Myth or fact? Fly Fishing Is an Expensive Hobby

[Bamboozle]

Any type fishing can be expensive as you want it to be...

...or not.

The same with any hobby like golf, hunting or shooting or music.

And as with any hobby, there are folks on both extremes of the associated expenditures who achieve similar results without apology, although not always without humility regardless of the extreme.

Bottom line, it all works if the practitioner has the skills and most importantly, is enjoying their pursuits with their chosen gear.

In other words, spend what you feel comfortable spending, have fun and don't gloat.

 

[Tigereye]

I think if you try to " keep up with the Joneses" and buy every new gadget or gimmick, it could be.

Most of the costs are wrapped up in rod reel and line. A decent moderately priced rod is in the $225-250 range and a reel about $100. Lines will be in the $50 to $100 class. You can cut that price by buying used. Throw in a vest or pack and your at around $500 for initial costs. They should last you years.

Everything else is expendable. Leaders, tippet, flies, floatant etc. Providing you ground yourself with stuff you use most often ie no need for a dozen each of a particular fly in 10 thru 22, when a few 14s and 16s will get you through a year or 2. Expendables should run about $50 -$100 per year depending on how much you fish.

Lastly are Boots which are semi expendable. Moderately priced boots (boot foot) will run 100 and last 2 to 3 years.

All said and done. Your initial outlay is your biggest cost with annualized cost going forward about $150 a year + or-.

Everyone's situation is different and what is expensive for one can be an after dinner tip for another.

 

[Zipper]

Less expensive than golf. And you don't have to pay every time you step on the water.

 

[bdhoover77]

Less expensive than golf. And you don't have to pay every time you step on the water.

As a devoted golfer, I agree with this. But, as I like to point out to my wife, when she criticizes the cost of golf or fishing, it’s a hell of a lot less than horses (she used to ride horses and owned a horse when she was younger).

 

[Bamboozle]

It could be worse, you could be into fine shotguns.

 

[Striperbobby]

Fly fishing has been pretty expensive for me and I know it is possible for me to stick with strictly the necessary items and cheap ones but I know fishing wouldn't be as good. Having more flies, accessories like floatant, a net, fluoro tippet, etc make the experience much better but it ends up costing more. So by nature is fly fishing expensive, cheap, or can it be both?

If you buy top of the line equipment it is super expensive but not necessary to catch fish. I buy rods, reels, and line from max catch. I have rods 1 weight to 10 weight all for the price of one sage rod would cost and they catch just as many fish as my older name brand rods. Also get waders and boots from bass pro or cabelas brand to save money. The Only top of the line thing I spent a lot of money on is my hobie kayak and it is worth every penny from a fishing aspect.

 

[Swattie87]

I don’t have any real expensive rods or reels. Most expensive rod was maybe $200, and reel was $100ish. And when you buy them, they generally last a long time, outside of “brain fart” type events, so that’s good. And if you made me, I could get by for all of my PA fishing with just two rods:

9-10ft / 5-6wt and 7-8ft 3/4wt

Most of the actual cost of FFing is the consumables, as others have mentioned. The big ticket consumables are waders and boots. I don’t end up needing to buy waders or boots, or both, every year, but if you add up the last 10 years, I’d say I’ve spent probably $2500 or so on boots and waders. (I hike and fish small streams a lot and wear them out fast.) That’s on average $250/year and gear wise that’s my biggest cost.

I use furled leaders and they last a season or more. Tippet, floatant, shot etc is minor and doesn’t hit you too hard at once. Fishing small streams I don’t lose a lot of flies, as I can generally get to them and recover them, but yeah, a day nymphing Perdigon’s on the Little J can add up a little bit.

But, by far, my biggest expense is travel and related items. Gas/tolls/lodging. Getting a burger on the ride home vs. eating a packed sandwich, etc. Everybody spends their money on weekends different. I choose to fish, and enjoy fishing new places. Money well spent in my book, but if on a tighter budget, as I have been at various points in my life, a lot of this type of spending is very controllable, and doesn’t really affect your fishing. For example, car camping in a SF spot (with permit) versus popping for a hotel or cabin rental. Packing a PB/J and a Miller Lite vs. getting wings and an IPA after fishing. Waking up 10 minutes earlier and eating cereal at home vs. making a 5 am Sheetz run. Fishing the pretty good stream an hour from home vs. driving 4 hours to Kettle Creek. Etc.

 

[FiveWeight]

Fly fishing has been pretty expensive for me and I know it is possible for me to stick with strictly the necessary items and cheap ones but I know fishing wouldn't be as good. Having more flies, accessories like floatant, a net, fluoro tippet, etc make the experience much better but it ends up costing more. So by nature is fly fishing expensive, cheap, or can it be both?

As far as good quality gear goes. I don't think it's to expensive. I have 8 fly rods on mid to high quality. Maybe 7 or 8 reels in the same quality range. Coulpe'a pair of waders and boots. More flies than I care to count. I might have $3K wrapped up in that stuff. Where the cost for me comes into play is the camp on the Juniata, the 4x4 truck, time off work. Although that is getting eaiser due to the fact that I'm semi retired and have been self employed since 1978. Now it's a given that the truck isn't just used for fishing nor is the camp but, fishing is the reason for the camp being where it is and I do like my trucks. I still don't see it being outrageously expensive. Now, my Amateur radio hobby. That is run'n borderline out and out costly. Between the worldwide radios, the towers, the amplifiers and directional antennas. According to my wife it's expensive. But, here again. I've spread those costs out over close to 40 years. It's all in how one looks at exactly what expensive is. Hey, we need our hobbies. What is life with out down time. Ok, lets talk about shooting time at the range and the cost of ammo! LOLOLOL

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I could go for a Sheetz run

 

[lestrout]

I'm an admitted gear geek/freak. Maybe even borderline OCD (well, maybe not so borderline). One day I was standing in Valley Creek catching wild browns when a horse came up beside me. Astride the equine beast was a cute Park Ranger, evidently new to the job since she immediately realized she had just spoiled my catching by putting down the risers. She was apologetic, and said her dad was also a fisherman, but for bass. But she was wanting to conduct a survey. I consented, and after the usuals about demographics, she asked how much I spent on ffishing. I had never thought about it up to then, and calculating rods, reels and peripherals in my mind, I tossed out "$20,000". She almost dropped her pencil and clipboard into the creek. That was about 200 rods ago and just as many reels.
To explain, I asked her if her fishing dad had a boat. She said yes, and I then said didn't that cost maybe $50,000? This was before the big money bass tournaments we now see on TV. Plus the trailer, need for a bigger hauler than a compact sedan, etc. I now see infomercials (= TV fishing shows) with incredible new electronics that can spot individual fish as well as your presented lure, devices to position your boat, GPS tracking - I can see why Bass Pro Shop advertises their payment plans. And gas for boats costs more than regular. And mileage is in the single digits.

BTW, has anybody checked the cost of bait lately? Even a tub of worms costs the same as a Sheetz or Wawa run. And you have to do that every time you hit the water.
I

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Wawa. Wawa run would be great, but it's a 5.5 hour drive to the closest Wawa now...

 

[Bamboozle]

Wawa. Wawa run would be great, but it's a 5.5 hour drive to the closest Wawa now...

Consider yourself lucky...

 

[FarmerDave]

huh? I fish cheap and I think I do great or at least okay.

Yea, but do you look good doing it? 😁

I fish relatively cheap as well, and my philosophy is pretty much opposite of the OP. I don't think spending more would improve the fishing unless it is spent on travel.

To each their own.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Consider yourself lucky...

This guy hatin' on WaWa!

 

[Swattie87]

The biggest thing you can do to improve your FFing IMO is 100% completely free, beyond what you’re already paying for your cellular/internet services I guess.

Learn what “good” fishing conditions are, and how to identify them from home, using the internet, and not driving around burning gas and striking out. It’s not an exact science, but learning to use flow gauges, rainfall maps, and temperature forecasts to make good “guesses” are all part of this approach. And then choosing to fish where conditions will be best at any given time. Most of the time a mediocre Class C/D stream in good conditions will fish better than a Class A high biomass bomb in junky conditions. Sometimes this means the best fishing isn’t necessarily even for Trout. It might mean warm water fishing is the best bet that day, or punting on FFing all together and chucking bait in the surf. Or, sometimes, carrying bags at the mall for your wife while she shops and taking her out to dinner after, and banking some fishing credits to be spent later in better conditions.

After getting the initial basic hang of things, I’d say I’ve improved marginally over the 12 years or so I’ve been FFing in terms of FFing technical skills. But I’ve improved 10 fold at identifying and locating conditions that will lead to good fishing.

The biggest three factors that affect your FFing success IMO, in order…

1. Conditions.
2. Conditions.
3. Conditions.

Then things like your casting and mending skills, deciding on what flies and techniques to use, etc. Gear IMO, aside from maybe the proper wading gear to be able to get into good fish catching positions, plays almost no role. But conditions trump all of this.

Bottom line, a newbie dragging dries all over the place will catch more fish in dialed in conditions, than a seasoned FFer fishing low, clear, 35 degree water on a sunny day in February. I’ve proven that many times all by myself.

I’ve had days where I’ve caught close to 100 fish on a stream, and then days on the same stream where I’ve caught 4. Only a few months apart. Was I a 25x better FFer one day versus the other? No. The conditions were 25x better.

 

[afishinado]

The biggest thing you can do to improve your FFing IMO is 100% completely free, beyond what you’re already paying for your cellular/internet services I guess.

Learn what “good” fishing conditions are, and how to identify them from home, using the internet, and not driving around burning gas and striking out. It’s not an exact science, but learning to use flow gauges, rainfall maps, and temperature forecasts to make good “guesses” are all part of this approach. And then choosing to fish where conditions will be best at any given time. Most of the time a mediocre Class C/D stream in good conditions will fish better than a Class A high biomass bomb in junky conditions. Sometimes this means the best fishing isn’t necessarily even for Trout. It might mean warm water fishing is the best bet that day, or punting on FFing all together and chucking bait in the surf. Or, sometimes, carrying bags at the mall for your wife while she shops and taking her out to dinner after, and banking some fishing credits to be spent later in better conditions.

After getting the initial basic hang of things, I’d say I’ve improved marginally over the 12 years or so I’ve been FFing in terms of FFing technical skills. But I’ve improved 10 fold at identifying and locating conditions that will lead to good fishing.

The biggest three factors that affect your FFing success IMO, in order…

1. Conditions.
2. Conditions.
3. Conditions.

Then things like your casting and mending skills, deciding on what flies and techniques to use, etc. Gear IMO, aside from maybe the proper wading gear to be able to get into good fish catching positions, plays almost no role. But conditions trump all of this.

Bottom line, a newbie dragging dries all over the place will catch more fish in dialed in conditions, than a seasoned FFer fishing low, clear, 35 degree water on a sunny day in February. I’ve proven that many times all by myself.

I’ve had days where I’ve caught close to 100 fish on a stream, and then days on the same stream where I’ve caught 4. Only a few months apart. Was I a 25x better FFer one day versus the other? No. The conditions were 25x better.

I agree 100% with Swattie ^.

I pick a day to go fishing and have some places in mind, but keep checking the weather, flow, temps, hatches, reports, turbidity, tides or any other relevant info and make a gameday decision from there where to head fishing based on the conditions at the time.

 

[BrookieChaser]

Ultimately I believe it's like most said, fly fishing can be as expensive as you make it.

My fly fishing spending might be considered expensive. But it has been money well wasted.

Fly fishing has taken me to some amazing places, introduced me to some great fish species, and, most importantly, made me some life-long friends.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

A person could look at fly fishing as an investment.

Over my lifetime I’m sure I’ve invested over $1 million in it; over half of that was spent since I retired.

All of the fly fishing and fly tying gear, the boats and motors, the cars, trucks and RV’s I bought to take me fishing, the gasoline I bought along the way, and the list of fly fishing related things that I just had to have goes on and on.

In my younger years, most of the money that I spent on fly fishing was for myself. After I retired, a larger part was spent on taking others fishing.

Looking back, I don’t think that any of what I spent on fly fishing was money wasted. It has yielded a return on investment in enjoyment that has equalled many times what I spent.

So if you enjoy fly fishing as much as I, and many others on this forum do, it is never expensive no matter how much money you invest in it.

 

[poopdeck]

The problem only comes in when people put their money into their fly fishing over Their retirement fund While not having the money to fund both. I have many fishing friends who out gear me by 10’s of thousands of dollars yet they complain they will never be able to retire and they are probably right. I paid for my retirement first and my fishing second. I spout from the highest mountains that young people should boast of their retirement accounts over anything else. keeping up with the Jones’ is alive and well in fly fishing.

 

[jeffroey]

I always tell my wife it's cheap. Hey...it's just a string on a stick....how much could it cost??

You poked at one of my biggest fears: someday my wife is going to sell my fly rods for what I told her I paid for them.

I think the expensive part of fly fishing happens in the margins. By that I mean IMO it's relatively inexpensive to get on the water but as you sharpen your skill, develop your own style/niche, and 'specialize' (a sub 7' 6 piece S Glass rod domestically rolled, blah blah, blah) it could get pricey . . . but it really doesn't have to.

Most of my best fishing days are deep in SGLs where I don't encounter another human so i dont pay a premium to come out on top of streamside encounters: "wow, is that a Winston Boron with a cocobolo insert . . ." (no offense intended to anyone who slings a Winston Boron with a custom cocobolo insert . Point is I've always believed when it comes to FFing, if you get past the current market trend traps, find what you like, work at it so until your style aligns with the capability of the gear, you can be just as effective as the next guy.

I still grab a 40 year old fenwick often and one of my favorite small stream rods is a 5'8" 6 weight I built on a $25 ultralight spinning rod blank.

That noted and full disclosure, my recent rod blank choices have gotten pricey lately - building on Steffens, Livingstons, JP Ross, and vintage Fishers, but I attribute that more to my rod building hobby; not necessarily my fly fishing hobby.

Best advice: work within your own budget whatever it is, then work to get as much as you can or need out of it, and then worry about your next steps.