When I was in high school and college I played a lot of golf but as time went on I got to a point where I did not improve. Then frustration set in and golf slowly became a thorn in my flesh. All my friends played and wanted me to come with them but I just could not control my frustration and golf became nightmare and I put the clubs up forever. Fly fishing has always been just as important to me but the frustration has never set in. Sure I get skunked all the time and my friends out fishing me all the time but there is never that deep down feeling in my gut that I am about to explode because I did something wrong or missed a fish. I am always afraid that this frustration will set in when it comes to fly fishing. Has this ever happened to anyone else?
I was a confirmed fishbum. For 14 years I lived on an Island on the north coast of BC where the fishing is the kind you dream about. Year round you could catch boatloads of fish. I was out fishing every day for 6-8 hours. I lived to fish. It never became boring to me.
Then I moved inland to the interior. The fish were not as plentiful and they were much smaller. I went into a kind of fishing funk. Didn’t even pick up a rod for at least 4 years. I bought a 22 ft boat that we used for water skiing and daytrips up the 90 mile long lake that is 1 mile from my home. When my son was 9 or 10 he saw someone on the dock fishing. He wanted to fish so I took him out and re-discovered fishing. I went at it hard for about 7 or 8 years then backed off a bit because the kids grew up and no longer thought it was cool to go fishing with dad. Then about 5 years after that the kids started comming around again and we started going fishing a bit. Now I take my son and grandson out at least once every 2 weeks or so.
I discovered fly fishing and have been fishing moderately ever since 2004., In 2005 I discovered FAOL and fly tying to go with my fishing.
It never leaves you.
Golf on the other hand I used to play every moment I could that there was daylight enough to still see the ball. I developed a pretty good game, enough so that none of my friends would bet me any more. One day I just got tired of golf and just like that sold my clubs and quit going. Never been back.
My fishing has always waxed and waned , currently it is in a waxing on mode.
Jason -
I started playing golf when I was about twelve - in the steps of my grandfather, who was very, very good and my father, who was very, very good at the game. Played it on and off until I was in my late forties - a lot off, but pretty regularly when it was on. Was playing on a warm, humid Saturday at a course in the Seattle area and was doing not so good. On the seventh hole, I really flubbed a shot, and threw the club. NEVER threw a club. On the eighth hole, I really flubbed a shot, and threw the club. NEVER threw a club. Finished up on nine and told the rest of the group that I was through - not for the day, but for good. Went to my car, put the clubs in the trunk, took off my golf shoes and LEFT THEM IN THE PARKING LOT. Haven’t touched a club since.
Started fly fishing just over five years ago. Fish for trout, almost exclusively on moving water, 130-140 days a year. Tie my own flies, furl my own leaders, and just started building my own rods. At this point, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what there is to know and do when it comes to the REALLY HUGE WORLD of fly fishing that is so well represented by the members of the FAOL BB. Can’t hardly imagine getting bored with it or ever leaving my wading boots streamside and walking away from it.
I think the big difference between golf and fishing for me ( and a lot of other people on the BB from how they talk about their experiences ) is - golf is results oriented and fly fishing is process oriented. If you don’t do well at golf on a given day, you get frustrated. But how can you get frustrated and not enjoy the process of fly fishing regardless what happens any given day if you pick a place with aesthetics you enjoy and just go about doing it ??
John
i’m going on 28 years of fly fishing and i don’t view it as a religion but some do. theres more to life than fly fishing. its just my hobby. at times i get sick of it, but eventually return.
i used to golf years ago but lately i’m thinking of putting away the fly rods for awhile and get out the clubs. might do me good to get rid of that spare tire i’m carrying below my chest. with a defibrillator/pacemaker implanted in my upper chest, i just need clearance form the heart doc.
i’ve looked at learning to fly radio controlled model airplanes, but that looks to be as/or more expensive as fly fishing. lots of stuff to buy to get one of those flying.
Bingo! That says it all for me. I love being outdoors, especially on a scenic river. I also tend to seek places where there are few people and where the scenery is “natural.” I’m not into the manicured lawns, etc… of American golf courses. I’m also a gear junkie. What better hobby for me than fly fishing? I can stand all day in a river by myself (or with others) and play with fly tackle. Of course, I also love the analysis required to figure out what the fish are eating and then to catch them.
From time to time, I’m asked to do fishing seminars around the state. At the end of every talk, I ask the audience how many play golf? Hands will go up, and I talk about what a great game it is and how much skill it takes.
I tell them I retired from golf in 1984 and that virtually every time I played I’d walk off the 18th green, look to the sky and say, “I should have gone fishing!”
Then I add, “But I’ve never gone fishing and thought I should have gone to play golf.”
I do both. Like them both about equally. Hate to say it but I’m around a 6 hadicap…
Fly fishing has not been at all frustrating even after catching mostly small stuff. I’ve only been fly fishing for about 3 years so the newness has not worn off yet. For me its more about being out of the office and in the woods completely focused on the activity at hand. I like being in the woods, in the river, away from the crowd. It’s also not competitive. I fish with my wife. Its great quality time. Going some place special, from time to time, like the Au Sable also helps.
Everything has ups and downs. Right now its all still up.
Joe
Must be the good fishing technique.
The idea of fishing is to have fun, correct? If you take it, or yourself, too seriously, I imagine you could turn fishing into golf without too much time or energy expended. There are those out there who would take this recreational activity and apply rules to every aspect, so that it might as well be golf. At which point I would have to take up some less regulated activity like operating a nuclear power plant or tax preparation.
Only if you are going after fish with parr marks.
Groan.
Did you know messages have to be at least 10 characters? Hmmmm.
Groan. Sigh.
See you in Lowell.
I do both. I play golf and I fly fish. The only thing I have given up is spinning gear… (I gave it all to my son) I’m not a 6 handicap, or even close, I do enjoy the outdoors and I enjoy my friends. I fish alone !!! I play golf with my friends
“Golf Is A Good Walk Spoiled”
(Mark Twain)
In May of 2000 I gave up golfing. When I first learned to golf in the mid 80s I was pretty good, but I noticed each game I played I wasn’t improving and as time went on I became a horrible player. My golf got so bad that in May 2000 I was smack dab in the middle of Ireland golfing with my friend Eamonn and a few of his friends the day before his wedding. By the end of long day of golfing I walked away from the 18th hole with having lost 18 balls! I knew right then and there that golf was not for me. Fly fishing has been just the opposite. Each time I go out I improve a little. Fly fishing has so many aspects I can spend a life time pursuing it and only scratch the surface.
Golf actually helped me at a very critical time in my life. I was very stressed out and I got the idea to go to the local Driving Range. I didn’t own any golf clubs, so I rented a driver and a bucket of balls. LOL! I had never hit a golf ball with a driver or wood before, so it was a new experience. I placed a ball on the tee, and I stood back and the thought came over me that “HOW IN THE HECK AM I GONNA MISS THAT BALL, WITH A HEAD THAT BIG?” I hauled off and swung and that ball rocketed into the air toward the huge net at the end of the range. I felt a tiny relief of my stress level! 
I hit another and another! I was feeling better! I started to aim at that crazy guy who was out on the range, driving a machine with a cage around it, picking up the golf balls I and everyone else were hitting. I pretended that guy was the enemy and I had to get him! I took many more trips to the Driving Range and it actually relieved some of my stress, so in a way, Golf was a positive thing for me. Putting is something that I don’t want to talk about on a Family Site.
Doug
I, too, am an ex-golfer. I played when I was younger, but woke up halfway through a round and realized that I wasn’t having any fun.
A crappy cast might still catch a fish, but a bad shot burns a hole in my brain. I’m trying to relax, and golf doesn’t doing it. I can get skunked and come out relaxed or catch a ton and come out relaxed. To me, that’s the point.
I guess I’d compare golf to fly fishing this way: There is absolutely NO way I will EVER be able to play a par golf round. I CAN possibly,however, on one day catch as many fish as ANY pro/expert could. Totally different skills are required in either pursuit. There is a whole bunch less luck involved in golf.
Also, I don’t get THAT serious in either pursuit to get frustrated if I don’t do well. Both are only fun for me and THAT’s ALL. I’m not a golfer, I only play golf . And also, I’m not a fly fisherman, I fly fish. In my humble opinion, there IS a difference.
Mark
PS: I’m about a 20 handicap in that FOUR LETTERED word game.
I started golfing at age 7 and played or playing to the present. The best I got to was 7 a handicap playing 3 to 4 times a week with no practice.
Late one fall I got a job that in the spring didn’t allow me the time to play like I would have liked to, only playing 2 to 3 times a week. Then one summer I got injured and missed a whole year of golf. Coming back from not playing and then not playing to my potential was frustrating at times but never enough to quit. Now I strike the ball the best I ever had in my life but score poorly because of other injuries over the years that have stop me from playing enough, but I still love the game and still strive to be better. If I won the lottery I would play and practice till I was scratch even try to go pro.
Comparing fly fishing to golf and which I would rather do? Golf wins. But I will never stop fly fishing and love it almost the same but for different reasons.
Respectfully,
Sean