This is a great example of the debate. Flies with a Bead Head, or a cone head by this definition would not be considered a fly, by the Missouri definition.
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Branhap,
Not sure about other places, but in those State Trout parks in Missouri, a bead head is allowed. They are primarily trying to get away from rubber worms and the likes. Oddly (it seems to me) they allow: "with or without spinner".............
To me and the old English, a fly is a lure. Made up of feathers, hair, synthetics, whatever...no scent, no taste, it is a lure/fly. PLUS, artificial. As the second post stated, does it matter...
I think it is more in HOW you fish it that people are hung up on. You can fish a worm with a fly outfit. To me, you are fishing bait with fly gear, just like you put a fly on a spinning outfit, NO you are not fly fishing,
you are Spin Fishing, but using a fly.
Fly, hardware, bait...the name of what is on the end of the line. Fly rod/reel/line = fly fishing....spining rod/reel/mono or whatever = spin fishing.
Next step, are you using a fly, mepps, blue fox, kastmaster...LURES or worms, marshmellow, velveta, etc.....
You want to get more into details, you could attach a piece of fly line, or even a leader to a stick, then attach a fly...is that fishing Tenkara?
Pretty simple to me ...a spade is a spade
A fly will let the line cast it, a lure casts the line. That's my "big gray area" take on things.
But, again, the old English, used a lot of weight in their flies, sooooo, pretty sure they could cast the line as you put it.
Plus, you can cast hardware with fly gear.
Artificial fly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Classic 19th Century Artificial fly-The Triumph
An artificial fly or fly lure is a type of fishing lure, usually used in the sport of fly fishing (although they may also be used in other forms of angling). In general, artificial flies are the bait which fly fishers present to their target species of fish while fly fishing. Artificial flies are constructed by fly tying, in which furs, feathers, thread or any of very many other materials are tied onto a fish hook.[1] Artificial flies may be constructed to represent all manner of potential freshwater and saltwater fish prey to include aquatic and terrestrial insects, crustaceans, worms, baitfish, vegetation, flesh, spawn, small reptiles, amphibians, mammals and birds, etc. Effective artificial fly patterns are said to be killing flies because of their ability to put fish in the creel for the fly fisher. There are thousands of artificial fly patterns, many of them with descriptive and often idiosyncratic names.
Hi,
I believe the Victorian view was that it was a fly if the "fur and feathers tied to the hook" represented a fly. It was a lure, however, if the pattern represented a baitfish, shrimp, or was just an "attracter". The NZ matuka patterns, the killer patterns, the "fuzzy wuzzies", and the pukeku-style patterns are all usually referred to as "lures" here in NZ. All of them, however, would be perfectly acceptable on "fly only water". Things like the "Butcher", or the Alexandria, were also referred to as "lures" because they didn't represent flies.
This topic, which seems to come up every now and then, is really a discussion on definitions. However, for some reason, people seem to find it insulting if their favorite pattern is called a "lure" rather than a "fly"? In the end it's all just artificial bait. And don't forget your Shakespear, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet".
- Jeff
I may be guilty of trying to be something of a "purist", but here is my personal feelings on the subject:
It gives me a great deal of happiness to catch a trout on a tiny artificial FLY (by that I mean artificial insect). I will grant you, "flies" are also tied to imitate minnows, scuds, shrimp, etc. etc. However, if given the choice between fishing an artificial insect and any other imitation, I would choose the artificial insect. - any stage of such insect: nymph/pupa through the spinners.........
The difference between a fly & lure is this...
Lure for spinning rods... The weight of the lure is what casts the line out...
Flies for fly rods... The weight of the line is what casts the fly out...
A fly and spinning lure are both lures but have different applications...
What would you classify a rubber worm (which is very light) cast with a fly line?