Very interesting responses, and many valid points. I’m glad others have has similar experiences.
I’ve always thought I was a pretty good fisherman and always seemed to catch fish even when others weren’t. I’m no KVD but I hold my own! I think that flyfishing in shallow warmwater conditions favors me with a flyrod, that and being in a kayak.
I’ve never had much success with a spinning bubble in the past, might have to try that again.
I think that the fact that the fly stays in the strike zone is a valid part of the equation.
The fun factor is defientely higher, especially since I predominantly fish with a fiberglass 5wt. Try landing a 3lb plus bass with that, I know it’s a lot of fun. It also makes catching a small gill enjoyable.
It’s funny that no one brought up one thing I think helps, the lure size. I think the smaller offerings typically used with a 5wt are more appropriate for smaller water bodies. I caught a lot of larger fish on size ten flys. Much more than on larger bass flies. I think the available prey at least in my favorite pond is typically smaller and the bigger fish key in on that. In Summer, the majority of my catch was on a size 10 yellow gurgle pop. I caught hundreds of gills, numerous bass and the occasional crappie with it. The crappie were all 9" plus and seemed to be loners scattered throughout the pond. My fall pattern was a size 10 red beadhead pt nymph, I caught bass,pickerel,crappie and bluegill on it. In no particular order either. The most success was early dusk, just as some type of midge looking fly started emerging on the water’s surface. I could see many fish taking them on the surface, but also many more seemed to be going after emergers.
Tailingloop: I agree that there’s nothing for a flyrod that can beat a senko in the right situations. At least nothing I’ve tried! That’s next years’s goal with a flyrod.
For myself, I have caught WAY more with a fly rod than spin gear.
Simply suites my style better…never been one to sit and fish, not big on boat fishing eaither…I am a visual prson and need to be active.
Fly fishing fits the bill…wading, casting, thinking, watching…catching.
Also, I like the placement aspect, cast, pick-up, cast again…can’t do that with a 3/4 oz lure…and have 2 maybe 3 or 4 chances at landing that bug right in that tiny little fishy looking pocket!
My one fishing buddy with a boat, with whom I’ll fish with two or three times a season, has basically conceeded to the fly. I have another friend who fishes a spinner exclusively who is a very good fisher. One of the best. We both do well. But its because both of us know that fishing is more than lugging out a lure/bait/spinner and simply reeling it back. I do find it easier to finesse with a fly than a heavier lure/bait/spinner, which I believe increases my catch rate. All of this is shallow water fishing, though. I stand no chance with the walleye jigging crowd, nor would I wish to. I’d just as soon watch paint dry. JGW
Before I get into detail, I feel it necessary to say that I try hard not to sound like I’m bragging or boasting. There are however, situations that make me sound that way.
Here in Ks, we have a trout season when rainbows, and now browns in one stream, are stocked from Oct. thru April. The nearest place to me where trout are available is a local park where the fish are stocked in a fly fishing only creek and one of the lakes/ big ponds in the park. Two seasons ago, I decided I would figure out how to find and target trout in a lake environment. Countless hours and many days on the water, taught me patience and determination. In a stream, trout are pretty predictable, but in a lake, the opposite is true, as there are no currents to bring them food or eddies and pools to give them cover. In order to catch trout in a lake, I would have to first find them. When I did find them, they would move: I would follow. When I figured out what they would and would not eat, my success was found. For the rest of the season, through the winter and all, I would be found walking the banks, weaving in and around the power baiters, picking up on schools of cruising trout. Two or three dozen fish days were not uncommon, watching bait fishermen sit for hours on end to catch five fish, (statewide creel limit). The looks on some of their faces when I would release an eighteen or twenty inch fish could nearly set me and my “fly pole” ablaze. “You’re not really going to let that thing go, are you?”, was a question I became all too familiar with, as did, “You know, the creek is fly fishing only. We can’t go over there and use bait…”
In my personal experience, fly fishing has taken me to a whole new plateau. My catch rate is always higher than that of my spinning days, and I like the strange looks I get when I’m not on “Fly Fishing Water”, but undoubtedly am catching fish, when others seem to be struggling, or having to put in their countless hours of figuring out the game.
It sounds to me like these guys weren’t very good bait fishermen. That’s not surprising. I see bad bait fishing all the time. I’ve been very fortunate to watch and learn from the best bait fishermen in the world, and they are incredibly talented anglers.
It’s the person holding the rod, not the rod itself that determines success.
Many don’t hold the rod, which is a good portion of the problem. Too taut a line is another. Figure if you want to relax and drink some hop pop and maybe reel in a fish or two, then bait up along a bank somewhere. If you want to go fishing, launch your canoe and lay a fly on the water. JGW
You can easily top “a fish or two”. At a recent 50-hour bank fishing tournament in NY, forty-one teams of anglers landed over 2,000 carp that had a combined weight of over 18 tons!
Holy shmoly! :shock: What were the real numbers on that? Your approximate numbers would suggest average weight of about 18 lbs/ fish. Even with that number cut in half, that’s some pretty impressive average size carp!!!
Here in AZ. I think the catch rate with Fly Fishing are significantly more than bait chuckers. I think it relates to we are fishing with an imitation of actual foods they eat not Power bait.
I think most of the answers point to a logical conclusion: The people that frequent this site are generally better fishermen and women then the average guy dunkin’ worms in a local lake. The fact that we are all members of an online fishing group shows that we have more interest in learning about fishing than most.
I think it takes a little more general interest in fishing to attempt fly fishing than most bait fisherman have. I know there are great bait fishers out there, and have fished with some, but your average fisherman hooks on a worm or minnow or powerbait on a hook thats way too big with way too much weight, casts it as far out from the shore as possible and then sits and weights for the rod to start bouncing.
Your average fly fisherman is almost guarunteably fishing with something sized much more appropriately for the fish hes after and making casts to much more likely spots to find a fish.
All that being said,
I fish with whatever tackle makes it easiest and most enjoyable for me to fish. When Im at a local pond, Ill be using my flyrod. When we are a couple miles off the gulf coast of Florida fishing for snapper and grouper in 30+ feet of water Ill us spinning and casting gear.
I dont fish with any other fly fishers regularly, but whether Im using bait, lures, or my fly gear, I still generally outfish whoever Im with because I just have more interest in fishing and spend so much time doing it and learning about it.
I had always conceded the most productive way of catching fish to a cricket or a catalpa worm lobbed softly under a float or a beetle spin or grub on a light line from a spinning rod. The thread has made me realize the most fish I have ever caught and release was one Sunday afternoon [after church] sitting in an antique float tube when I caught 106 bream and 5 bass. My largest basses was just under 7# on a ultralight spinning rod, but last year I had two over 5 1/2# on a 3 wt. flyrod. I have also picked up a couple of 7 - 8# grass carp and recently a 24" channel cat on that 3 wt. I think I just explained why the 3 bait casting rigs, and half a dozen spinning rigs in the basement are pretty dusty. Besides I can’t tie a plastic worm.
I think the conventional gear gives you the ability to do more than fly gear does if you know how to use it. With patience any body can learn how to fly cast as well as bait a hook. Just because you can cast a flyrod doesn’t mean you are even close to being a good fisher.
I have fly fished excusivley in the past and did quite well. I learned to do a lot with a fly rod. I learned all kinds of tricks and techniques of casting, line tending, and mending. I learned overhead casting, spey casting, double hauling, water hauling, breaking the wrist, not breaking the wrist you name it. I learned and practiced fishing; deep, shallow, on top, fast, slow, drag-free, and drag induced.
After picking up the conventional gear again I have found that I can do more with it, including fishing tiny flies as droppers above my conventional offering.
I enjoy using all kinds of gear. The ability to switch gear up keeps things interesting.
You want to catch more fish or bigger fish it doesn’t matter what gear you use; learn how to hunt them. Learn how to find them. Learn what they eat and how they eat it. Learn about fish in general. You want to catch trout learn how guys catch bass using conventional gear and vice versa. It all applies.
One of the best chapters about catching fish I have ever read was in Ray Bergman’s Just Fishing. Chapter 1 talked about drifting live worms in current to finicky trout. He was a fly fisher. This guy talked about drifting bait in ways that any good fly fisher should recognize and be able to do themselves with their flies.
Sounds very similar to this quote from Larry Dahlberg:
“The knowlege I have gained fishing with conventional gear, live bait, in fresh and salt water, becoming skilled in the use of electronics etc. has given me more tools to enjoy and get the most out of fly fishing than I have gotten from all the fly fishing literature I’ve read in my lifetime.”
You guys realize you are posting this on F.A.O.L which = “FLY ANGLERS” On Line not FISHING ANGLERS on line:D:D.
I think casting BAIT or SPINNING gear “IS” much easier that fly. Anyone can pick those up in a short time, but not fly casting.
I have watched those that thought they could…entertaining to say the least.
I agree, you want to catch BIG fish on a regular basis means you must know your gear and how to use it
I don’t think any one was trying to stray too much from flyfishing, I know I wasn’t. I was just curious if others had similar experiences compared to the general concept that fly casting was inferior to other forms of casting for shallow warmwater conditions. I think others were trying to point out that perhaps a lot of my and their experiences were due more to the fisherman than method of casting used. I’m not totally in agreement on that part.
I do disagree about bait casting being easier than fly casting though, at least the initial cast. When I got back in to fishing a few years ago, I was already an accomplished spin fisher. I then took up bait casting. I took a lot more practice to execute the basic cast than in fly casting. Those dang backlashes!!! That said, going from the basic bait cast to more complicated bait casting techniques is much easier than going from the basic fly cast to more sophistcated techniques.
The bottom line and deciding factors for me becoming a fly caster/fly fisherman were, the beauty & relaxing nature of the fly cast, the intimate connection and more challenging fight experienced with fly rods, and the ability to create my on lures/flies. That and catching a 6lb bass on a bait casting rig is very disappointing, kind like using a broomstick. Even with a 10wt fly rod a 6lb bass is an experience! Even though I may stray from fly casting from time to time fly casting is going to be my primary form of fishing more than likely for life. It’s just that much more fun and enjoyable. Who knows I may even progress to trout fishing.
I hope I and others did not offend you or others with this discussion, that was definetly not my intent. My intent was to find out if others were having similar experiences of equal and/or higher catch rates than previous methods used prior to switching to fly casting.
No one has mentioned pike, at least not as far as I noticed in this thread. My experience is that, in shallow water (< 10 ft), especially in the spring, my hardware buddies rarely outfish me. This was confirmed by a lodge-owner friend who has observed that when the pike are in shallow, fly gear outfishes, metal, plastics and dead b**ts, the latter of which is the “go to” option for big pike in late winter and spring in these parts. Those big, undulating flies are just too seductive, I guess. I also think that the larger splash of hardware spooks shallow water pike more than people realize.
I also hold my own as far as sizeable fish are concerned. In fact, most of my big pike in my life have been fly-caught, all in shallow water. Come summer, when the big guys go deep, it gets pretty tough.
As to fly fishing vs conventional gear, for me the key is learning: if I am out there enjoying my surroundings and learning something about my quarry, it’s a good day. Learning with my fly rod is my choice but I’ll try other things if the circumstances take me that way…TIM
I will agree, “BAIT CASTING” is tricky. But I also think, LEARNING to cast a fly “CORRECTLY” and not just fling it out, or become a human fly swatter (which can still catch fish, cause I have had great many chuckles from people doing this) is an on going learning process.
You do state “the initial cast” and that is true. But to constantly cast the same to the same spot…no. We work on casting around trees to a particular spot. I don’t bait cast, but I am curious if you can achieve that with one.
I HAVE used a bait casting set-up before and the thumb on the top does take a LITTLE getting use to. But, no more than a DRAG-LESS fly reel.
Another one of those “specific” questions with the answer being both situation and preference specific. You can certainly cover a lot more water a lot deeper and faster with spinning gear. But, as has been said above, sometimes this is not a good thing. There are some things that are harder to do with one type of equipment over the other. Their are some baits that fish better one way. There are some people more skilled with one way. The list just goes on. Fun thread though. But I don’t think you’ll find too many spinfishing mavants on this site.
