OK, I'm sure this has been asked plenty of times before, but since I'm new here I was just curious about the back ground of some of the individuals on this site. Here is a little about myself:

My name is Phil Metz and I grew up on the banks of the Passaic River in West Paterson, NJ. Growing up I fished for carp and catfish, eventually moving on to both largemouth and smallmouth bass. I started fly fishing, on and off, probably around age 14 or 15 (I'm 33 now) with limited success, usually using generic pattens like wooly worms, buggers and egg flies.

Over the coarse of my years, I've had everything from inflatable rafts, to fishing kayaks, to a center console I used for a few seasons down around Atlantic Highlands. I guess I am a sort of jack of all trades, master of none, as I've dabbled in many different types of fishing but never really tuned into one per say. I currently live in Hamburg, NJ (northern NJ) and work in Ct. I'm looking forward to getting back into fly fishing the trout streams in and around NJ and NY and can see by the level of proficient anglers on this site that I have a long way to go and a lot to learn. For example, I seined a few insects out of the Flatbrook this past weekend and it was frustrating not be able to identlify with 100% accuracy whether a few of the bugs were mayflies or stoneflies. In addition, I must admit that it's still difficult to put on a size 18 nymph or size 22 midge pattern, when I'm used to fishing size 4 and size 6 wooly buggers. So I've order a few hatch books and will read throughout the winter, hoping to gain enough knowledge to catch a few fish in my future outings.

That being said, how about you guys? I can see some individuals on this site seem to be able to tell you every aquatic organism in a number of streams. If you have the time, I'd be interested in hearing a little bit about your background, where you fish, your level of expertise, etc. Thanks guys.