Wow,
Very well put, Thanks for the fresh breeze sensability...that we often see here!
Flyfisher121
Wow,
Very well put, Thanks for the fresh breeze sensability...that we often see here!
Flyfisher121
Being that for most of us fly casting is such an intregral part of this sport/hobby of fly fishing, why not be the best you can be at it?
It's like a friend of mine says, "I catch all of my fish within 20' " to which I wonder how many more he would catch if he could cast effectively to 30 or 40'... or learn to do ariel mends... or reach casts... or...
The certification process for fly casting can be, and in my opinion is a good thing. It means that an instructor has a proven ability to show good casts as well as show poor casts and provide the means to remedy the poor casts. For what it's worth, the double haul isn't just for distance, it is a very useful tool to have to cast normal distances with much less effort, or fight the wind, or tuck a tight loop under an overhanging rhodo.
As much as many would like to belive, there is no downside to casting well.
As for the conclave, it broke my heart I couldn't make it out to W. Yellowstone this year. I usually base around there every August and to have the conclave there again this year! Rats!
Jackster, would have loved to have seen you. Keep on casting my friend - there is no downside to casting well.
Hugs,
LF
Well said Neil. I don't agree with the way things have gone either and I am a fly fishing instructor.
Neil,
I have to agree with most of what you have conveyed. Once you have the basics mastered you WILL catch plenty of fish and have a ton of fun doing so. When I first started fly fishing & tying I used less than 6 patterns and caught plenty of fish. I was even able to sell those flies to other fishermen who saw that I was doing so well!!!LOL BTW, I was 12 or 13 yrs. old at the time. Did I have to progress any further than that to catch fish? Not really!!! I graduated from a Shakespeare Wonder rod(8 1/2' 8wt -a real girder) to a 6' 5wt. Fenwick glass rod which I threw everything including size 4 streamers with. When you only own one rod you adapt. Many folks stop at this stage for awhile or even permanently and are quite content. Good for you! I don't have that kind of self restraint. I have the tendency to go overboard!!!! Some folks say you can never have too many fishing rods! From personal experience I must disagree!!!LOL Whoa! did I just break some kind of unwritten rule by just admitting that!!! Anyway, the wonderful thing about any kind of fishing, but particularly fly fishing is that there are any number of directions you can take if you are inclined to - rod building/net making/leader tying/making your own rod tubes/reel bags/rod sleeves , even your own hooks. If you get bored with one facet of fly fishing there are always a trove of other areas to pique your interest and imagination, enough to last several life times. Enjoy! You know, now that I think of it, this FAOL site itself is surely a part of that whole experience!!!!!
Best regards, Dave S. (fishdog54)
being new to fly fishing, and having attended a school to get started, i must say it has made a difference to us to have some sort of "qualification/certificate/credential" to look for when hiring a guide or instructor. for the first year or so, any sort of B.S. would sound okay to us, and the results were predictable, but when we stuck to "name brand" folks, we were uniformly pleased. we learned a lot and had a good time.
those lucky enough to have learned by themselves as youngsters on clean streams with flies tied out of gleanings from their mother's sewing baskets are to be much envied. those of us who reached retirement unversed in the arcane skills of this wonderful sport have to take shortcuts. those shortcuts are often paved with paper. those attempting to make a living from this sport have discovered this, and want to be able to offer that paper. diff'rent strokes, folks! room for everyone in this boat!
fly fishing and baseball share a totally deceptive simplicity; that's why they can both be lifelong pursuits.
Absolutely Casey - and room for everyone here on FAOL too. Welcome aboard!
Dear Friends,
I think that some of you have missed the point of my article. First, if becoming a casting guru is your thing then go for it. If you want to master ever type of cast and get a certificate to prove that you can do them then go for it. If you want to tie flies that are suitable for framing then set down at the vice and crank them out.
I have been involved in various aspects of the fly-fishing 'business' for over a half of century, and JC and I were teaching fly casting and fly tying classes before most people had even heard of such a thing. We taught 'proper techinque' but our emphasis was to produce fly-fishers and not just fly casters. The purpose of fly casting - if your intent is to use flies to catch fish - is to enable you to present your imitation to the fish in such a manner that the fish will conclude it's edible. Now, granted, proper casting techniques may make the process easier but some of the finest "anglers" that I have had the privilege of sharing the water with had some of the most unorthodox casting styles. I sincerly doubt that Halford, Skues, Gordon or a host of the old masters could qualify for a casting certificate. The only critic that an 'angler' needs to satisfy with their casting or fly tying ability are the fish.
Over the years I have had extensive contacts with some of the finest fly fishing guides from around the country and if they have one complaint that I hear more often than any other is not that their clients can't cast but that they can't fish. Several years ago [nearly 30 now] I was asked by the late Dan Bailey to take a famous fly caster out on the Yellowstone and show them some place where they could fish for a few hours. What I discovered when we arrived at the river was that, although this person had forgotten more about fly casting than I ever knew, they did not have the slightest idea how to cast so that they could fool a trout. This famous caster did not understand drift, line control, or any of the other aspects of fly-fishing that are fundamental to the sport. The casting was flawless, great loops, impressive distance, but this was fly-fishing not fly casting. That singular experience has remained clear in my mind to this day.
My motive is to cause my readers to think, and to question why they do certain things. Do you need to be a 'certified caster' and if so why? To be considered a fly-fisher do you have to master all the various casts in order to become a successful angler? Are we feeding our egos rather than feeding the fish? That's a question that only each individual angler can answer. The real question might be, are we willing to ask the question of ourself or are we afraid of the answer?
The Chronicler
Well said, I'v told many folks (along the same lines) when they ask "well did you catch fish? How big? I always say the same thing, its not all about big fish and how many, its about, How I go about catching them. They don't understand that. If all I'm after is a big fish then I can walk over to the freezer in the store and catch all I want... With that they begin to get an idea.... So if I can cast from one shore line to the other, ok cool, but there ain't no fish on the bank on the other side iether... A nice soft cast into a good drift, with a fly sittin pretty on the wate,r and the fish below just know a fly has landed in there feeding lane, then life is good.......
"Because by the Grace of God I can, be on a beautiful mountain stream with a friend , have the water boil from a 12" Native Brookie taking a self tyed dry,and feel it on the end of my cane... It don't get no better than that..."
Sign me up for the back of the DRUM line......probably the worst caster you ever saw yet I have introduced several to fly fishing and they all cast better than me......Go figure......I love to be on the water whether it be warm or cold and I thank God for every opportunity I get.......By the way I thought there was some kind of Federal or State law the said you can't have "just" one fly rod......you mean there isn't.......I'll be .......You people at FAOL are the greatest........
Fish on............and Tight lines........
Florida Dave
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