Modern Fly-Fishing

By: Danny Riley

When fly-fishing is mentioned, my experience has been that most respondents think of it only as a type of light tackle fishing in fresh water that is not very productive. It is considered by many to be exclusively a sport of wading in a mountain stream for rainbow trout, or fishing a small popper in a farm pond for bream. That’s why I’m using the term “modern” in the title of this article to describe contemporary fly-fishing, which has progressed far beyond the traditional sport. Also, I thought it might increase my credibility to use that word, because that’s what Lefty calls his fly-casting technique.

I certainly agree with the methods taught in Lefty’s book entitled “Modern Fly-Casting Techniques”. He evolved beyond the traditional teachings to study how the laws of physics apply to fly-casting. He combined those principles with a lot of practice to find a much more effective means of fishing with a fly-rod.

The concurrent evolution of fly-fishing tackle, particularly the high modulus, fast action, graphite rods, made it more possible to effectively execute these modern fly-casting techniques. The result is that new doors were opened for people who learned these techniques to a broadened variety of habitats and species. Fly-fishers are now seeking every species of fish sought by those using other types of gear in all bodies of water.

Fly-fishing can be a very effective means of fresh and salt water angling. In fact, I think there are some species like spotted sea trout and tarpon that are caught as effectively with fly-fishing tackle as with any other legal means. With these, and many other fish, there are times they seem to prefer a larger, noisier lure than a fly. But, there are also those times when they prefer the relative stealth and smaller size of a fly. Also, catching tarpon on a fly dispels the theory of fly-fishing being only a very light tackle means of fishing.

There are definitely some species of fish that are more difficult to catch on a fly, at least for me. One of my favorite fish to seek via fly-fishing is the redfish. There are a lot of them around here and they are very strong fighters. They will hit surface lures or those retrieved at any level in the water column from shallow to deep water. I have caught quite a few of them on a fly, but only because I’ve spent a lot of time trying. I have been frustrated by redfish on many occasions. There have been times that I could not catch them on a fly, but could do quite well using other methods, which I don’t do much of any more.

I’m sure there are many other examples of fish that are as readily caught by fly-fishing as by other means, and of those that are much more difficult to catch on a fly than by conventional methods. But, the message here is that the fisher person that is interested in using fly-fishing techniques can be very effective in catching many species of fish of many sizes in fresh and salt water, if they gear up properly and develop the skills required to effectively use fly-fishing gear. It’s the most fun of any type of fishing that I’ve ever done, and I think I’ve tried ‘em all.