Where did it start?

[DanielOcean]

This is really what started it all for me. I would watch this alot when i was a kid. I believe it was on one of the outdoor channels where I would watch Shaw Grigsby and the others. I asked and asked for it for christmas perhaps what felt like 2 solid years before I saw walmart started carrying it or a version of it. Either way my Dad knew that day in walmart he was not going to walk out of there without that f@#cken banjo minnow set.
It led to my first real cool catch of my life back in 1995 when i took it to the Lynden KOA campground where there are a few ponds there. I enjoyed just watching it swim, duck, twirl, drop, and then when it dropped out of the abys came a really huge largemouth bass. Wish I had a picture of that but my cellphone was not invented yet.
Traveling down memory like this brings back really great memories of my childhood in Lynden.


Do you remember that first bite of the fishing bug? Lets hear stories!

 

[Pink Nighty]

This is really what started it all for me. I would watch this alot when i was a kid. I believe it was on one of the outdoor channels where I would watch Shaw Grigsby and the others. I asked and asked for it for christmas perhaps what felt like 2 solid years before I saw walmart started carrying it or a version of it. Either way my Dad knew that day in walmart he was not going to walk out of there without that f@#cken banjo minnow set.
It led to my first real cool catch of my life back in 1995 when i took it to the Lynden KOA campground where there are a few ponds there. I enjoyed just watching it swim, duck, twirl, drop, and then when it dropped out of the abys came a really huge largemouth bass. Wish I had a picture of that but my cellphone was not invented yet.
Traveling down memory like this brings back really great memories of my childhood in Lynden.


Do you remember that first bite of the fishing bug? Lets hear stories!

Shout out to the lynden KOA pond! Caught several nice bass out of there playing hookie during high school lol.

 

[JACKspASS]

Reiter Ponds mid 90's

 

[Billy]

Little bass pond by my house. Every day after school about 3 of us would fish it religiously. Bass, crappie, gils, catfish and a giant sturgeon kept us entertained.

 

[Jake Watrous]

I grew up in a family of anglers, so I've got lots of early memories of Spey, fly, and conventional casting.

Launching at PnP and routinely catching salmon within minutes of launch, Agate Pass cod fishery, jigging for 40+lb Chinook off of Jeff Head, Wenatchee River for salmon and steelhead, Elwha River, Lewis River for winter steelhead...

But what got me into almost exclusively fly fishing these past several years is the burning passion for fishing my 6yo has, and the burning lack of desire I have to drive in ovals for salmon on the Sound while dodging bozos who can’t steer a boat, or handling PowerBait and eggs and shit. Fly fishing we can both do, and when we aren't actively fishing we can be tying flies.

 

[nwbobber]

No one fished in my family, but I had an uncle that was a carpenter. On one of his visits he gave me a piece of wood with notches in both ends wrapped with monofilament and a hook and sinker tied on. I took that down to the local pier (I was 5), and there were a lot of old salts down there who would come by and take an interest in what I was doing. Best one asked me what I was using for bait, and I showed him my worms, fresh from my moms garden. He got down on the dock and reached down one of the pilings and ripped off some pile worms and said "try these". After that I started bringing little rockfish home on a fairly regular basis, and the next thing you know my dad got my brother and I a couple of solid glass spinning rods. I was in heaven.

 

[troutpocket]

Riding my bike to the Edmonds fishing pier. Figured out how to catch pile perch and striped perch on a hand line drifting bait along the large concrete pilings. With the right bait and a good tide I could clean up. Late fall was a good time to go. I’d layer up and stay for hours. I saw some nice salmon, rockfish, and even a few lings get caught.

 

[PhilR]

Growing up, we would do a 9 day backpacking trip in the Sierras every summer. Started with a spinning rod and rooster tails, or a fly with a casting bubble. Then cook it on a skewer over the fire. Pulled out that same rod when I moved next to a lake in Virginia, some 20 years later. Slowly shifted over to fly fishing, and moved out to Oregon partly for the better fishing. And, so, here we are.

 

[Matt B]

Where I lived until 5th grade

 

[ABITNF]

For me it started with my friend Bill. He began taking me fishing when I was about 10 years old, over 50 years ago. We are still good friends. His influence caused me to spend over 35 years in fisheries work and now in the fly fishing industry. All because of Bill.

Steelheader Magazine

 

[Pink Nighty]

I grew up living near the mouth of the B-tributary to the nooksack in lynden (and opposed to the F or K) and fished that crick every summer for cutts. Little spinning rod, hooks, split shot and a can of worms. Over the years on that small water I learned about reading the water to set up drifts and find fish, how floods affect waterways, how structure and wood are important to fish and so much more. It's been 20 years and college and marriage and 2 kids and a dozen restaurants since I've fished it but I can still see the big cutt under the log in the honey hole. I'm sure hes still home but I'm scared to go look.

 

[Peyton00]

My grandpa taking me out on the salt water around pt. defiance in the mid 70's.

 

[Scottybs]

The Banjo turned a smallie or 2 at age 12 on Whatcom.

 

[Scudley Do Right]

My dad got me my first fishing license the day I was born. I did the same for my son but I could do it over the phone. The guy did a double take when I gave the DOB, height and weight.

 

[Paige]

Since I was in a stroller pissed off I couldnt fish with my sisters!

 

[Jim F.]

I was born into a fishing/fly fishing family, I lived next door to a fly shop, there was a crick full of big Browns on the north side of town, and I mowed the lawn for a master fly tyer. Fate rules!

 

[Mike Cline]

Profound Influence | J Stockard Fly Fishing

Guest Blogger: Mike Cline, Bozeman, Montana On a variety of internet forums, members routinely post questions asking something to the effect “How did you get st

blog.jsflyfishing.com

 

[Josh]

Early memories were dogfish in the puget sound with my dad and his buddies (no idea what we were really trying to catch) and/or various fish visiting Grandad on the Indian River in FL.

But then there was a long gap as nobody in my immediate family was into fishing seriously. So I spent most of my youth skateboarding, climbing, snowboarding, and playing in terrible bands. After college I somehow got into the idea of flyfishing. First fish hooked was on the Skagit (cutty?), first fish to hand was on some little creek in MT, and a Nooksack trib was the first place I went out and found a fish myself.

 

[Yardus]

In my youth I used to ride my bike down to the the docks around lake Washington and dabble a worm on an eagle claw for perch and bass. In the late 70's, every year my dad and his brothers would round up us kids and head to Montana to fly fish the various rivers. Spent a lot of time walking the Big Hole Battlefield with a Royal Wulff over those summers. After graduation one of my best friends took a tying class which renewed my love for the sport. Spent most of the 90's driving to the east side as vagabond fishing tramp eating Raman and chili chasing the bounty of central WA. Welcomed to the machine in 2000 and beyond.

 

[nomlasder]

Mark and I would hike up the flume to Sheep Creek Lake, a man made reservoir near Juneau. They had stocked the lake with brookies.

I got hooked on fly fishing when they were so eager, they would leap out of the water before the fly even landed.

Sadly they had to lower the lake level as the dam began to deteriorate, thus eliminating spawning areas. The population evaporated.

Good times