Millsertime
Active member
^ My favorite quote you listed. Good chuckle there. 🤣
Fly Fishing Elitism (from an outsiders perspective)
- Thread starter Traveling Trout Co
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^ My favorite quote you listed. Good chuckle there. 🤣
I agree about “old school” and with troutbert’s comment. All anglers that I knew or saw fishing stocked trout streams by drifting bait in the 1950’s used fly rods. I saw my first spinning equipment in 1958 and it was being used at a lake for bass. By about 1960 or 1961 spinning equipment was more common and I saw guys fishing shad darts for crappies on the Conowingo Pool in Lancaster Co using spinning equipment while I was still using a fly rod and bobber w/ a shiner strung below. I was impressed by how many crappies they could catch in the same time span with this active fishing technique in comparison to me using a technique which was much more passive.
By about 1963 or 1964 I was using spinning gear on a 5.5 ft light action rod and Mitchell 300 for trout, crappies, and bass and rarely touched a fly rod at that point. I would also fish for carp with corn and 4 lb test on that rod in order to learn how to play big fish on light lime. That’s also about the time or a little before when it seemed that almost “everyone” had some spinning gear. Nevertheless, when I began fishing Logan Branch, Centre Co in 1976, it was common to see most of “the regulars” fishing black nosed dace or sculpins on fly rods for the stream’s big browns throughout the spring and summer. I used that same light action spinning rod, 4 lb test, and the lessons from landing carp on that equipment.
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I fall on both sides of this argument. I avoid fishing mops and egg patterns but love throwing perdigons. It doesn't have to make sense for everyone, but it does to me. I use to have a slot in my non working fly boxes labeled "junk" and realized how silly that was. Do I think it is a fine skill to be able to deduce and entice a wild brown trout to eat on the surface...absolutely. If it has been a long day with not much coming to net on dries, will I try rolling some nymphs through on a tight line set up....absolutely.
My dad fished salmon eggs and meal worms on a fly rod. I chose to use flies and exclusively do so. It's okay. My kids and I are still allowed over for Christmas (as of last year).
My dad fished salmon eggs and meal worms on a fly rod. I chose to use flies and exclusively do so. It's okay. My kids and I are still allowed over for Christmas (as of last year).
Troutmeister
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Gotta say I'm surprised at all the posters on a fly fishing site that fish with bait. I am certainly not an elitist. I started out fishing bait as a kid over 60 yrs. ago. Then I graduated to fishing spinners.
Years later I fished a lot for warm water species and fished Canada for walleyes and pike. Fast forward to about 10 yrs. ago when I got back into fly fishing. I enjoy almost everything about it, the fun of fooling trout on a fly, the solitude of fishing a small stream and the beauty of the places they live.
Since then I haven't fished with anything other than a fly rod and nymphs, streamers and dries. When I go out I don't want to be bothered with buying or catching bait and keeping it alive. I like trout, especially wild ones but I hardly ever keep any because when I'm out I don't want to be bothered with keeping them cool, just want to keep fishing. Sometimes I see guys fishing spin gear and absolutely cleaning up and sometimes they see me doing the same. Doesn't matter to me, I like to fish the way I do. Just one man's humble opinion.
Years later I fished a lot for warm water species and fished Canada for walleyes and pike. Fast forward to about 10 yrs. ago when I got back into fly fishing. I enjoy almost everything about it, the fun of fooling trout on a fly, the solitude of fishing a small stream and the beauty of the places they live.
Since then I haven't fished with anything other than a fly rod and nymphs, streamers and dries. When I go out I don't want to be bothered with buying or catching bait and keeping it alive. I like trout, especially wild ones but I hardly ever keep any because when I'm out I don't want to be bothered with keeping them cool, just want to keep fishing. Sometimes I see guys fishing spin gear and absolutely cleaning up and sometimes they see me doing the same. Doesn't matter to me, I like to fish the way I do. Just one man's humble opinion.
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hooker-of-men
Well-known member
So this is the thread where folks on a fly fishing forum are supposed to apologize for liking fly fishing because this dude got mean YouTube comments? Nah, I'm good.
FarmerDave
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For the win.
Bamboozle
Well-known member
Retaliation...
dudemanspecial
Well-known member
While I do not deny that the flyfishing community has earned whatever reputation it has in regards to elitism, I can say with confidence that spin fishers talk dump truck loads more smack about fly fishers than the other way around.
Remind me again what group of anglers has their own special areas to fish?
dudemanspecial
Well-known member
No group of anglers have their own special area. Anyone can aquire the gear to try it out, there is no special test or license involved.
You’re right, no one is prohibited from fishing FFO waters, provided they can scratch up the money to purchase a fly rod and reel as required by law to fish some of the best waters in the state. For some reason fishing nymphs on a 50 foot section of mono is permitted, but the same nymphs on a spinning rod is prohibited.
Smells like an intentional barrier to entry to me.
JeffP
Well-known member
I don't feel like I have any bias towards neck snappers.
lycoflyfisher
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Fly rod set up to get started under $50
There are very few miles of ffo waters in the state
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No, it isn't. The hard part is when fish are rising and there are a zillion bugs coming off at once, and you can't find a pattern they are eating with any sort of reliability, but the fish keep rising all over the place. Or when the fish are rising nonstop, but there is no apparent hatch. So you figure they are eating some sort of tiny midge emerger or something, but you have chucked every pattern of that type you carry to them but you haven't caught one. All the while, those trout just continue to keep rising.
If you tell me that you have never been in a situation where you had rising fish and you couldn't successfully crack the code, I would have a hard time believing you. Does it happen to me often? No, not really, but when it does, I find the mystery so intriguing. That is more satisfying to me than almost anything, and it correlates with the opposite of success.
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The miles may be few, but there is not doubt that they are some of the states best and most highly regarded waters in the state.
What difference is there between a euro nymphing set up and a spinning rod?
How dare the fly fishing elite have to share those waters with the unwashed masses.
dudemanspecial
Well-known member
You can buy a complete starter set for 90 bucks on amazon that includes flies in a box as well.
Actually only $43 for this set which doesn't look bad at all.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Rim...qid=1725641704&sprefix=flyfish,aps,118&sr=8-4
This is almost laughable
Well there you go, you dont have to buy a fly line, thats one less thing to spend money on.
And I could spin it as an intentional stepping stone to get more people interested in a hobby, which in turn drives greater interest and revenue into the sport that is dominated by spin fishermen that only fish 1 week a year.
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Bamboozle
Well-known member
I guess it depends on who you encounter and how you behave...
I fish for largemouth bass exclusively with conventional tackle and close to exclusively for smallmouth. I fish for panfish 99% of the time with conventional tackle and I will fish for trout occasionally with a spinning rod.
Because of this, I typically encounter a lot of folks NOT fly fishing. In addition because of my interest in both kinds of angling, I talk to a LOT of anglers NOT fly fishing when I am and regular fishing folks at fishing shows.
I still remember an encounter when I was fly fishing and came upon a spin fisherman tossing lures to likely looking spots on a Trophy Trout stream. We talked a bit discussing the stream and tactics and without me so much as suggesting, he offered to move way upstream so as not to "F" up my fishing...
I didn't see him the rest of the day...
Another time I was chatting to two guys spin fishing at Mud Run when I was fly fishing. We talked about lures and tactics and I gave them a couple of cone head Woolly Buggers to fling on their ultralight rigs.
When I was leaving the one guy said, "how come you aren't a snob like all of the other fly fishermen I met?"
Both events are typical in my experiences and the honest truth is the Mud Run incident is the ONLY time in my entire life I ever heard a spin fisherman knock a fly guy...
However, if I had a nickel for every time I heard it the other way around I could buy a Tilly Hat or some other elitist gear to possibly illicit some more trash talk from the spin fishers... 😉
I really don't care how folks fish or why, as long as it's legal and they are stewards of the resource.
Allow me to add a cavet to that stewardship thing, there are a LOT of conventional anglers using single hook and barbless single hook lures and many lure manufacturers offering the option.
dudemanspecial
Well-known member
I would definitely say that the vibe between the disciplines is way less weird between warm water anglers and goes to max weird with trout anglers.
DomR
Active member
All you really need is a fly REEL. You can load it with mono and attach it to your spinning rod and viola, you have a euro setup albeit on a shorter rod. But of course to those looking to antagonize and criticize rather than problem solve will find fault with anything just to hear (or see) themselves talk.
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