Can You Remember Your First?

[troutlover]

A member recently posted a topic with the title ""my first cast" and it got me thinking about my first cast.......I had to think for a little bit but then it came to me and i was taken back to a fantastic memory form my childhood. I will share my story and would love to hear others. I am not a writer so bear with me.

When i was young i had the pleasure of going with my dad to visit my cousin in Kitimat B.C. to fish for steelhead. Growing up we gear fished and i was obsessed with fishing, every birthday i got fishing gear. I was 14 years old and excited beyond description for this trip and found it hard to belive that i had never heard of my cousin from Kitimat who not only fished but owned Northcoast Anglers Tackle Shop (which since then has moved to Terrace). The first day we arrived we got outfitted turned out we had a lot of the wrong gear I remember trying on waders for the first time and thinking when would i ever wade over my knees and how ridiculous it was to have waders up to my arm pits. Heading out onto the river was exciting and i expected to catch fish after fish after fish but i was sorely mistaken the methods were different and new, we were center pin fishing and you had to be FAST when that bobber went down you needed to be on it the steelhead only gave you a second to react i missed A LOT of chances. But as most of us do, we have mercy on kids and my cousin hooked a few that i got to reel in. The next few days fishing was slow we hiked kilometers of bush and river and i quickly learned why waders come up to your arm pits in some areas i had my dad on one side and my cousin on the other and they would drag me across the river. On our last day my cousins friend (a fly fisherman) came along to a big juciy bend that everyone was sure they were going to catch fish on but again it was slow and so they decided to take the chance to put a fly rod in my hand with some quick instruction they left me to mess around and swing some flies i remember that i couldnt cast very well but i figured out that if i got some line out i could get the current to take a bunch and swing the line out. It wasn't long and i felt my first big tug and i had a fish on it was pandamonium and soon i landed my first fish on the fly a 3 pound doly varden not a steel head but i was pumped and i spent the next hr landing five more. Before we left that day i also landed an 16 lb steel head on my casting rod the only one landed in our group the whole trip and it's picture hangs on my wall at home today. Before we departed Kitimat to come home my cousin gave me a gift of a fly rod and urged me to learn the art, and a fly fisherman was born. I wish i had a picture of that Dolyvarden i caught but alas none was taken.

 

well thats the story of my first cast hope to hear more thanks for reading.

Jared.

 

 

 

 

[trailhead]

I will jump in with my tale. I was about 12 or so and our family used to go to Rock Lake on the NW border of Jasper Nat'l Park. The lake is the headwaters of the Wildhay River. My dad wasn't much of a fisherman, but one of our neighbors was older British gentleman and he used to give me tips and also flies. I only had a spinning rod but he taught me the bubble and fly trick which nver worked for me, I thought a real flyrod would solve that problem. So I saved up my paper money and bought a Shakespeare rod and reel setup that came with a woven line. I practised casting in the field by our house using books from the library and on the July long weekend we went out. The weather was terrible, cold wet and windy. Myself and my best friend were game though and we tried to catch fish, my friends dad caught a whitefish, but that was it. On the last day my friend and his family left early, they had enough of the rain. My dad said we were going to leave soon too. So I grabbed the rod and my brother and I went down to our cartopper to take it around to the boat launch. I tried casts from the boat and trolled back to the launch, all to no avail. My brother took off to tell our dad the boat was ready to load, I had to keep casting. When my dad drove up in the car he told me to stop fishing and help load the motor, life vests and oars. So I left my rod for last, leaning over the edge of the boat. When we came back to the boat I flipped the fly forward, and a little Athabasca Rainbow grabbed the Royal Coachman. Not very glamorous was it.

[ironfly]

I moved to Edmonton when I was twenty. I had spent my teen years living in and around Yellowknife, and had enjoyed some great fishing up there. If anything the fishing was too good, because my skill set had never evolved beyond trolling spinners and spoons, and ice fishing. When I started fishing in Alberta I went for what was convenient, which means stocked potholes. Using my methods, I couldn't buy a fish, but almost every time I went out I'd see a fly fisher, and it seemed like they were always catching fish. So I figured, "When in Rome..." I bought a cheapie beginner combo and gave it a shot, but of course casting from shore didn't work, so I bought a belly boat. I picked up a few books and a casting DVD, learned about presentation, matching the hatch, got rid of my tailing loops. Still no fish to hand. It was getting late in the season by then, and I stopped into a tackle shop for advice. The manager says,"this is boatman time, here, try this peacock boatman." I head to the lake, get a line wet and start trying to fish it the way the manager explained; cast it out, count to five, stacatto strip in. Next time count to ten, then fifteen. No luck. I pulled up anchor to head to a new spot, but saw no reason to reel up. Just as I was about to drop anchor again, fish on. No ifs, ands, or buts. I almost lost my rod when the fish hit. The moment I felt the fish on the line, there was no going back to gear; the sensitivity was like night and day. After a great tussle I had a nice rainbow of about four pounds.

 

I laughed at the irony all the way home. I still do. I took up fly fishing because trolling didn't work, and caught my first fish on a fly by trolling.

[ÜberFly]

Don't feel bad...

 

That's how Don Anderson still catches all of his (probably in the same potholes, as well!)! LoL

 

P

 

caught my first fish on a fly by trolling.

 

[bulltrout]

my first was big, ugly, inaccurate and made a weird noise...oh, we're talking about casts...well, about the same then...