Why do you fly fish?

[Styskal]

I grew up doing it. Fishing on horse back with my grandfather on the Yakima River. And also a seasonal creek that flowed through our farm in Ellensburg out on badger pocket road. Many years ago. Those were good days. Now it makes sense those really big rainbows we hooked in the canyon were definitely fall steelhead. That started a whole different obsession which carried over to the coastal rivers.

The quick answer is it was for the challenge. We could have soaked worms and caught twice as many but not nearly as much fun. I fished steelhead for many years with terminal gear but nothing compares to the "tug or grab you get on the fly" and that out of control feeling you get on a good wild fish. It's a game changer and your always wanting more of that.

 

[Billy]

I think I have a little undiagnosed adhd to be honest and something about stripping a streamer in a lake or popping a bass popper just sort of puts me in a calm almost trance like state. Then I look around and it's like the landscape and the creatures and the fish caught just stand out in my mind a little more. My heart is more at peace. It's not always like this but a lot of times it is.

 

[clarkman]

I think I have a little undiagnosed adhd to be honest and something about stripping a streamer in a lake or popping a bass popper just sort of puts me in a calm almost trance like state. Then I look around and it's like the landscape and the creatures seen and the fish caught just stand out in my mind a little more. My heart is more at peace. It's not always like this but a lot of times it is.

I hear you....all the way around on that one!

 

[Shad]

I like all kinds of angling, but fly fishing is always my method of choice when even moderately reasonable. Many of the same reasons mentioned here, and on a personal note, between fly tying and fishing, I spend that much less time drinking and sitting around, which can only be a good thing.

A lot of folks think of fly fishing as complicated, but for my money, fly fishing setups are much simpler than most gear setups. Just tie on on and go is usually the rule.

Especially for trout, I often find fly fishing to be more productive than gear or bait, so I can't imagine myself doing anything else when trout fishing. There are magical situations in salmon and steelhead angling where a fly can outfish gear (and I kind of live for those moments), but I do use gear more often for them than I do trout.

The part of the experience I like most is the tactile stuff; the feel of the line in your hands as you cast and retrieve, and ESPECIALLY the feeling of coming tight to a big fish.

 

[Matt B]

I’ve always been drawn to water. Fly fishing is one of the best ways to be on the water, almost any water.
Also, like others, the act of fly fishing is one of only a few in life in which I am totally and completely absorbed in the moment, and fairly easily at that.

 

[Brute]

I've been a fisherman for a very long time...just not a fly fisherman. I think I could tie a clinch knot shortly after I learned to tie my own shoes. My dad was also a fervent fisherman, which he passed on the passion to me.

When I was a kid, we would have a piece of paper on the fridge with magnets showing how many trout we had caught during the season...the limit was six trout per day. On the last day of the season, I was ahead of my dad by two fish...I saw my dad loading his fishing gear into the truck before heading to work; I knew he was going to fish right after getting off work, so I thought I would hedge my bet and cut out of school to fish all day. As I was working the Metitaconk Creek near our house, I looked across the creek and there was my dad...he called in sick to fish. He started to laugh when he saw me...it was the only time I cut out from school and didn't get a whipping for it.

I moved to Hawaii when I was 18, visiting my mom before heading to college in MA; I was only going to stay for two weeks, I ended up staying for 42 years. It was there I became a passionate spear fisherman; first on breath hold freediving, later on scuba...and immersed myself in big game fishing for marlin, tuna, mahimahi & ono; bottom fishing, kayak fishing, beach fishing with surf rods, light tackle trolling with spinning rods, etc.

About nine years ago, I had a baurotrama incident after a day of deep diving that caused me to lose my hearing; 100% loss in the left ear, 50% loss in the right ear. After going to the ER, I was sent to a hearing specialist...I was put on a steroid regimen and two weeks of hyperbaric chamber treatments...but my hearing did not return. After a month, I was at a Graham Nash/David Crosby concert with my wife, and my hearing miraculously blinked back on. My hearing doc, still unsure why my hearing left in the first place, assumed it was due to scar tissue damage from 10K dives, and said it could happen again If I continued to dive...so I stopped diving...I was bummed.

It was around this time we bought our first place in Seattle; we were considering transitioning from living in Hawaii to the mainland as soon as our girls got out of high school. I took an ultralight spinning rig armed with a panther martin spinner to trout fish on a multi-day camp/fishing trip to the OP...and saw a fly fisherman on the river...it was mesmerizing watching him cast, and it was right then I decided to try fly fishing. I googled the nearest fly shop, bought a 5wt, waders & boots, and a handful of flies (wooly buggars), and learned to cast (sort of) on Youtube. I have been hooked ever since...it's hard to do, and now into fly tying, which is also hard to do...I wouldn't want it any other way.

 

[Porter2]

Well there was golfing but I found it to consuming and very expensive. The high end clubs you desire are $$$. Then you find you want one for this situation and one for that one and you end up with quite a quiver of clubs. Not to mention every 5-7 years they come out with new club designs and materials, swing lighter- hit if further …they say. There are the balls too, many claims due to inner technologies, dimple patterns, and the strategical colors make their balls the finest of them all… .this simply makes it complicated on what set of balls to buy so you end up with a variety of balls and then you end up trying to match them to certain clubs. Of course you need to store and carry this gear and so many different and mostly expensive options… crazy. The courses you play on. Some are better than others, few are close and many are far away. You’ll need a rig that can carry the gear and get you to your destination in a comfortable matter and at times should be capable of being your lodge for the night, or at minimum carry your pop up lodge and kitchen.

….. But it was the license that steered me toward fishing. For a one time fee of $60-70.00 approximately I can fish anywhere in this state any day I want (as long as waters are open)… but with golf you basically pay a fee of 30-40.00 every day you want to play. Outrageous. I can fish my 30-50 days a year and pay once, its so much cheaper than golfing 30-50 days a year dropping a fistful of dead presidents each outing… So that’s how I decided to fly fish. It’s cheap and fun!

 

[FishyJere]

Fishing is my excuse to get into pretty places out of doors.

 

[Rob Allen]

This is something I have thought a lot about. In some ways my answer may seem shallow but I am OK with that.

For context. I suck at everything except fishing. I'm not overly smart, I am in no way artistic, I literally have no skills or talents until you put a fishing rod in my hands. This isn't a display of histrionics or any type of hyperbole. Fishing is the only thing I'm good at. So when I go fishing it's a completely selfish endeavor I absolutely have to have the ego bump I get from using the only skills I have.

So why do I fish? What else is there?

 

[johnnyboy]

To me it has always been an outlet.

I was lucky to not have it rough growing up, but still went through tough times like all humans. In seasons where things aren’t going well, fishing will always be there. Almost as a way to get away from the world.

For fly fishing specifically, I picked it up since I realized that it’s the most effective way to fish in many situations. Plus it’s way more fun seeing a trout come up and sip your fly than hooking one on a spinner.

 

[SurfnFish]

I became a passionate spear fisherman; first on breath hold freediving, later on scuba...and immersed myself in big game fishing for marlin, tuna, mahimahi & ono; bottom fishing, kayak fishing, beach fishing with surf rods, light tackle trolling with spinning rods, etc.

love free diving...a Hawaiian sling always kept me in fresh fish in surf trips to Baja...off days in Fiji we'd (wife and son) free dive the offshore reefs, current taking us along at a steady pace, small buoy rope tied to an ankle, the dive boat following behind while we bounced bottom to surface...so many things to see.

 

[Brute]

love free diving...a Hawaiian sling always kept me in fresh fish in surf trips to Baja...off days in Fiji we'd (wife and son) free dive the offshore reefs, current taking us along at a steady pace, small buoy rope tied to an ankle, the dive boat following behind while we bounced bottom to surface...so many things to see.
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When I started my own business (in the dive industry) and worked 70 hour weeks, the only place I didn't think about work was diving...both free diving and scuba...and having a fine meal afterwards...

 

[Go Fish]

I fly fish because it’s exciting, calming, and a chance to be out in nature. In the late 80’s I was able to pick any stick that Sage made for free. Not being a flyfisher I called my good friend Stonedfish for his advice. The choice was a
696 RPL, still my favorite.

 

[Ontheswing]

Not to be corny, but trout do live in some beautiful places...

 

[Jacob Watrous]

It’s more active and varied than other forms of fishing, it’s harder, catch and release is a bigger part of the sport, it feels more fish-vs-angler, fighting is more “alive” than with a multiplying reel, and it is damn fun.

I've also found the fly fishing community (here, clubs, in shops, random people encountered, etc) to be full of awesome people. I’ve never found someone who fly-fished that I wouldn’t happily go fishing with, share beverages with, etc. Not that there aren't assholes in the sport, but in my experience they're the kind of asshole I can handle being around.

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

I think I have a little undiagnosed adhd to be honest and something about stripping a streamer in a lake or popping a bass popper just sort of puts me in a calm almost trance like state. Then I look around and it's like the landscape and the creatures and the fish caught just stand out in my mind a little more. My heart is more at peace. It's not always like this but a lot of times it is.

Ditto

 

[Bakerite]

It’s a meditative.

I like fishing and fly fishing is an immersive experience. You're immersed in the watery world of your quarry, both your hands are focused on the rod and line, it's a very tactile thing, you feel everything down to how your fly swims in the water. To feel the tug, to feel the slack when your fish escapes, the ups and downs, the highs and lows can make you drunk. Fish drunk Kfish!

I see these as the same. Meditation puts me in the moment, just in touch with the breath. Flyfishing does the same, with the cast and the water. So does making love, playing music and rehearsing.

 

[Bakerite]

I think I have a little undiagnosed adhd to be honest and something about stripping a streamer in a lake or popping a bass popper just sort of puts me in a calm almost trance like state. Then I look around and it's like the landscape and the creatures and the fish caught just stand out in my mind a little more. My heart is more at peace. It's not always like this but a lot of times it is.

Me too Billy! The other part is the great people I have met through my love of flyfishing and music.

 

[Mossback]

The slack line after a bunch of hard pulls and reel noise...then nothing...

Memorable for sure, maybe more so than fish landed.

 

[G_Smolt]

+1 for the response of @Billy .
Most of the reasons I flyfish are either too involved to delve into in anything other than book form, or would likely require me to take the 5th if they ever came to light...
However, in the last decade or so I've been appreciating the simplicity and mechanical disadvantage flyfishing has relative to gear fishing. I like the "fair chase, fair fight" aspect of the single action reel coupled with a flexible lever manipulated with an inefficient fulcrum point, as opposed to the "boom and winch" of modern non-fly gear.
I also appreciate the ability for true neutral presentations nearly anywhere in the fish-bearing portions of the water column, with stealth, and at distance.