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

[Old plug]

What you guys say is true. I still love to bass fish but i never did like to compete. There was a constant worry about doing well. Now even though I sometimes go out daily it does not even seem to matter if I catch anything. I approach gear fishing with the same attitude wrench approaches fly fishing. I loose my share if fish like anyone else but really I am pleased for having the experience lost or not. I used to do s lot if fly fishing and tying flys and poppers many years ago. I was a good customer of Herters. But like I say the arthritis will about stop you.

[Mitch f]

I've been tying my own hair for over 10 years, so I completely understand that aspect. I guess I'll need to go on a trip and leave the other stuff at home and be forced to fly fish.

[ScottK]

Hey Buzz,

What fly reel is that? I'm thinking I need an upgrade to a large arbor, and I really like the looks of that one.

(Another great aspect of flyfishing...you get to spend your hard earned money on more stuff you don't need, but it's just too cool looking to pass up)

[Quillback]

Start out simple, fly fishing can be as hard or as easy as you make it, just like other forms of fishing. I was catching panfish and bass on popping bugs when I was 12 years old using beat up, cheap gear. I've been thinking about getting into it again myself, it would be fun to toss minnow imitators at schooling bass when they're chasing shad.

[ness]

Fishing

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.

Very well stated, wrench.

An awful lot of it depends on your mindset. I know folks that wouldn't even consider it because there are better ways to catch more and/or bigger fish. To me it's the complete package - a fun and challenging way to fish; more rewarding when done with a ho' made rod and fly.

[Buzz]

Hey Buzz,

What fly reel is that? I'm thinking I need an upgrade to a large arbor, and I really like the looks of that one.

(Another great aspect of flyfishing...you get to spend your hard earned money on more stuff you don't need, but it's just too cool looking to pass up)

Scott,

The reel is an Okuma SLV 5 wt., (I think it's SLV , the writing is pretty worn) I got it at Academy about 5 years ago. It's been a great reel and has a nice drag. The clicker gave out on me after about a year, but I actually prefer the quiet. I can't remember what I paid for it, but it wasn't bad.

[laker67]

Most say that there are better ways to catch bigger fish. Well I say not, especially when it comes to trout.

[Greasy B]

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.

And me, especially when sight fishing on a strip pit.

[Wayne SW/MO]

For me personally it just adds a lot more dimensions to fishing. I think I've done virtually all methods, even some illegal ones, but between the flycasting, the matching of line and rod to the days flies and the endless work on developing the perfect fly it just means a lot more too me. The other methods generally get set up quickly and then its just buying lures that look good.

I don't do it 100%, but when I think it can be effective it's first on the list.

[Al Agnew]

I've said before that I'm a bipolar angler...I fish for bass almost entirely with conventional tackle, though I'm probably going to be doing a little more fly fishing for them in the future, while I fish for trout almost 100% with the fly rod. And I do consider fly fishing to be the most effective way of fishing for stream trout, although not always the most effective way to catch big ones. While there's no doubt that under most circumstances, fly tackle is not the most effective way to fish for stream bass.

I find fly fishing to be a challenge that's very different than fishing with other stuff, but that doesn't mean I love it so much that I'll "force" it to work for things it simply isn't good for. To me, catching stuff like really large saltwater fish, or fishing deeper than 15 feet or so, with fly tackle is kinda gimmicky. I don't entirely buy into the whole "mystique" of fly fishing, either, but there is a beauty to it when you're doing it in the "classic" manner, fishing dry flies to trout, that is unmatched. And I wouldn't fish for bluegill with anything but a fly rod, because it's just so much more fun.

So I guess I fish the fly rod partly because it's so effective for stream trout and so much pure fun for bluegill, but I don't love it so much that I'll use it for stuff that it really wasn't designed to do. There is beauty and challenge in any kind of fishing, and certainly great satisfaction in using a casting or spinning rod and artificial lures and doing it well.