Yeah that's what I called them in the day, old hip waders with suspenders like they just got done logging for the day... some of the finest fisherman I've ever met in my life. A few fly fished, many chucked bait and it was great conversation. I've confronted this conversation several times in how can a guy can be a fly-fisherman and a walleye fisherman using leeches, worms, minnows and other live bait. Well bring back the old farts, I think they'd understand.
Well some are purist and some ain't. Spent alot of fun filled days fishing for blue gills with a bobber and worm. Spent a lot of fun filled days fishing with a fly for trout and steelhead. Just depends on what turns you wheels. And yep, I am an old fart.
You mean someone who has ran rivers for steelhead and trout in 4 different state's for over 35 years" The guy who wore hip waders because that was mostly what was available. The guy who started with a custom fiberglass rod for steel because it was the only thing available at the time. The guy who one day would be fishing dry skaters for steelhead on the big D and the next day be fishing sturgeon on the Columbia? The person who would take all his friends and throw eggs and shrimp under bobbers for coastal chinook one day and the next trip take his old premier 12 weight and only use flies for chinook to 40 pounds? The guy who knew all the old fly guides and all the gear guides on all the rivers in his area? The guy who was told he used the shuttle person on his local river more than anyone else including guides for years. That local GUY who the guides hate seeing his rig and trailer at the ramp because they know he knows the river as good or better than they do! That guy who fished and floated rivers like the Henry's - green river Utah - big hole - silver creek - beaverhead - and many - many more and knows many rivers in the west from Eugene to the OP and floated them for steel for 35 years. That guy who taught other people to run white water including guides who never charged a dime to anyone while sharing his sport with as many people as he could over 40 years of his life, from mothers to children to fathers and grandfathers. That guy who tied flies since he was 12 and still can troll spinners in tillamook bay for the largest salmon in the lower USA or run all the rivers back bouncing - bobber and eggs - jet diver and quick fish and many other techniques developed over the years. Don't you know we are all just snaggers that know nothing! that everything we did and still do is nothing to the new fly fisherman and means nothing to them. That we could never be anything like a fisherman today! That we have nothing to give or teach because we never - ever did anything! If I had to write for any old-timers I would have to say we are all gone - To today's young fisherman we know nothing and everything we did means nothing to them if we don't think the way they think! Like we never went to any DFW meetings trying to fight for the fish we love. Never did any scale sample collecting for wild fish studies or anything of the such. Don't you know the only fishing in the world is swinging for steel and everything else just sucks and should be illegal? PS. I like the way you think Trustfunder!!!
I wear my old fart status with pride. I caught my first fish in the summer of 1946 with a red worm, a cane pole and a Carlisle float. I dug the worms behind the barn and my grandfather took me to Pipestone Lake in SW Michigan where we fished out of a creaky old rowboat named the PatsyJ- after my sister. I fell asleep after a few hours and a lot of bluegill and crappie. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up the next morning in a feather bed in the upstairs back bedroom of my grandparents house. The same room and same bed that I was born in 8 years earlier. After that I have been pretty much addicted to fishing ever since. In the early years only crude baitcasting reels were available and were a horror to fish with. In 1948 the spinning reel was invented and I saw my first one in 1950. I mowed lawns, saved money and kissed ass wherever it was necessary to get one of those things. Now fishing was easy and at last a lot more fun. On July 27, 1951 I received my first fly rod and caught a big rainbow on it the next day. It was a True Temper steel rod with a wind up self retrieving reel. I don't subscribe to the "Fish Fly or Die" kind of attitude that the so called purist have. Psychiatrist have a lot of fancy names for those guys but they are all a nice way of saying sicko. I can still have a great time catching crappies with a spinning rod and reel using 2# test line and tiny jigs. The tug is still the drug after all these years. Time on the water is still the most important aspect of fishing. If you have to jump through a lot of moral hoops and righteous restrictions on how you fish or what you fish with you are missing the greater point. I think us old guys probably have a little more liberal view about what fishing enjoyment actually is. We are not confined to a narrow definition and our psyche is not so fragile that we are defined by what we do and how it is perceived by others. Besides, we don't have that much time left to fish so don't pester us with your militant conformity. Ive
As an old fart myself (if being on the downhill side of 60 qualifies), I suspect I'm not alone on this board in having been through the transition from bait fishing as a kid, to fishing steel lures on spinning gear, and ending up as a fly-fishing, C&R fisherman. I also used to fish for a broad range of species, but now it is almost exclusively for trout. I learned from guys in leaky rowboats and rubber hipwaders. I started fishing with my fathers telescoping steel rod (I wish I had salvaged that from their yard sale back in the 70's when my parents sold the family home) and a bait-casting reel. This is an evolution that isn't necessarily for everyone, but as an old fart who has lived in a variety of places and seen the resources degrade over time in many of those places, I've realized that this is the only way I can justify continuing my passion for fishing for wild, naturally reproducing trout in the least harmful, and closest to sustainable way. My personal experience suggests that it is a relatively common personal history among trout fishermen, and that most of the old (and young) farts who are not fishing flies and practicing C&R are found in the salt, or following anadromous migrations of hatchery fish, or on stocker, C&K lakes. I have a lot of admiration for my predecessors and peers who have been at it for a long time, and who may have a history like mine, or who still pursue fish by whatever legal means they choose. But, I, for one, am happy that there seems to be a substantial portion of a new generation of fishers who have started where I, and many of you, have ended up. The future of our sport fisheries depends on them. I think, with time, they will learn to appreciate those who came before them, too. Dick
Ocean City bait casting reels and steel rods. Heck, I didn't even know what fiberglass was until I was fourteen.
You know you're an 'Old Fart' when the Oregon State Police Officer doing license checks doesn't ask to see yours. Only had one 'run in' with an OSP officer and she was a young lady (sorry Ladies) who was being shown the ropes by two older officers (both of whom I knew). Sitting on the front bumper of the Jeep having a smoke and a cold beer with the Yellow Lab Sheba and Husky (Husky is the fellow in my Avatar photo) curled up next. She (best description I can think of) 'stomps up' and demands to see my fishing license. Rod(s) were on top of the Jeep and we're just watching the water go by (we'd been skunked again). I just looked at her and told her to 'Fxck Off.' Other two Officer's exploded in laughter. Two hauled her off and had a nice chat. She comes back and apologizes and said, to the effect, 'we need to keep records on folks who are fishing, how they did, etc.' Stood up and pulled out my wallet.
I submit, for the record, that I am not an old fart. All the old fart fly fishermen I knew are dead (RIP). I've only been fly fishing for a little over 40 years. I've just been around the block a few times. I'm not even taller than a lot of the other kids these days, kids being anyone under 40. Sg
Reading this immediately made me think of my Uncle Otto. My Dad was an accomplished gear and fly-fisherman in his own right, yet spoke of his older brother as he were some kind of legend when it came to plunking for steelhead. As I remember, Otto made his own "cherry-bobber" plunking lures, cured his own baits, and seemed to know exactly when and where to place them. It was as though Otto had the ability to conjure steelhead from the murky rivers of northern Washington. Although virtually no one fly-fished for winter steel back then, I remember there was no "us vs. them" attitude between fly and bait fisherman when I was a kid in the mid 60's. Each approach had it's own advantages, and challenges. You fly-fished for trout and used lures or bait for everything else. The only gray area was bucktailing for silvers in saltwater. Different methods were recognized for what they were, and did not force allegiance to one at the exclusion of another. Dad taught me to tie flies with feathers from our own barred-rock roosters and how fly fish with them. He also taught me how to plug-cut herring, make killer home-made spoons from brass shim-stock, and showed me how to fish them effectively - very effectively. Not sure why Dad didn't get into steelhead plunking like his brother. Maybe it was a simple matter of not having the spare time due to job demands as a mechanical engineer. Although, with Otto's "old-timer" status on the local river, I think it may have been partially out of respect for his big brother. Today it seems we have learned so much, yet perhaps, forgotten so much more.
Here's to all of us "Old Guys," to whom "back in the day" will always remain a glorious reality . . .
I'm an old fart, too, no in Jim's class, but an old one (just funning' with you Jim). The thing that is so important to me is you young squirts, you are the source of my youth. Young folks teach us old farts much more than you realize, you also remind us of great times gone by. You also allow us to ramble about the "good ol' days" without interrupting. Young folks are the future of fishing no matter what form it takes. You are the ones who will need to carry the banner to protect the waters and fisheries into the next century. To be honest, we old farts could have done a better job, we got started too late. Here's to you young folks!
