Stew
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Wulffman
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What is it about this angling method that attracts you?
For me there is a mystery about fly fishing that I just can't explain. The solitude I find where I am able to "escape" for the moment and my only worries are whether I'll have any wind knots to deal with.
The satisfaction of laying your line out perfectly and the anticipation of a fish rising to a dry fly. The screaming of your fly reel when a steelhead takes line off of it and the graceful beauty of a well executed roll cast.
The famous fly fishermen from the past couldn't explain it either.
Why is one drawn to this method when there are so many other more productive methods out there for taking fish?
We fly fishers often maligned by others as being "elitests" that's too funny because any of you that know me know that couldn't be further from the truth. Maybe it's the satisfied look on our faces after a day on the river that some cannot understand.
In a world of conspicuous consumption I am happy to be able to just hike up the Deschutes canyon for a few hours and maybe see three or four others along the way.
The rewards are many for me in fly fishing but most do not revolve around taking a bunch of fish.
Maybe that's the mystery
Those of you that know what I am talking about can relate....you've been there.
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RELEASE WILD TROUT and STEELHEAD
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Steelheader69
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Nooch Diver and Camp Cook
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Not really sure. I was drawn to a rod sitting in my Dad's rod closet that wasn't one I ever saw it used. Found out history of it (was my favorite uncle's rod who had passed away several years earlier). Started using it (old Fenwick glass with old Pflueger reel). Once I hooked my first steelhead I was hooked. But, still had that "odd" feeling around all my family, so didn't use it all the time. But taught myself to tie and bought Trey Comb's book (which I still have and is WELL tattered) and got me hooked more.
Now, it's more a satisfaction thing. I love tying flies almost more then flyfishing itself. Love catching a fish on a fly I tied myself. Plus, love getting others into fish on flies I tied. But still love being out there with a fly rod working a fly. Not sure exactly what it is about it, but just love to do it. But have same feeling with my baitcasters too. Guess I'm fickle that way. 
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TEAM JACKSON BALDWIN
Project Healing Waters
CampChef Prostaffer
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locoalto
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fingerling
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because as a kid the only thing that would catch the local pond bluegill in evenings were very small poppers that were impossible to cast with a spinning rod.
I guess the casting is soothing for me these days, which may be why spey fishing has had such an appeal for me over the past 3 years. A new way to cast.
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an insect in amber
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BobK
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Thick Tail
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Loc: Upstate NY, Lake Ontario Tribs
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Me? As the resident "old fart", I guess I was taught to fish that way - use a bait caster for northerns, bass and walleyes, and a FLYROD for TROUT. Spinning rods weren't in use in this country back then, (pre and during WWII), and didn't appear on the scene until the late '40s. Yeah, I can use them, and they serve a definite purpose. For some purposes, (not all) they are ideal.
I learned under the watchful eye of "Uncle Tim" (actually my Great Uncle), at age 7 or 8, casting a cheap bamboo rod
with a book under my arm - and I was in DEEP doo-doo if I dropped the book! His boot size was a 12, and left a GOOD "impression"!
But FLY RODS have always meant trout, and clean water, and remote locations, and good friends and family, and adventure and "mystery". There are some pretty remote areas back in the Adirondacks, and beautiful native wild fish, too!
So why do I do it? Because I ENJOY it and have FUN adhering to the "rules" and limitations of fly fishing, and still manage to catch fish in spite of these! And it keeps me young - at least in spirit!
BobK 
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Black_Ghost
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Thick Tail
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Well said Stew I am with you on your points.
As a kid started fishing for pan fish and bass with spin cast rod on family picnics and vacations to NH. When 12 years old my buddy whose father was a fishing fanatic introduced us to fly fishing for trout on a NJ hatchery stocked river. We then all converted to fly rods using worms, salmon eggs, inch worms, and tiny colorado spinners for bait. Me and 4 other boyhood friends then got into fly fishing. NJ and NY area had a lot of old fly fisherman back then who we learned from. Our mothers would take turns driving us to the rivers which were within an hours drive, drop us off, and pick us up at the end of the day. Some great boy hood memories from those trips.
Then as my older friends got their driving licenses at 17 years old we started to go to the famous NY Catskill rivers: Esopus, Beaverkill, Delaware, Willowemuc, Neversink and some of the PA rivers such as The Brodhead.
Been doing it for 44 years now why because it is complex, and a never ending knowledge journey, and it takes me to woods and rivers away from lifes daily stresses. Its a life time sport which never gets boring.
I am the type that gets bored after I master something.
Now I have fly fishing and golf as my major leisure activities and watching my boys football games. I don't think I will ever master either fly fishing or golf so I will not be bored for the rest of my life.
BG
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"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
Jane Wagner
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oldman
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dual red striper
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Loc: Silver Star,Mt Just trout fi...
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I think that it is just another step in the whole game of fishing. You start out young by dipping worms in small creeks. and as you progresss thru the years you switch to other ways. I went from dipping worms to spinning gear to drift gear to floats and jigs and I ended up flyfishing and when ever I hang it up it will be from fly fishing. I just love the way fish hit a dry fly. It gets my juices flowing.
Jim
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Black_Ghost
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Thick Tail
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Been on vacation this week, picked up and have been reading parts of the Bob Arnold book - Steelhead & the Floating Line - A Meditation which I have had since it came out in 1995.
These paragraphs sums up the Why of Steelhead Fly Fishing for me and I suspect most others:
"A trout fisher goes out to a stream or lake and rarely returns home with out hooking and landing a trout or two. This is ordinary fishing. For a trouter to catch nothing takes a big blow or a torrential rainstorm. A steelheader is often beaten by his favorite stream, but does not damm it to eternity or go elsewhere. He returns forewarned and mentally armed ahead of time for more disappointment. He does not measure his success in dead fish, well, not often. He soon develops what is called a philosiphical outlook; it could also be called resignation. It might be called a religious attitude too. Zen Buddahism comes close to describing its nature, for its encompasses the absurd but says no action is entirely foolish, not if rightly perceived. Nor is any action ultimately wise.
There is something simply wonderful,sublime about going out to a river; fishing alone, catching a fine steelhead on a fly of your own tying, on the surface, in a manner that seem unnatural to everybody but a steelhead and you, playing it as well as your are capable, landing it, releasing it doing a little dance on the beach, singing a snatch of a song whou didn't know you remembered, and going on your cheery way. You have no fish to clean, no forensic evidence of your feat, no snapshot, no meat to eat or otherwise dispose of, no smell on your hands and the steering wheel afterwards; nothing but the memory. Thanks for the memory."
Thats all I need.
BG
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"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
Jane Wagner
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fredaevans
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Thick Tail
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Old when I first met him, lot older the last time I saw him (now long gone)but a fine man with a ton of patience for a 10 or 11 year old kid living in "the bush" in British Columbia.
He too used the under the arm trick(rolled up newspaper in our case)to teach the fundamentals of not learning bad casting habits.
Started on single hander bambo rods, then to his greenheart spey rod and silk lines at about age 12. Days we were on the river together don't think we passed 100 words between us; but always within sight, always within hearing, always .. a man for whom I'll continue to miss and have great personal respect.
fae
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Fred A. Evans
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Black_Ghost
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Thick Tail
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Loc: Western GLs
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I never really had one fly fishing mentor just a number of older gentlemen met on the rivers back east.
I don't see many older fly fisherman fishing for steelhead in the GLs now. Maybe its the cold weather and the rigors of winter steelheading ? Don't think I have seen any one over 70 in years and only a few over 80 years old.
Maybe I at 56 (In september) am now an old timer ?
Just don't seem to see as many older fly fisherman as I did when I was kid growing up back east.
BG
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"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
Jane Wagner
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BobK
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Thick Tail
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Loc: Upstate NY, Lake Ontario Tribs
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Hal, you too are getting to be a "resident old fart"! I just turned 69 - and I hope to be fishing for at least another 10 or 12 years!
My cousin, Phil, was 78 when he passed away about 5 years ago - we hunted and fished together constantly since I was a little kid, and I posted a picture of him with a buck in the woods at his funeral (his kids loved it!) It was taken exactly one month to the day before he had his fatal heart attack (he was going out to snowblow his driveway). Even though we lived quite a distance apart, we always got together to do the things we liked!
The reason you don't see that many older guys flyfishing is there aren't too many of us left. And, you have to flyfish on weekends - meanwhile, us retired old farts, we go during midweek to avoid the crowds!
BobK  
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oldman
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dual red striper
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Loc: Silver Star,Mt Just trout fi...
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I though I was the old man,but I'm only 68. Hal, you got a ways to go to catch up with Bob And me. Thats true about not seeing too many older types on the river durning weekends. We are all out there durning the week when we have the waters too ourselves. Being retired has it's perks. But then again it's lonely out there by one's self. It's hard finding fishing buddies when your as old as me and Bob are,LoL
Jim
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Black_Ghost
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Thick Tail
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I fish mostly during the week and still see few if any older fly fisherman.
I will be 56 next month and now I guess must consider myself an old timer.
Could not get myself out of bed this morning at 3 AM to go fishing. 30 years ago when in my 20s we stayed up all night, drove 2 hours to Catskills, was fishing before day break, fished hard all day, drove home and then went out that night chasing women and partying. Those days are long gone.
Actually the other reasons I did not go today were with our recent storms the river looked to be on the rise again from the stream gauge, and I wanted to spend some time with my sons before I go back to work on Monday.
The car was all loaded last night with the gear in case I work up at 2:30 AM and decided to go, but I just turned the alarm off and sleeped in until 8 AM.
Oh well guess I will have to tie some more flies and fix some of my sink tips tonight to get my fly fishing fix in,
Interesting talking about older men. At the golf course driving range yesterday which was empty I met an 81 year old gentlemen who started to hit balls next to me. We were the only two there. Great older fellow and we started talking about everything. He had not been able to play golf for a few years due to a multi by pass surgery he had a couple of years ago. He is a WWII veteran, 82nd Airborne Division, who jumped in to Holland during the famous Market Garden Operation. He had some great stories and thoughts on life. Hope to see him again he is a tought old fellow for sure. A little man in height but not in character that was for sure.
BG
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"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
Jane Wagner
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BobK
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Thick Tail
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Hey, Hal -
What about your Idol, I'm not sure of his name - Steelhead Bob? PM Bob? You know - the guy who is a retired GM exec, and stays there during the season (except weekends?)
You told me about him in one of your posts - sounds like a nice enough "old guy"! (You even had some pics, as I recall!)
BobK 
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Black_Ghost
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Thick Tail
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Bobk
Yep Steelhead Bob is my local michigan retired steelie fly fisher idol. Theres a picture of him in the Michigan Steelhead Trip - 2003 album in web shots below. Brings his trailer up to the PM in March through May fishes only during the week and is one hell of a fisherman and nice fellow. Hope to run into him again in the 2004 spring steelie run. I guess he is the only older fly fisher I run into out here come to think of it now.
He is hard core though and can take the cold water winter and spring steelheading weather we are faced with. He helped me land a couple of steelies one morning, then he gave me a nice big cigar and we sat on the bank, high fived, chatted and laughed. Great memory.
http://community.webshots.com/user/eckhal100
BG
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"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
Jane Wagner
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TallFlyGuy
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Big Brat
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Reged: 02/03/03
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Good question, it may be different for others, but I'll give it awhirl.
I remember when I was a kid using worms on a river in Idaho, and seeing an older guy pull off his reel 50ft of line (I thought it was a couple hundred) and gracefully casting it to a rising trout. The trout took the fly and I was mesmerized.
I thought to myself, I want to do that someday. Well when I got my first rod, it wasn't easy to imitate the guy I had seen. I gave it up until I was 21.
I figured flyfishing to be the more "challenging" side of fishing. If it were the easiest or simple to do, everyone would do it and have great success. Anyone can go to GI Joes and buy a spinrod and reel, go cast it, and hook up. The same can't be said with fly fishing. It takes a little practice, knowledge, and some know-how just to be set up properly. Again if flyfishing were easy, the messageboards wouldn't be flooded with questions like "will this work", "is this a good line for this situation", "how come my cast fails ," and all the rest of em.
That is basically why I got into fly fishing. I figured it was a step up, or a more challenging means to catching fish. I know, I will probably get some flack for this, but that's just my opinion.
all the other reasons for me are just advantages or "pluses" to the sport. Things like....
being able to cast and doing things with your hands
tying your own fly immitations
outfishing the guys using gear (actually only sometimes)
and on and on...
Tall
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My Fly is bigger than yours
When you see a man on top of a mountain....he didn't fall there!
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BobK
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Thick Tail
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You're right, of course. That's part of the fun - the challenge. And the gear. And much of it you can "do yourself!"
BobK 
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RonnLucas
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2 salt
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Loc: Oregon
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You guys all seem to have had mentors in your early years. I didn't. My dad was not an outdoorsman by any stretch. When I was very young, before I had even been fishing, my mom would take me with her when she went downtown. There was a large department store there and she would drop me off in the sporting goods department where a lady tied flies sitting at a card table with some kind of motorized vise. Can't recall that vise anymore. Anyway, Her name was Audrey Joy and she didn't seem to mind me sitting and watching her. It was fascinating to see he tie flies with bits of fur, feather, thread and hooks. Finally one day, she gave me a few hooks, some feathers and some fur to take home and try to make something out of them.
Long story short, I did, they were ugly, she didn't criticize my efforts and, I still have most of them. They are the ugliest flies I think I have ever seen but were tied with no vise or other tools and using mom's sewing thread.
Well, when I got big enough to get to places to fish, I tried some of these flies. They worked! What a experience that was. Likely the same as every other TYer when catching fish with self tied flies. I think it is a much better experience when you're young though.
My first rod was a prize from selling Christmas cards I seem to remember. Not a fly rod though so it was kinda hard to fly fish. I put the flies away in a drawer somewhere and took the bait and spin fishing route for many years. Later though, I tried the occasional fly (now, ones I bought) with the spinning rod and managed to catch a fish or two with them. Later, I bought a Fenwick HMG graphite rod and Pfleuger reel. That was when I started to phase out the hardware until when now, I rarely even look at the spinning gear and always take that old Fenwick/Pfleuger combo out. I have other fly gear but that pair is like an old friend now. We've seen a lot of water, many miles, experienced much and, they've never let me down.
Maybe if I had a mentor or two in those early years I might be a better fisherman but to tell you the truth, I wouldn't change a ting now except maybe to have gotten a few of Audrey's flies to go in the frame alongside mine.
Happy Trails!
Ronn
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Black_Ghost
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Thick Tail
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Actually I nor my boyhood buddies did not have any fly fishing mentors since none of our fathers fished except one and he was not much of a fly fisherman. What happened was that when we were 11 -12 years old we started fishing Northern NJ trout rivers and saw the older traditional fly fisherman when we were dunking worms, salmon eggs, and throwing hardware. Then we said that looks cool lets try it and we did. Then migrated up to NY Catskill rivers - beaverkill, willowemuc, esopus, delaware, etc for the advancement of our basic trout ff education. Lots of good old fly fisherman back in the 60s and 70s to learn from.
Still have my original 6 weight fly rod and reel. Going to have to check them soon.
BG
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"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
Jane Wagner
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Buzzy
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dual red striper
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Reged: 08/07/03
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Loc: Rainier,Washington
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Hey Ron, what do you call that Purple minnow there? It looks neat
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Grant
Yes dear, I know buying them is cheaper....
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Steelheader69
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Nooch Diver and Camp Cook
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Actually, we're quite similar when it comes to flyfishing/tying. On the gear side, my Dad was my mentor. When it came to flyfishing, I was on my own. Only thing he contributed was letting me take my Uncle's rod to use. I think my biggest asset was Trey Comb's book. Still have that old tattered book to this day. LOL. I bet if I held it by the spine, all the pages would fall out. I used to read, and reread that book.
I self taught myself to cast and tie. Probably why my style sucks. LOL But I can get the line out and catch fish. I slowly started picking up books that helped my flytying (have an old Herter's and a few others around the house). My Dad was a big help with the baitcasters, just wish I had that much insight with the fly. Only thing that correlated was spots to look for the fish. But all the rest wasn't covered.
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TEAM JACKSON BALDWIN
Project Healing Waters
CampChef Prostaffer
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RogueRiver
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steelie
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Reged: 08/01/03
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Loc: Rogue River, Or
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I actually bought a fly rod, still playing with it.
Fly fishing guys kind of bug me, because of the "class warfare". When one of them gets to know me, and finds out my education and what I do, they ask me why I don't fly fish. Its a silly reason really. My grandfather taught me how to fish, and he used a spinning reel.
So here is my fly fishing story ...
Last November, I'm wading, drift fishing in a public park on the Rogue. It cold, about 3:00 PM, and nobody is around except for a guy watching me fish in his car. I catch a nice steelhead, about 10 pounds, and the guy runs out and takes a look at the fish and says "Do it again!", not mean, but kind of like "I bet you can't". So I catch another one, a little bigger. Now he gets out, opens his trunk, puts on his waders and set up a fly rod.
He asked me if I was fly fishing, what fly would I use. I said "I wouldn't". He said, "Wouldn't what?" I said "I wouldn't fly fish". He looks at me funny.
We both fish for about an hour more and nothing. Not a strike. I'm drifting a pink corkie, white yarn, with a piece of prawn soaked in Mike's shrimp oil. I think I'm hung up. No, its a big steelhead with an attitude. It's a huge fish. I finally land and release it.
The other guy got a lot of practice casting. Does it matter? I guess it depends on the conditions.
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BobK
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Thick Tail
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No, not really. It doesn't matter a bit. The idea behind fishing is to have fun (and some good quality protein, too, if you should need it!) Doesn't matter what your education, job or background is, just go fishing, using any legal means, and have a ball. You don't have to be a snob and you don't have to be a flyfisher to have fun.
Me? I flyfish because it's just what I enjoy. Like I said, HAVE FUN!!!
BobK
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Black_Ghost
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Thick Tail
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Loc: Western GLs
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Good Rogue story wonder if that was our steelheader net rogue colleague Fred sitting in that car.
Did he have a long spey rod and little dog with him ?
LOL
Bobk fishing is fun ehhh, to me it is a challenge, on the hunt for silver prey. Its me against a fish that has a brain the size of a pea, and guess who normally wins ?
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield" (Who ever can first tell me where that statement is from, is on my to do for sibe flys along with ManofSteel for the Eisenhower D-Day photo correct answer)
BG
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"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
Jane Wagner
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RonnLucas
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2 salt
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Loc: Oregon
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Hey Buzzy. I call that fly Pink Floyd for obvious reasons! LOL
The rest is just general info and not directed at anyone in particular.
I might have been a little clearer when I said. "does it matter?" What I meant to say was that I finally did flyfish and that's all that really matters. Now, don't get me wrong, I have absolutely nothing against using hardware or bait. If the conditions demanded that, I would use them too. I just prefer the flyfishing experience more these days.
Happy Trails!
Ronn
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Black_Ghost
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Thick Tail
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Loc: Western GLs
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"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
(Who ever can first tell me where that statement is from, is on my to do list for Sibe flys along with ManofSteel for the Eisenhower D-Day photo correct answer)
Hint: Its the last line of a very famous poem ?
Lets see who took knows their english literature.
BG
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"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
Jane Wagner
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workin4fishin
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Chromer - I wonder what one looks like up close
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Loc: Monroe and Redmond WA
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