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).]