Fly Fishing

[StinkerBell]

I am just wondering if their is a fair amount of people who like Fly Fishing?

[Redoverfarm]

Stink I tried a couple of times but everytime I got the hook next to them they flew up and landed on the ceiling.   Now on a more serious note.  I think this is one of the lost arts.  My day used to fly fish years ago but has since given it up.  My son is starting to get into fishing as trout are abundant here.  He has indicated that he wants to start fly fishing and I encourage him to do so.  The spinning reel moved the fishing in another direction so to speak.


Last year my son caught a 24" channel cat of 4-1/2 lbs
 

[Daddymem]

One of my coworkers is an avid salt water fly fisherman.  He get stripers and blues all the time, that's big fish for fly fishin'!

[MountainDon]

Fishing? 

Most fishing has never held my interest for long.  Sort of like baseball. 

I did enjoy salmon fishing off Vancouver Island once many years ago. And I also had a great experience fishing  in Manitoba (pike and walleye), also many years ago. Both times the fish were big. Everything else pales in comparison.

[StinkerBell]

The reason I ask is my hubby Nethog, has been working on this "Fly Fishing Web Site" .
He thinks its going to be great....I am not so sure how many people fly fish.

However I see a pattern with Men and Sons. Maybe that is why I am not getting it.

[MountainDon]

I have seen guys standing in cold running water for hours having what they profess to be the most wonderful time. So they are out there that's for certain.

[MaineRhino]

I love to fly fish also, just wish I had more time for it.....

Fishing here mostly for brook trout. The smaller the better!

[peternap]

We are a small but dedicated bunch. We fly fish, use real muzzle loaders and carry revolvers.....

Let me know what the site is when it;s up!

[StinkerBell]

Sent you an email Peter, hopefully you can give me some insight on the attraction of fish.

[John_C]

I'm ambivalent towards fly fishing but I remember some Ben Franklin quotes.  He and Izaac Walton, THE fly fishing guru of that era, had an ongoing tete-a-tete in their respective publications.  Mr. Walton would wax poetic at great length about the joys of fly fishing and Mr. Franklin would reply....

"a fishing pole is a lever that gives the mechanical advantage to the fish".

"a fishing pole is a long stick with a string. At one end of the string is a hook. At the other end is a fool".

As I said I'm ambivalent. All my efforts at fishing have proven the fish are smarter than I am.

[sparks]

It's been many years since I last went fishing ....fly casting or otherwise. Fishing was always so peaceful, well until something big came along anyway. Do you remember the final scene from 'Red October', the quote from Christopher Colombus?

[glenn kangiser]

I haven't fished in years.  I really only like to fish for trout - and maybe Kokanee.  Cold water fish.  I did some fly fishing - it is a blast - flick it right and land it in the right place and it's instant gratification.  There  is either nothing or Fish On.

I also like trolling while rowing with Ford Fenders or just taking off through the brush up a mountain stream and fishing all the various holes along the way.  If I don't watch it I end up way from where I started and have a long way to go back.. Enjoyable.

[Sassy]

I have a son who loves to fish - he'd fish or prospect everyday if he could!  But he doesn't fly fish...  I've fished a few times - don't especially like putting the bait on the hook (worms, bugs etc)  Helped with commercial salmon fishing (gillnetting)   Last summer our grandsons were here & we went swimming in the river - swam way upstream - there were several nice holes with fairly large - probably 12 inches - trout in them - we all wished we had fishing poles then!

[glenn kangiser]

A fishing pole is a stick with a worm at both ends --- quote from my mom and who?

[williet]

Stink,

Fly-fishing ..... communion with nature.....

I'm a mile from the Tennessee River now and for twenty years or so, I was about three blocks from the same river...70 miles down stream. Here, Bass fishing is like NASCAR.... FAST, LOUD and full of GADGETS ... BRIGHT colors, expensive boats and Ugly sticks. Lot's of toys and things to milk your billfold .... fish around here are measured in points and there's a real competition among "men" to see who has the BIGGEST fish.....

That said... "I" love to fly-fish. Here.. in the spring.. in small ponds or on the FEW creeks and natural wild rivers available to regular folk (there are just a few in Alabama) ... the small bass and pan fish are very exciting to fly-fish for. Fly-fishing is you and a line and .. just maybe ... a fish at the other end. It's REALLY not the size that matters .... With fly-fishing, even a small one gives lots of action.

It IS a slower game than bass fishing or even crappie fishing. Fly-fishing is a time to work on ones ability to FOCUS. When I fly-fish, I enjoy the outdoors. I focus and enjoy the experience. For me, it's not at all about catching fish (I don't even eat fish) .... it's more about the process and the moment. Other fishing that I've done...with the execption of cane pole fishing...is fast paced and for me, stressful ... fly-fishing is an old man's sport and I'm just about the age to qualify. There's the same difference in this and chainsaw carving verses a whittlin knife....

Watch "A River Runs Throught It" and you can get a feeling for real fly-fishing.....No it's not what it once was, but for many, it is still something that just can't be replaced.

I'd like the link to your husbands site when it's available.

[NetHog]

I'd like the link to your husbands site when it's available.

Stink told me to get in here

Here's the url: http://flyflicker.com

We're right now "beta testing" (i.e. we want people to tell us what's broke and what could be better )

Thanks!

[NetHog]

A fishing pole is a stick with a worm at both ends --- quote from my mom and who?

Too funny... I've heard this before somewhere.

A friend of ours is an avid fly fisher... he asked me to help him create the site, and he's promising to teach me to fly-fish.

[peternap]

I'm going to look at the site in a minute.

Willet said it better than I did. Fly fishing isn't really about catching fish. It's about being in tune with nature and trying to outsmart fish. The same reason I bow hunt or handload.

I keep pushing for Sunday hunting in Va. Someone asked if I shouldn't be in church instead. My response was that I felt closer to God in the woods than in a church. After all, he built the woods.

I can see why some bass fishermen should be in church!

Just checked out the site and registered. Nice clean looking pages.

[StinkerBell]

So let me understand this :

You men want to try to "Out Smart a Fish" ?

What does is say when you fail?

[MountainDon]

I keep pushing for Sunday hunting in Va. Someone asked if I shouldn't be in church instead. My response was that I felt closer to God in the woods than in a church. After all, he built the woods.

Yep. Back home in Manitoba retail stores and malls can't open before 11 or 12 noon on a Sunday.    I was amazed and frustrated a couple years back when on a visit (to build them a deck) I needed something and had to wait. Hunters there too have Sunday off. I guess NM must be full of a bunch of heathens. Some stores run 24/7 except for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

[peternap]

So let me understand this :

You men want to try to "Out Smart a Fish" ?

What does is say when you fail?

In all seriousness, fish like the Brook Trout shown above can be darn hard to catch. They can feel footsteps 50 yards away and even the hint of a shadow, sends them off.

Then there's the selection of the fly. If it isn't the same fly they're dining on right then, they will ignore it. The fly has to be presented properly too.

I've fished some trout pools that weren't more than 7 feet across, lying on my stomach, with the sun in my face and the rod tip so low I can hardly cast.

When I fail I call it.................NORMAL

[Redoverfarm]

Peter we had Sunday hunting but the next year it was voted on county by county and this one voted it down.  I sort of like it that way. Even creatures need a day of rest.  They also allowed training bear dogs year round. I don't agree with that one either.  Too many cubs killed( accidently  It's all about money for the state. If they can create something and charge you for it they will.  But not on my land.  Oh yeah there was a bill that they tried to pass last year giving hunters the right to trespass on your property to retrieve their dogs or animinals wounded without any permission. 

[peternap]

to trespass on your property to retrieve their dogs

They've had that one here for years John. It has caused more problems and divided hunters, more than anything in history. Some, not all but some Doghunters, use it as a scam to hunt posted property. They are not allowed to use vehicles or take weapons....right!

I have a Black hunt club near me that hunts other clubs leases and every other piece of land they can find. Last year I went to war with them and they gave up for the year. This year I found two of them on my game cameras and had them locked up. Had to testify last week and the Judge continued it for a year on the condition they stay off my property for any reason.

The General assembly has a bill in now that increases the penalty for violations. I testified before the Senate Committee and it passed. Seems to be stuck in the House though. Don't know what will happen.

The whole thing irritates the devil out of me though. Once they start running dogs, I won't see another quail or turkey until spring.

I like dogs...like them a lot better than a lot of people. It makes me sick during and after the season to see as many of them as I do, dead along the roads. Yesterday, I saw a dog along the road (alive) and looking pretty bad. He had a collar so I got the phone number off his collar and called the hunter that owns him.

He was grateful, said he had been looking for the dog for 4 days. He also said he had 5 dogs killed on that stretch of road this year.
It just makes me sick!

[williet]

Peter,
I always felt closer to God in the woods too. I think it was a time to commune and meditate. I taught church history and restoration for several years (at church) and I believe the "early" church was more about meditation, prayer and quiet "thinking" time than the modern entertainment showhouses we have now.

In nature, when I hunted with a flintlock or when I was fly-fishing...I had the quiet time to think and really feel a connection that I never had in a formal "church" service or inside an expensive structure... built to impress folks ....

Different strokes for different folks, I guess....Fly-fishing, at least for me, is a singular sport ... a time of quiet meditation and not at all about the fish.

[StinkerBell]

Now, I get the quiet tome with God!

I might be understanding you men folks a little better now.