Would Like To Learn How To Fly Fish But.......

[Mitch f]

I can't actually see the end result as efficient as conventional fishing. Someone tell me where I'm wrong PLEASE! Why would I enjoy it more?

[DaddyO]

I guess it depends on the end result that you are looking for. For me, it was a progression. I enjoy tying my own flies. I enjoy catching fish on flies that I have tied. If you are fishing for meat, it may not be what you are looking for. I enjoy the challenge of fly fishing. For me, "the tug is the drug" and I like the tug on a fly rod more than I like the tug on a conventional fishing rod. The end result, for me, is that I get more pleasure fly fishing than I do conventional fishing.

Having said that, I really got a kick snagging spoonbill. I checked that off of my list this season. I didn't use a fly rod for that.

[Flysmallie]

For the fish I like to catch its not the most efficient or even the most effective. But is sure is a hell of a lot of fun.

It turns a fight with a 15" inch smallie into a pure battle. But it's not the easiest way to coax that fish into biting.

I love it. But it's not for everyone.

[Buzz]

Efficient?? Maybe not as. Gratifying? Very!!!

I went to Big Sugar today, strictly fly fishing, and had a blast. At least 40 fish caught in 5 1/2 hours. A mix of smallmouth, goggle eye, and a few perch. Oh yeah I almost forgot, 1 big chub.

Mini Clousers, Helmet sculpins, and frog poppers kicked butt. In the end the poppers were the most fun and caught the most fish.

It's really not that much different than trout fishing.

These may not be the biggest in the creek, but they sure thought they were and I had a blast.

[exiledguide]

I agree with DaddyO its fun and tying a fly you designed and fishing that fly on a rod you built and finding a fish retarded enough to bite on that fly is a lot of fun. I also think it is a very inefficient way to fish but a lot of people enjoy it. I think a full moon in May or June and a fly rod on a farm pond or strip mine in the Midwest with a population of 10' bluegill may be as good as fly fishing gets, buts that's just me.

[Mitch f]

Well GreasyB took me out blue gill fishing at Busch Wildlfe and had a blast! This is one of the reasons I started thinking about it.

[Old plug]

Yes it is fun provided you do not have some type of physical thing that might cause you pain or misery. I fly fished years a ago and still have a rod but I also have a lot of arthritis. I have recently thought about returning to it and wanted to see if I could still lay out a good line. Well I layed out a few but my shoulders refused to go much farther. So more power to you Mitch. There is a lot of satisfaction in it. And you csn cstch bug ones also. They catch salmon, tarpon and other giants on fly rods.

[exiledguide]

You need to talk to MIC, he lives in maybe the best fly fishing area in the Midwest around New Baden, Nashville , Millstadt , New Athens etc Living in St Louis I always had a non resident Illinois fishing permit and for 25 years I fished out of a 1967 Sears fiberglass Ted Williams jonfisher which I paid $119 for in 1968 and I went through I Shakeshere 2 Minnkota and one motor guide trolling motor. And I never felt I missed a thing. Once you found a pit or even better farm pond that produced big bluegill and quality largemouth you were in business.

[fishinwrench]

I can't actually see the end result as efficient as conventional fishing. Someone tell me where I'm wrong PLEASE! Why would I enjoy it more?

Efficiency as far as size and numbers of fish brought to hand is not where the payoff of flyfishing lies.

If you are looking for "efficiency" then live bait and 20# line would be the way to go.

Just as rifle hunters turn to bowhunting and compound bowhunters turn to recurve/longbows....Sportsmen eventually, after a certain amount of success will look for ways increasingly more gratifying to feed their egos.

In this day and age we aren't fishing to stockpile food, and most of us aren't even trying to fill a bag with 5 of the heaviest fish in the lake. I went back to flyfishing after I realized that cranking down on multiple 4-7lbers with heavy tackle and swinging them over the gunnels like a 9" crappie didn't excite me anymore, and also realizing that after a day of doing well I really didn't feel a sense of accomplishment.

Even if I placed well in a tournament and took some money home it was still less than I could have made by rebuilding someones outboard. I'd much rather take your money by working on your boat/motor than to TRY to beat you at fishing on any random day. I'm way more confident in my engine repairing skills than I am my fishing prowess.

I get remembered everytime someone turns a key to start their motor. They either think kindly of me when it fires right up....or cuss me when it doesn't. But the guys whose money I've taken by getting bigger bites than they did once upon a time....they probably forgot my name before they even got home.

So flyfishing is about Me feeling good about what I'm doing. The construction of the flies and leaders, the placement of the cast, the manipulation of the flies, ect. It is just so much more involved and harder to do, so when I succeed it makes me happier than catching the same (or more) fish using conventional gear.

You can't deny the elitist aspect of flyfishing because it truly is a graduation of technique and mindset that is advanced compared to other forms of sportfishing. What other form of fishing requires as much preparation, practice, skill,

stamina, and problem solving in order to be successful, regardless of the species you are targeting?

It's all about the personal payoff. But even at that it isn't enough for me to just be "fishing with a flyrod" since drifting midges under a indicator with a flyrod takes less skill than huckin' a roostertail all day. Some forms of "flyfishing" can be pretty lame in the payoff category.

[Feathers and Fins]

It is to me the purest form of fishing there is! Flyfishing is not about being efficient nor is it about using the most technological gear. It is about soul fishing, there is something about it that puts heart and soul peace and tranquility in to fishing no other form of fishing can do. From tying your own flies to becoming so in tune with the water even the slightest ripple will catch your attention. It is the best medicine for the heart and soul of the angler.

If you have to have it be efficient then I suppose the lessons it teaches you and the uplifting of your soul is where it is.