What is Fly Fishing?

What is Fly Fishing

If you’ve ever seen the iconic movie A River Runs Through It, you’ve likely been intrigued by the sport of fly fishing. While fly fishing involves a rod and reel as well as a lure (fly in this case), the similarities to conventional fishing end there.

Fly Fishing vs Conventional Fishing

Have you ever tried casting a conventional (spinning) rod with a lure that was super light, only to find it didn’t work? That’s because conventional rods use the weight of the lure (or an added weight) to pull the line off the reel. Without that weight, the line won’t go anywhere.

So how might one cast a tiny, weightless fly across a river? The fathers of fly fishing wrestled with this question as they watched trout and salmon voraciously feed on mayflies that danced across the surface of the water.

What these anglers devised was a way to use a weighted line (the fly line) as the means of casting the weightless flies to these fish. By throwing this fly line and allowing it to straighten out right before landing on the water, they could accurately deliver a fly to a feeding fish. While this sounds great and all, actually accomplishing this is easier said than done.

The Tackle of Fly Fishing

As I briefly touched on earlier, fly fishing involves a rod, reel, line, and flies. The tricky part here is that each component has to correspond with the rest of your setup. What that means is your fly must match the hatch (what your fish is feeding on), your line weight must match the weight of your fly, and your rod and reel must match the weight of your line.

If you’d like to learn more about all things fly fishing gear - check out this article.

Why would you ever Fly Fish?

For many anglers, Fly fishing offers a unique and challenging way to catch fish. The thrill of watching a trout come to the surface to chomp down on your fly is something you have to see to truly understand. For others, they simply enjoy the rhythmic style of casting in the sport and the way it connects them with nature. Regardless of your reasoning for fly fishing, it’s a sport that has something for most everyone.

How can I start Fly Fishing?

Despite the notion that fly fishing is expensive and requires a ton of gear, it really only requires a few key pieces. Check out our next article - How to Start Fly Fishing, where I’ll outline just how to get started.