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Thread: Just What is Fly Fishing?

  1. #21
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    I know I like Chzech Nymphing, but to me it is not fly fishing as I have almost no fly line outside the rod tip. I also love normal Nymphing and I think this IS fly fishing as the fly is delivered by the fly line.
    In England for nearly 5 hundred years fly fishing was done with fly paterns that were in fact wet flys, tied spider style or palmer style, on the end of horse hair lines, then someone worked out how to get a fly to float and for about 60 years some snobs decided that if it did not float it was not fly fishing. I know it is not well recieved by those that only fish the dry fly but it is a fact that the dry fly is the Johny come lately in fly fishing.
    So I guess in my view if the fly is delivered by a fly line it is fly fishing, if the bobber or bubble float provides the momentum to deliver the fly it is fishing with a fly rather than fly fishing. Mind you I have to say it is a pleasure to watch someone who is skilled with the spining rod.
    All the best.
    Mike

  2. #22
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    IMHO,flyfishing is defined more so by the method of delivering the "fly" than by using the fly itself.As far as I'm concerned,there's flyfishing,and then there's fishing using "flies",which are not neccesarily one in the same.Is a steelhead fisher that uses a noodlerod,centerpin reel,mono line and a bobber with 3 nymphs drifting underneath it flyfishing?I say no.Trolling streamers with spinning gear for ice-out landlock salmon...no again,not flyfishing.Oddly enough,take that same steelheader with a "flyrod" and flyline,fishing the same 3 nymphs under an indicator....and now he is in fact flyfishing.There are likely dozens of more comparisons to be made,for example,if I was using an ultralight spinning rod and reel to deliver a conehead muddler 30ft. to a trout lie,I would say I was spinfishing using a conehead muddler as the "bait".Cast that same muddler to the same lie 30ft away with my 5wt,and now I'm flyfishing.Ask an eastcoast Atlantic Salmon angler what constitutues flyfishing,where the methods,gear,and unweighted only flies are steeped in tradition and legally defined,and you'll likely get a far different answer than if you asked the same on the banks of Alberta's Bow River where indicator/nymphing is the method of choice for many.To each his own I guess?
    Last edited by greenghost; 03-27-2011 at 09:43 PM.

  3. #23

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    If a state designates certain bodies of water or stretches of stream "fly fishing only" I would suggest that everyone know what fly fishing means in that particular state. Usually it is spelled out in the regulations. It's a pretty standard definition.

    rw
    Last edited by Royal Wulff; 03-28-2011 at 05:47 PM.
    "The value of trout is simply that they exist" <Frank Weisbarth>

  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by bluefish View Post
    I've met hundereds of Great Lakes steelheaders that would disagree to a man. Many spinfisherman and center pinners use flies. Your picture is not of a fresh run fish, either. Many people flyfish for steelhead-which means actually casting using the weight of the line, as opposed to chuck and duck, for the challenge and sport. A fly that has thread and one material that imitates a common bait, cast on a
    spinning rod is really stretching the meaning. NY state regs. would agree. However, you look to have had a great time and the Niagra isn't a that much of a flyrod friendly river. Spey, switch, and longer one handed rods do a great job of fishing farther drifts. I have no problem how you caught it, but it's not flyfishing.
    Most highly successful fishing techniques anymore are hybrids of sorts. As you mentioned, a spinning outfit like mine or a center pin/noodle rod with all monofilament using "flies" may not be "pure" flyfishing, but it IS FLYfishing of sorts. We could all argue till we're blue in the face of what the definition is, whether it is defined by the delivery method or by the "bait". Does it REALLY matter so long as you're legally catching fish??? Personally, I think not.

    BTW, you're right that that particular fish was not "fresh" run. This was caught down in Whirlpool State Park, and toward the end of the season. I was in Buffalo for work, and was just happy to get there in time for any Steelhead fishing period. Most of the fish being caught at this point were in pretty poor condition. I caught a couple of others that day which were "fresher", but they were returned to the water immediately, no photo! This one was a good mix of being in decent shape but not "fresh". It wasn't the largest I caught that day either, and I should mention I also used large stoneflies successfully that day as well. It was a GREAT day of fishing, and I had a blast!!! I will fondly remember it for many years to come.

    I would have loved to have used a fly rod and more "fly fishing" gear, but being there for work for a few weeks, I was limited on how much fishing gear I could bring along. I chose a 7.5' spinning outfit, and brought lures, spinners, etc. and an assortment of flies and nymphs as well. This was a good compromise for fishing ponds, tailwaters, and big water like the Niagara and Lake Erie within a hour or so of Buffalo (I also managed to catch my first Tiger Muskie on that trip using the same rig and different terminal tackle; a decent 26 incher).

    Quote Originally Posted by Royal Wulff View Post
    If a state designates certain bodies of water or stretches of stream "fly fishing only" I would suggest that everyone know what fly fishing means in that particular state. Usually it is spelled out in the regulations. It's a pretty standard definition.

    rw
    This is a good point!
    Last edited by CO_Flyfisher; 03-28-2011 at 07:05 PM.
    "Engineers don't idle well."

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Royal Wulff View Post
    If a state designates certain bodies of water or stretches of stream "fly fishing only" I would suggest that everyone know what fly fishing means in that particular state. Usually it is spelled out in the regulations. It's a pretty standard definition.

    rw
    A very good point. I know that Pennsylvania spells out clearly enough what is legally accepted as flyfishing, and they mean it.
    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.

  6. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by PA Dave View Post
    A very good point. I know that Pennsylvania spells out clearly enough what is legally accepted as flyfishing, and they mean it.
    Interestingly enough, despite the contrary opinions of some strict interpreters Tenkara qualifies as fly-fishing in Pennsylvania on Fly Fishing Only areas.

  7. #27
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    It was probably more like Tenkara than what most of us do and not unlike Czech nymphing:

    Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis), born some two hundred years before Aelian, wrote: ...Who has not seen the scarus rise, decoyed and killed by fraudful flies...

    Roman Claudius Aelianus near the end of the 2nd century. He described the practice of Macedonian anglers on the Astraeus River:

    ...they have planned a snare for the fish, and get the better of them by their fisherman's craft. . . . They fasten red . . . wool round a hook, and fit on to the wool two feathers which grow under a cock's wattles, and which in color are like wax. Their rod is six feet long, and their line is the same length. Then they throw their snare, and the fish, attracted and maddened by the color, comes straight at it, thinking from the pretty sight to gain a dainty mouthful; when, however, it opens its jaws, it is caught by the hook, and enjoys a bitter repast, a captive.
    Want to hear God laugh? Tell him Your plans!!!

  8. #28
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    For me fly fishing means:

    delivering the fly with a fly cast and we all know what that is and isn't. It's not lobbing a big ball of lead (chuck and duck).
    manipulating the drift of the fly by controlling the fly line both before and after the fly lands on the water.
    no bobbers or whatever other gadgets are the latest in "trapped air technology". I'm still wrestling with the hopper/dropper rig.

    Again, this is for me. Everyone has to have their own code.

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