It just doesn't matter....

[jszymczyk]

I'm gonna go buy some powerbait.

[jszymczyk]

oh, and some pink rubber worms for steelhead fishing.

[namekagon]

I'm gonna go buy some powerbait.

Can't find those in my copy of Entomology for the Mentally Challenged.

[Silver Creek]

Buddy is correct. Fly fishing is an art, not a science. There are simply too many variables to even consider anything like an experiment as conclusive.

If that is so, what would you say about George Harvey, who invented his slack leader after this experiment, that confirmed an earlier experiement of John Crowe, who invented the Crowe beetle and Crowe ant patterns. Both experiments showed that a drag and not tippet visibility is one of the main reads for refusals.

Here is a quotation from Harvey's Techniques of Trout Fishing and Fly Tying, revised edition, pages 20-21:

"I made my way to the head of a flat pool I knew held a good population of trout. I sat down upon the bank and started a chum line of [Japanese] beetles. It wasn't long until I had about a dozen trout taking every beetle that floated down. Now I took twenty-inch pieces of hard nylon of all sizes I had with me and inserted the end of the nylon into some of the beetles and sent them down the chum line. Since there was no drag on the nylon, the browns picked off most all of the beetles that were attached to the nylon.

This was not my idea. I had read of a similar experiment conducted by John Crowe and I wanted to check it for myself. Let me tell you, I was really impressed. Most of what we read today and what most fly fishermen believe is that the fine terminal part of the leader is more invisible and that this is the reason for using fine tippets. In fact many articles have been written that recommend that the size of the terminal tippet should be determined by the size of the fly one is using. This experiment blasts that theory because the stream-bred browns did not refuse a live beetle on the free-floating and drag-free pieces of nylon is sizes up to .015."

[Silver Creek]

Let me put it this way.

Experience is nothing but a series of "experiments" that form our view of how the world and fly fishing works. We may not think of them as scientific experiments with a control arm of the experiment and the experimental arm, but when one approach does not work and we try another approach that works we are performing a 2 arm experiment.

If we do not use our past experience to guide our future actions, then we are essentially newbies each time we go fishing. "Too many variables" is really not the problem in my view. You all have seen the TV advertisement that shows Doug Flutie and his game ending Hail Mary Pass at Boston College. In any pass, the quarterback does not do mental calculations of wind speed, ball rotation, receiver location, receiver speed, defender location, defender speed, defender approach angle, ball velocity, ball horizontal angle, ball vertical trajectory, etc. He knows where the football is going to go from experience (practice) and muscle memory, and he knows from experience whether the receiver can reach the ball before the defender can.

You are correct that there are few things that are 100% in fly fishing, but that does not mean we cannot improve our odds of catching a fish. If it is true that it nothing matters as far as fish catching is concerned, then why we do we have this bulletin board to answer newbies questions on tackle and methods?

[Byron haugh]

Silver,
Yes. There are books on trout vision; many books on aquatic entomolgy; books on the various trout lies in streams (holding lies, feeding lies, etc.); books on trout behavior; books on how to read the water; books on casting;etc., etc.
It is there if the fisherman wants to pursue the information. It is not required, but it is there.

[namekagon]

If it is true that it nothing matters as far as fish catching is concerned, then why we do we have this bulletin board to answer newbies questions on tackle and methods?

?Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.?
-Henry David Thoreau
It's a tad cerebral for me but maybe Thoreau is suggesting that by fishing we are simply attempting to transcend the limits of our own mortality.

[jszymczyk]

Good Lord. We Fly Fish simply because we ENJOY IT. All the holier-than-thou fly fishing philosophers write volumes about everything they can dream up, which is fine, but the bottom line is that we just like doing it. All of us on our different levels. In the end, that's what it boils down to.

Fly Fishermen in particular, and trout-centric FF'ers especially, love to get wrapped up in it all while losing sight of the simple underlying foundation that it is just FUN to do. Things which are FUN make our lives better.

[Byron haugh]

J,
What concerns you about folks who delve a great deal further than the average fly fisher?
In a way, it's a bit like golf. The occasional hacker enjoys it; the weekender enjoys it; and the guy who either plays or goes to the range 4-5 times a week enjoys it.

[appalachian angler]

Some folks just tend to approach their leisure pursuits with the same intensity as they would carreer goals. That is cool if, at the end of the day, you are not more stressed than when you began. I fish to escape day to day life stress, and while intnese about catching fish, it is not merely the sole object. I would rather catch less fish, using a method, and equipment that I enjoy rather than fish with gear and methods which are less pleasing simply to have more to brag on at the end of the day. That is not how I derive 'satisfaction'. If it was, then I guess I would succum to such methods as check nymphing with 10' broomstick of a graphite rod and a 30 yd leader, dredging every run of the river, and cursing anyone who got in my way. The whole aspect of competition trout fishing is ruining our sport as I know it. It sells products and magazines and satisfies the X-Game generation of fast paced and busy types. To each their own. As technology advances in our daily lives, I find that my fishing is regressing more and more in pure opposition to the daily grind. Getting back into bamboo, single flies and thinking about trying silk fly lines. Even then I suppose I can find wasy to improve my casting, presentation, and fly tying abilities. Bottom line, if I'm out standing, guilt free in the middle of a trout filled stream or river waving a stick and line, then how could I not be satisfied at the end of the day?