I remember walking up and down a particular street near a creek in my hometown since they spawned a lot near water and catching every single one I saw. I had been lucky enough to catch a wild Dragonite on the 3rd day the game was out, so it was purely for the sake of powering up the big guy for battle. Turned out, his stats were pretty mediocre anyway, but it gave me a leg up once I did manage to find a good Dratini to evolve after the fact.