Other Than Catching Fish, What Do You Love Most About Fly Fishing?

[barbless.co]

For me...

Aside from the raw, tactile experience of hooking and landing a fish, there are many things - but these stand out:

1) The ability to practice "mindfulness" without actually trying to practice mindfulness. The simple fact that in order to have success on the water, we must be hyper-focused and "in the moment". Many people who practice more traditional routes to mindfulness can take weeks, months or years to attain this. The simple act of it all (the laser focus on the hatch, the water, the temp, the wind, the sun, the shadows - the entire ecology) makes it happen naturally.

2) The shared anticipation I often feel when I'm in the car with my buddy as we head up the hill discussing the coming day. The camaraderie that develops when you are in that car with someone who is equally passionate about the sport and you just... connect and tighten those bonds even further.

[Woodman]

1) The ability to practice "mindfulness" without actually trying to practice mindfulness. The simple fact that in order to have success on the water, we must be hyper-focused and "in the moment". Many people who practice more traditional routes to mindfulness can take weeks, months or years to attain this. The simple act of it all (the laser focus on the hatch, the water, the temp, the wind, the sun, the shadows - the entire ecology) makes it happen naturally.

Exactly. One of the only things I do with my time where everything else just kind of disappears for a while.

[NCL]

The tranquility of the experience, the daily stress just seems to melt away.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I enjoy the fly casting........

Also getting out with old friends on the water.

[JasonB]

I love the interaction with water more than anything I think. Spending time just being absorbed by flowing water, surrounded by beauty. The calm and quite that creates in my heart and soul is somewhat of a central recharge point for me; the need for such times feels similar to the need for a good nights sleep.

I do love the challenges fly fishing presents too, and the opportunities to learn more about the complexities of the web of life.

Then there’s the gracefulness of good casting and mending, at least when no ones watching in my case!

Good stuff!

[Larry S]

From the late Robert Traver: "I fish because I love to. Because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly. Because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape. Because in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing what they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion. Because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed, or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility, and endless patience. Because I suspect that men are going this way for the last time and I for one don't want to waste the trip. Because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters. Because in the woods I can find solitude without loneliness. ... And finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important, but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant and not nearly so much fun."

[JasonB]

From the late Robert Traver: "I fish because I love to. Because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly. Because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape. Because in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing what they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion. Because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed, or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility, and endless patience. Because I suspect that men are going this way for the last time and I for one don't want to waste the trip. Because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters. Because in the woods I can find solitude without loneliness. ... And finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important, but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant and not nearly so much fun."

Brilliant! I love that last line especially
JB

[Larry S]

Jason,
Traver was actually Judge John Voelker, a Michigan Supreme Court Justice living in Michigan's U.P.
He wrote the novel "Anatomy of a Murder," which became the Academy Award winning movie.
I'm pretty sure he would be frowning on the ever present cell phone.
Best,
Larry S
Sun Diego

[johnsquires]

"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." Henry David Thoreau

The solitude, the serenity, the scenery, the colors of a wild fish, the possible presence of other wild things, and a place to smoke a cigar without bothering anyone.

[mogaru]

Sadly, "fly fishing" is turning into "fly casting", due to the lack of fish. Hooking up a fish (specially this year on the american river) is becoming a rare event and this is having a direct impact on the shops which are trying to make a living. It is true that going fishing is more than that ( beautiful scenery, rivers mountains, friends etc), but at the end of the date we carry a fly rod and the main goal is to catch a fish or two, otherwise we wouldn't carrying one. Nowadays, every fishing conversation is about grains, long bellies, skagit, and while fly casting is pleasurable, it wears out after a while if a fish is not at the end of the line...........I will keep on fishing, like I've been doing for the last 55 years.