Five reasons to start fly fishing
Nobody fly fishes because it’s easy. So why do they do it? Here are five reasons why I fly fish, along with two anti-reasons.
Nick Parish
This article is part of the Mindset pillar of Current Flow State's Learning fly fishing library. To support this work, consider becoming a member.
Let's get the (perhaps) obvious out of the way: Fly fishing is harder than pretty much every other type of fishing.
OK, maybe tickling fish, or noodling (catching them by hand) is harder.
But to fly fish, first off you'll need to understand the entire host of arcane specifications surrounding lines and leaders and matching fly sizes up to balance your setup.
Then, you'll have to understand how to cast it all effectively. A decent cast will help avoid wind knots and tangles. It'll let you approach the fish in a way that's not going to spook them.
To say nothing of managing your fly when it's on the water. For a dry fly, you'll need to cast and mend to avoid drag. For a nymph, you want to avoid drag through subsurface currents. To swing a wet fly, you'll use line tension to create drag, where in other methods you want to avoid it.
And this is leaving off the actual setting of the hook, and the playing and landing of the fish.
The gift of a challenge
The technical aspects of fly fishing are challenging.
But fly fishing's steep technical learning curve is a gift.
It allows us to consider the other, adjacent benefits for participation while we gain experience with the basics.
Fly fishing's steep technical learning curve is a gift. It allows us to consider its adjacent benefits while we gain experience with the basics.
I fly fish for a lot of different reasons. Here are a few of the most powerful.
I fish to experience:
There's also stuff I've found I'm not as interested in, or aspects of the sport that don't appeal to me.
I don't fish for:
So let's dig into these, one by one.
