Thread: Fly Fishing, Fact or Fiction

A few random thoughts …

As I said before, I’ve never been very impressed with that book. I’m obviously in the minority, though.

I like fly fishing, but I catch FAR more fish on spinning tackle. I use three methods for gills:

1) Float fishing with maggots
2) Casting light jigs (usually tipped with bait)
3) Fly fishing

In terms of fish caught, fly fishing is not even close to #1 and #2, but fly casting is fun and topwater strikes are great. FF really shines in shallow water. I don’t do it if the fish are deeper than 5’.

If you like to read, check out a book called Piscatorial Absurdities by Joel Robinson. Robinson was a die-hard fly guy and then “rediscovered” UL spin gear. Now, that’s about all he uses. I have the book and it’s excellent. It’s much better than the Wilson book, IMO. He spends a whole chapter comparing FF with UL spinning. If you’re interested, here’s more info: Home - Piscatorial Absurdities

There’s a ton of hype about fly fishing and some people make it far too complex. I’d suggest buying a simple outfit and trying it out. Get something like the Scientific Anglers Panfish combo. It comes with everything you need, and it’s less than $100. Then, go after them in the spring when the fish are shallow. Use some some small poppers, woolly buggers and nymphs. You will catch fish.

If you have any specific questions, post them here or in the FF forum.

I've had great results FF for gills for years . Fun fishing on top. Murder them with subsurface flies . A wooly worm or nymph cast into a bed is hard to beat , except with live bait . Recently , mainly because of tennis elbow in my casting arm, I've gone back to my UL spinning , but I've added micro-jigs (1/100, 1/80, 1/64 jigs) tied in a wooly booger , or wooly worm pattern fished about 18" under a weighted float. I use long UL rods , in the 6-7 foot range. For bank casting , I like to use a jig-spinner combo , and I have good luck with slider jigs ; I cut off the front 2 rings of the slider body to shorten it a little and use a 1/32 jig head. gillchaser

Originally Posted by puddle jumper

OK,,
Got my copy of Fly Fishing & Flies and the more I read it "and other thing", the more confused about fly fishing I get ...

The best “intro to fly fishing” book I’ve ever seen is Simplified Fly Fishing by S.R. Slaymaker. It was published in the late 1960’s, so it’s “dated” in terms of equipment. The other advice is excellent, though, and he really emphasizes the “simplified” part. He covers all the basics in the first seven pages of chapter 1, which you can read for free here. Everybody who might be interested in starting fly fishing should read this:

Simplified fly fishing: it gets you ... - Google Books

You could probably find a copy on Amazon, Alibris or Powell’s if you’d like to read the rest. Just buy a modern rod & reel combo, and you’re good to go.

To me, it just depends on what you enjoy. That is the main reason I fish. Having said that, I am trying to raise some European Night-crawlers to have ready for this next year. I am also tying flies for this coming year. If I had to choose just one, which I hope I never do, I would take my fly rod. But until then, I'll take both and just have a great time.

Hard to beat a fly rod and a popper or spider when the bluegill are on the beds. I made a believer out of my father in law a few years ago.

Originally Posted by deathb4disco

As I said before, I’ve never been very impressed with that book. I’m obviously in the minority, though.

If you have any specific questions, post them here or in the FF forum.

I took note when you said that in the other post, and the more I read im starting to agree with you, thanks for the links on the other book I will check them out,,

As for the the learning curve im already in to it quite a ways,,, I build custom rods "not fly rods" so I have built me two rods to play with, one is a 4/5 9' IM6 mod, action graphite rod that I have a Okuma magna reel with 6W DT line on,, I wanted to be able to roll cats so I went with the DT,,, the other rod is a 4/5 IM8 8'6" Med action with another Okume STV , that I put 5W WF line on, this will be a rod my daughter will use also so I put the WF line to make it a little better casting outfit,, I have spent a bunch of time practicing in the yard and a little bit on the water, I have even caught a few fish, small one but gills just the same,, with that being said I have never worked so hard for a hand full of 3' fish in my life, Which is why I am starting to have doughts all together,, the more I read the more I feel it a form of fishing that about what other fly fisherman think, than about fishing itself "not to offend anyone who loves this type of fishing" It does seem that there is a lot of contradicting info out on the web on the subject...

Anyways thanks for the input guys, and maybee it just has not clicked for me yet,
I will stick with it some more and spend some time on the beds in the spring and see how it works out,, but my spinning rod will be in standby to jump back in at any time..

PJ

PJ,

First, you can roll cast a WF line just fine. The first 30-40' of the WF is identical to a DT line.

Second, if you're "working hard" to get the line out, just keep practicing. I've watched a lot of beginning fly casters and they ALL work too hard (particularly the guys). If you haven't already, buy a casting DVD and watch how effortless good casting is. In Lefty Kreh's most recent video, he's almost 80 years old. I watched him cast a couple of years ago when he was 83! Joan Wulff is the same. In her DVD, she's well into her sixties. She's literally a "little old lady", and she can outcast 95% of the men on the planet.

I'd definitely give it another shot in the spring.

Originally Posted by puddle jumper

It does seem that there is a lot of contradicting info out on the web

Yep. As Lefty says, "There's more bull in fly fishing than in a Kansas feed lot."

FAOL is a great website. It's pretty "trout-oriented" (as most FF sites are), but they also have a warmwater board that focuses on gills, bass, crappie, etc.