Fly fishing or Blasphemy?

[captkenroy 0]

I bought a 2 piece 12wt for 2 specific purposes, fishing a buzz bait on 10" of line and "Flippin.'"

 

I learned to use a "Jiggerpole" from an old master in Alabama. My "Instructor" sat on the bow of his 12' Cypress Bateau while I sculled the boat along with a sculling oar. I don't recall ever getting to fish but I sculled that Bateau many miles while Bill Slogett worked all sorts of lures right against the bank using a 14' cane pole.

As I recall, his most effective lure was a home made version of what has become today's Buzz Bait. The lure was simply worked in a series of "Figure 8's" along the bank. Strikes were frequent and usually explosive. No reel was involved, just walk hand over hand up the pole to the line and throw the Bass into the boat. Lots of these fish weighed 4-8# and all were eaten. I don't remember if the limit back then was 15 or 20 Bass. At any rate, our score was usually 30-40 Bass. We ate Bass back in those days. Occasionally we'd catch a Pickerel (Damnjackfish) or a Bowfin. (Grinnel, Shoupique, Mudfish, etc) The biggest LM Bass I ever saw caught on a Jiggerpole weighed 14-10. It was caught in Orange Lake or Lochloosa, I disremember which but I was sculling. Old Bill caught this monster some time around midnight and I thought it was another gator when it struck. Gators are frequent nightime Jiggerpole catches down here in Florida.

 

Now days I use the 9' 12wt. for the same purpose but I bump along with a trolling motor in my little 10' Jonboat byself. I hunker down low and sometimes I catch myself gritting my teeth in anticipation of what is sure to come. The 9' flyrod makes the thrill a little more intimate because I am so close to the explosions. In one of my favorite places, actually the closest spot to my home, a big Snook takes the lure quite often and I have also had strikes from 100 pound plus Tarpon.

 

The flyrod gives me a better chance of landing big fish becaue I have 200 yards of 50# backing on the reel. Of course, the fights are longer and more fun too. My catch suffers some because I spook a lot of fish at 9' and the aluminum boat is a lot noiser than the Cypress Bateau.

 

I suppose I could design a fly for this purpose but a Buzz bait works so well. I am fishing it with a flyrod, though. Blasphemy?

 

I was "Flippin," when flippin' wasn't cool. I don't know when the term "Flippin" was coined but my Dad used an Uncle Josh pork frog on a weedless hook on his 9' flyrod back in 1952 on Orange Lake. Three large split shot right at the eye of the hook got the frog down through the bonnets (Lilly Pads) real fast. I caught my first 10# plus Bass that way when I was 10 years old. When I fished with my Dad, we took turns fishing, That was better than sculling Old Bill all day.

 

I seldom fish this way anymore because I don't do a lot of Bass fishing these days. Bass fishing is kinda like kissing your sister to me. Too many Snook and Tarpon have made Bass fishing less fun.

 

"Flippin" with a flyrod, Blasphemy or not? Danged if I know but is a lot of fun. Effective too.

[utyer 0]

Well if you define fly fishing as using the line (not the lure,) to bend the rod, and make the cast, then no your not (technically) fly fishing. I am sure that what you are doing, fits into a "gray area," and it may be blasphemy to some. Taken together with the fact that your lure is as you say a Buzz bait, and your "flippin" the bait without really casting, I would have to agree that what your doing is not really fly fishing. You are using a fly rod, and reel, just not in a manner that most would consider "fly fishing."

 

All that said, I know people who build spinning rods on fly rod blanks. In my rod building days, I build many of these for clients. These were mostly on 5 to 7 weight rods, and the target was usually trout. These clients were also fly anglers at times, and could care less what others thought about their use of a spinning reel on a "fly" rod.

 

What your doing is OK in my book, what ever you want to call it is OK too. Your catching fish, and that's what its all about. I know of a couple of places where that or a similar setup would work great, I just may have to get out my old 14' crappie pole, and give it a go.

[ditz2 0]

Don't put that idea on a bass forum. It will drive the price of heavy fly rods thru the roof. Those guys are nutz.

[Christopher K 0]

Blasphemy?

If you tell people you are fly fishing, then yes. If you explain it the way you just did I'd say you're good

[JohnP 0]

Contrary to popular belief, fueled by "The Movie," fly fishing is not a religion, so no, as long as you are complying with local fishing regulations, what you are doing is not blasphemy. In the pre-spinning days, it was very common to fish bait on a fly rod with a reel spooled with regular fishing line.

[fishingbobnelson 0]

Contrary to popular belief, fueled by "The Movie," fly fishing is not a religion, so no, as long as you are complying with local fishing regulations, what you are doing is not blasphemy. In the pre-spinning days, it was very common to fish bait on a fly rod with a reel spooled with regular fishing line.

We used to fish for Steelhead and Salmon using "Hot Shot" lures back trolled from a drift boat using fly rods with reels filled with Mono on the Rogue in Southern Oregon.

[mikechell 0]

In agreement with all the above statements, especially that fly fishing is not (Or should not) be a religion.

The rod does not define the fishing style, neither does the lure.

When you "fly fish", as Utyer alluded to, you use the line to cast the lure. Any other method of delivering the lure to the fish is not fly fishing. The lure type called "flies" are generally too small to be cast by any other method.

 

So both your lure choice, and your rod choice are great ... I've used the method many times here in Central Florida. I agree, it is a very exciting and productive way to catch some large predator fish. But it is not fly fishing.

[Crackaig 0]

I always take the position that, though I may not do it, if it is within the fishery rules, go ahead. In other words "live and let live".

Cheers,

C.

[SilverCreek 0]

There are two common way to define fly fishing.

 

The first definition is that you are using a fly rod and a fly line to cast using the weight of the line to deliver the artificial bait/fly AND the bait/fly has no scents or fish attracting chemicals. In this definition, using a fly rod and line to fish dead or live bait would not be fly fishing.

 

The second definition is that you are fishing with an artificial fly but you don't need to use a fly rod or line. You can be using a casting bubble and a spinning rod for example. In Yellowstone Park "Fly Only Waters," you can use a casting bubble and spinning rod.

 

What you are doing does not fit into either of these two classification, but that is OK. What you are doing is legal and if it is what you want to do that is perfectly fine. You are right that you are fishing with a fly rod but not with a fly. Some folks in Wisconsin use a fly rod to bait fish with worms because they like the feel of a fish on a fly rod. They are also fishing with a fly rod but they are not fly fishing.

 

The problem comes if you say, "fly fishing" when someone asks you how you caught those bass. That brings to mind a certain way of fishing.

 

The final authority of the definition of fly fishing lies with the IGFA. How would they classify a record bass that you caught using your fishing method?

 

http://www.igfa.org/images/uploads/files/Updated%20Rules%202014_English_021114.pdf

 

 

[Saltybum 0]

IGFA rules? Hmmm. Kinda like the guys who catch bill fish at the transom after it's been teased so close all they do is dangle the fly out the back with out casting. Then call it a fly fishing record?

Me? I could care less about IGFA rules, I just want to catch some fish...and eat some too.

[troutguy 0]

Ha Ha Ha "kissing your sister"

 

Do we really care what fishermen dressed like NASCAR drivers do?

 

Sorry that was pretty stereotypical fly fishing snobbish. LOL

[Crotalus 0]

Sounds very tenkara-ish.

[captkenroy 0]

Hey Troutguy,

 

I liked the comment about fishing guys who dress like NASCAR drivers.

I've been a life member of BASS since it started aut have never fished a tournament or even considered it. I don't like crowds.

 

Since I retired from charter boating, I fish by myself or with only a very select few. Son, grandsons and a couple of friends. Give me

solitude, any time.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Ha Ha Ha "kissing your sister"

 

Do we really care what fishermen dressed like NASCAR drivers do?

 

most of them would disagree about the "kissing your sister" comment.....

 

(hey, I lived in SE Alabama for four years, I've paid my dues, I can say that :) )

 

Fishing a buzzbait as described, using a fly rod, isn't fly fishing but nobody cares. If it turns out to be the most effective way to do what you want to do, then go forth.

[flytire 0]

"Flippin" with a flyrod, Blasphemy or not? Danged if I know but is a lot of fun. Effective too.

 

at the end of the day thats all that matters + whos business is it anyway on how anybody elses fishes. THEY need to move on