chas wrote:


The difference here is that many "fishermen", and many editors have this idea
that fly fishing isn't about catching fish at all. I think they want to
present the sport as an aquatic fox hunt; lots of chase, plenty of booze
afterwards, but garlic encrusted chicken for dinner.

I've often described fly fishing as a walking meditation, and it surely is
that, but the goal is catching fish, and we should not look down our noses at
people who also like to catch fish. I steelhead fish with a rig that involves
a float, a fair sized split shot, and a pair of egg patterns. Lots of folks
complain that this isn't fly fishing. One of my friends fished a day or two
with me using traditional flies, and didn't catch anything. The next outing he
brought along a special rod and reel for float fishing, and cast the same sort
of rig I was using but still didn't catch the fish. The key was that you can
mend a fly line and fish anywhere from a perfect dead drift to a fast swing
when the mono actually has a reduced range of application.

Fly fishing is any persuit of the fish where you manipulate the line to decieve
the fish. Even a live minnow on the hook can be fly fishing when the
presentation relies on the appropriate manipulation of the line to decieve the
fish.




This reminds me of a disappointment I had when I was a kid. I was about
12 tears old and I was unsuccessfully trying to teach myself how to fly
fish. From reading Outdoor life and Field and Stream, I was fascinated
by fly fishing and my uncle gave me a Wonder Rod for Xmas. I still have
the rod and even with an 8 weight line, it doesn't really load. I knew
nothing about balancing an outfit and I bought a cheap level line that
Herters described as a light weight trout line. I thought that if it was
good enough for that mythical creature - a trout- it would be good
enough for me. I'm guessing was a 5 weight line. I tried to learn to
cast, cracking the whip and breaking off flies. I seriously studied the
diagrams I had of a fly rod moving against a clock face, but I could
make no progress. I had no idea what was wrong, I assumed it was me and
that fly casting was something mysterious. No one in my family knew
anything about fly fishing and living in the Chicago area, my only
source of information was the Herter's catalog.

We were on a fishing vacation in Canada and the owner of the lodge saw
me flailing away on the dock with my fly rod. He must have felt sorry
for me because he dragged over his "fly fishing" son who begrudgingly
agreed to take me out fly fishing the next morning. We were not only
going to go fly fishing but he was going to show me how to catch Musky
with a fly rod! I was pumped!!! Someone to teach me how to fly fish and
fish for another mythical creature a Musky!

The next morning we headed out and after a boat ride of about a half
hour we got to an area with a series of small, shallow reefs that
dropped off into some deep water. The guy turned off the motor and tied
a huge Musky inline spinner to my leader that was about 8 inches long
and must have weighed more than an ounce. I would have needed a stout
bait casting outfit to throw it out. He had a similar lure tied to some
heavy mono line that filled his fly reel.

We lobbed the spinners over the side of the boat, let out line and
trolled around the edges of the reefs. We caught a number of nice Pike,
a couple small Musky and one huge Smallmouth. After we got back, I asked
him if he could teach me how to cast, but trolling with a lure is what
he knew of fly fishing. I had a great time fishing with him, but even as
a kid, I "knew" that wasn't fly fishing.

Although I know what fly fishing is for me, I sincerely don't know what
constitutes fly fishing for other people. However, for everyone, I
would think, there's got to be a place where "fly fishing" is no longer
fly fishing. I'm hard pressed to see bait fishing with a fly rod as fly
fishing even if you "manipulate the line."

Willi