How many of you get these kinds of comments when you tell others you're a flyfisher?

For me, about 99% of them fall into one of three cagtergories. 1) "Where do you fly-fish around here (i.e. Oklahoma)?" Or 2) "Yeah, by Grandpa used to like to catch bluegills too." Or my personal favorite 3) "Sounds like fun, but I fish for bass." It drives me nuts. Like one poster on this board likes to say, "If it swims and eats, it will eat a fly." When I tell them I'll catch as many different species of fish on a flly rod as they will on conventional gear and probably just as big, I don't think they believe me. (Thats why I take pictures of my fish lying next to my fly-rod) What are some comments you hear?

"UH, i didn't know there were trout around here." Area-Northwest Alabama Sure are plenty of bass though. Not to mention sunfishes and crappie. I won't mention all the species I have caught on a fly-rod in my splashing waters.

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Originally Posted by ELHead

"UH, i didn't know there were trout around here." Area-Northwest Alabama Sure are plenty of bass though. Not to mention sunfishes and crappie. I won't mention all the species I have caught on a fly-rod in my splashing waters.

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Tell them to go down to the tailwater on Smith Lake, Alabamaistan has trout now. But what can you do more fun than catch a smalljaw on a flyrod? I never have but I was lucky enough to catch a few on my ultra light spinning rod when I was a youngster in my 30's. Man it has been waaaaaaay too long since I been on Pickwick and Wilson Lakes.

poke flyfisher good to hear another Okie lander on here! I'm down here in Louisiana and you should have heard these folks when I said I was going to fish for reds with a flyrod I got some real strange looks and a couple of "What's a flyrod"

So what part of the great state of Oklahoma ya from?

Later,

Kirk

I've gotten similar comments as well because Central Ohio is certainly not a place often associated with fly fishing. Like many of you other warm water fly anglers it seems I've caught everything BUT trout. Several species of sunfish. warmouth bass, smallmouth, largemouth even a saugeye in one of the bigger state park lakes around here. I was at a small municipal pond a few weeks ago when I caught my first trout in 10 years with a flyrod. (ok it was a stocked DNR fish but still a nice trout). There were 2 kids, about 12 years old maybe, that came up to me and asked what kind of 'pole' I was using and then "what ya using for bait mister?" I swear it was like a re-incarnation of Opie Taylor! There was one guy in his 80's just out walking around the path that morning and stopped to watch for several minutes before politely interrupting (my less than graceful casting) to ask "I always wondered how a fly rod worked". We talked for about 20 minutes on the fishing history of this particular pond for the last 75 years.

Between the 2 kids, the chat with the old man and my first trout, I don't know which was the best part. I do know I never had such a great day fishing though.

try living in Brooklyn, New York. some are surprised that there are fish in the lakes!

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Originally Posted by Bill-B'klyn

try living in Brooklyn, New York. some are surprised that there are fish in the lakes!

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There's fish in New York?!?

I'm sorry Bill, I couldn't resist. :) I'm always asked, "where do you go to do that?" and when I tell them the creeks around here I get asked, "You mean the fish around here will eat flies?" And one lady wanted to know why did I fish FOR flies? lol

My favorite... "what's fly fishing?"

''There aren't any trout in here.'' ''That's ok, I'm swatting mosquitos'' Actually, I seldom catch one of the winter stocked trout on a fly. They seen to like minnows better, or power bait. I do catch a lot of gills and some bass though.

Mostly, people are curious and ask questions about it. I have had the "no trout around here" comments but for the most part, people want to know more about it. I've let other fishermen cast my rods and try to spread the word about fly fishing.

Sometimes, I get a lot of questions about the fish in a particular stream or lake and how to fish for them. It seems around here, there are very few fly fishermen and some folks seem to think because I'm using fly fishing gear that makes me some kind of expert fisherman.

However, most of the comments are arouund "isn't that really hard to do." For some reason, a lot of people seem intimidated by the prospect of fly fishing like there is some great mystery that only practitioners of the black arts can master. I did make one convert last summer though. A guy who I let cast my rod and fish a little bit asked a lot of questions. A couple weeks later, I saw the guy at the same lake with a brand new TFO 5wt fly rod. We talked a while. He asked for some tips about the casting and equipment. I gave him a few flies I had tied that worked well in that particular lake. Since then, I've seen the guy with his fly rod a number of times and his casting and catching have gotten much better.

Jeff