When my father was in High school he was obsessed with the outdoors. Sometimes skipping school to go to a local river to fish with his dog. Hours and hours would pass without a fish, but the realization that he was out in nature enjoying what this earth has to offer was all he was thinking about. As my father found my mother, established his own business, and got older and busier he didn’t have much time for fishing. But this did not distract him from making sure his son was going to enjoy the outdoors as much as he did. My father took me on many fishing trips to local streams and creeks. We would go fishing regularly until I got into middle school. This is when my father got really busy with his business and I had “actual work” I had to do. Not only did this put a lull in our fishing journeys, but also separated us in a way.
Not until the introduction of hunting into my life at the age of 11 was I hooked into outdoor activities. My father is more passionate about hunting than fishing, but I did not give up on getting him to go fishing with me. As I began to grow into my mid-teens I began fishing with my friends more often. This led to rarely being able to go fishing with my father. Unfortunately at that time, he was more wrapped up in his hunting trips that he was going on (Elk in Colorado and Montana, Antelope in Wyoming, Caribou in Canada, and local deer hunting). But all was not lost. My uncle chopper and my father would do a yearly trip to the Salmon River in Pulaski New York. I would always be pushed away from the trip with him because I would be in school when he went. And in my family school is always more important than anything else. So I would never get to go with him and my uncle. When I got to be 17 my father finally let me go with him up to the Salmon River. That is the trip I will never forget. The first time I was permitted to go to this magical place that I was never allowed to go to before. It had all changed. It was like my father realized that I reached a time in my life where I could finally do all the things that an adult could. It was a great thing to know that. But when we went up, we would use traditional spin casting techniques. Now at this time I knew that I fly fishing was a very effective fishing technique.
Before we go further, let me discuss how I learned of fly fishing. Every summer my family and I would go to a campground called Sun Valley Campsites. We had a seasonal campsite there, and the fishing in the area was phenomenal. Each season campsites in the surrounding area would be switched because people would move from one to the other. Well one year this man and his wife moved into a camp site that was fairly close to ours. I recognized him when I went fishing up at the very popular fishing hole at the campsite. He was using a pole that was very different from mine, and he was catching quite a few more fish than me. I didn’t quite understand how what he was using was so effective. And me being me, I didn’t ask him right away. We eventually became friends with him. His name is Ollie and he is from Rochester. He is a great guy, and not only did he get me interested in fly fishing, but he changed my life. Now before he told me about what he was doing, all I knew about fly fishing was that it was a very elitist activity. It is portrait as a sport that is very difficult and for old people. This connotation is very wrong. He began to show me how to fly fish after I got my own pole. This is when my life became forever changed.
Now back to Pulaski. When the Salmon are running, the do not bite. They are not hungry so they do not try to eat. They are simply going up to the hatchery to lay their eggs and die. Now this is a very difficult for fisherman. Because if you cannot get them to bite, what do you do? Well the technique used is snagging. Now I do not in any way promote snagging because it is against the law and morally wrong for any situation other than this. But this is how you have to catch the fish. Now some people in the area still use fly fishing techniques because it is more effective because of the way you can snag the fish (won’t go into details here). Anyhow, I did not really enjoy the way that we were catching fish because I really did not considering it to be true fishing. So the year after that I did not partake in the trip up to the Salmon River. But, when I joined college I saw that there was a fly fishing club. I jumped right into the action. I got very involved and began to learn as much as I could. Now this passion has taken over my life. I can’t go anywhere without seeing someone I know and talking about fly fishing. It’s not even a passion at this point. It’s an obsession. But anyhow, this club I am currently in is very active in the fishing world. We do community service work for hatcheries, stream clean ups, and much more. The club is so important to me that I will take over the Vice President position for this next semester. I hope to do great things for the fly fishing in the Syracuse Area. Now my father says that once he retires he will get back into fishing. And he even agreed to learn how to fly fish from myself because he can see how much fun I am having with the sport. Now that’s something new. You can teach an old dog new tricks
. I am considering getting into competition fly fishing but I have yet to decide if I would like to take that route. Considering I have a hell of a lot yet to learn. But I hope you all enjoyed his and feel free to share your fishing stories and pictures below!
I'm just going to share a few images from today (3.2.14) and also some pictures from my father’s hunting trips. I was fishing butternut creek in the Syracuse NY area. I will continue to post to this thread with updates (which will include photos).
I hope this inspires some of you to go out and go enjoy the world in a different way. And maybe pick up fly fishing
This is from a trip my father took to New Zealand.
Pictures from today (3.2.14)
cliff to the vehicle
Not until the introduction of hunting into my life at the age of 11 was I hooked into outdoor activities. My father is more passionate about hunting than fishing, but I did not give up on getting him to go fishing with me. As I began to grow into my mid-teens I began fishing with my friends more often. This led to rarely being able to go fishing with my father. Unfortunately at that time, he was more wrapped up in his hunting trips that he was going on (Elk in Colorado and Montana, Antelope in Wyoming, Caribou in Canada, and local deer hunting). But all was not lost. My uncle chopper and my father would do a yearly trip to the Salmon River in Pulaski New York. I would always be pushed away from the trip with him because I would be in school when he went. And in my family school is always more important than anything else. So I would never get to go with him and my uncle. When I got to be 17 my father finally let me go with him up to the Salmon River. That is the trip I will never forget. The first time I was permitted to go to this magical place that I was never allowed to go to before. It had all changed. It was like my father realized that I reached a time in my life where I could finally do all the things that an adult could. It was a great thing to know that. But when we went up, we would use traditional spin casting techniques. Now at this time I knew that I fly fishing was a very effective fishing technique.
Before we go further, let me discuss how I learned of fly fishing. Every summer my family and I would go to a campground called Sun Valley Campsites. We had a seasonal campsite there, and the fishing in the area was phenomenal. Each season campsites in the surrounding area would be switched because people would move from one to the other. Well one year this man and his wife moved into a camp site that was fairly close to ours. I recognized him when I went fishing up at the very popular fishing hole at the campsite. He was using a pole that was very different from mine, and he was catching quite a few more fish than me. I didn’t quite understand how what he was using was so effective. And me being me, I didn’t ask him right away. We eventually became friends with him. His name is Ollie and he is from Rochester. He is a great guy, and not only did he get me interested in fly fishing, but he changed my life. Now before he told me about what he was doing, all I knew about fly fishing was that it was a very elitist activity. It is portrait as a sport that is very difficult and for old people. This connotation is very wrong. He began to show me how to fly fish after I got my own pole. This is when my life became forever changed.
Now back to Pulaski. When the Salmon are running, the do not bite. They are not hungry so they do not try to eat. They are simply going up to the hatchery to lay their eggs and die. Now this is a very difficult for fisherman. Because if you cannot get them to bite, what do you do? Well the technique used is snagging. Now I do not in any way promote snagging because it is against the law and morally wrong for any situation other than this. But this is how you have to catch the fish. Now some people in the area still use fly fishing techniques because it is more effective because of the way you can snag the fish (won’t go into details here). Anyhow, I did not really enjoy the way that we were catching fish because I really did not considering it to be true fishing. So the year after that I did not partake in the trip up to the Salmon River. But, when I joined college I saw that there was a fly fishing club. I jumped right into the action. I got very involved and began to learn as much as I could. Now this passion has taken over my life. I can’t go anywhere without seeing someone I know and talking about fly fishing. It’s not even a passion at this point. It’s an obsession. But anyhow, this club I am currently in is very active in the fishing world. We do community service work for hatcheries, stream clean ups, and much more. The club is so important to me that I will take over the Vice President position for this next semester. I hope to do great things for the fly fishing in the Syracuse Area. Now my father says that once he retires he will get back into fishing. And he even agreed to learn how to fly fish from myself because he can see how much fun I am having with the sport. Now that’s something new. You can teach an old dog new tricks
. I am considering getting into competition fly fishing but I have yet to decide if I would like to take that route. Considering I have a hell of a lot yet to learn. But I hope you all enjoyed his and feel free to share your fishing stories and pictures below!I'm just going to share a few images from today (3.2.14) and also some pictures from my father’s hunting trips. I was fishing butternut creek in the Syracuse NY area. I will continue to post to this thread with updates (which will include photos).
I hope this inspires some of you to go out and go enjoy the world in a different way. And maybe pick up fly fishing
This is from a trip my father took to New Zealand.
Pictures from today (3.2.14)
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