Fly Fishing

[stashe]

what is Fly Fishing ? If I use 30ft or more of mono and a euro nymph is that fly fishing ? If I put a spinning reel on a fly rod with mono and a euro nymph is that fly fishing ? If I put a euro nymph and a strike indicator on a spinning rod is that fly fishing?

 

[tomgamber]

How about a spinning rig with a casting bubble and a 9ft leader and a dry fly? PAFBC defined flyfishing in the regs for the purpose of enforcement on flyfishing only waters. I don't remember the actual wordage but it was fairly clear.

 

[tomgamber]

I think the wording is intentionally vague these days. There used to be a limit in how long your leader could be.

CATCH AND RELEASE FLY-FISHING ONLY • Open to fishing year-round. • Fishing is permitted on a 24-hour basis. • No trout may be killed or had in possession. • Fishing may be done with artificial flies and streamers constructed of natural or synthetic materials, so long as all flies are constructed in a normal fashion with components wound on or about the hook. Fishing must be done with tackle limited to fly rods, fly reels, and fly line with leader material of monofilament line attached. Anything other than these items is prohibited. • Taking baitfish or fishbait is prohibited. • Wading is permitted unless otherwise posted. • An angler in a boat may possess bait and fish caught in compliance with the seasons, sizes, and creel limits in effect for a water from which it was taken, provided that the boat angler floats through the Catch and Release Fly-Fishing Only area without stopping or engaging in the act of fishing or the boat angler puts in or takes out his boat at an access point within the Catch and Release Fly-Fishing Only area. • A current trout permit is required.

 

[stashe]

It used to be anything longer than 18ft leader was not fly fishing, in Pa. I'm not talking about the law. What's the options of you the fly fisherman. Is no fly line on a fly rod still fly fishing? Is a lure a fly? ( A fly that doesn't imitate a may fly , caddis , stonefly , bait fish, etc. ) Is just using a fly rod fly fishing?

 

[tomgamber]

No, no, yes.

 

[Kyle]

i once saw a guy using all fly gear and had a container of worms with him lol. i tried to give him half a dozen flys to try out but he didnt want them

 

[stashe]

My brother in-law has been fishing with a fiberglass fly rod, martin reel, 20# mono ,6ft 4# tippet, wax ,red, etc. worms for 50 yrs. Is he fly fishing ? Other than bait he's still high sticking or Euro fishing.

 

[wildtrout2]

i once saw a guy using all fly gear and had a container of worms with him lol. i tried to give him half a dozen flys to try out but he didnt want them

Back in the 70's my neighbor, who was pretty old at the time, used to fish with a fly rod/reel using night crawlers. He said he liked the action of the rod and the reliability of worms. lol

 

[troutbert]

The PFBC publishes their rules for the fly fishing only areas.

In other stretches of streams whether you are meeting someone's definition of flyfishing or not is totally irrelevant.

 

[troutbert]

i once saw a guy using all fly gear and had a container of worms with him lol. i tried to give him half a dozen flys to try out but he didnt want them

Before spin gear was available people used fly gear for trout fishing, including bait, small lures, and flies.

Spin gear didn't become popular and widely available in the US until around the late 1940s and early 1950s. The GIs brought it back from France after WWII.

Ray Bergman wrote about fishing bait in the early season when the water was high and cold, and fishing flies after things warmed up. All with a fly rod. That was around the mid-1950s. That was totally normal then.

From the 1970s into the early 1990s, I used to see a few older guys fishing bait with fly rods. You don't see that much now.

 

[afishinado]

You can (and I now do at times) fly cast mono line instead of only using fly line to fish for trout. The mono line (20lb test Maxima Chameleon) has enough mass to use a conventional fly cast for smaller dries, including a dry-dropper, nymphs with or without an indy as well as streamers or wets. This rig is the most versatile setup I have found for fly fishing. I can switch over to a conventional fly line for dries and longer casts or for long distance streamer fishing. Check out this short video about casting a mono rig:

 

[Kyle]

im not knocking it. im the last person to care how others fish. if he was enjoying himself then thats all that matters. i just thought i would offer him some free flys. he was a nice guy we talked for a bit and then i moved on

 

[PennKev]

The dry fly nerds in the mid to late 20th century screwed up a lot of people when it comes to the snobbery and definition of fly fishing.

 

[dudemanspecial]

There are no rules man. It's just fishing.

For me personally? It is fishing with a fly rod and what most people would consider flies.

 

[stashe]

There are no rules man. It's just fishing.

For me personally? It is fishing with a fly rod and what most people would consider flies.

Thank you that's it there's no one thing that makes it fly fishing. Just enjoy the day on the water. I was fishing the little j with a streamer this fall, when a guy came along and gave me a 15min. lecture on how that was not fly fishing. Dry flies only.

 

[dudemanspecial]

Thank you that's it there's no one thing that makes it fly fishing. Just enjoy the day on the water. I was fishing the little j with a streamer this fall, when a guy came along and gave me a 15min. lecture on how that was not fly fishing. Dry flies only.

Should have asked him for a few of his flies, put them in your pocket, and kept fishing your streamer.

 

[coyoterahn]

Many years ago my buddy and I used to lob redfin minnows with fly rods. We didn’t necessarily consider it fly fishing. Man we caught a lot of fish using those minnows and some pretty big ones too.

 

[TimMurphy]

Many years ago my buddy and I used to lob redfin minnows with fly rods. We didn’t necessarily consider it fly fishing. Man we caught a lot of fish using those minnows and some pretty big ones too.

Dear coyoterahn,

Did you thread them on a Duty's rig or at least use a minnow needle and a treble hook? If you did that is pretty close to performing a fly fishing/fly tying type operation, though not quite as close as sewing on salted minnies. Those are made with dead stuff, just like real fly fishing flies!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[coyoterahn]

Tim,
Yep threaded them on with a needle using treble hooks. I still have a few needles and an old 100 box pack of treble hooks. Maybe I’ll take some along next time I go to Penns. Maybe even wear a Fedora hat so I look good.😳
Man those salted minnows were nasty!🤢 Sounds like you’ve been there, done that.
Regards…..

 

[Skook]

Tim,
Yep threaded them on with a needle using treble hooks. I still have a few needles and an old 100 box pack of treble hooks. Maybe I’ll take some along next time I go to Penns. Maybe even wear a Fedora hat so I look good.😳
Man those salted minnows were nasty!🤢 Sounds like you’ve been there, done that.
Regards…..

I even had (still have ?) "special" treble hooks that were designed with one of the shanks not welded to the other two (a split-shank, I suppose) so the loop knot run through the minnow could just be slid up to the hook eye without threading the loop through the hook eye and then looping it back over the hook.

It was more convenient, but I found that those hooks caused more problems than they solved.