Hello from across the pond.
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:31 am
I would like to say thank you for allowing me to become a member on this incredible forum. I have spent the last few hours just browsing through it and I must say that compared to the forums here in the States, this forum has a special something about it. It's probably due to the fact that I know nothing about British waters, though I love the traditional ways to catch trout. I have watched video's from Great Britain on fishing and I enjoy them very much from the fish to the beautiful landscapes. I guess I would like to learn more on the ways fly fishing in it's traditional form done in Great Britain. And this forum is a wonderful place to start.
I live in Colorado, and it's here I learned from my grandfather how to fly fish the way he did. My family was from the counties of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland and moved to the USA in the 1960's. In 1965 I was born. My gandfather was an avid fly fisherman who believed in the ways of W.C. Stewart and other gentlemen like him. Dry fly and wets were the only flies he would fish with, and it was casting upstream, or up and across. Swinging flies was not acceptable because to him it was the lazy man's way of angling. Bamboo rods were the tools of choice, and by the time I was big enough to cast, he would take me to the river and practice casting.
He taught me to always keep the sport simple, and not get caught up in the hype of all the new ideas and gadgets. The ways that were done 150 years ago still worked as a child, and even today. I did eventually meander off the path and started reading magazines and learning all the different ways of fly fishing till it became too much work, and less recreational pleasure. It was last year I decided to leave the new ways learned and return to my beginnings. I have never been happier. I now no longer stare into my fly box wasting time deciding on what fly to use, because my fly selection is simple. I fish going upstream, casting upstream searching for trout bravely taking a meal from the surface.
I enjoy the traditions of the old ways, plus the history of it. And there is no other place to follow the traditions and history than Great Britain. The USA is fantastic, but we seem to follow what the British Isles have already established.
I would like to visit GB someday and fish the famous Chalk Streams and the rivers in the Highlands of Scotland. But since I can't, I hope you will allow me to fish vicariously through you. I fish the fast moving freestone rivers, creeks and streams here in the Rocky Mountains. I understand that it is a little different than what you have there, and I am happy to share my adventures with all of you.
I must say I have never seen a fishing forum with ghost stories. We may not have ghosts running through our mountains, but then again, maybe we do. But we do have sightings of Bigfoot, especially around the Pikes Peak area.
I live in Colorado, and it's here I learned from my grandfather how to fly fish the way he did. My family was from the counties of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland and moved to the USA in the 1960's. In 1965 I was born. My gandfather was an avid fly fisherman who believed in the ways of W.C. Stewart and other gentlemen like him. Dry fly and wets were the only flies he would fish with, and it was casting upstream, or up and across. Swinging flies was not acceptable because to him it was the lazy man's way of angling. Bamboo rods were the tools of choice, and by the time I was big enough to cast, he would take me to the river and practice casting.
He taught me to always keep the sport simple, and not get caught up in the hype of all the new ideas and gadgets. The ways that were done 150 years ago still worked as a child, and even today. I did eventually meander off the path and started reading magazines and learning all the different ways of fly fishing till it became too much work, and less recreational pleasure. It was last year I decided to leave the new ways learned and return to my beginnings. I have never been happier. I now no longer stare into my fly box wasting time deciding on what fly to use, because my fly selection is simple. I fish going upstream, casting upstream searching for trout bravely taking a meal from the surface.
I enjoy the traditions of the old ways, plus the history of it. And there is no other place to follow the traditions and history than Great Britain. The USA is fantastic, but we seem to follow what the British Isles have already established.
I would like to visit GB someday and fish the famous Chalk Streams and the rivers in the Highlands of Scotland. But since I can't, I hope you will allow me to fish vicariously through you. I fish the fast moving freestone rivers, creeks and streams here in the Rocky Mountains. I understand that it is a little different than what you have there, and I am happy to share my adventures with all of you.
I must say I have never seen a fishing forum with ghost stories. We may not have ghosts running through our mountains, but then again, maybe we do. But we do have sightings of Bigfoot, especially around the Pikes Peak area.
nice post introducing your self 
mike