What Is It? An Interesting Question

Hi folks,

I am about to undertake a mission that I have never done before. Teach a class. The class which is going to start in late February is Introducing Women To Fly Fishing.

There are to date 12 women signed up to take the class which will run for 12 weeks and include fly tying, basic entomology, casting instruction, knots, etc, etc. and not in that specific order.

The QUESTION IS "What is Fly Fishng?"

Besides the obvious answer, what would you tell a person if they asked that question?

Steve

Easy answer

Fishing for flies, or is it fishing with flies?

Oh never mind.

Teaching a bunch of chicks flyfishing. It can't get any better than that.

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Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick

For me, fly fishing is the logical evolution or continuation of being challenged as a fisherman. It isn't a superior or elevated version of the sport, just an elevation of the challenge, and for me, what is the point of doing a sport if it isn't challenging.

Fly fishing is just a different method of angling - where the line is used to cast the fly (versus spinning where the hook pulls the line behind it).

Yes - there are more convaluted / difficult / artistic ways of defining it. Some think its hard - but if posed that way - especially when teaching newcomers ...... not the best method.

Everything is easy - some things just take longer to understand.

darrell,

Use the reverse psychology and ask them what they think it is as a writing assignment.
The first one to quote the movie - banishment.


Good luck.

Banishment and 10 years of shunning.

Flyfishing is tricking a fish into eating a gob of fur and feathers tied on a hook.

Joe Martin
Salem, OR

...an art form, but all are not artists...Grasshopper!

the equivelent of trying to dress up a shoe sole like a steak and tricking people into eating it.

When I was in Law Enforcement I had occasion to help teach several firearms training courses. In my experience ladies are much easier to teach than men. Men usually have an "I know" attitude. The ladies usually realize their limitations and are trying to improve. The men can't usually get separate from their ego.

Rusty <><

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"PC" is for Plant City not Politically Correct. if you wanna catch something ya gotta get a hook in the water

A wise man defined flyfishing as "the presentation of the inedible to the unfeedable". He must have been a steelheader.

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Eschew Sesquipedalian Obfuscation

Why confuse the issue early on...
Simple is usually better, fly fishing is entice a fish (with an IQ of +/- 4) to eat your (IQ of above +/- 4)imitation insect...
I also have taught beginner's fly fishing. I also have found it usually MUCH easier to teach women to cast.
1. they aren't impressed with their own brute force (I WILL make the fly line go further)
B. no preconceived notion of how things should be done.
Don't go over board with detail... give them the picture in broad strokes & then fine tune as needed (questions, mistakes to be corrected)
use your imagination... I had one student that just wouldn't put ANY power in her casting stroke. I found she had a fear of mice/rats. I bought a mouse fly & had her aim at it. I kept moving the mouse fly further until she could cast, accurately 40+ feet....
& above all:
HAVE A GOOD TIME.
Later,
Peter

It is a chance to tell nature we are not all jerks.
It is a time spent that will never be taken away from you.
Time fishing adds to your lifespan and is not wasted.
It is a few seconds of excitement, fear, joy, saddness and anticipation.
Fly fishing is always rewarding if you are fishing for the right thing. (fish are a secondary catch)
It is a time of peace where nothing is in turmoil.
It is a rebuilding and repairing time. It can replace doctors and pills.

Most of all it is a little spot of Glue that draws us all together and keeps us a huge internet family.

Harold

fun

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Trouts don't live in ugly places

While serving in the U.S. Army, I was trained as a Senior Instructor. I learned that to be good at instructing others there are three basic rules....

1)INTRODUCTION: Tell the class, what topic you are about to instruct (talk to them about, and if there will be demonstrations) Highlight the major items of importance being cover by the topic (light overview).

2)TEACH: Do the instructions, and demonstrations. If there is a demonstration, first do it at normal speed with no commentary. Then do the demonstration again, breaking the demonstration into seqments, with commentary (best to do the commentary before or after the demonstration segment, so you are looking at the class, while speaking).

3)REVIEW: Closing out with a review of the most important items covered during the class.


TIPS: If you want to include group participation, asking question of the group during the class. I learned that the best way is to ...

A) Ask the question, then pause.... this allows everyone time to think about the question.

B) Ask if anyone wishes to respond.

C) If the question is not the one you were looking for, Thank them for their answer. Gently reword the question, explaining that the previous response was not quite what you were hoping for, repose the (reworded) question to the group again. This will save face for the person that responded with a different reply from the one you were seeking.

At the end of the class, open the floor to questions from the group, for you to reply to! If time is short, limit the number of questions.

It is hard to stand upfront of a group and talk about something, write out the lesson outline, before you give the class, and practice the whole class (including demonstrations), until you are comfortable with the instructions. Time yourself, you be surprise that, the time alloted for the instruction, is too short or too long, for the instruction you will be giving. This will help you either add material or delete. It helps to tape record while you are practicing, so you can hear yourself, and polish up you speaking habits.

Always turn to face the group (or look up if you are doing something on a table while facing the class), when speaking! Do not look over the heads of the class when talking, instead look at various members of the class as you speak, this helps to give them the sense that you are speaking to them.

~ Parnelli

Post Script: I found that to prepare new material for a class instruction, required 8 hours (minmium for each hour of instruction) for writing, preparation, and rehersal. To do the same topic again at a later date, required at least 2 hours of reviewing the lesson outline, and rehersal.

[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 25 January 2006).]

Excellent, thanks everyone. Keep the tips coming.

Flyfishing is using a hook, dressed with materials to imitate fish food, tied to a leader, attached to a line, the weight of which is used, through leverage of a rod and reel, to position the imitation in a location likely to hold fish, and then imparting any movement necessary to make the imitation appear natural.

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Taxon
[url=http://FlyfishingEntomology.com:6bfd7]FlyfishingEntomology.com[/url:6bfd7]

Hi Steve,
I like Darrell's answer. It is what it is.
Another similar question which I think got mixed in is, why do people FF? Many of us on here just love to fish (and hunt), and ff'ing is the best way to catch certain fish. I like to baitcast for bass, minnow fish for crappie, chunk jigs for stripers and sandies, run trotlines for catfish, and flycast size 22 baetis imitations for picky spring creek trout, all depending on the season. Maybe some of your students will be the same.
Just my 2 cents. Good luck with your class.
DW

Flyfishing is many things to different people. To all of us it is an opportunity to walk through an open door into a different world. Best of all you get to define what that world is about.

It is a mixture of fish, fishing, relaxation, meditation, creativity, escape, competition, becoming a part of the natural world in which we live, perfection of an art form and a way of life. For most of us fishing contains all of the above in differing degrees.

jed

Jed,

Heavy on the Escape.

Parnelli, you're right on the mark. I took classes on teaching in one of my many past occupations and I learned somewhere to:
1) Tell them what your going to teach them.
2) Teach them what your going to teach them.
3) Tell them what you taught them.
Verbal participation, and in fly casting, physical participation is mandatory. Above all, be friends with everyone. They listen better and learn faster, if you are their friend.


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Life, is the time He gave you to determine where you want to spend eternity.
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Lotech Joe

How are you going to teach Fly Fishing if you don't know what is is ?! I mean, I've heard the old joke about those who can do, Do... the others teach......
But this is the real thing, and much too important to muck around with. I have many friends who are teachers, and one of their favorite jokes is when a man applied for a job as a teacher in a rural school, the Chairman of the School Board asked him... "Do you believe the world is flat?".....
And the prospective teacher replied " It Doesn't matter...I can teach it either way..."

If you are not at least familiar with the basic physical techniques ( ie; be able to demonstrate, yourself), then I submit you are not qualified to teach this subject. And the philosophical ramifications (which to me, are paramount) cannot be ignored.

I teach guitar, piano and voice (which I make my living at as a performer and a songwriter....in the real world) to students at the local schools, and adults, when I'm not on the road performing. But I would not try to teach someone to play the saxophone (which I do not play) or to sing opera (ditto...thankfully) because I don't understand the nuances involved. I would do a poor job of teaching those subjects, and my students deserve better!

If you are not a fly-fisher yourself, then you're not fit to teach it to someone else, except to tell them where to find a bonafide teacher. It's much too important of a life-lesson to do otherwise...

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.....

Semper Fi, and good luck!

[This message has been edited by Gigmaster (edited 26 January 2006).]

My last post may have been a bit harsh, but this is a subject very, very close to my heart....second only to performing, in my life.

I realize that there may be reasons why you cannot refuse to attempt to teach this subject, and they are none of my business. My best advice to you is to find a fly-fishing instructor in your area, go to their classes, become a fly-fisher, and pass what you've learned on to your students. You owe your students that much.....

Semper Fi!

One more post, and I'll quit.

It is possible I have mis-understood your question, and that you are a fly-fisher, and merely wanted input as to the ultimate meaning of the term.

Bad news (for you)! Fly Fishing is different things to different people. If you are a fly-fisher....look into your heart. There are no clear cut answers. For some, it is a pass-time (although I would argue that they are not being honest...there are cheaper and easier pass-times), for others, (me included) is is a therapy from the ravages of war, divorce, the loss of a loved one, becomming one with nature, consolation for things not accomplished (yet), and many other things. It is Orvis's version of Tai Chi, it is yoga with waders, it is Bushido with bamboo and carbon-fiber.....it is ballet with Osthiechthyes.......

There have been numerous books written on the subject, and all of them merely scratch the surface. My best advise is to look into your heart...and do your best to impart that to others.....

Semper Fi!




[This message has been edited by Gigmaster (edited 26 January 2006).]

WOW some of you make it really complicated.

Fly fishing is what you want it to be.

Betty got it right - its fun - and what is fun. Thats different for different people.

Some people might behoove themselves to think a little bit about the question and the one asking it before questioning the motive behind it
FYI
Mr. Murphy has been registered at this site since DEC 2001 - one would assume he either fly fishes or has some sort of disorder where he posts a lot of information on things he really knows nothing about.

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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - "WOW-What a Ride!"
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

To clarify, and settle Gigmaster down (Sorru Gig I had to get a Dig)

I am a 20 year veteran of the sport. What I am NOT is a teacher. In this regard I have to rely on my astute collegues in the venture to do help out. I have lined up a Conservation Officer, a Fisheries Biologist, a husband and wife that have been fly fishing together for 50 years, to name a few.

I am there to tech the techniques of knot tying, fly tying and casting. I would not claim to be an expert in any of those fields but would consider myself qualified.

My point to asking the question "What is Fly Fishing" was to get some ideas other than my own as to what makes the sport great. Like it has been said it is many things to many people and very dear to our hearts.

How about I tell you what it is to me.
It is my passion, my escape from the daily grind, excercise, social time with good friends, or quiet time by myself. It has taught me to be patient, to appreciate the importance of protecting our environment, the comraderey enjoyed getting involved with people with the same interests, and to speak up when something is wrong.

The aim of the class is to try to get a few women involved locally in fly fishing. If mothers do it, sons and daughters will do it.

If we can impress only 1 person to the point where they actually do start fishing regularly, it will be mission accomplished.

I digress,

Steve

I think you should define it by what it really is, to someone just starting out a basic definition will be more valueable to them, leaving them to discover there own reasons for doing it. Defining your reasons for doing it, isn't really a definition of the sport, now is it, http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/smile.gif.
To each of us the definition of fly fishing should basically be the same, just like how baseball and hockey is fundamentally the same game to each of the baseball or hockey players on a team, although they all have different styles, means and reasons for doing it, in the end the game is the game.

Heres how I would go about it.
I would state that fly fishing is exactly what the name implies, fishing with flies. Then I would go on to state how we go about it and how it works covering different aspects of the sport like you have suggested, maybe during some part of the course you could offer your reasons for doing it but not until they have the basics.

later
Mike

[This message has been edited by Newfoundlander (edited 26 January 2006).]

Thanks For all the help guys, I showed my co-pilot for the class and she thinks we should write out some of your quotes to display each night.