Why Fly Fishing?

I have been in love with fishing for as long as I can remember.  As a boy growing up in a small lake community in northern New Jersey, I would catch big bass on a spool of 8-pound test line, a hook and a worm.  As an older child, I really loved the thrill of big bass tackling a jitterbug or hula popper on the surface.  I did some trout fishing in local streams with worms and salmon eggs in High School, but fly fishing was always off my radar.

In 1997, I had my first fly fishing experience here in Roscoe, NY on the Beaverkill River.  My first impression was walking into the river and just looking down at how clear the water was.  I had never seen anything like that water before.  I was given elementary instruction on how to cast, and my friends set up my equipment.  After several hours on that water, I would have bet a million dollars that there were no fish in that river.  Then the caddis started hatching and the fish were popping all over the river.  The hatch was so prolific, and the trout were feeding on the surface so aggressively, I literally had a trout hit me in the back while feeding.  I got my first trout on a dry fly!  It was only 10 inches, but the most beautiful fish I had ever seen (stocked brown trout).  I was hooked (pardon the bad fishing pun)!!

Over the next 15 years, I always joked and made fun of the people who were obsessed with fly fishing.  While always interested and enthusiastic, I was not dedicated to it.  I came up to Roscoe for one week a year, called “Bug Week” in late May.  I watched others catch big fish, but I was never in the big fish club.  I actually called my fly fishing buddies the “Fly Fishing Cult”.  Many lived and still live the trout river culture, and fly fishing was their life passion.  I had many other interests and a family to care for.

After becoming an empty nest adult, I started developing a deeper interest in fly fishing.  I was fishing local waters in Pennsylvania and started tying flies.  When the professional opportunity presented itself, I moved to Roscoe, NY!  All of my skills have advanced here, and I learn something new every day in the Catskills.  I am a scientist by education, but a hard-core nature person at heart.  I collect data on everything….  I am always evolving in everything I do on the water!

So now that I am an official member of the fly fishing “Cult”, I have done a great deal of personal analysis of why I am here at this point in my life.  Here are the facts.  I am highly analytical!  I have degrees in Physics and Engineering.  I follow the empirical data.  This sport is unique.  In fact, no other sport on planet Earth offers the special aspects of fly fishing.  Hands down and hard stop on that.  Let me explain why:

1. Nature Bathing:

Nature Bathing is a term that originates from Japanese culture (Shinrin Yoku).  It centers on the physical, emotional and psychological benefits of spending time emersed in nature.  Openly acknowledging that all fishing activities include nature, nothing rivals standing IN a river, creek or brook.  It is total emersion in nature!!  I take in everything, using all of my senses.  The crystal-clear water, the smell of the clean river air, the rocks, the trees, the birds, the aquatic insects and the fish (obviously).  I constantly lift my head and look around for the moment.  The only word I can apply is….  Magical!  Total connection to the natural world.  Everything else in the human mind melts away.  When a trout is rising and the target is visible, and the fly angler starts zeroing in for the catch, there is no room in the brain for other complications of life.  Primeval human hunting instinct kicks in and takes over.  With deep personal experience with mental health and emotional issues in my past, the rivers here keep me whole.  My therapy is a trout taking a dry fly and running downriver.  Or….  Just being there in the moment!  Soak it all in.

2. Science:

My first fly fishing mentor is a PhD Entomologist. He is still “Dr. Bug”!!   While initially totally ignorant of the bugs that fly fishing is all about, I am still a total science nerd.  Over the years, I have grown to appreciate the aquatic insects that the entire river ecosystem centers on.  Fact…  aquatic insects constitute 90% of the average river trout’s diet.  Fly fishermen want to impersonate the insects that trout eat.  That is the game.  Aquatic entomology is the science of fly fishing!!  Bug knowledge is critical to advancing a fly anglers skill set and toolbox.  “Match the Hatch” is the well-known and over-used fly-fishing adage.  Knowing what insects will be present and how to imitate them increases the anglers’ advantage.  The bugs are as amazing as the trout!  Fly anglers flock to The Catskills to experience the spring mayfly hatches and (hopefully) catch a trout on a fake mayfly pattern.  At this time in my fly-fishing journey, an uber enjoyable activity is catching mayflies off the water and trying to imitate those at the vice. 

3. Skill:

While other fishing endeavors may only require “Luck”, fly fishing is a highly skill-centric activity.  The mystery of “luckily” finding a fish is removed….  I see the fish, it is eating bugs, and I need to catch it!  Enter the skill of the fly fisherman.  No doubt, even under the most ideal trout fishing conditions, the fisherman can make the difference!  I remember casting at a big rising fish on the Beaverkill early in my fly-fishing experience.  One drunk buddy watching from the bank said….  “I will give you three more casts at that fish, then I am going in there to catch it”.  I failed on the next three cast attempts, and my buddy waded in, made one cast and hooked the trout!  Leason clear.  The casting skill of the fisherman matters!  Casting a fly rod is unique skill.  The artificial flies used are essentially weightless, and the heavy fly line and rod do most of the work of projecting the dry fly at a target.  Mastering the fly rod cast requires time, correct practice, great coaching, patience and constant self-analysis.  I critique my casting endlessly, remembering that everything in fly fishing is situational.  River flow direction and speed, wind direction, target distance, casting angle and hydraulic seams are considerations in every cast.  The fish will never grade your casting skill.  All that matters is the natural drift of the dry fly presented and if the trout thinks it is something they want to eat.  The skill is tricking the fish into taking your artificial fly!

4. Art:

This is where fly fishing sets itself apart from all other sports on earth, IMHO.  I started tying my own flies about 10 years ago.  No doubt and not open to debate, tying flies for fly fishing is a hard-core art form!!  It is totally amazing and unique to this sport.  The early pioneers in the art of fly tying in North America were from right here in Roscoe in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  They were 100% artists, using only natural materials for their craft.  In the modern art of fly tying, materials and specialized, task-engineered equipment have evolved to enhance the utility, fishability and appearance of flies for trout fishing.  Some old and proven traditions still work, but modern advancements in the art have also evolved and improved the art form.  Endless creativity is possible at the fly-tying vice.  The beauty of art is always in the eye of the beholder, and in fly fishing, the only authoritative judge is the trout!  I ask my buddies to critique my fly ties, and I always get the standard three-word response….  “Ask the trout”.  Catching a trout on a fly pattern that you created doubles the exhilaration of the process.

With all of the above stated, I challenge anyone to define a sport that includes all four of the aspects of fly fishing.  There is zero competition!!  In fact, many programs exist around the US where fly fishing is the focus point of therapeutic and rehabilitative programs for challenged populations, including military veterans.  Fly fishing is a technical endeavor.  For beginners, I recommend hiring a certified guide for lessons or spending time on the river with a veteran fly-fishing mentor.  The best experience for a beginner is catching a trout on a dry fly!  In the modern digital age, there are endless resources about fly fishing, casting skills and fly tying on the web.  The collective knowledge of the fly-fishing world is at your fingertips sitting at a keyboard.