I'll take issue - Michigan not Montana? - but here's the link:
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/...tes-flyfishing
Randy
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I'll take issue - Michigan not Montana? - but here's the link:
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/...tes-flyfishing
Randy
More proof that the trout fishing sucks in Wisconsin. Don't go there.
Well, I've fished Michigan quite a few times and have enjoyed and caught fish. Howsomever, having made only one trip to Alaska, can tell you I've never seen anything close to it - salmon, dolly varden, cut throat trout - I've had to go sit on the river bank and just rest my arms from the riggors of catching them!
Rod shootouts, editors pick, readers picks, best of show awards and best states, countries, planets to fly fish.
I guess this is why when you walk into Baskin & Robin's they ask what you'd like and not, " Can I get you what the last customer ordered. "
Best, Dave
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This is awesome.... everyone go fish Michigan this summer!!!....
Since Iowa didn't even earn an "honorable mention" or "also ran" status...do not under ANY circumstances go there to fish. :) It would be an exercise in absolute futility.
And as Betty would say...
"There are no trout in the Black Hills of South Dakota." Pretty sure that's why it didn't make the list!
One of the guys from Michigan has obviously read Betty's playbook and posted that there is no fly fishing in Michigan.
BTW, there ain't no fish in Tennessee, neither...
Ed, gramatically challenged
Michigan IS a magnificent place for fly fishing of all kinds and the northern woods are gorgeous, but I'd still choose the scenery in some of those western locales any day.
I was happy to see that the author of this article correctly determined that South Carolina has no fish that are worthy of the serious fisherman's effort including that wild stretch of the Chattooga river featured in the movie, Deliverance. Be sure to stay away from there. All you ever see up there are a bunch of knuckle-dragging, man-raping neanderthals. No trout either! Also, no redears, brim, LMB, stripers, wipers or walleyes. I'm moving to Michigan, ASAP. 8T :)
Louisiana and not Pa??? Gotta be kidding. I live in NY and it should not have made the list!
Louisiana is ranked higher than Colorado!!! :roll: All credit that list might have had just went out the door with the dishwater. :shock:
CO Flyfisher, how close are you to Estes Park? I fished the upper Big Thompson a couple years ago and loved it. Am coming out again in mid-May to visit the stepdaughter in Denver and plan to hit it again. How is the runoff progressing this year?
The fish in Idaho are so well educated at foiling fly flingers, that you might as well head for Nebraska or Saskatchewan, or just stay home. They're in there, but you just can't catch em'.;)
Idaho is good. Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado & Oregon are all good states too. But, the best state for fly fishing is the "State of Mind" I'm in when I wet a line. It isn't the number in your creel, but the satisfaction in your soul, that makes for good fishing.
Oh Ya, the Adirondacks of upstate New York is pretty good too. Then there are the oxbows of the deep south, the tidal estuaries of New England for stripers and the flats of Florida for bone fish. The list goes on and on.
I live in 3 and 7. Not too shabby.
Very glad that yard bird doesn't know his butt from a hole in the river bank when it comes to fly fishing Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and etc....
I feel sorry for you folks on his list because he is going to run through your state with all of his Yuppie "A River Runs Through It" pals. However I am very happy that he doesn't try Penns Creek. It has been known to stump the best fly fishers on the planet so someone like him would go home squalling and bawling.
Another "phone it in" article.
Seriously, I have nothing against Michigan, but how can you put it ahead of Montana, Alaska and New York?
Randy
Articles like this can be kind of fun in that they can can generate some entertaining discussion. No one individual or even group can know enough about all the places to fish in a state and or course they will be swayed by their preferences. I live in California, which was on the list, and I would rate it higher based on the great number of other year round fisheries not listed by the author. What other state can you theoretically catch yellowfin tuna and golden trout in the same day, albeit a long and tiring one. A few years ago I had a discussion with Lefty Kreh about fly angling in southern California. He has been to San Diego and Los Angeles numerous times but was only familiar on a basic level with some of the more well know. We discussed how I had caught more than 25 species on the fly within 2hr driving/boating radius of San Diego. He had no idea and Lefty knows a lot about fishing a lot of places.
Now if I knew more about every state I would probably rate each state higher and I am pretty sure the best state for fly fishing would be the state I am in.
11 years ago I bought a little Starcraft popup camper, lashed the canoe on top of it, loaded up all my gear and headed out for a seven week vagabond fly fishing trip ... stopping off here, wetting a line over there. Wonderful trip - saw lots of wonderful rivers, streams and lakes - camped at some marvelous places. Even thought enough ahead to have with me TU's book (by John Ross) "America's 100 Best Trout Streams". Now, that book at least gets you started at a new place, but as every true blue trout fisherman on this board knows, takes some time to know a river and it's special places. Speaking of Michigan - it had some good general information in the book but it was a friendly local that put me on to some terrific spots that I would have never found on my own. Even guides, if you could afford one, might not take you to all the favorite honey holes. Takes some time to really know an area, a river or a stream ... AND then, things can change.
Maybe I could write some fiction for F & S (?)
Now this is a story I got to hear. Probably much more entertaining than that article was.:-D OOPS I forgot thsi is a family site so you will have to PM it to me!;-)
Uncle Jesse,
Back at ya. Yes I am old enough to remember those days but I am still behind you pushing you up that hill. Hey my dad says it's better to be over the hill than under it! L.o.L I left all of my gray hairs on the barber shop floor Monday.:razz:
Another vote for the State of Mind here as well...
In fact my state of mind has nothing but blue ribbon waters..
But heck,feel free to vote but, one will never find a state better than mind:)
Be safe!
Well, I have to argue with "some of the ugliest country" when he mentions Wyoming. Of course beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, so I have to take that into account. I have yet to see a part of this country that I could not find some beauty in. Of course I have not seen very much of it yet, but.
oh, thank heaven, someone with the guts to tell the world that Pennsylvania is so oh-ver! :P
Glad they didn't mention Arkansas. More fish for me ;). Thank You!
How in the world can the leave out Arkansas? Home of the world record brown trout.....back and forth between a few different rivers in Arkansas over the past few decades? It's obvious they never set foot in the State. And as I said..............thank you!
Oh yeah? sez him
Louisiana has been one of the best kept secrets in fly fishing for many, many years... Blue water; coastal; marsh (remember that even with the loss of 3,200 square miles of marsh in the last century - Louisiana still has about 47% of all the marsh in the US); large number of great fantastic fresh water lakes, bayous and rivers... which of of course are mainly driven by the Mississippi River and its unbelievable fertility!
PA's crystal clear waters may be pretty and fun to fish, but for quantity, quality, fertility and diversity of waters, Louisiana dwarfs virtually any other state in the lower 48. So before ya' knock LA, be sure that you know what you're talking about... and the best way to do that is come down her and wet a line!
Oh, and while you're here, we'll feed ya' really, really well!
Some places offer more in the way of eye candy. Like Montana, Wyoming, Alaska... BUT Michigan offers way more opportunity. It possesses more than 36,500 miles of rivers and streams, 12,500 miles of which are classified as cold water trout streams. It has more than 11,000 inland lakes.
Let's face it. It possesses more then 20% of the worlds fresh water. When traveling Michigan an angler is at no point more than 6 miles (10 km) from an inland lake or river, and no more than 85 miles (137 km).
It has is 3,288 miles of Great Lakes shoreline for the lakes and connecting rivers.
Michigan is also way more affordable, compared to the "pretty" states. It's probably the most economical place to spend a fly fishing holiday.
You have to remember....Michigan is not just Detroit.
Why did Michigan win first place? Simply for the sheer magnitude of the Blue Ribbon and other fishing opportunities available.
ANY State where I can share water with a friend is the BEST! :D
God Bless 'em all...we all have fly fishing of some sort or another & that's a good thing. Obviously, I'm not enamored with surveys.
Now if any of you want to tie into some pretty nice 'gills, join me here in Ohio on some dandy ponds & small lakes.
Mike
Amen Mike! You can even fly fish in Central Park, NYC.
I have seen most of this nation. I liked all of it. Moved back to Pa because it is my home state and here resides the family. I never went in for that this part of the nation is better than that part of the nation crap. All have things that are unique to themselves along with plus and minus but non are really better than the other. That is all for the ones with huge egos as far as I am concerned.
My home waters made F&S top 150 Of the Best Places to Fish in America and I can't say whether it was a blessing or curse. I am sure my state made some money on fishing licenses but honestly there isn't a fly shop / bait shop that made out, there isn't one in the area.
So Ohio and PA didn't make the list. I will quietly make a check in the blessing column and defer to Lotech's post and 'fish my State of Mind and satisfy my soul' and tip my hat to him for posting that.
Respectfully,
Sean
As already posted, have so much enjoyed Michigan fly fishing and certainly would look forward to another trip. But I think the biggest "shock" of fly fishing for trout was the White River in Arkansas. Heard about the place and then one day me & a fishing buddy loaded up my little popup camper and headed out that way to find out for ourselves. We set-up camp at the Bull Shoals State Park right on the river just below the dam. Now in all my travels, the White river was second only to Alaska for sheer trout fishing excitement. And I mean we caught some respectful sized brown trout (along with other trout species, too).
Just got back from wiscinsin. Root River at Racine is full of steelhead & the Driftless area was pretty darned good to me.
I have fished Alaska, but for year round trout fishing you can't beat Mountain Home Arkansas
Hey You guys, Don't feel bad if your State was left off the list. My Province, indeed my entire country wasn't on it either I guess thats because their are no longer any fish up here. Basicly I just use our lakes and streams for casting practice till we buy some more fish to put in them.
In that same spirit, I've decided to compile a list of "Fly Talk's Best 12 States for Fly Fishing" so you can agree -- or call me nuts. I'm basing my picks on a variety of factors, namely all-around (multi-species) opportunities, angler-friendly environment, and cultural affinity to fly fishing.
Kirk Deeter is nobody's fool. His list is based on his criteria. He listed multi-species opportunities first, an angler-friendly environment second, and a cultural affinity to fly fishing third. He also has a pretty strong historical awareness of fly fishing culture...as do most of the folks at F&S. So I'm sure that influenced their choices.
I agree that he put LA way too high on the list. Otherwise, I pretty much agree with him. For example, the world record Brown Trout that have been caught in AR (7 of them in all, and 5 of the last 7) were not caught on flies. AR trout fishing, even today, is predominantly a bait fishing culture. The fly fishing culture is a relatively new phenomenon that represents perhaps 10% of the trout fishing community. Fly fishing beyond trout in AR is virtually a non-starter. By contrast, MI has a rich history dating WAY back of fly fishing culture and leadership on the national scene. And the multi-species opportunities there abound. It's not my personal favorite, or even that high on my list. But by his measuring stick (as stated above), I can't argue with him. There aren't many states that offer a variety of options ranging from salmon and steelhead runs to largemouth bass and pike fishing, with a few world-class trout streams tossed in for good measure.
Alaska is great and all, but it's pretty one dimensional when you're talking fly fishing: it's all cold water species. Texas has an emerging fly fishing culture that is very dynamic, but is still very young. There certainly isn't a "cultural affinity" for it there! The inter-mountain West is known across the world its fly fishing, but only for trout. While other species do exist in these states, even avid fly anglers from CO, WY, MT, ID, and UT often leave the fly rods at home when they go pike or bass fishing. I've seen it time and time again. It's like fly rods and trout go together, and to catch a trout on other tackle or catch another fish on a fly rod would somehow be an insult to the fish gods.
I'm sure these are the kinds of things that were taken into heavy consideration when F&S came up with their "list" based on the statement from the article I quoted above. This series Kirk has written over the past few years hasn't been about "favorites." It's been about establishing a few idealistic criteria, getting a bunch of well-versed experts to write a list based on those criteria, and then averaging out those lists to come up with THE list. So a lot of OUR favorite places won't land on these lists where WE think they should.