On Mar 9, 9:07 pm, "Larry L" wrote:

Well, 'central essence' may be a bad choice of wording ... my point is that
fly casting follows from trying to fish with tiny nearly weightless lures.

The original central problem was how to catch those extremely exciting to
watch, delicious looking g, fish eating mayflies and such,.... fly
casting was the solution.



In many places, at many times, people fly-fished because it was the
most effective ( and cheapest!) method of catching the fish. Under
many circumstances, and in many different places and conditions, it
still is.

There are many things which may assist one in catching fish, but the
only really necessary one is the desire to catch the fish. Everything
else follows from that. The greater the desire, and the more time
spent so engaged, the better one becomes, which is why many of the old
subsistence fishers were such experts. They needed the fish to live,
and failure was not an option.

That was indeed the main reason I started fly-fishing. I caught more
and better fish using flies, than I did using any other method. I no
longer need the fish, although I still enjoy catching them. The
experience and knowledge gained when my motivation was different is
still there though.

TL
MC