What is fly fishing to you?

[Larry S]

BobVP;
Regarding your comment "Is Tenkara fly fishing...someone asked. Hmm, they use flies but there is no casting,"
I humbly and respectively must disagree. From rod tip to the fly might be 25 feet or so of line and leader.
I am a rank amateur at this, most of my efforts have been in my nephew's swimming pool; but, the cast needs to
be "spot on!"

Best to you,
Larry S
Sun Diego

[John H]

Interesting topic. Here is my thought -

Fly fishing has evolved in the last 40 years and we have clearly gotten to the point where there is fly fishing and there is fly rod fishing. Where the line is between the two is debatable but I do not care where that line is. The only line I care about is the line between fishing I want to do and fishing I don’t want to do. I could spend some some time describing where that line is but it is constantly changing and it is my personal choice. I would say fish however you want to, don’t worry about what someone else calls it and let others do the same.

[BobVP]

BobVP;
Regarding your comment "Is Tenkara fly fishing...someone asked. Hmm, they use flies but there is no casting,"
I humbly and respectively must disagree. From rod tip to the fly might be 25 feet or so of line and leader.
I am a rank amateur at this, most of my efforts have been in my nephew's swimming pool; but, the cast needs to
be "spot on!"

Best to you,
Larry S
Sun Diego

I stand corrected Larry. Thank you.

[Zepher]

Mindlessly stripping in a streamer and having the line ripped from my fingers. Sudden elation

[Lucas Dement]

To me fly fishing is fishing using a fly rod. At the end of the day, Im just trying to enjoy myself on the water, and whether I am euro bro nymphing or swinging a giant orange and white intruder; Im fishing for my own enjoyment, not to meet someone elses expectations. I think everyone is entitled to their own opinions of what fly fishing is, and that is the beauty of it.

[Ed Wahl]

Wow Charlie, what a thread.

My answer to your question... it's fishing. Just that. I don't go fly-fishing on a weekend, I go fishing.

Hmm, that doesn't seem to cut it.

Let me try again.

Fly fishing, the long rod, the line, the leader, the fly. The cast. The drift.

The things that can go wrong on the drift.

The sight of a fish rising to a dry fly.

The explosion of a LMB on a bug.

The unexpected hard pull of a striper.

The electric jolt of a shad.

These are things that I just could not experience fishing any other way.

A carp sucking in my fly while mudding, I mean, it could just go on and on.

This style of fishing that we all have come to love is just that. A style of fishing. All the variants are ok for whomever wants to follow

them, but I'll do what I do thank you very much.

And you do what you do, and I'll take notes, because that's what I do.
Ed

[Bob Loblaw]

If catching fish is your goal toss some dynamite into a deep hole where the hatchery truck has just been. You'll be sure to get a lot of fish that way.

If fooling a clever wild fish into eating something it shouldn't ordinarily eat is your goal, then get a fly rod and fish traditional techniques. Euro nymphing is somewhere in between. Sure its more effective than fishing a dry dropper but its nowhere near as satisfying. I'll take fewer but more enjoyable hookups any day.

[lee s.]

Well,
I must confess to getting the same satisfaction from working WELL, a Zara Spook, as I get from forming a great loop with my fly rod.
I guess I am a fisherman that loves to use fly gear, almost exclusively, and the puzzlement of figuring out how to make it work....even if the crappie or albies are 30' deep. Granted, it is harder to form a loop with a #8 beadhead white woolybugger on a 20' leader than a 4" deceiver on 30' of LC. Thanks Bill....I'm flyfishing And sorry Ryan, we still find crappies need "stationary" only about 10% of the time, so we DO use a bobber very seldom. Solving the puzzle seems a big part of fishing satisfaction, doing it ourselves, or watching others trying. Sometimes we are content just watching others catching, especially if they are new to the game.
....lee s.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Today, I mostly fish from a boat with an old friend......getting out on the water where it is most of the time in a beautiful area.

We can reminisce all day long about our wonderful experiences while fishing.


I enjoy eating a peanut butter & jelly sandwich too.

Seeing the wild life sneaking around in their quest for food and to evade being eaten is exciting.

Taking off my hat on a warm day just when we fire up the outboard to run to another area.......cooling.

I really enjoy casting a full length weight forward floating line with a fairly light weight fly too.


I am also taking out 'new to the sport' folks all the time. I really enjoy this too.



The Magic Hour.......

[gitt]

Just spent a good part of last week working on the Heritage Trout Challenge with the emphasis on “challenge”. I initially scoffed at my partner suggesting we fish a 2-foot leader on a drainage in the Warner Mountains that was at best the same width as my leader. Add wind and chokes of willow along the creek and it became a real challenge to drop my fly in the narrow creek. Went up to a 4-foot leader on a wider stream in Del Norte County prior to shortening the leader and only hooked up on low-hanging big leaf maple before my first coastal cutt came to hand. After landing my first fish, there were plenty of grabs to encounter with no reward. Even with small fish, check your fly. Mine was missing everything behind the bend. A Tenkara would have proved handy over my 3 wt. Have to admit, this is not my usual game.

Open rivers fishing nine-foot-plus leaders is my preferred system. Tight loops and a double haul were of no use for this type of fishing. Fishing deadfalls, shallow drop-offs, and excellent cover under a closed canopy really put my collective experience to the test. Most of my casts were sidearm, cross the body and backhand with a foot or two of fly line past the tip-top just to hit my target and get a short drift past protective lies. If this wasn’t fly fishing, pass me an ultra-light spin outfit and put me out of my misery. I am reminded that there is more than one way to get to Chicago. The same goes with this activity.