Tampa Bay Charter Fishing

My Introduction to Flyfishing

My first entry in this category will give a little background on how I got into flyfishing.  As a member of my local Boy Scout troop I spent at least one week every summer at Raven’s Knob Scout Camp. This is where I first got my hands on the magical fly rod. At twelve years of age I was already heavily into fishing and had worked my way up from a sourwood sapling and a piece of cotton thread to my own closed face spinning rod, and now I was ready to step up to the post graduate level.  I signed up for a flyfishing merit badge class and was issued a Wright and McGill sweetheart fly rod with a mayfly imitation tied on.  A member of the waterfront staff took me to an area that had been a kids wading area and taught me the basics of casting and left me to practice.  I took to it like the proverbial duck to water.  In no time I was casting to the far side of the wading area, and wouldn’t you know it, a big bluegill smacked that fly and gave my soul wings.  I guess I let out a yell or two because I had a small audience as I subdued my catch and gave the magnificent beast its freedom.

Soon after that week at scout camp I worked out a deal with my dad and we bought my first fly rod.  I used popping bugs to fish for bass and bluegills and used the rod to fish for mountain trout in the streams around home.  I have to confess a dark flyfishing secret however; when I fished for trout I used w-o-r-m-s and when I didn’t use worms I used a small Mepps spinner.  It was not “real” fly fishing.

This was all to change when I went off to college.  While attending Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina I met some fellows that were real fly fishermen.  Not only did they trout fish with flies, they also tied their own flies.  With their instructions, I purchased what, by today’s standards, would be some very primitive tying equipment and I was on my way.

Future posts in this category will deal with fly fishing in general and saltwater fly fishing in particular.  Follow along as I strike out on my latest venture of fly fishing in the saltwaters of Tampa Bay.