincidences. If you're still in the
Toronto area, maybe we should plan on beating up on some brookies
together, on the Upper Credit after opening? Are you in the IWFFC?
Peter
FiddleAway
I almost forgot! I'm a baseball nut. I love my Padres and always will,
whether they're winnin' or takin a good ass kickin at the hands of those
Damn Yankees.
Which brings up a question. Have any of you taken the time to read 'Casey
at the Bat' recently? I had never realized just how well the ancient poem
(from the 1800's) captures the intensity of the modern game. Try it,
you'll like it.--
-dnc-
Peter Charles
wrote:
[great story snipped]
Always knew flyfishing could repair a broken soul, but this adds a
whole new aspect. Kinda puts everything into perspective.
Best of luck and here's to a complete recovery and lots of fish.
Peter
W.D.Grey
<timl...@telusplanet.net> writes
>I completed a Master's degree in Entomology at South Dakota State University in
>Brookings SD, then earned my Ph.D. in Entomology at North Carolina State
>University.
Hi Tim,
We know where to come now when we have questions about flies..:-)
Nice to hear fro you.
--
Bill
Herman Nijland
thread!
My name is Herman Nijland, 36 years old and live in Utrecht, the
Netherlands. I am married to Karin for 2 happy years now, and we have
two great kids (Kira, 2,5 and Koen, 5 months; take a look at them at
http://members.xoom.com/HippoNL/). I can hardly wait to take them out
and show them the beauty of nature, the birds, plants, insects.. and
fish, of course.
I used to work as a system manager until June last year, but changed
jobs into the Internet field. I now work at the Centre for Genetic
Resources in the Netherlands as webmaster, mainly keeping myself busy
with databaselinks, ASP scripts and
the like. I'll spare you the rest of my career.
Fishing in the Netherlands is something else than what I've read so far.
We managed, with the aid of our neighbouring countries, to get
completely rid of almost all of those bloody salmonids in our rivers.
This wasn't difficult; canalisation, pollution and overharvesting did
the job nicely, thank you... So now we fish for virtually everything
with scales.
Fishing for me started when I was still very young, about 5 years old I
guess.
I clearly remember the first time I went fishing with my father, digging
up worms, making our own floats the evening before. Not being able to
sleep, full of anticipation and getting up waaaay to early for my poor
father. There was something mystical, almost magic in those misty
mornings at the big river. I don't even remember if we caught anything,
the fishing itself was more than enough. Fishing has been an important
part of my life since, either with worms, bread, maggots, spinners.. you
name it, I used it. About ten years ago I discovered flyfishing, and
after the first couple of years of alternating love and hate I have to
admit that I'm completely addicted. I tie my own flies, and have a
strange fascination for those old wet patterns like Peter Ross,
Alexandra or Black Spiders.
For troutfishing I have to rely on the neighbouring countries, I try to
plan one or two trips per year to either Belgium or Germany to get my
share. I don't discriminate in methods, and try to use the appropriate
method for the situation. When all else fails I tie on an Alexandra and
fish down and across.
When fishing in the Netherlands we usually go out for rudd and roach,
and for pike in the winterseason. There is nothing like pikefishing with
a streamer in a cold and windy Dutch polder..
Having said that, we (me and my family) have the strong intention to
move to Ireland next year after my contract here is over. Anybody know a
decent job for a webmaster in, say, Galway?;-)
Tight lines, Herman
-------------------------------------------
Best regards,
Herman Nijland
Webmaster CGN
URL: http://www.cpro.dlo.nl/cgn/
Email: H.Ni...@cpro.dlo.nl
Scot Zentz
I am 28 years old. At 6'3" and 225 lbs I find that No-Sweats fit me
perfectly. I work for Allina Health Systems, an HMO in Minnesota, as a
Reimbursement Analyst. Here is how I got to this point...
I was born in 1970 in Fargo, ND. My dad had just returned from Vietnam
and so, like many of his cohorts, we were living in "Indian
Country"(that's his lingo for in the sticks) in northern Minnesota.
According to my dad I was on Leech Lake musky fishing at the tender age
of three weeks. I believe I was skunked. My first memory is not one of
fishing but of the smell of a Ruffed Grouse. Mom and Dad used to hunt
grouse from an old Toyota Lancruiser with pistol-grip .410's and an
Irish Setter. The fallen grouse were in a box next to my car seat. This
pretty much diagrams my life. I have grown up with a little hunting and
a lot of fishing. I spent summers in Park Rapids, MN with my
grandparents. My Grandpa was a Methodist minister in Kenmore, NY who
managed to get summers off. He was a great man and the one whom I credit
for putting the love of outdoors in me. When most people think of Holy
Waters they think of the big majestic rivers, I think of the Potato
River(elegant name at least). As a boy, heaven was the river, a row
boat, grandpa and a fishing rod.
I began fly fishing at age twelve when a 94 year old neighbor and friend
gave me all of his fly fishing equipment and a few lessons. I continued
fishing primarily warm water with "regular" tackle until I graduated
from high school. I paid for university by working in a sporting goods
store, guiding on my days off and working at Wonewok, 3M's resort,
teaching trap shooting, sailing and fly fishing. I didn't fish too much
through college even though I studied aquatic biology. I did my
internship with an aquaculture company doing research for a Dept of
Agriculture study on growth rates of rainbow trout in aquaculture. It
was nice work in the summer but at 30 below(F) the fish still needed
measuring. I decided I would limit my fish related activities to days
off only. My parents eventually bought the property so I can now return
on a casual basis. I've now got a totally non-outdoors job in the
finance office of Allina and have been here for a few years. I enjoy the
work and plan to work here for a few more years but then would like to
live in Duluth, MN for the long term.
It was during my internship that I again became involved in fly fishing.
The lake the fish farm was in held several thousand escapees and,
contrary to popular belief, a 30 inch hatchery brown DOES put up one
hell of a fight(from that lake the biggest brown to date is a modest 21
pounds). It was a great place to build confidence in casting and tying
as this was also the time I replaced the tying kit from my friend with a
"real" vise and materials.
A little more than four years ago I met Alison. Two years ago we got
married and, along with our three year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever
named "Dreefee", that is my family. Alison is a rare find in that she
enjoys most fishing and camping as much as I do. Her first brown was
caught as she untangled her flyline from her neck and legs on an errant
cast...she's gotten better. I rarely go fishing without her along to
fish or at least keep me company. The dog is compulsary.
My favorite waters lately are the Potato River(still), the Boise Brule,
the Presque Isle, the Rum River, the Cascade and anywhere in Lake
Superior. I am best at warm water fishing but am most interested in
learning about the cold water fishing available in my area.
I have two fly fishing related goals for my life. First, I have an
unending list of waters I would like to wet a line on. I'm slowly
checking off rivers on the list but I have a long way to go. Second, we
hope to broaden our family in the next few years. I am excited to share
the outdoors with my kids and to pass to them, via a flyrod, the
admiration of outside that my parents and grandparents did to me.
Keep your fly dry...
Gary S. Colecchio
I am pleased to put before you my humble life.
I developed an interest in wet sports in 1961, when my uncle Curt
Therman, a very interesting guy, taught me to dive. He later devoted
his free time to fishing after a traffic accident severed his legs.I
spent many summers at his house in Baldwin L.I. fishing for bluefish
and tuna. When I wasn't there I was wandering around the Raritan
River (N.J.) in a dopey hat and getting my $20 Folsum fly rod stuck in
trees while posing as trout fisherman. I spent most of my time on the
front lawn false casting, it seems. I always wanted to do the father
and son fishing thing, but the old man was either working or doing
battle with the very lawn I practiced on. He fought the lawn and the
lawn won.
I 1972 I was accepted to Florida Institute of Technology's
Oceanography program and got the hell out of New Jersey. I also blew
an opportunity to attend the Merchant Marine Academy because I
considered myself too hip. "What a moroon!" as Bugs would say.
One of my favorite pastimes at school was chasing baby tarpon around
the mosquito control ditches with a light spinning rod. Funny,I never
even thought to bring the fly rod south with me.
After four years of youthful debauchery, I took my degree to Southern
California, with a brief interlude at the folks house to save up the
plane fare by working at the local liqueur store.(Best job I've ever
had).
I would up staying with some friends of mine from Georgetown U. who
were living in Venice. We called it Venus because that's what it was
like.
I took a job with a geophysical surveying firm in San Diego. Not
before blowing an offer with the L.A. Harbor Patrol , from which I
could have been drawing a pension by now. You guest it: too hip.
So it's off to the Gulf of Alaska for me to play Jacques Cousteau.
Where I made alot of money and narrowly escaped death, or maiming at
least, working on the deck in Wagnerian proportioned storms.
I maintained this lunacy for several years until I found myself
dangling from one end of a linesman's belt 60 above the deck at 2 A.M.
in New Jersey. In December. In a blizzard.( I was installing a
transponder.) I promised myself that upon reaching the deck uninjured
I would modify my career path.
I took a position as a staff engineer with a large consuing firm in
West Palm and got involved in environmental permitting (yawn )and
local government (elected to the city council). They got wise to me
after two terms and threw me out. I was entertaining though. The Palm
Beach Post hates me to this day!
I also persuaded my police chief to send me to the academy and started
a reserve program. Yes, it's just like the movie, by the way. So now
I do for free what could have had a pension for doing in L.A..
Okay more boring stuff and womanizing and carousing and then marrying
my lovely wife Dawn at forty (me not her). And now I'm a municipal
engineer w/ the great City of Deerfield Beach, Florida doing (yawn)
enviromental permitting and some very cool web based GIS stuff:
http://www.deerfield-beach.com/html/splashf.htm
Gratuitous plug.
And I fly fish in the salt. For there are two types of men that truely
apprciate fishing: adolescents and married men. Everyone else sould be
out chasing women, I say.
And I do take the old man out fishing with me now whenever I go.
Sorry to bore you,
Capt. Gary S. Colecchio
West Palm Beach, Florida
"Lie ? Me ? Never! No, no, no, the truth is far too much fun !" - Captain Hook
Scot Zentz
> largemouth.
That's pretty funny. Even as a fellow brass player I read it the fishy
way.
SZ
Christian Figenschou
>If you're game, post a little about yourself. (though I certainly
>understand why you wouldn't in this electronic frontier.)
Ok, I'm not a very frequent poster, but what the hell...
No intriguing story of my life here, I'm the youngest so far, only 23,
from Norway. I'm currently attending the Master of Business and
Economics program at The Norwegian School of Management, a combination
of undergraduate and graduate programs, whatever that means.. In about
a year, I will, for the first time, be exposed to that thing people
refer to as Real Life. :-)
I got my first flyrod in 1991, but with no friends or family
flyfishing, and me being too stupid to take casting lessons, I didn't
really get hooked until 1993, when beginners luck prevailed, and I
caught my first real fish on the fly. From that point on, my spinning
gear was obsolete.
Much like everyone(?) elses, my favorite type of fly fishing is the
dry fly in moving water. However, after this season, I'll put night
fishing for sea-trout right up there.. The darkness really adds to the
feeling. Of course, I might just be saying that because this year, I
finally broke my old (spinning gear) record, and landed a 6.5lbs
sea-trout..
I also prefer big rivers and long casts. Most claim you catch most of
the fish within 40 feet - well, see if I care.. If I were to measure
my enjoyment of fly fishing in caught fish, I would be miserable.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
I also find the ethical concept of C&R interesting, and I'm basically
all for it (of course, in contrast to the debate of ethical
principles, the element of common sense applies in practice..). I
should also add that I C&K more than I release.
I also have a homepage at http://figen.com, but as of now, all
flyfishing material is in Norwegian only.
--
Christian Figenschou - http://figen.com
Jon Ernst
Jonathan Hume Ernst
36, 8 years very happily married, a 4 year old daughter and another child on
the way.
I grew up in Connecticut several hundred yards from Long Island Sound.
My earliest memories involve the ocean. I have always been drawn to water and
would spend countless hours in, on or around it. My earliest fishing involved
bottom fishing from a pier for flounder and fluke and casting lures for snapper
bluefish. Were talking when I was 5 years old. As I grew the quarry became
adult bluefish and striped bass.
Fresh water fishing just never entered the picture until I moved to
Colorado. How I happened to do that is a long story in itself. I moved to
boulder to persue a career in music. "Boulder?" you ask? Like I said, it's a
long story. But back to fishing - my first fly caught trout came out of boulder
creek, a stocked rainbow on a wooly worm. I can clearly remember thinking "Son
of a - this really works!"
The music thing carried me to the SF Bay area. By that time I was not only
a very poorly paid musician, but a fairly accomplished fly fisher. It is alsoo
when I came to know Mr. Vinsel. He and I have caught a lot of trout together and
have learned much from each other over the years.
The thing I've come to cherish about fly fishing - or just fishing in
general - is the great friendships I've made that otherwise would not have
happend. It is the common bond of fishing that opened up perfect strangers to
each other. Yukman, Jackson, Waknah, Daver Dog, Vinnie, these are all people I
will never lose contact with, even though there are spans of miles and time
between us.
More about me - I manage a computer store - so if you need to buy something
- feel free to e-mail me. Was that last sentence SPAM?
The music thing fizzled in 94 and I took this job in Loveland Colorado. My
daughter had just been born and my wife was glad to get the hell out of
California. I have the Big Thompson river exactly 8 minutes from the office -
in fact I'm going today at lunch. I fish whenever I can - which ain't nearly
enough.
Now I play my guitar to my cats and entertain myself with my 4 track
recorder always thinking I'll get back into performing.
Other interests include writing, photography, drinking, diving, and keeping
my birdfeeders full. Oh, one other thing - I am offended by computers.
JE
Bob Jarvis
>A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
>to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
>a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
Born in 1957 in Cleveland, Ohio. Grew up around Cleveland, went camping
with my parents, got interested in fishing. Parents had *zero* interest in
this, but as an only kid I got pretty much whatever I wanted, and what I
wanted was a fishing rod. So I spent a fair amount of time as a kid
fishing - not catching much, but fishing. Always thought fly fishing
sounded neat, but didn't know where to go to find gear, probably couldn't
have afforded it, etc. (Parents sometimes couldn't be talked into things
:-). Went to college, got my degree in systems analysis, went into the
Navy, found that it wasn't for me, got out, ran a hobby store, went broke,
moved back to Ohio, and went to work as a programmer. Time passed. Finally
found the Perfect Woman, who for reasons unknown to me consented to be my
bride. During the madcap summer during which we were trying to plan a
wedding in five months (got engaged in May, wanted to get married in
October, and were too stubborn to listen to everyone who said, "You mean
*this* October?!?!?" :-) AND buy a house (my wife grew up on a farm and let
me know in no uncertain terms that there was NO WAY she was living in an
apartment, or in a suburb with 80-foot wide lots), she spotted a fly fishing
course in the local park district flyer and said, "What do you think?".
Now, tell me - is this the Perfect Woman, or what? :-) We took the course,
bought gear, got married, took a fly tying course the following winter, and
the rest has been...pretty damn good, actually. We now have a 22 month old
daughter who likes to go fishing (we wander down to the pond at my wife's
uncle's place) and thinks any fish Daddy catches is great. Expecting baby
#2 in about a month. Life is good.
--
Bob Jarvis
Mail address hacked to foil spammers!
Remove "ob" from address to reply
Jeffrey A. Greenough
I've got a 21 month old... Isn't that age great!
jeff
Bob
Gary S. Colecchio wrote in message <365c4638...@news.gate.net>...
>And I fly fish in the salt. For there are two types of men that truely
>apprciate fishing: adolescents and married men. Everyone else sould be
>out chasing women, I say.
Great! Thanks fo the good read, Gary.
Bob
Ken Janik
Nice to meet you 0x0A231EA6, I'm 0x034D0058. Finally the merging
of techno-geek and schoolyard humor. :-)
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody,
- 0x034D0058
Annis Popp
Of course we all have at one time or another and we all knew long
before we got there that "the mighty casey struck out"
John Popp
in Sanford Fl.
Michael McGuire
: A regular on ROFF sent me email thinking aloud that we ought
: to post little bio's of ourselves, so people on ROFF know us
: a little better and maybe our "debates" wouldn't be so hot.
: here's mine.
: If you're game, post a little about yourself. (though I certainly
: understand why you wouldn't in this electronic frontier.)
I am 53, born in Australia in 1945, a consequence of my Dad going there with
U.S. forces in WWII and meeting my mother there. I grew up in the Bay Area in
California. My first fishing was at about age 10 with my great uncle in Santa
Cruz, who put what I now realize was a bamboo fly rod in my hand, and had me
cranking up shiner perch with shrimp for bait at the end of the wharf. Got a
fiberglass bait rod for my birthday that year and caught my first fish on the
fly with it--well sort of. Down at Morro Bay where my folks used to vacation,
off the wharf your could catch some little guys called redsnappers (as
distinguished from red snappers)--a bit of red yarn on the hook (a fly?) was
what it took, hence the name. During my boy scout years, I did a bit of spin
fishing for trout around Big Sur and in the Sierra.
By the time I got to college age I was more interested in skiing and other
mountain stuff. I did a little spin fishing on summer backpack trips in the
Sierra without much success, which did not encourage my interest. I got a B.S.
in physics from the U. of Santa Clara and went to U. of Washington in Seattle
for graduate school. I chose that location for the skiing but became much more
interested in climbing and mountaineering. The biggest thing I did was Mt.
McKinley (a.k.a. Denali) by the south buttress.
I got a Ph.D. from Washington and spent two years in Germany doing research
at U. Mainz and two more years with NASA in Maryland. I did no fishing in
those years, some climbing in the Alps, lots of pining for mountains of the
west while in Maryland. I vowed never again to live east of I-25. In 1979 I
got a job at HP Labs in Palo Alto, working on a new kind of atomic clock based
on the research I had done in Germany. After about seven years, I burned out
on that, but had developed quite an interest in photography. At that point
printing images on digital printers was in its infancy but looked promising,
so staying at HP, I made that change and have been working at that ever since.
My photography also came along, and I have had several gallery shows and
published a book of my work called "An Eye for Fractals".
In the early 80's, I met Pat, the lady who became my wife. She wasn't much of
an outdoor person to begin with, but that changed. It was she that led me
back to fishing. That happened when we were backpacking with a bunch of her
friends who all spin fished. She wanted to try it. I was unenthusiastic but
got us some cheap rods and tackle. We caught quite a few fish that summer, and
a picture of me with a nice brace of trout got back to my father-in-law. He's
a fly fisherman and a frugal old Scot but a canny investor. He made the
speculative investment of sending me a rather nice Orvis fly rod for my
birthday the next year. That was six years ago and life hasn't been the same
since. We have become fishing buddies. He's 80 now, and the trips we have done
are mostly ones that he wouldn't have done by himself, and we look forward to
more. The squeeky sound you hear in the background is Pat, the fishing widow,
grinding her teeth. Well not really, but she doesn't share my passion for it,
although she will take a fly rod in hand on occasion.
I mostly fish on the east side of the Sierra around Mammoth--Hot Creek, Owens,
San Joaquin, East Walker rivers and the backcountry. I occasionally get up to
the northern end of the state around Burney--Hat Creek, Burney Creek, Pitt
River etc. I've been to Yellowstone a couple of times and fished a bit in
Colorado and New Mexico. I have a brother living in Melbourne, Australia, and
there are threats to get together and fish Tasmania and possible New Zealand.
I tie my own flies and am currently on a soft hackle kick, having caught a lot
of fish with them this year.
The other thing I do in a big way is scuba diving combined with underwater
photography. Doing this, I have seen big schools of trevally, snappers,
barracuda from underneath, but have yet to throw a fly at them.
Mike
--
Michael McGuire Hewlett Packard Laboratories
email:xmcg...@xhpl.xhp.com P.0. Box 10490 (1501 Page Mill Rd.)
(remove x's from email if not Palo Alto, CA 94303-0971
a spammer)
Phone: (650)-857-5491
************BE SURE TO DOUBLE CLUTCH WHEN YOU PARADIGM SHIFT.**********
DCWDFF
soft hackle kick---mine started in 93 and is still going strong.
Tight lines.
Dale
Dave Tatosian
Born in '50 in Syosset, NY, moved to central Massachusetts at age 4, lived
there 'til I attended Denver University, BSEE. Worked winter weekends at Vail
at various jobs and met my first wife there (we both worked at The Ore House
at the time). Spent my summers working in Eagle, CO on a horse farm near Eby
Creek (until I70 blew through and trashed most of the Eagle River valley). Got
my degree just as engineering was on the down slope, so after graduation we
moved to Lilliwaup, WA, got married, and bought a seafood store and
restaurant, hired any teenager willing to work hard, made a few bucks over
three years.
An amiable breakup with the wife required selling out the business and paying
off the notes, she returned home with her half, and I wandered around the
country with mine. I've driven coast to coast 7 times in my life for various
(and often arcane) reasons - in various (and often arcane) vehicles, visited
48 of the states (and fished in many of them), traveled abroad on business on
numerous occasions (though never fished there) and loved every trip
(especially the "Grab A Granny" nights in the UK ;^)
I finally returned to Massachusetts in the mid-70's when the engineering trade
was picking back up again. Got a job designing memory subsystems and system
accelerators for IBM mainframes, made a few bucks, got into home-built
computers as a necessity and a hobby, met my second wife (who was secretary to
a VP there). Got married, bought a house in Stow, grew a couple of fine boys,
took on a new job designing systems at another large computer company, got
into networking (again as a necessity and a hobby), have been granted 7
patents and applied for a bunch more, bought a bigger house in Stow, and put
the boys into college...Which brings us up to the present, where too many
years of home cooking finds me with 230 pounds on my 6'5" frame...
I started "fishing" at the age of 5 in the Catskills where I spent summers
with my grandparents. Very small streams with telescoping rods and
hook'n'bobber rigs, but with my grandpa's guidance I could actually catch
trout. At the age of 7 I caught my first "really big" fish while visiting my
other grandparents in Florida, fishing one of the canals. I damn near got
pulled off the pier but with my grandfather hanging on to me I pulled in
dinner for the whole family!
My father was an avid flyfisher for as long as I can remember, and he got me
started when I was 10. I caught my first trout on a fly that year on the Swift
River - a large rainbow that surprised my father and his gang with its size -
and the fact that I was holding it ;^) After that I was usually invited to go
off with the group on their trips to New Hampshire, Maine, and Canada, and
they made me part of their close circle - a group that included a handful of
well known authors in this sport, as well as a lawyer, a Freudian shrink, an
arborist, and a couple of engineers. While they would enjoy their gin and
tonics after a day's fish, I'd be experimenting with their fly tying kits,
trying to mimic what had been coming off during the day, and before long was
able to crank out flies that caught fish!
Each year we'd take the "Big Trip", alternating between states Out West and
eastern Canada. While some trips were spectacular (landing AtSal's in the
Maritimes, huge trout and Mr. Whites in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming) each trip
was memorable, if not always grandly successful. My memories of these trips
are supported by boxes of photographs, and I treasure both.
While living in Colorado I added rock climbing to skiing, horse training, and
flyfishing. Did the most damage to myself with the first three, but no matter
how busted up I got I could almost always flyfish. Outside of spring skiing
the back bowls of Vail, the most fun you'll ever have in Colorado with your
clothes on is to take horses up into the mountains for a week long summer trek
with a rifle, camera, and packrod in your kit, following small trib's to their
headwaters. I was lucky enough to have a couple of compadres that enjoyed this
as much as I did...
In Washington I discovered steelheading in a big way, as I had a house on a
river off Hood's Canal that had a good winter run as well as small runs in the
fall. The same river was blessed with sea run cutts that came in with every
tide, as well as a fine resident population of trout above the tidal waters. A
small group of us were into hiking across the Olympic Range, heading up one
river to the divide, then heading down the other side on a west slope river.
We often awoke to herds of elk grazing or crossing the river within a short
cast of our sleeping bags, and we shot a lot of film on those trips. Between
"our" river, fishing in the canal proper, and the many other rivers on the
Olympic Peninsula, we fished many times a week and never got bored, and the
smoke house was rarely empty.
After returning to Massachusetts I rejoined my father's gang doing the "Big
Trips" again. They'd become more daring and spirited and increased their
range, even as their bodies were heading the other way. We once took a trip
that landed us within 100 miles of Hudson Bay, fishing dries for landlocked
salmon, pike, huge brookies, and even lakers, sans guide (or any other
sentient soul within radio contact, for that matter). I've also become fishing
partners with others closer to my own age over the years and spend many
weekends in northern NH and ME maintaining a vigil for those perfect days...
Flyfishing the salt caught my fancy about 8 years ago, and after agonizing
over the commitment, finally bought a boat for in-shore flyfishing. I've never
regretted it: when the freshwater doldrums arrive, the salt is still going
great guns, especially now that the striper fishery has made a dramatic
comeback. I get out any chance I can, and enjoy it immensely, and have gotten
anyone who shows even a slight interest on board to try it as well (and it's
always good to have a swabby!)
My dad and I got my two sons into flyfishing when they were 8 and 6 with rods
we rolled just for them. It's amazing how quickly kids pick up on casting,
especially when the grownups leave their own rods behind. Within a couple of
years they were stuck to us like white on rice whenever we headed out for a
day or a weekend, and they are darn good flyfishermen today, able to throw a
fine cast without thinking about it. They also dabble in tying, though they're
more likely to prevail on their dad's good graces when they're running low on
flies ;^)
My father battled with prostate cancer in the last few years of his life, and
knowing he was running out of time, spent as much of it on the water as he
could. Our last "Big Trip" was Out West last year. We had one of those
spectacular times where we hit the big hatches every day, could do nothing
wrong, and ended each day falling into our beds with smiles on our faces.
Dad passed away on Easter this year, and as I've said once before in this
group, I'd give up flyfishing forever to have him back...
[Yikes! I just realized this is verging on an epic. Better draw this to a
close...Let's go out with a bang - or at least a near miss!]
Life has been interesting, to say the least, and full of twists and turns to
keep it that way. I've had loaded guns pointed at my head three times in my
life, once by an angry husband, and twice by angry fathers, back when I was
sewin' those wild oats (but only one of those was even close to justifiable -
honest!) Between the climbing, horses, skiing, and the odd car crash or two
many years ago, along with a good scare from The Big "C" more recently, I've
seen the inside of an operating room more times than my insurers would like.
I'm now fully equipped with a collection of stainless steel accoutrements
holding body and soul together, and I set off alarms at airports and make the
security guards nervous...
But there are still bones that haven't been broken yet, and organs that are
still functional, and with plenty of trails to ski, rocks to climb, and fish
to entice, I'm not about to slow down now ;^)
Cheers to all (and sorry for the length of this tome!)
Dave Tatosian (aka Daytripper)
Paul I Filippone
Good luck to you and your entire family.
Tight line in your next life( 200) years from now
DavPLaC wrote in message <19981122134107...@ng-fa1.aol.com>...
>Peter Charles:
>
><<<How do I describe myself, beyond short, plump and 47?>>
>
>I've fished with you Peter, and you are not
>short and plump. But you are a fine
>fisherman. On the other hand:
>
>At age 61, I am 6’1" and weigh 205 pounds.
>I was born and raised in Springfield, Mass.
>My father (a truck driver)
>and my mother (a retail clerk) loved to fish.
>We fished mostly with bait for trout and
>bass, but especially liked night fishing for
>bullheads.
>
>Somewhere around 1946 or so, my dad bought
>a spinning rod/reel and my mom bought a
>split bamboo rod from Sears. Both taught
>themselves how to fish this "new way".
>Fly fishing won hands down, and by 1948
>everyone was fly fishing. Our favorite haunt
>was the Connecticut Lakes in Pittsburg, NH.
>But we fished the Deerfield, Westfield, and
>Swift rivers every weekend.
>
>In 1956 as a disinterested youth who did not
>know what he wanted to do, I enlisted in the
>Navy and to my surprise, made a career out
>of it. I retired 20 years later as a Senior
>Chief Petty Officer. For that entire 20 year
>period, I never picked up a fly rod. Upon
>retirement I went to work as a technician
>and later an engineer working with infra-red
>detectors and still later with laser/fiber
>optics. I retired from GTE in 1992 (early
>retirement buy-out) and
>became a house-husband. My beautiful wife
>has a PhD from UNC and is well known in the
>laser-fiber-optics field. She continues to
>work for GTE. She and I discovered the Rapid
>River in Maine while white-water rafting in 1988.
>The visceral effects of the river, the sight, sound,
>smell of the woods brought me back to my childhood.
>I *had* to return to fly fishing. I visited an Orvis
>store and was surprised at the change in equipment
>from the 50s to 1989. Graphite, waders, leaders, new
>knots even, and a whole bunch of new "stuff". Even
>the nippers were different. And zingers! Wow.
>They replaced that old piece of fly-line.
>
>I started fly tying in 1996, the year my mother
>died. While going through her things, we discovered
>two old Wheatley Boxes filled with flies she had
>tied in the early 50s. I gave the boxes to each of
>my grandsons. Without my prompting, they said
>they would keep the boxes and flies and not use
>them. BTW, the torch has been passed on – it skipped
>a generation, but my grandsons (14 and 15) are quite
>the fly fishermen.
>
>In my spare time, I help teach a high performance
>driving school to police officers and other "government"
>agencies, as well as civilians. On occasion I also teach
>an anti-terrorist driving school to body guards and
>"others". Joanne enjoys gardening and country &
>western music. We both enjoy and collect jazz.
>
>I have two wonderful daughters (36 and 31) from a
>previous marriage, and two terrific grandsons (14 and
>15). My grand-daughter (9) is the perkiest most
>adorable little girl. She has set her eyes on Pop Pop
>teaching her fly fishing AND shooting a BB gun.
>
>I am a fortunate man.
>
>
>Dave LaCourse
DavPLaC
<<Dave that was the best thing that I have read on this news server.
Good luck to you and your entire family.
Tight line in your next life( 200) years from now>>
Thank you. With my luck I will return as a fire hydrant
in Doggyville, USA.
Dave L.
rm...@psu.edu
52nd birthday, which happens to be today. Born in 1946, the head-end of the
baby boom, I did plently of hunting while growing up, but very little
fishing. I finished college in 1968 and law school in 1972. I missed the
Vietnam-era draft by virtue of a very high lottery number, followed by a
misdiagnosed physical condition (as it turned out). In 1976, I joined a law
firm in State College, Pennsylvania, where I have been ever since. Although
I enjoy the work, I will say that after 25 years or so I could stand a
change. Nevertheless, I am very thankful for the many blessings life has
bestowed, and I have no reason whatsoever to grouse about anything (except
lack of fishing time). I have two daughters. The oldest finished at the
University of Delaware last spring and is gainfully employed in Philadelphia.
The youngest started at Dartmouth this fall.
My addiction began in 1979. A guy I met through, of all things, a
child-birth education class, and whose daughter was born at the same time as
mine, offered to take me flyfishing. His knowledge, teachng skills and
patience were much appreciated, then and even now. In fact, although he
lives elswhere now, Ron Evans remains my best fishing buddy, and our annual
trips out west are the high spots of each year. We began these trips in
1987, and have missed only one year since then. Since I discovered ROFF,
these trips have been even better as a result of all of you furnishing great
information - and even a pontoon boat loaned for one trip (thanks again,Rick
Fletcher).
The north-central part of Pennsylvania has many great trout waters. I
consider Spring Creek my "home water", but there are a half-dozen superb
trout streams within a 45 minute drive. I also fish for smallmouth bass in
the Juniata and Susquehanna rivers, an hour or two away. I have been active
in the Spring Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited for 20 years - serving as
president for two, and in every other role as well. I've also served in
several positions in the State Council of TU. For about two years, I was a
member of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission appointed by former Governor
Thornburg, which establishes rules and regs for fishing and boating in the
state. Loved it, but my term expired and the new governor was of a different
political party - so that was that. Recently, as age and experience have
compelled me to be more reflective, I realize that I need to allocate more
time and effort to protecting the resource - and I hope to become more active
in local and state organizations.
Finally, I must thank the many ROFF contributors for their humor, insight
and information. I consider that I have made many new friends througout the
country and the world, and it is one of the things I am thankful for on this
Thanksgiving weekend. Best wishes to all.
Mark Faulkner
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Anglo France
Peter Charles
Quite an impressive bio. I hope you will be able to serve again on
the Fish Commission or an equivalent. You have a great fishery going
in Central PA and as we all know, it only stays that way if it is well
maintained.
I hope you saved one Sleeman's for after the birthday cake.
Peter
DGracia
Hi,
You may want to skip this, I think it's the longest one yet. Sorry 'bout that.
My name is Dan Gracia. I was born in San Luis Obispo, Ca in 1950 and was
raised in Santa Maria. Not a whole lot of water around there or much fishing
to speak of back in the 60's and 70's. Luckily, my grandfather ran a 2,000
acre ranch for some absentee owners in a little place called Pozo which is
southeast of San Luis. He had a couple of reservoirs on that ranch and that's
where I learned how to fish. Still-fishing for catfish first (boring for me)
and then using top water lures for bass (Whole lotta fun!!). Also learned to
hunt deer and upland game there.
Music was my big thing in high school, I sang in the choir and the madrigal
group and played in a couple of high school rock 'n roll bands. Spent a couple
of years at San Jose State as a voice major, and then found myself traveling
across the US in a nightclub group playing bass (the instrument, not the fish!)
and singing. Had a great time, made good money, and met my wife when she
booked our group into a club. Married her in '72 and had to get a real job
when our daughter Casey was born in 73. Our son David was born in '75. Managed
a record store for few years and then moved to Oregon in Febraury of 1976.
Our son, Chip, was born in Oregon in '78.
AAAHHHHH fly fishing........Learned to fly fish in Oregon at the ripe old age
of 26. My wife's family lived in Oregon, and my brother-in-law, Mark (about
ten years younger than I), had a whole lot of interest in fly fishing but no
equipment. I was working retail again (Fred Meyer) and when Mark's birthday
came around, I bought a fly rod for him. Well, the turkey went out and bought
himself a better fly rod about three days before his birthday, so I ended up
keeping the one I had purchased.
My wife suggested that I might enjoy fly fishing and said she used to do a
little of it with her dad. Next thing you know, I bought a reel and a level
line (NEVER buy a level line for fly casting!!!!!), and went to a nearby park
to try it out. My wife said "you need to make these loops, sort of like with a
whip". She showed me what a loop was, and I tried it. I noticed it snapped a
lot when I was casting and it had been cracking quite a bit when she did it to.
I asked if that was supposed to happen and she didn't know.
Now we head out to Benson Park to try for some of the planters there. I have a
few of these ugly "made in Japan" Danielson flies that don't look like anything
at all, but they were cheap so I got them. I start casting these things out
there and low and behold, just about everytime I hear the line crack, my fly
dissapears. No!..... the line shouldn't crack when you cast it. I slow down
my flailing a bit and my fly stays on the end of the line. I even caught one
fish before we left. My wife chased the kids around. That was the last time
she showed any interest in fishing.
I find a book (pamphlet really) by Jim Green on fly casting, get a better rod
and a tapered line, and away I go. I can be on the water in a bout 10 minutes
from my apartment in Troutdale, so I spend a lot of time on the Sandy River. I
take a fly tying class at Larry's Sporting Goods in Gresham, and soon all the
fly shops in the area know me by my first name. I start tying Atlantic
Salmonflies when Jorgenson's book comes out in 1978. I finally get a casting
lesson (along with about 40 other folks) in 1979 that pretty well cures my
tailing loop problem. For a change, I am now fishing my fly more of the time
than I am untangling knots. I spend every spare moment fly fishing for trout,
and then in 1979 I hook a steelhead. I am a lost soul.........
In 1987 I move to the SF Bay area of California. Thought it would be the end
of my fly fishing but is really only the beginning. I found there was an
Orvis store in San Francisco. They offer me a job as fishing manager, but I'm
looking for a computer position so I pass on it. That August I get a call from
Dean Schubert who needs another instructor to help with an Orvis fly fishing
school at the Take It Easy Ranch in Oregon. Orvis SF had suggested he contact
me (he was in a real jam).
I teach this four day school with Dean and learn a lot in the process. Had a
great time. When I return to the bay area, Orvis offers me the position of
Schools Coordinator for the Orvis West Coast Schools. I'll have to work in the
store and handle all the reservations and details for the schools, but anytime
a second instructor is needed for a class, I'd be the one to go. Swallowed it,
hook line, and sinker. And, I filled the schools up and spent 2 to 3 weeks out
of every month during the season out teaching one of our schools. Also taught
fly tying classes during the winter.
Over the next 10 years I get to spend an average of 100 days a year on the
water, most of it on spring creeks. Most of the time is spent teaching, but
evenings and 3 days a week between classes were all my own. The first few
years is spent on Fort Creek and Squaw Creek on the Take It Easy Ranch, with
ocassional forays on the Williamson and Wood Rivers. Also become very familiar
with the North Umpqua River which was an hour and a half drive from there.
1990 through '97 spent a lot of time on Hat Creek, and the Fall River in
Northern CA, and then The Upper Owens on the Arcularius Ranch (spent 76 days
there one summer), Hot Creek, and various other Eastern Sierra Rivers.
Didn't pay tremendously well, but besides honing my casting and fishing skills
with Dean Schubert, I find myself in a good position to meet and learn from
people such as Mel Krieger, Lefty Kreh, Steve Rajeff and Chris Corich. I learn
steelhead tactics from Lani Waller and fly tying techniques from Cal Bird,
Andre' Puyans, Wayne Luallen, Steve Fernandez, Steve Gobin, AK Best and many
others. I become a member of the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club which
exposes me to a whole lot of world class casters all of whom are enthusiastic
and more than willing to debate techniques and styles.
Got my guide license in CA in 1991 and guided on Hat Creek, Hot Creek, Upper
Owens, Upper Sacramento, McCloud River, Putah Creek, and the Stanislaus.
In 1990 I travel to Alaska with my neophyte fly fishing brother for an
unforgettable week catching Sockeye, Norhtern Pike, trout, grayling and Dolly
Varden. In 1993 through a convoluted set of circumstances, I find myself
fishing for Atlantic Salmon on the Umba River in the Kola Peninsula of Russia.
Amazing fishing, wonderful people! In 1996 I travel to Ascension Bay Bonefish
Club on the Yucatan Peninsula to fish for bonefish, permit, jack crevalle,
barracuda and hopefully some tarpon. Tarpon didn't show up and I didn't catch
a permit, but caught plenty of bones, barracuda, and Jack Crevalle.
From my fly fishing experiences I was able to put together a number of programs
which became popular with fly clubs throughout Northern California and even
flew to Las Vegas to do a casting program for the Las Vegas Fly Fishers. I was
invited to tie flies by the Northern California Conference of the FFF at the
Fort Mason Hall of Fame inductions and at the annual conclave in Lake Tahoe.
Also did some programs at the Lake Tahoe Conclave from '95 -'97.
In 1996 I wrote a chapter called "Hot Creek: Miracle Miles" for Seth Norman's
book "Fly Fisher's Guide to Northern California" which was published in 1997.
In 1998 I had articles published in California Fly Fisher and also in American
Angler.
I started doing some internet consulting for Orvis in 1995 and when I moved
from the bay area to the Mt. Shasta area of Northern California in Sept. of
'97, I continued to do so. Did some private lessons and a little guiding when I
first got up there, and then set up the Mt. Shasta Fly Fishing Schools. In May
of '98 Orvis flew me back to interview for the new webmaster position they had
decided to create. They flew my wife and I both out there to look around in
June. At the end of July, my wife and I moved to Vermont and I took the
position of Webmaster for Orvis the first week of August which is what I am
doing now. That's also the reason I haven't been as active as before on the
newsgroup. Hopefully things will ease up a bit soon and I can participate
more.
I am now a stranger in a strange land and I miss the McCloud River. That river
will always own a piece of my heart. Lots of nice people here though and lots
of different water to explore once the season opens again. I look forward to
doing so. All three of my kids fly fish and I expect them to come out to the
east coast at least once in a while. When and if they ever get around to
having kids you can bet those kids will learn to fly fish. Hmmm......never
really thought I'd want to be a Grandpa.
Good fishing,
Dan
Dan Gracia
Orvis
dgr...@aol.com
Peter Charles
Right about now, there are a few hundred guys and gals on the usenet
saying rude things under their breath, wondering why they didn't get
such a phone call. Pardon us while we all sit at our keyboards and
stew in our envy.
My mum lives just on the other side of the Canadian border, about six
hours or so from Manchester, VT. The next time I visit her, I'll do
my best to get down to the store and say hello. She'll love the ride
and maybe I'll get to catch some fish as well.
Peter
WRKnight
In article <19981129181711...@ngol02.aol.com>, dgr...@aol.com
(DGracia) writes:
>My name is Dan Gracia.,,,<lots of good history snipped> ...That's also the
reason I >haven't been as active as before on the newsgroup.
Welcome back Dan, hope to see you posting more soon.
Wayne Knight
Geneva IL
WRKn...@compuserve.com
WRKn...@aol.com
W.D.Grey
<gowil...@bigfoot.com> writes
>You can tell I'm an engineer, because I
>sure can't write worth a darn.
Qustion....How do you tell an engineer from an accountant?
Answer.....An engineer washes his hands *before* he has a pee!
I apologise *now* for the smut...but there it is:-)
--
Bill
W.D.Grey
<dgr...@aol.com> writes
>You may want to skip this, I think it's the longest one yet.
--
Bill
Charley Renn
If it's any consolation---
I have a fishing buddy who missed three strikes one morning,
decided to go back to camp and regroup, only to discover that just
enough of the hook bend was left to catch the hook keeper. After,
an hour in camp, he headed back to the pool and fished for a half
hour before (you guessed it) missing a strike and remembering he
hadn't switched flies while in camp.
A great guy. But, we don't let him volunteer to bring
anything important on the trip. He forgot the charcoal a couple of
years back and we had to drive 34 miles, into McCloud, to get some.
Charley
Danny McMillin wrote:
>
> Up came a
> giant trout to lazily sip my fly. I set the hook and the fish was on, then
> off. "What happened," I asked myself. I checked the hook and sure enough,
> the tip of the hook was missing; broken off on the rocks behind during a
> false cast from my knees. "Nooooooooooooo," I screamed. I retied another
> Danny McMillin
Barry Brown
event, I am fifty years old and was literally born with a fly rod in my hand
(and have some photos to prove it). My brother and I were double hauling
and tying our own flies when we were in grade school...and all of our
vacations (thanks to a dad who was a flyfishing fanatic) involved flyfishing
of some kind. I grew up in Eureka, CA, within fifteen minutes of the lower
Eel River...when that river still had it's share of salmon and steelhead.
My dad is now 80 yrs old and we still flyfish together on a regular basis.
My wife also loves the sport and we spend much of our free time wandering
the western States with fly rods in hand. I just retired from my first
"career" and, before entertaining another, plan to fish for a couple of
years...and do a bit of traveling in the process. I consider myself rather
lucky in that I've been able to access quality flyfishing water all of my
life...and have taken the time to enjoy it. Along with my flyfishing, I
love anything that takes me outdoors i.e. nature photography, drifting
rivers, hiking the mountains, camping etc.
Barry Brown
Eureka CA
flyf...@humboldt1.com
lam
that you have started cat-fishing :-)
Wayne Harrison
Barry Brown wrote in message <742821$e5i$2...@supernews.com>...
>Who am I and why am I here? (that rings a bell for some reason)... In any
>event, I am fifty years old and was literally born with a fly rod in my
hand
>(and have some photos to prove it). My brother and I were double hauling
>and tying our own flies when we were in grade school...and all of our
>vacations (thanks to a dad who was a flyfishing fanatic) involved
flyfishing
>of some kind.
(good stuff snipped)
>lucky in that I've been able to access quality flyfishing water all of my
>life...and have taken the time to enjoy it. Along with my flyfishing, I
>love anything that takes me outdoors i.e. nature photography, drifting
>rivers, hiking the mountains, camping etc.
>
>Barry Brown
>Eureka CA
>flyf...@humboldt1.com
next time around, dear god, please let me come back as barry brown, of
eureka, ca.
also, the cat tale was a riot.
wayno
>
>
Paul Felcyn
for perch, bluegill, and walleye as a boy. My love was ice fishing for perch
on Lake St. Clair (couldn't get cold enough). 12 years ago I moved to New
Hampshire, strolled into the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery Maine and asked
an elderly salesman what fly fishing was all about. Within five minutes, he
taught me how to cast at their practice pool in the back parking lot. I
bought an outfit on the spot and haven't touched the spinning gear since.
I bought a fly tying kit from Cabellas a year later, then didn't know what to
do with it. So I signed up for a cheap course on fly tying offered by a
respected gentleman, Charlie Mann, from Merrimack NH. He taught us all the
basics of tying, was generous with both the information and tying supplies,
and did it for the love of it, not for the money. I'd give anything to be able
to tie a salmon fly like Charlie.
I get a kick out of how fishermen struggle with their fly fishing identities
(CR, dry vs wet, yuppie vs cowboy, east vs west vs south vs north). Coming
from "humble" fishing origins, I've grown to appreciate the art and beauty in
the act of casting a fly. And I've learned the most valuable catch you can
make is to find a good fishing buddy. Those are the kind you should never
release. But I havne't lost my love of ice fishing either (low on the fishing
order, but high on the buddy scale). Hmmmm I hear that one can really freeze
his butt off steelheading!
DavPLaC
<<.....But I havne't lost my love of ice fishing either (low on the fishing
order, but high on the buddy scale). Hmmmm I hear that one can really freeze
his butt off steelheading!
>>
Drove past your neighborhood on my way to N. Conway
this afternoon, Paul.
Not much ice around. In fact, it was in the 60s. In years past
I used to ice race on Newfound Lake. Doubt there will be much
of that this year. Where do you fish in NH? Maine?
Dave LaCourse
Jaxfly58
>make is to find a good fishing buddy. Those are the kind you should never
>release.
What a beautiful thought.
Joel Axelrad
Andrew Brunette
I like to tell people that I like working with computers and fishing for
essentially the same reason... Both involve making success happen by
working through a moderately opaque interface using clumsy tools.
Success is a binary event. Success also happens in a manner that is
perceived by the novice to be random, invoking comparisons to gambling.
I do systems integration for a living. I have a 3 year old son who is
asking to go fishing, and a 6 year old daughter that has been tying
flies and bragging about outfishing her old man for a year. I'm so
proud of her I could burst.
I've been flyfishing for a long time, but am not religious about it.
It's been 20 years since I've used anything other than flies for trout,
but I have jars full of roe in the freezer for salmon... I prefer to
fish with stuff I've made myself. I tie flies, build rods, build boats,
make beer, and steam bend my own nets. I guess you could describe me as
vertically integrated. I haven't tied on a store bought fly since 1982.
Yup, I've got attitude about it.
My preferred fish is searun cutthroats, which I chase here in the Puget
Sound region. I less than modestly describe myself as a local expert on
these fish. I urge anyone interested to contact me, and I will fib
outrageously about where to go.
I also fish a lot of the lakes around here, which have moderately good
trout fishing. I spend I good time of the year chasing steelhead, which
I will -not- describe myself as expert at. Enthusiastic, yes. Lately
I've been organizing trips to Alaska and consorting with the bears.
I learned my habits in the back country of Oregon and Washington,
dunking worms and hoppers for rainbows and brookies. I learned the
magic of flies at the age of 8 in Glacier Park, and then on a beaver
pond on Mt Hood. I discovered this magic fly, the Adams, and this
beautiful little fish, the brookie.
I learned a casual but respectful attitude towards game and game laws
from my departed father. Dad loved to hunt and fish, but had a
backwoods Michigan attitude about when it should be done. He always
liked to hunt in August - the season was in October... That said, I'm a
big time catch and release guy, and haven't shot at game in 20 years.
You can't release a deer. I still have a deer rifle, and may hunt
again, but not now.
I love difficult fish, but don't mind easy ones. My favorite time this
year was a creek I bushwacked into that had beautiful small wild
cutthroats. They were dumb, easy, and beautiful. A little yellow humpy
drove them wild. 30 fish in two hours, I could get used to that.
So that's sort of who I am.
--
Andrew Brunette
andr...@aa.net
PIERRE RENAULT
encouragement on the one that got away and pours and extra finger of scotch at
the days end !
Pierre