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Thread: Just What is Fly Fishing?

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  1. #1
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    Default Just What is Fly Fishing?

    Tonight as I was out fishing with my hera rod I was thinking just what is "fly fishing"? To me it is using any type of rod or pole or even none at all as long as it is the weight of the line that carries the fly to the target. The way I was rigged up tonight, though my micro jig and indicator were certainly light enough to be cast with a fly rod, I am fairly certain it was their weight and not the weight of the line that was doing the work. However were I to add a bit of fly line or a furled leader to the outfit, presto chango, it's the weight of the line doing the work and I'm fly fishing.
    What do you think? Do you agree or disagree and why.

  2. #2
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    Right off the top of my head, I would say that basically fly fishing is fishing with a fly as the attractor/bait/lure. The fly isn't heavy enough to deliver itself to the intended target, so a form of fly casting a line heavy enough to do the trick is needed. When it comes down to the rawest meaning of fly fishing, I suppose it could be done with a spinning rod, monofilament line, and a weighted bobber. There are however, as many different definitions of fly fishing as there are fly fishers. So, never mind. I'm not going to say what I just said.
    Where you go is less important than how you take the steps.
    Fish with a Friend,
    Lotech Joe


  3. #3
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    They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Likewise, I think, the definition of fly fishing is in the mind of the angler. What one person thinks is fly fishing others may disagree. For instance I don't think fishing with a jig is fly fishing even with a fly rod. However if I catch a fish with spinning rod & bubble and a regular fly to me that is fly fishing. Basic I think Lotech Joe and I are in accord on this subject.

    Tim

  4. #4
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    That is a question each person must answer orf themselves. remember the arguement in past of those who used flies that did not float were fly fishing.
    Also when the first sythentics came out were those creations really flies.

    Rick

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Panman View Post
    For instance I don't think fishing with a jig is fly fishing even with a fly rod.
    If the "bait" determines the method; maybe the first question to ask is, what is a fly or what constitutes a a jig?
    • Is a beadhead, conehead, dumbell eyed fly, a fly...or a micro jig?
    • Is an epoxy creation or lacquered up whatever, a fly...or a tiny plug?
    • Is a hunk of foam or rubber impaled on a hook with a bit of hackle added, a fly...or a finesse soft plastic bait?
    • Is an ultra realistic creation a fly...or a sculpture?
    As for me, I really don't care what folks do or what they call it as long as it is legal, they are having fun and they don't put down someone else's way of enjoying the pursuit!

    Maybe that's because I fish anyway that suits the situation and that includes LOTS of non-fly fishing. I never feel compelled to apologise or explain my choices or felt is was necessary to define my fishing methodology when conversing with other anglers or the uninitiated.

    I just tell folks I went fishin'.

  6. #6
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    Some of the conehead streamers I cast to trout weigh a lot more than the crappie jigs I cast for shad, and I bet either could be cast reasonable well with an ultralight spinning rod; same would probably hold true for some of the weighted stonefly nymphs in my box. I won't even get into saltwater flies, where some of them are so big I have to go up to 12-13wt rods just to get them moving through the air. Still, as far as I'm concerned, if you're casting with a flyrod, it's fly fishing; in these cases maybe a more dangerous (to this caster) form of flyfishing (I have been tempted to use one of my son's old batting helmets). I will draw the line at lobbing bait with a flyrod, something which I have done with success for baby tarpon that would have nothing to do with any flies we tried; that was fun, almost as much as learning how to use a cast net to gather bait.

    Regards,
    Scott

  7. #7

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    IMO, fishin's fishin.

    Some people say (I personally know several) that if you aren't fishing a dry fly on top of the water, you aren't fly fishing.

    Personally, I've used a bubble on a spinning outfit with a FLY at the end of the line (very underrated tactic BTW) in NY for Steelhead with GREAT success! In fact, especially on the Niagara river, this gave me a very BIG advantage over the "fly fishers" in that I could get out into the river a lot further and still get a good drift (egg patterns most of the time). The fish out there were in far better shape (didn't look beat up and half dead), and actually put up a good fight.

    Was I "fly fishing"? Given that I personally tied the egg patterns I was using to catch the fish (see below), I would say so. Who cares what the rod and reel look like?


    "Engineers don't idle well."

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bamboozle View Post
    ...I really don't care what folks do or what they call it as long as it is legal, they are having fun and they don't put down someone else's way of enjoying the pursuit!
    Amen to that.

    For me, flyfishing is when I use my fly gear. Usually, it's conventional flies delivered in a conventional manner, but I'm not above hooking a ripe muhlberry and tossing it out to some feasting carp. It it flyfishing? Sorta. But it sure is fun!
    A right emblem it may be, of the uncertain things of this world; that when men have sold them selves for them, they vanish into smoke. ~ William Bradford
    I finally realized that Life is a metaphor for Fly Fishing.

  9. #9
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    Thanks for all the insightful and interesting replies. I think from now on when I'm out fly fishing with my Hera rod I'll worry less if it's really fly fishing and just enjoy another aspect of the sport of fishing.

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