Are flyfishers better?

[Alex C. 0]

Last night while ice fishing, I got to thinking , are anglers who fly fish better fishermen than anglers who don't fly fish? Since I have started getting into fly fishing the last month or so, I am starting to look at catching fish much differently. For example, I now realize that the method, or reason, I normally decide what lure to tie on my line are completely stupid Sure, I catch fish, but how many fish could I have caught if I took into consideration what the fish were really feeding on. If I looked through my tackle box most of the lures in it were purchased for reasons such as, " Out in some other region of the country, bubba caught a big bass on one of those

thingamabobbers". Or, "that looks cool ". I am fairly confident that once I start taking into consideration what lake I'm on, forage species, etc., fishing is gonna see a lot more

action.

So getting back to my main point, do you guys/gals think people who fly fish are better?

Sure there are some guys who have a certain lake or species mastered , but only comparing the average joe who has never fly fished to the average joe who regularly fly fishes.

[Dble Haul 0]

I don't think so.

 

Every type of fishing has excellent anglers, and flyfishing has no exclusivity. In the long run I think that the really good fishers are spread out pretty evenly across the spectrum of methods.

[Guest]

I agree, I don't think one way is better than another, just different.

[Minnesota Fishing 0]

I think everybody will have a different idea of what "better" is. I can catch more and probably bigger bass with a spinner bait and a casting rod than I can a fly rod. I would rather catch that bass on a fly rod. So that makes me feel "better" and that is what counts.

 

Minnesota Fishing

[Alex C. 0]

after reading my post, I think a better way to say wha I was going for would be - do you think flyfishing makes a person a better normal angler

[Joe Hard 0]

Fishing is fishing, But hooking a fish with one of your own flies is fishing with gas.

 

I think there are alot of people that think they are better than others, and those people are always complaining, there is something wrong with them, talking about people behind there back, in a gaint rush to screw something up, and are about as pactient as a Humming bird.

[Alex C. 0]

but without the guys who think they are gods gift to fishing we wouldn't have anyone to think we're beter than

[Minnesota Fishing 0]

Skunked,

 

I agree with that. It is harder to catch a fish with fly than other forms of fishing.

 

Fishing Minnesota

[getholdofjoru 0]

I think fly fisherman are at least better than bait fisherman when it comes to garbage. I have seen banks littered with more worm containers than I've seen banks littered with flies.

 

 

[getholdofjoru 0]

Except for trees, fly fisherman own that distinction.

[Alex C. 0]

I think at every spot aaround here where a road crosses a stream there are a couple flys in trees

[Guest]

Yup, I'm in the "none are better, just different" position. Have said that for years. I think you are either "into details" type or not. I know some gear fisherman (prefer the term gear, since not all "non flyfisherman" use bait). They perfect their craft like a flyfisherman. Have one friend who owns his own egg cure company. He has it down to a science, and is very proud of his product and his craft. Plus, he uses different types of his cure for different eggs for different uses (some for drifting, some for plunking, or float fishing). Same goes with gear guys. They hone their craft. Make their own spinners, jigs, drift lures and SPOONS (the owner of my steelhead site I go to actually built his own spoons and had them produced in a machine shop). I kind of fall into most of those catagories. I tie my own flies, make my own spinners, make my own driftlures (some are on tubes and "rags" which are a cult classic drift lure here in the NW. If you knew most of the guys I do, you'd be really shocked (on the gear side). They can read the waters, know their fish, and know how to work their lures quite well.

[Guest]

QUOTE (skunked @ Jan 6 2005, 11:38 AM)

after reading my post, I think a better way to say wha I was going for would be - do you think flyfishing makes a person a better normal angler

I think it helps. Although there are plenty of spin and bait anglers with superb water reading skills, I believe that ON AVERAGE, the focus that flyfishing puts on prey appearance/behavior recognition causes a carry over to spin fishing. Overall, I think that the more different styles of fishing that a person learns, the better angler they become all around.

[Sean Juan 0]

Situation determines a lot of success in fishing, and I do believe that in certain situations the fly fisherman has a strong advantage over the conventional gear fisherman.

 

The opposite is true as well.

 

I'm smart enough to recognize that at times the fly rod is not the most efficient tool for catching fish - but I'm too stupid to actually put down the fly rod. I think thats one quality that a "fly-fisherman" has that a "fisherman" doesn't suffer from.

 

Couple that with the fact that I've been using a fly-rod almost exclusively since I was 9, and if you gave me one of those bait cast rods and I could make one cast and hand you back the Gorian knot - I'd say that choosing to be a fly fisherman has in the long run made me a worse fisherman overall.

 

But I'm still pretty.

[Alex C. 0]

QUOTE

I think that the more different styles of fishing that a person learns, the better angler they become all around.

 

Amen brother