Whats the deal with this style of fishing that has me enthralled? Post up your photos of gear and stories. Id like to see how yall do this.
I feel that same way. Its very intimidating with the creels, reels, types of flies and just the details. I bought a tenkara rod from a member here and itll get some breaking in very soon. Ive been practicing in the yard and the cast seems to be pretty easy. Now to land fish etc may be a different story.
I love fly fishing! I'm terrible at it, but boy do I enjoy it. You can always start at a local retention pond yanking out panfish
Don't let it intimidate you, I guided fishing trips in Washington, Idaho and Montana for years. It is a fairly simple sport to get started in and like anything else you can make it as complex as you want. Find a good local fly shop, most of them will have a free or at least inexpensive beginners course. It is a great way to understand the basics as well what works in your area. You will also open the door to a shop full of experience that should be able to help you as far as you want to take it. It's an amazing pastime.
One of my favorite things about fly fishing is that you can entertain yourself just by casting if the fish aren't biting.
It was my obsession for about a decade. Be warned - it can drain your bank account, steal every waking hour and take you to some beautiful places....
It can be both but most often the presentation is the most important. There are a handful of fly patterns that will pretty consistently catch fish but without a good drift you are mostly spinning your wheels. If I had a client that could only cast 30' but understood how to mend the line properly I could put them in a position to catch fish
This ^. Line management is key and usually overlooked as a skill. I can't tell you how many clients I had that loved to casturbate but couldn't mend to save their lives. Absolutely! I got particularly obsessed with carp on a fly. They can be tough as hell to entice but when you hook one it's off to the races. We used to joke that we could count on one hand the number of times a trout took you into your backing, and could count on the same hand how many times a carp didn't.
I've been fly fishing on an off for over 20 years...been fortunate to fish all over the country....I love it, love being out on the water....a few years ago I ended up with a hand made wooden drift boat and I've found I love to row and put others on fish almost as much as fishing myself..... @Patrick Rollins and I have filmed a few videos on it and I've spent great times on it with my family and friends....I'm doing a bit of refurb work on it now and @Mike Perrin just rebuilt my seats...I can't wait to get it back into service... Fishing the Yellowstone River Jackson and a rainbow! Doubles on a dropper rig are always fun... Parker before his growth spurt.... That's my bowt....... An airborne double......and a Dogwood Custom Bird and Trout! My CR2.5 and a few flies.... doubles... This Scott Rod is over 20yrs old....bought at Dornan's in the Tetons on my honeymoon....there have been many after this one but it never leaves my side....this past year I broke it tip off it....sent it back to Scott and they replaced the tip... First cast about 20 yards from put in....it was a good day! Love the colors on this fish.. a nice fish for the Hiwassee..
Ugh... blood knot on very dissimilar line does not work very well. Casting with a tail wind does make for some interesting pile ups. Learning has commenced.