MAKING THE CUT - Neil - May 04, 2015

MAKING THE CUT


Making the cut is a term that one often hears in team sports in connection with players that have demonstrated that they have the talent and skills necessary to make the team. There are often lots of competitors trying to make the team, and many of them may be very talented but only a few actually make the cut. There was something about those that were chosen that was not possessed by those that failed to make the cut. If fly fishing was a team sport and to be able to fish on certain streams would you have the skills necessary to make the cut?

In too many ways we have become a "fast food" society.
Rare to find people who want to take time to learn anything.

Rick

I have often commented on the common practice that I see these days of using a large indicator and one or more weighted nymphs to catch trout. Now there is nothing wrong with using an indicator or weighted nymphs to catch fish but when that's the only technique that the angler is able to use to catch trout it brings into question how this really differs from a bobber and a worm.
Recently, in one of the trade journals, the editor wrote an opinion piece directed at this very issue. His comment on fishing with indicators and weighted nymphs was quite pointed. He wrote, "And it probably doesn't help that we've dumbed the sport down so much with strike indicators and dredging nymphs through runs that an angler actually has to switch his or her brain back on when they want to try something cutting edge, like say dry fly fishing with a 15-foot leader."

My first thought was that this statement is completely inane as it is the exact opposite of my own experience. I learned fishing dry and it's still an act of will for me to resort to a nymph.

However, on second thought, I think this may be a western problem. A guy wants to learn to fish. He takes some casting lessons, then heads out to Montana. He then spends the next three days watching his indicator from a drift boat. He wants to catch fish, the guide wants to catch fish and dredging a brown ugly legs is the easiest and probably most effective way to do it.

That is not how we learn here in the midwest. I can't speak for the east.

I began fly fishing in the early '70's at Bennett Spring State Park, MO. (12 miles from my hometown). That would be Midwest.

My preferred method of fly fishing is to cast dries to rising trout. Unfortunately, there is not always a hatch occurring, and most of a trout's diet comes from sub-surface food sources. Thus, the fly fisher needs to be adept at both methods....three actually....dries, soft hackles/wets, and nymphs.

Some of the most accomplished anglers I have known fish nymphs with no indicator.......

Just my own experiences.

Truth be told, I learned everything I know about fishing lies, achieving a proper drift and tightline nymphing, with a spinning rod by the time I was 12yrs old. It pays to learn how to fish first, before deciding to master the art of fishing with a fly rod. Thats when folks start to place technique and fly fishing mystique before the main goal.

That usually goes without saying. I started with a cane pole at about five, fishing the local ponds. Eventually got a Zebco spinning outfit at about age 12/13. Took up the fly rod at about 25/26.

But, I was addressing dry fly and wet fly fishing. I think one has to be adept at both to consistently do well in the catching department.

Absolutely.....you have to be able to fish each situation effectively. If you can't attain a proper drift with a dry, or swing a wet to the right depth, you'll be left with an empty creel more often than not.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Byron haugh

I began fly fishing in the early '70's at Bennett Spring State Park, MO. (12 miles from my hometown). That would be Midwest.

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Way to go Byron you got me. The southernmost part of the southernmost state of the Midwest.

I started fishing when I was 35 and it was a fly rod.

I for one would certainly not make the team and would be cut, for I do not look on fly fishing as a competitive sport per say, but a way to relax, learn, de-stress and meet others. In my own ways I have mastered what I enjoy the most, but by no means consider myself an expert fly fisherman. Although I started fly fishing in the very early 80's, I feel I still have a lot to learn even though I have found my own methods of casting big flies to the open mouths of Northern Pike and Bass. One day, I hope to obtain the skills and knowledge to be able to catch a beautiful, big, hooked jaw Brown Trout on a dry fly. Until that day comes along, I will try to spend time honing my skills thru doing what I love most...........fishing.

Dave.....give me a float tube and a handful of poppers.....and trout cease to exist. :)

NJ:
Can't imagine anything better than a nice big fighting trout.

Steven:
I spent about 20 years in Des Moines and fished the NE streams of Iowa and SE streams of Minnesota. Better Midwest qualifications?

Byron, I am where I am with a fly rod. Warmwater in a tube is like therapy in a recliner. Love those big swirls in the lily pads as your bug disappears. :)