Fly fishing?

[Marble]

I used to fly/nymph fish the creeks in the NC mountains all the time. Probably catch more trout on fly/nymph than with red worms. Just my experience. BUT, I am more of a hook and cook than catch and release. In short, and this may piss the catch and release people off, but if I go flyfishing it is my goal to bring my limit home to cook or freeze for later.

I concur. Most of the creeks and rivers here have a fish limit. In the Sacramento River near my house, the fish are all wild. Limit is 2 per day. The fish there average in the 16-19" range. Its more common to catch a larger fish above 19" than to catch one in tht 12-15" range. I haven't kept one in a long time, they have been spawning for the last several months.

I say keep them if you are gonna eat them. They are delicious!!

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[5MilesBack]

Always struck me as kind of an unproductive, expensive and rather snooty hobby. Maybe I’m wrong

I would say "yes", you're wrong.

My grandfather was a fly fisherman (I still have his bamboo rods). My dad was a fly fisherman, a phenomenal fly fisherman. So of course I became one too at about the age of 2. From my experience, it's MUCH easier to catch trout fly fishing. My best friend grew up fishing spinners. When we started fishing together in high school he gave that up because of watching me catch so many more fish every time out. Now he's a fly fisherman.

All the fly fisherman I know don't care about the optics, the looks, or what the heck others think, because we all try to avoid any and all folks if at all possible. Just like our bowhunting, we'd prefer it if we never saw another person out there, and they never saw us. And that's the way it used to be for both fishing and hunting. But also why I don't fish as much as I used to........just too many people out there these days and I avoid that.

 

[ProStaffSteve]

I would say "yes", you're wrong.

My grandfather was a fly fisherman (I still have his bamboo rods). My dad was a fly fisherman, a phenomenal fly fisherman. So of course I became one too at about the age of 2. From my experience, it's MUCH easier to catch trout fly fishing. My best friend grew up fishing spinners. When we started fishing together in high school he gave that up because of watching me catch so many more fish every time out. Now he's a fly fisherman.

All the fly fisherman I know don't care about the optics, the looks, or what the heck others think, because we all try to avoid any and all folks if at all possible. Just like our bowhunting, we'd prefer it if we never saw another person out there, and they never saw us. And that's the way it used to be for both fishing and hunting. But also why I don't fish as much as I used to........just too many people out there these days and I avoid that.

I challenge you too a trout fishing contest. Been around the block a few times. Only time fly fishing is better is when it’s cold af’

 

[5MilesBack]

I challenge you too a trout fishing contest. Been around the block a few times. Only time fly fishing is better is when it’s cold af’

My dad always preferred it cooler, but I have always had great fishing when it was 90+. I generally only fish from mid Aug after all the runoff, through early October. I hate nymph fishing.

 

[307]

I challenge you too a trout fishing contest. Been around the block a few times. Only time fly fishing is better is when it’s cold af’

Under most circumstances someone handy with a fly pole won't be at a disadvantage vs spin. There are some exceptions.

...but most people aren't very handy with the fly pole.

 

[Greenbelt]

I took up saltwater fly fishing for the additional challenge. I took what I learned from flats fishing and applied it to fly fishing. There is something that makes me feel good about catching a fish on a fly I tied myself out of some thread, feathers and hair. I went one step further and now fish out of a yak.

In my world of saltwater fly fishing there arent any tweed jackets or landrovers. Theres not any snooty characters that I ever ran into. Theres mostly folks working on a skill and innovating.

Its like hunting in the respect you can go out and be successful with your used $300 rifle and scope or spring for a setup for $5000 and every price between. Its easy these days to spend $800 to $1000 or more for a quality flyrod. $400-600 for a quality reel. Plenty of choices that work for way less. I’m in the buy once cry once for saltwater gear so I invested in great equipment.

Its easier to kill deer with a rifle and a scope than a recurve bow. Generally speaking you catch more fish on the flats with your spinning gear and a skiff than your fly rod and a yak. Its about the challenge.

I don't worry myself about how other choose to address their hobbies and dont see myself any higher up the food chain than someone getting started or what type of equipment or style they choose to employ
their pursuits or challenge themself.

Spoken like a fish slayer.

 

[ProStaffSteve]

Under most circumstances someone handy with a fly pole won't be at a disadvantage vs spin. There are some exceptions.

...but most people aren't very handy with the fly pole.

I’m sure not. Trout are laughably stupid imo, and I love any opportunity to use fly gear. Unfortunately i find that it slows we down already limited fishing time. Like I said before, I’m going to be deadly with the fairy stick come retirement age. “If I could make a living reeling them in”

 

[5MilesBack]

...but most people aren't very handy with the fly pole.

I've always said that fly fishing is 25% mechanics and 75% reading the water and presentation. And having the right fly on your line is absolutely critical for great fishing.

 

[FLATHEAD]

"Snooty" in the Fly world is definitely a thing.
Went into a Fly shop in Bozeman just looking around
and casually asked the guy in there if they had an Tenkara stuff.
Dude "bout came unglued. Said "that's not fly fishing - thats about
some Asian guy fishing with a pole for a meal".
I told him yeah, pretty cool stuff - you oughta check it out sometime.
He clammed up and wouldnt say another word.
We left soon after, afraid the guy was gonna have a medical episode.

 

[GMann]

For me fly fishing was just a natural progression in my fishing life, I never thought of it as elitist although plenty of people do....but that's just like anything right?

When I started as a kid my goal was to catch "A" fish....and that proved difficult at first as I'm sure a lot of you might recall. I didn't care how I did it, just wanted to get it done. Slowly I gained competence and figured some stuff out to catch a fish. Soon enough the goal changes/the bar is moved to, I want to catch a lot of fish; and then it becomes I want to catch really big fish, etc. During that time I spin fished, learned how to use a bait caster, etc. So when I saw fly fishing; to me it just looked cool and was something new to learn. Nothing to me was snooty about it. I just wanted to learn something different and the goal changed again. The goal now was that I wanted to catch fish on a fly. It was just another challenge, just a different way of doing something. Then the goal morphed into wanting to catch fish on the flies I create. So do I prefer to fly fish? Yeah, 100%...funny thing is for me the goal has changed again. It's gotten to a place where catching fish is great but I just want to be out there and experience the different landscapes and environments that fly fishing takes me more than the act of catching the fish. Is it the same for everyone? Probably not, but just how it's worked out for me.

 

[displacedtexan]

"Snooty" in the Fly world is definitely a thing.
Went into a Fly shop in Bozeman just looking around
and casually asked the guy in there if they had an Tenkara stuff.
Dude "bout came unglued. Said "that's not fly fishing - thats about
some Asian guy fishing with a pole for a meal".
I told him yeah, pretty cool stuff - you oughta check it out sometime.
He clammed up and wouldnt say another word.
We left soon after, afraid the guy was gonna have a medical episode.

Tenkara isn't fly fishing.

My wife doesn't fish, but she can tell the difference between a fly rod and a cane pole.

 

[displacedtexan]

For me fly fishing was just a natural progression in my fishing life, I never thought of it as elitist although plenty of people do....but that's just like anything right?

I know lots of whitetail stand hunters that think I'm a rich elitist snob for camping in the mountains to hunt.

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

I just started looking into the world of fly fishing. So far I’ve mostly been a spinning reel with powerbait, fishing for hatchery trout, kind of angler. Not much interest in salmon (did plenty of that in AK) or steelhead. I’d rather spend that stamp money on hunting tags. However, I was gifted a fly rod, so in May I took a class from the local fly shop.

It’s pretty fun, but it is expensive! Hell, the fact that you need 4 different kinds on line on the reel (that costs nearly $100 total) about had me ready to write off the whole idea. I haven’t taken it out much because if I lose a fly, there goes $2.50 at a minimum.

I glad to have the gear because there’s a few stretches of the rivers near me that are fly only, but not sure how much I’ll stick with it. At the end of the day, I’m more about simplicity and practicality, and fly fishing thus far seems to be neither.

Maybe my outlook will change once I actually hook into something.

 

[displacedtexan]

I just started looking into the world of fly fishing. So far I’ve mostly been a spinning reel with powerbait, fishing for hatchery trout, kind of angler. Not much interest in salmon (did plenty of that in AK) or steelhead. I’d rather spend that stamp money on hunting tags. However, I was gifted a fly rod, so in May I took a class from the local fly shop.

It’s pretty fun, but it is expensive! Hell, the fact that you need 4 different kinds on line on the reel (that costs nearly $100 total) about had me ready to write off the whole idea. I haven’t taken it out much because if I lose a fly, there goes $2.50 at a minimum.

I glad to have the gear because there’s a few stretches of the rivers near me that are fly only, but not sure how much I’ll stick with it. At the end of the day, I’m more about simplicity and practicality, and fly fishing thus far seems to be neither.

Maybe my outlook will change once I actually hook into something.

I have never owned a spinning rod in my life.

But if a simple and practical way to catch fish was my goal, I'd be buying some.

 

[Flyjunky]

I've always said that fly fishing is 25% mechanics and 75% reading the water and presentation. And having the right fly on your line is absolutely critical for great fishing.

I agree with the 75% part but most of the time the fly doesn't matter as much as people think. In some selective situations when they are keyed in on specific bugs it will make a difference but that's not even remotely a majority of the time.

 

[Flyjunky]

Tenkara isn't fly fishing.

My wife doesn't fish, but she can tell the difference between a fly rod and a cane pole.

So true.

When we have someone call the shop and ask if we carry tenkara rods we jokingly say, "no we don't, we're a fly shop"

 

[3forks]

 

[Traveler]

fly fishing is more technical and so requires more time, attention and skill. There, I said it.

 

[William Sublette]

 

[Broadjumper]

I wonder how many of the people on here calling fly fishing a snobby rich mans sport are hiking around the woods with a $900 kifaru pack, $2500 swaros, $2000 worth of sitka clothes, a $130 bino harnes, $2000 rifle, $1000 scope, $600 rangefinder, just to shoot a deer.

My thoughts exactly. I am one of them....as well I also own several high end flyrods many Abel and other not so cheap top tier fly reels. I certainly couldn't be accused of being "elitist" at all. Quite the opposite actually. Sounds like the fly guys in the US are not so friendly as we are in Australia. Always friendly rivalry of course with the spin guys, many do both.