I have been reading sections of two fairly old flyfishing books, and interestingly enough, both books talk about fly fishing with live bait. One book even makes recomendations on hooks (plain old bait fishing hooks) that should be carried with you when fly fishing.
Favorite baits included minnows, worms, and grasshoppers.
There were also recommendations as to when using bait was “about the only effective means” for “fly fishing” for trout.
The books were written by well known fly fishing authors.
Before the invention and widespread use of spinning tackle, a fly rod was just about the only way to present a lightly weighted or unweighted offering of any kind to the fish. The other being a cane (or other material) pole with a fixed length of line.
I’ve read books on Bass Fishing that were written in the 30s that explained how to properly fish with a live worm (nightcrawlers) for smallmouth. ALL of these ‘techniques’ were done with the fly rod.
Spinners, the ancestors of those inline little Mepps, Shysters, Panther Martin types, were originally designed to be used with a fly rod. The casting gear of those days wouldn’t cast such light offerings.
If you wanted to catch a trout and you couldn’t afford flies (expensive back then at around $.05 each), you used a fly rod with a worm dug from your garden. On your fly rod. You had to be delicate, otherwise you’d ‘cast’ the worm off the hook, but it was pretty darn effective. Took skill though. Most folks that claim to be ‘fly fishermen’ today have no clue how much skill is requird to successfully use live bait for trout.
Many of the lighter ‘plugs’ from the days before spinning tackle were designed to be flung with a fly rod. The Flatfish comes imediately to mind, but lots of the heavy bass plugs made to be cast with the crude casting gear of those times had lightweight ‘siblings’ made for use with a fly rod.
It’s ironic that it was the developement of spinning reels that forged the vast artificial void between ‘fly fishing’ and ‘fishing’. The ‘snobs’ are a new breed, nothing ‘traditional’ about them.
Buddy,
That’s right! 35-40 yrs ago was written ‘Flyrod Flatfish’ right on the container.
I can testify what happens when you try to flycast live bait.
When I was 15, I went on a camping trip. When I got to the lake my flies were MISSING :evil:
I was MADDD! I grabbed a dragonfly, put it on my hook and tried to cast it, but it didn’t stay on the hook very long.
Maybe a grasshopper would work better!
Does anyone remember any other old lures that had the FLYROD designation on them???
Doug
When we lived in Ludington MI we lived out in the country with a lovely pond. My dad fished it every night when he got home from work (weather permitting)
I wrote an article about him laying out his wool jacket and catching grasshoppers. He fished them on his bamboo rod. That was ‘well over’ 50 years ago.
Once when fishing on a tiny, two-hop creek, hidden off the end a twisted sand-trail in the upper peninsula of Michigan, I did not, repeat, did not, make that didn’t ever use, a live hopper on a gawd-awfully scrunched fly for some native jewels.
When I was a kid and a spin fisherman; I would see LOTS of guys working the pools gracefully during early trout season lobbing salmon eggs & worms.
I thought that was the epitome of “high class” fishing because of the grace with which they presented their offerings AND they got to hand-line in their catch which I thought was way cool!
I tried it years later as a beginning fly fisherman when my confidence wasn’t as high with flies and it was a cool way to lob a worm. I guess I would call bait fishing with a fly rod and I have no problem with it.
Pro bass fishermen refer to their lures as “baits”. Looking at some of the epoxy, jig-like, rubberized contraptions loosely referred to ?flies? theses days; I guess I could call fly fishing with some of that stuff bait fishing with a fly rod too!
Doug asks "Does anyone remember any other old lures that had the FLYROD designation on them??? "
I started fishing in the late 1940’s using a metal flyrod and bait. I remember there was a company named Hedden that made a flatfish lure especially for the fly rod. Then the spinning reel entered into my world around 1952. I peddled an icecream cart around Salt Lake City until I saved enough money to buy a spinning reel. It was an odd looking thing and as I remember the line came out of the side and was closed faced and called a Goodall. I thought I was in 7th heaven when I got that equipment. Then a glass fly rod and a good teacher, my dad, and it has been mainly flies ever since.
I’m unashamed to admit that I grew up fishing for brookies in mountain stream with a fly rod and worms or salted minnies. It was fun, and that’s how I was taught.
I have been fishing a small pond and using Wax worms on tiny jigs cast with a 3wt. I have found that with the cold weather, the live bait increased my catch rate. I also tried Bait Stick last year. It is a glue specifically made to hold live bait on the hook. It works, but is a pain. I may try it again this summer with hoppers.
I am sure there are the purists that will hate these posts, but my goal with fishing is just this strange thing called FUN.
Hi, My name is dudley and I’m a former bait fisherman
When I was a kid I had a spin rod and a fly rod. The spin reel broke, so I used my $3.00 cane fly rod with bait.
It was a hard addiction to break, but I’ve been bait free for 34 years.
I just ran into this last summer; had a 1/2 day to myself in a place called Roaring Run in the mountains of Virginia (A worthy name of a beautiful place). It was memorable for two reasons, the first was the two gentleman I encountered on the stream with a basket/trap they carried around their waist full of live crickets. They, as you would guess, were also harvesting their catch of beautiful natives which didnt please me much. But they did manage to fly cast these crickets and they were very effective (mmore so than my fly imitation)
The other reason? That would be the six foot black snake I encountered on the trail which scared the living bejezus out of me
Another confession here. A freind and I have been known to catch hellgramites and impale them on a #6 bait hook, attached to our fly rods, while fishing for smallies. Much better fight on the 4wt than on a spinning rod. Surprisingly, we don’t feel any remorse in doing so, and will probably be banished to some nether world by the poo-poo “purists.” Life’s too short to play by the rules.
I’ve drift fished with a fly rod, using both minnows and worms, many times in years past! Have not done so for quite some time but I’ve enjoyed it when I did … and would do it again at the same locations if ever I get that way again!
The fact of the matter is … when it comes to where the rubber meets the road … live bait is hard to beat.
Make that two.
Don’t get me wrong Nick. Maybe I wasn’t clear in my post on the first page.
I think bait is for kids
Unless I’m fishing for survival/food (doesn’t happen) I prefer a more sporting manner of fishing.
That’s why I fly fish and have for many years.
Sure I learned to fish with bait when I was young but I “grew”.
I made a conscious dicision when I was about 16 that I would no longer carry bait. In my mind this was a moral issue not elitist.
Everyone is intitled to their opinion, and this is mine. I’m not tring to insult anyone but I’ve felt this way for many years
Make that two.
Don’t get me wrong Nick. Maybe I wasn’t clear in my post on the first page.
I think bait is for kids
Unless I’m fishing for survival/food (doesn’t happen) I prefer a more sporting manner of fishing.
That’s why I fly fish and have for many years.
Sure I learned to fish with bait when I was young but I “grew”.
I made a conscious dicision when I was about 16 that I would no longer carry bait. In my mind this was a moral issue not elitist.
Everyone is intitled to their opinion, and this is mine. I’m not tring to insult anyone but I’ve felt this way for many years[/quote]
When I take my kids, want some crappie for the table, or a few brews while catfishing, I still chuck bait. There are times when sitting on the bank watching a bobber is just as much fun as when I was 12. For trout I’m pretty much straight flies, I don’t have too many trout here in S. IL though.
I went with some friends to fish for tarpon, snook, bones, etc at Bahia Honda SP near Key West a few years ago. Timing was bad as there were 3 hurricanes in the vacinity (although none close enough to force evacuation) and the conditions were “unsettled”. Although we saw a lot of actively feeding baby tarpon, we couldn’t connect with flies; no bones either although we did catch some cool snappers and a little 'cuda. After a day of frustration, we headed to sporting goods store for a casting net, a bait bucket and some Owner hooks. Learning how to handle a casting net was fun, and with a little practice we were able to lob our bait without losing it most of the time. I ended up catching 4 tarpon (first ones ever for me) and lost a few others. I guess it would probably have been more fun to take them on a fly, but they still jumped like someone had tossed a plugged-in toaster into the water, and I had a blast.
Would I do it again? Well, we’re heading back there this fall and although I dearly want to take a tarpon on a fly, the casting net is going in my luggage.
