ARE WE MAKING FLY FISHING TOO DIFFICULT FOR BEGINNERS? - Readers Cast - Oct 10, 2011

[Silver Creek]

It's all about funnels.

I never thought of fly fishing as a funnel but it is a perfect description. I wish I had thought of it. Kudos to you.

Everyone starts a the same place, as a beginner. But I think your experience BEFORE you started fly fishing matters. In my case, I had fished ever since I was 7 years old. My father bought me the first Mitchell spinning reel before there was the Mitchell 300. After I took my first fly fishing course, it took me a full year to catch my first trout. That first year was frustrating, and it was difficult to stay committed to fly fishing when I could take my spinning outfit and catch trout at will. So my expectation of catching fish met the reality of knowing how to cast but not how to fly fish effectively. I needed a reason to change from spin fishing to fly fishing.

It was during my second year of fly fishing that I caught my first trout. It was a wild 16" brown trout from the Firehole River in Yellowstone Park right off the Midway Geyser Basin parking lot. I caught it with a fly I had tied and a fly rod I had built. It was an epiphany. My reason to change was not how many fish I caught, but how I caught them. That sealed the deal.

That single fish meant more to me than the the fish I had caught earlier that year with a spinning rod. I decided to put the spinning outfit away and commit myself to fly fishing.

I decided that if I was to commit myself to fly fishing I had better become a lot better than I was. There was no internet but there was the library. That winter, I read every fly fishing book in our local library. Books I did not have I bought and even those that the library had, I bought if I thought they were knowledge worthy. I was a better fly fisher the next spring. For example, I knew what insects hatched in Wisconsin and I knew what flies to use. That alone was huge.

Gary Borger had made his first video and he had been my fly fishing instructor so I got to know him. He became my mentor and my friend. Natural curiosity, a desire to learn, and access to personal coach has smoothed my journey. Not everyone can have a personal mentor, but now there is the internet which makes it a lot easier to take the first step than when I began.

So my answer is that I don't think that we are making fly fishing harder. I took a fly fishing class from Gary because I could not teach myself to cast. I tried it in Utah and I failed. Now there are many more places to learn how to fly cast. Our TU chapter does it for free for a youth outdoor sports gathering and for Women of The Outdoors.

I wish I had those resources. The basic casting skills are not difficult. It is harder to learn how to ski or to play tennis than it is to fly cast BUT the depth of knowledge that comes later is far greater in fly fishing. Fly fishing success demands more knowledge than physical skill compared to either downhill skiing or tennis, both sports that I did quite a lot of in my earlier years.

So I would say that compared to the 1970's when I learned to fly fish, it is easier now than then. The fly rod and fly lines are better. There were a lot of crappy fly rods in those days, and I made my own Fenwick HMG because it was so much better than the the Shakespeare rods. Now you can get a fly rod far better than the HMG for about $100.00

Access to knowledge, affordable quality equipment, and good instruction are three legs of fly fishing success. I would argue that all three are far more readily available now.

[flyguy66]

You're welcome.

My introduction to fly fishing was completely different, and worthy of recounting here if only for that reason.

I was 13 years old, and it was the end of 1979. I had just moved to Texas. Fishing a 120 acre spring-fed lake almost daily after school for bass and pan fish, I would sometimes see an elderly man in a wooden row boat and straw hat with a bamboo fly rod catching a bream on almost every cast from near the banks. It was graceful, peaceful, artful, and obviously VERY effective. I finally worked up the courage to approach him in my small peddle-boat, say hello, and watch from a closer vantage point. He asked if I wanted to try it. Not knowing that I was supposed to think it was difficult, I said sure! We pulled alongside one another and I climbed aboard his wooden jon boat. He gave me about a five minute fly casting lesson...if that long...and told me to cast as close to the bank as I could. I did. It worked out OK. I caught a Red Ear. We repeated this procedure about a dozen more times that evening before going to our respective homes for dinner.

I met the old fly fisherman on Lake Brenda a few more times and fly fished with his rod from his boat that year, and then I never saw him again. I fly fished a few more times over the next few years for trout in Colorado, but mostly I fished a LOT with conventional tackle. Catching fish never was a problem for me no matter what tackle I used: trot-lines, jug-lines, limb-lines, yo-yo's, cast nets, traps, hand-lines, gigs, conventional tackle, or fly tackle. I just never thought of one type of gear being more of an obstacle than another type once you got past seines, electricity, and dynamite.

Then, in 1998, I moved to Branson, Missouri. I immediately marched into the local fly shop and bought a $100 rod/reel combo. The fly shop owner had a rule: no rod went out the door of his shop with a first-time buyer without a free casting lesson. He didn't care about my story about the old man on Lake Brenda 20-some-odd years before. (I don't blame him) We spent about 15 minutes in the parking lot, and he said, "Go fishing tomorrow even if it is only for an hour." So I did. I was able to go for about half the day. I didn't know a lot about trout, bugs, or fly fishing techniques back then. I could roll cast and single-haul about 35-40 feet with my new rod. Honestly, I had cast the old man's bamboo rod much better than I did that stiff new Redington RedFly. But I caught over a dozen Rainbows in a few hours that day totally on my own in unfamiliar water.

The moral of the story is NOT that I am a great fisherman! The moral of this story is that my grandpa, the old fly fisherman on Lake Brenda, and the fly shop owner in Branson were all great teachers who kept it very simple and all about catching fish for a beginner fisherman, a beginner fly fisherman, and re-beginner fly fisherman. And I have found my way down the funnel a little ways.

The path is a bit different for each of us.

[CaseyP]

please see signature for one person's opinion.

[CM_Stewart]

Well, based on the number of emails I get from people who tried fly fishing and gave up because it was too complicated, I'd have to say yes, we are making fly fishing too difficult for beginners. I'm not sure who the "we" is (probably plenty of blame to go around) but there is definitely a perception among beginners that they have to know all about the bugs, have to buy lots of very expensive equipment and definitely have to take casting lessons. Even several people on this thread who say it doesn't have to be too difficult do say they should take casting lessons.

I would suggest starting beginners with a tenkara rod. It just doesn't get any simpler. Most people seem to pick it up within about half an hour on their own with minimal (if any) instruction. Beyond the ease of casting, there is no emphasis on matching the hatch and no emphasis on expensive equipment. The emphasis is almost entirely on presenting the fly (traditionally a wet fly) to the fish in a way that (A) doesn't scare the fish, and (B) makes the fly look like it is alive and therefore food. Not everyone catches fish their first outing, but many do. In addition to being very easy to learn, tenkara is also extremely effective.

The negative comments about tenkara on a number of forums (including FAOL, but thankfully not for some time now) suggest that some of the "we" seem to be pretty threatened by a method of fly fishing that really isn't difficult to learn.

[Bear742]

"How many people are looking for the most difficult, time consuming, and expensive way to relax and have fun?"

How many people hunt mountain goats in remote locations at great expense when there is much more tender less expensive meat grazing in the field next door? But wouldn't you rather read about stalking game in the mountains than read about cutting cows out of the local herd? If I want to make a living as an outdoors author, which subject should I write about?

Once you start thinking about it, how many questions like this can you come up with?

I guess my point is that fly fishing fulfills different needs for different people. An article here a while ago pointed out that fly fishers fell into three broad categories-recreational, commercial, and competitive. There is overlap between categories also-a classic 3 Set Venn Diagram.

[img]http://mathworld.wolfram.com/images/...iagram_900.gif[/img]

I have to think that beginners fall into the same three buckets. So the real trick is figuring out what kind of beginner we are looking at. Are we making it too complicated or too simple?

[JohnScott]

...have to buy lots of very expensive equipment and definitely have to take casting lessons. ....

... and this comment from Chris reminds me of an exchange I witnessed in a local fly shop last spring. A potential newcomer was asking the owner of the shop how to get started in fly fishing.

The owner, in the course of the conversation, mentioned spending around $1500 on equipment and lessons in the first year, a lot of it up front. I just shook my head when I head that comment.

John

P.S. I guess I should mention that the owner of the shop was in the process of selling off his inventory as he was going out of business. Now why on earth did he have to go and do that ??

[hardhat]

Fly fishing is like most hobbies and interest people have, you must have the desire to do it. For many people there are other less consuming ways to fish. However I still see new people getting into fly fishing all of the time. And even in a difficult economy beginners are still buying equipment. I feel the real question should be: will there be enough good fishing water for all of us anglers.

[Fishing Jill]

I took up fly fishing because bait fishing wasn't a challenge anymore. I wanted more of a challenge but didn't want to spend a fortune on it. No matter how many years go by I am still learning and aquiring new equipment and experience. It hasn't cost me a fortune and I'm no novice. I do prefer dry flies and always say I'll try nymphs but it hasn't happened yet. Maybe next summer...
That being said, there is always the possibility that I will be talked down to in fly shops or at expo's. That's maybe because I'm a woman but maybe that's just how it is. It happened more when I was getting started in the sport and I was wondering if I was doing it correctly. Every once in a while it does happen and I chuckle. No intimidation for me now. I have all the confidence that I know what I'm doing for the most part and am having fun on the stream and at the tying bench. That's the kicker. I don't see any fly fishing police out there grading me on my casting or looking in my fly box. LOL

That's my two cents and then some.

[chase creek]

All good points. I think maybe another aspect of this question is the "perceived" cost. For example, I'm active as an adult leader with Boy Scouts. At the first Summer Camp in our Council in which the new Flyfishing merit badge was offered, the camp hired a local flyfisherman to teach it. He showed the boys several rods / reels in the $500 and up range, giving the impression that you had to spend MANY bucks just to get started. How many of those kids went home and asked the parents if they could have $500 or more, so they could TRY flyfishing?Not very many. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to throw around a line with a nice bamboo rod, spooled up on a Hardy reel, but I just can't justify that right now.
I've seen this in other areas, also. Look at the equipment reviews in most of the
flyfishing magazines - almost all high end stuff that would put anyone off. Why would I spend $700+ for a rod if I don't even know if I like the sport yet?

We need to get the "elite" and "mystery" out of flyfishing. After all, isn't it just another way to catch fish?

Excuse me while I step down from my soapbox.

[randyflycaster]

Yes, well said. I think we often forget that one of the beauties of fly fishing is that we can do it on many levels. If we want, we don't have change flies every thirty minutes or so.

In the end, we're out there to have a good time.

Randy