Montana or the Ozarks

[Flysmallie]

I like that everyone is still hung up on it being an elitist thing. If you saw me on the river with a fly rod I would make your brain hurt. It's not hard. It's not expensive. You don't have to look like Brad Pitt in the movie. It IS NOT the most effective method most of the time. But it sure is a hell of a lot of fun. I have no desire to cover 15 miles on the river in a day chucking a bait on conventional gear. I still carry and use it to fish from a canoe with but at times I like to use the fly rod. What is better is only my own opinion and that's the only thing that matters to me at this point. What will I get the most joy out of at the time. I did the maximum stress style of fishing in my past. I really enjoyed it for a while. Now I enjoy a much more laid back style using what is the most fun and not so much about what is the most effective. It's a hobby. You are supposed to enjoy those.

Here's a test for you. Try to hook a nice smallmouth on both fly and conventional rod. Don't think about the cast, don't think about the bait, don't think about the presentation. You have a fish hooked on conventional gear. You've got that nice reel with that expensive drag system to help play that fish to your hand. Now start all over. You have a fish hooked on a fly rod. Yes it has a drag but it doesn't quite work the same, at all. It's a whole new ballgame. And like wrench said it doesn't really matter if you land it or not.

 

[ness]

On November 21, 2015 at 8:51:55 AM, BilletHead said:

     Never been about right or wrong it is what gives me the most gratification. I can and do both but lean towards the "Dark Side" Again it is not what I catch but the process or the road taken to my goal. Like Mitch said enjoy what makes you happy!

BilletHead

^This.

[Mitch f]

17 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

I like that everyone is still hung up on it being an elitist thing. If you saw me on the river with a fly rod I would make your brain hurt. It's not hard. It's not expensive. You don't have to look like Brad Pitt in the movie. It IS NOT the most effective method most of the time. But it sure is a hell of a lot of fun. I have no desire to cover 15 miles on the river in a day chucking a bait on conventional gear. I still carry and use it to fish from a canoe with but at times I like to use the fly rod. What is better is only my own opinion and that's the only thing that matters to me at this point. What will I get the most joy out of at the time. I did the maximum stress style of fishing in my past. I really enjoyed it for a while. Now I enjoy a much more laid back style using what is the most fun and not so much about what is the most effective. It's a hobby. You are supposed to enjoy those.

Here's a test for you. Try to hook a nice smallmouth on both fly and conventional rod. Don't think about the cast, don't think about the bait, don't think about the presentation. You have a fish hooked on conventional gear. You've got that nice reel with that expensive drag system to help play that fish to your hand. Now start all over. You have a fish hooked on a fly rod. Yes it has a drag but it doesn't quite work the same, at all. It's a whole new ballgame. And like wrench said it doesn't really matter if you land it or not.

 

I hear ya Ronnie, but once it's hooked, the only thing I'm thinking about is quickly landing the fish so I can release it unharmed. My enjoyment comes from fooling....not feeding, or fighting.

[BilletHead]

Flysmallie is spot on. So fly fishermen are fish killers now? We don't jerk off their faces when landing them  again In jest.

[Mitch f]

8 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

Flysmallie is spot on. So fly fishermen are fish killers now? We don't jerk off their faces when landing them  again In jest.

I didn't mean it to sound that way!?

[Old plug]

I disagree about the part that you need a expensive reel with a very good drag system. Us old farts started out with reel that had no drag and no braking system. I bet a lot of us still compromise reel settings  to fish that way. I believe if you learn to do it it is by best by feel.

[Flysmallie]

4 hours ago, Mitch f said:

 the only thing I'm thinking about is quickly landing the fish so I can release it unharmed.

 

Then why not use barbless hooks on everything. Just shake them loose when they are up next to the boat?

I'm just giving you crap. Some guys just aren't meant for it.

[Mitch f]

48 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

 

Then why not use barbless hooks on everything. Just shake them loose when they are up next to the boat?

I'm just giving you crap. Some guys just aren't meant for it.

I know you are!?

 Because I want the picture too?

[Al Agnew]

To each his own.  Every fishing trip I go on, no matter what I'm using, has some of the same rewards and the same annoyances.  But what I find I like the most about the actual act of fishing is having nice (not insanely expensive but GOOD) gear and fishing it smoothly and efficiently.  Accurate casts, effective retrieves, efficient use, not a lot of wasted motion.  I like to feel like I'm doing it all competently at least.  I get a great deal of satisfaction at that.  Trying to use fly tackle the way I usually fish for smallmouth, it just doesn't feel like I'm smooth and efficient; fishing for trout the way I usually do it, I feel competent.  So it isn't easy for me to even consider fishing for smallmouth with the fly rod.

I tie my own streamers...I don't tie smaller flies because I just don't enjoy it much, can't even say why.  I make probably 90% of the stream bass lures I use.  The satisfaction some find in tying flies and then catching fish on them...I get with the lures I make.

My fly fishing buddy once told somebody else when he thought I couldn't hear it that I wasn't a classic fly caster and I didn't approach fly fishing like most good anglers, I was simply a predator on the water.  He wouldn't want to be teamed up with me in a casting contest, but he wouldn't think twice about teaming with me in a FISHING contest.  I took that as a great compliment; I know I'm not a good fly caster, but I can usually get the fly where it needs to be and once it's there I know what to do with it.  I buy gear that works and rods that feel good to cast, don't care what the brand name on any of it is.  In fact, as I think about it, I've got two Sage fly rods, two Loomis, two St. Croix, a Winston (cheaper model), a Redington, and a Ross.  Not much brand loyalty and not a huge amount of brand snobbery there.  My waders are Simms because I can afford it and they make great waders. But I buy flies at the two sporting goods stores in Bozeman where they are a buck apiece, not the three dollar flies from the fly shops.  My fly sling packs are an expensive brand because they work better than the cheap ones, but my fishing (rain) jacket is a camo thing that I picked up at a big discount, and my winter fishing hat is a goofy looking Elmer Fudd thing made by Carhartt...because it works.  So I'm definitely not the height of fly fishing fashion.

[Mitch f]

39 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

To each his own.  Every fishing trip I go on, no matter what I'm using, has some of the same rewards and the same annoyances.  But what I find I like the most about the actual act of fishing is having nice (not insanely expensive but GOOD) gear and fishing it smoothly and efficiently.  Accurate casts, effective retrieves, efficient use, not a lot of wasted motion.  I like to feel like I'm doing it all competently at least.  I get a great deal of satisfaction at that.  Trying to use fly tackle the way I usually fish for smallmouth, it just doesn't feel like I'm smooth and efficient; fishing for trout the way I usually do it, I feel competent.  So it isn't easy for me to even consider fishing for smallmouth with the fly rod.

I tie my own streamers...I don't tie smaller flies because I just don't enjoy it much, can't even say why.  I make probably 90% of the stream bass lures I use.  The satisfaction some find in tying flies and then catching fish on them...I get with the lures I make.

My fly fishing buddy once told somebody else when he thought I couldn't hear it that I wasn't a classic fly caster and I didn't approach fly fishing like most good anglers, I was simply a predator on the water.  He wouldn't want to be teamed up with me in a casting contest, but he wouldn't think twice about teaming with me in a FISHING contest.  I took that as a great compliment; I know I'm not a good fly caster, but I can usually get the fly where it needs to be and once it's there I know what to do with it.  I buy gear that works and rods that feel good to cast, don't care what the brand name on any of it is.  In fact, as I think about it, I've got two Sage fly rods, two Loomis, two St. Croix, a Winston (cheaper model), a Redington, and a Ross.  Not much brand loyalty and not a huge amount of brand snobbery there.  My waders are Simms because I can afford it and they make great waders. But I buy flies at the two sporting goods stores in Bozeman where they are a buck apiece, not the three dollar flies from the fly shops.  My fly sling packs are an expensive brand because they work better than the cheap ones, but my fishing (rain) jacket is a camo thing that I picked up at a big discount, and my winter fishing hat is a goofy looking Elmer Fudd thing made by Carhartt...because it works.  So I'm definitely not the height of fly fishing fashion.

I'm sorry but ,Your buddy's description of you is what irks me about fly fishing Elites. I'm mean, are you fishing, or are you casting? 

At the close of the day, I hope to land fish and actually accomplish what I set out to do. I think the worst thing someone could say about me would be, "Wow, he can cast so beautifully! Too bad he couldn't catch a darn thing"

.......Good ole TM