wrote

My first experiment with fly fishing was with a bait casting rod and
no reel. I cast it a bit better than I now cast a fly rod with fly
reel. It can be done. And can be fun to do.

Cool. Your story took me back to when I was about 11 or 12 years old. We
were a backpacking family, and summers would often find us in the eastern
Sierra. I think I was armed at the time with a 6 1/2 foot Daiwa spinning
rod and a reel better suited for surf fishing than for small creeks. Stiff
6 pound mono rounded out my rig. Tiny freestone streams are the norm in the
backcountry, and many were too small to fish with spinners. A favorite
technique was to tie on a dry fly (I remember going through a lot of royal
coachmen) and pull about six or seven feet of line off the reel. By
whipping the rod---and I mean really whipping it---it was possible to "cast"
a fly to a point about a dozen feet from where I stood. It may not sound
like much, but it was possible to approach the very turbulent pools quite
closely without spooking the fish, and I caught enough little trout to keep
my 11 year old brain occupied for entire days at a time. Of course, it took
another quarter of a century for me to finally buy a proper fly rod. Many
thanks for the flashback!

Cheers,
Bill