Reading a post on the fly tying board got me to thinking about the elitist attitudes held by many fly fishers and made me wonder why. I also fish conventionally and never see the level of exclusivity and purist attitudes that are prevalent in fly fishing. Among others; in fly fishing we have:
  • Dry fly purists who only fish on top[/*:m:b1544]
  • Traditional dry fly purists who only fish traditional flies on top[/*:m:b1544]
  • Fisherman who only fish imitations of aquatic insects; in other words, no terrestrials[/*:m:b1544]
  • Nymphs only[/*:m:b1544]
  • Wets only[/*:m:b1544]
  • Natural materials only for flies[/*:m:b1544]
  • No harvest[/*:m:b1544]
  • Cane rods only[/*:m:b1544]
  • Warmwater or coldwater only[/*:m:b1544]
  • No epoxy flies[/*:m:b1544]
  • No added weight to flies[/*:m:b1544]
  • No added weight to leader[/*:m:b1544]
  • USA made only[/*:m:b1544]

And multiple variations of all of the above as well as about 100 other ?clubs? I neglected. Fly fishers are adamant about their beliefs to the point of argument or fisticuffs for those that disagree. Is it our long and luscious heritage; mentoring, or just plain snobbery? I never met a nightcrawler purist on the local pond so I just wonder why you think we?re so opinionated.

I know?because we?re right!

Just for the record I think life is too short to be a fishing snob of ANY flavor.


[This message has been edited by Bamboozle (edited 19 September 2005).]