Fly Fishing Opinions

[Bamboozle]

Reading a post on the fly tying board got me to thinking about the elitist attitudes held by many fly fishers and made me wonder why. I also fish conventionally and never see the level of exclusivity and purist attitudes that are prevalent in fly fishing. Among others; in fly fishing we have:

• Dry fly purists who only fish on top[/*:m:b1544]
• Traditional dry fly purists who only fish traditional flies on top[/*:m:b1544]
• Fisherman who only fish imitations of aquatic insects; in other words, no terrestrials[/*:m:b1544]
• Nymphs only[/*:m:b1544]
• Wets only[/*:m:b1544]
• Natural materials only for flies[/*:m:b1544]
• No harvest[/*:m:b1544]
• Cane rods only[/*:m:b1544]
• Warmwater or coldwater only[/*:m:b1544]
• No epoxy flies[/*:m:b1544]
• No added weight to flies[/*:m:b1544]
• No added weight to leader[/*:m:b1544]
• USA made only[/*:m:b1544]

And multiple variations of all of the above as well as about 100 other ?clubs? I neglected. Fly fishers are adamant about their beliefs to the point of argument or fisticuffs for those that disagree. Is it our long and luscious heritage; mentoring, or just plain snobbery? I never met a nightcrawler purist on the local pond so I just wonder why you think we?re so opinionated.

I know?because we?re right!

Just for the record I think life is too short to be a fishing snob of ANY flavor.


[This message has been edited by Bamboozle (edited 19 September 2005).]

[Gardenfish]

none of that fits me because I like to have fun and those things you listed sure seem to preclude having a good time.

I may fit into one of those. All I do if fly fish.

The only spinning rod I own is one I built when I was 14. It hasn't been on the water in 30 years.

But..... If I can throw it or catch it on a fly rod, I'm there.

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Ken

There is a fine line between fly fishing and and just standing in a river looking like and idiot.

[drolfson]

Allright Bamboozle;

Now you've gone and done it! Saying there are no nightcrawler purists! That is just plain insensitive! I flat out REFUSE to use them stinkin' green nightcrawlers! [url=http://brotherhood-of-catfishermen.com/catfish/messages/66/909646.jpg:1b59b]Here[/url:1b59b] And redworms or red wigglers should be outlawed! Even just plain garden worms are an abomination. Someone needs to create some Nightcrawler ONLY sections for people to fish in so we don't have to deal with the unwashed masses!



Don

Bamboozle;
Gardenfish is right, sure doesn't sound like fun to me. I don't even like to fish alone!! No one to lie too!! On a fly I tied with a rod I built is as about as "Elitist" as I'll get!!
Drolfson;
I have a friend that will fish for Bass with nothing but a Black Plastic worm with purple spots (not even weedless!). He gets out fished a lot but will not change!!

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I feel more like I do now than I did when I got here!

Cactus AKA "Lucky Dog (Pirate Name)"

[Feenom]

Bamboozle.......don't confuse purists with elitists..big difference! If someone wants to fish purely by one of the methods you listed.....it's his/her personal choice and shouldn't be labeled an elitist or a snob.
The idea that many flyfishers hold elitists attitudes is a myth. I personally have never witnessed or been the victim of any snobbery from flyfishers or fishers in general.
Too bad threads like this just perpetuate the myth.

[This message has been edited by Feenom (edited 19 September 2005).]

[AScott Trout Flies]

I just wanna catch as many different species as i can on the long rod.... it's a personal challenge, where i get to meet some wonderful people in doing so.
On a professional level, i just wanna see my clients catch fish, whether it be numbers of, or size of, depending on their ambitions. The main thing to me is that i have fun and meet like-minded people along the way.

Andy

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"My fishing is no longer an obsession, an addiction, or a mania; it's much more than that!
" - Dave Micus

[Bamboozle]

Feenom:

I'm not labeling anybody; just asking a question although I've had other fly fisherman chastise me for fishing terrestrials, and artificial material composed flies among other things. If you managed to avoid that consider yourself lucky.

When I started fly fishing I gave away all of my spinning tackle figuring I had risen above that. Unfortunately I inadvertently excluded some of my best fishing partners who didn't fly fish and couldn't accompany me to the FFO waters I frequent. I decided that friends were thicker than hackle and I returned to my roots for an occasional foray cause good fishing partners can be hard to find.

[teasels]

being one of those unwashed,I love my long rod but when you get down to it. Yea I will toss a spinning rod WITH a bobber AAAAAND a WORM. Yes folks thats right a real live squigly slimmy undulating creepy crawler thing that you dig from,OHHHH my GARSH,the GROUND(gasp)(quick grab the TAR and FEATHERS)(but make sure those feathers are #1 grade grizzly dry hackle.)
And yes I even used a MINNOW(faint)last week.(Swoon)

Even with that there taint notin Iz likes better dan dat der LOOOONG NOOOODLE of Graphite.

[fcch]

Bam, ...

I guess it all comes down to Respect and then personal choice.

I don't use weighted flies nor "shot" on the leader 'cause it's illegal on my home waters. Then again, ... I never really did out West as I "prefer" to cast an "unencumbered" line and fly (personal choice, ... even if that means I catch less fish (on occasion).

I have fun. I sure won't look down on another anglers technique, so long as they were having (legal) fun too.

Last saturday, ... me and my girlfriend came upon a hot pool. She got on right off the bat on a streamer (wooly). I switched her to a dry as she had never caught a trout on dries. Bang ... connects.

We switched from dries to wets as the mood struck us.

Later, ... I asked her if she liked wets more than dries. Upon reflection, she said Wets.

Ren?e with a nice trout on a rather heavy rod ... wet fly

When you get a take on a wet, the weight is right there. As soon as you lift the rod, the weight is there. On dries, you see the take, wait, lift, clear the water and set the hook. The weight is different.

I prefer dries, ... the concentration, the anticipation, the take, ... the line ripping out of the water as the weight settles in "relatively" slowly into the rod.


Boris T. Counting to 3 after a nice 12 lb hen inhaled a dry (S. Vincent Photo June 2005)
Question of choices I guess.

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Christopher Chin, Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/:400a1]Fishing the Ste-Marguerite[/url:400a1]




[This message has been edited by fcch (edited 19 September 2005).]