OK, My turn- An epistle on rules, ethics, and manners in flyfishing.
We have a 'saying' down in Baja: "The only thing worse that trolling flies is not catching any fish." And it sometimes goes beyond that. Read on. I guess if you are a purist or a record-hunter, you'll wait and wait, ready to cast, for your chance to 'fly-cast' at a raised sailfish (or whatever)- if that ever comes, on a trip. If you are a rich or avid purist and record-hunter (per IGFA rules), then you will get lots of chances on lots of trips. > On the other hand, if you are a sport-fly-fisher and have spent your > precious 2-week vacation and $5000 to be in that spot at that time and the > sails (or whatever) aren't coming up to the teasers (which could be for many > reasons- fishing pressure being one), and the guide says to troll your > biggest flies to help raise the fish up, you have a choice. What you decide > is totally up to you. But if you do decide to troll flies to get a rise, > don't feel like you're a bum. Guess what- even the pros troll their flies! > And guess what else- even record IGFA billfish are caught by LEGALLY > trolling flies! HOW? you say. The rules state that the fly must be cast > from a boat with the motor in neutral and the the hook-up must come with the > boat motor in neutral. This doesn't say that the boat has to be stationary. > So what they do is raise the billfish, get it all fired up on trolled > teasers, and at the moment before the cast is made, shift the boat to > neutral. The boat takes quite a few feet to come to a stop, and during this > time the cast fly is skittering across the surface, enticing a strike that > may not have come on the fastest stripped retrieve alone. What does that > mean? That many fish in the fly-fishing record books were caught on TROLLED > flies. > > So what does this mean for the 'occasional' fisherman? If you want to make > a fine distinction between 'flyfishing' in the purest form and 'caught on a > fly rod', then go right ahead. Probably nine-tenths of all fly-caught fish > would qualify in the second catagory, then. If you are in a float tube and > are moving by finning or by the wind, and the fly -dry or wet-has extra > movement because the tube is moving (even by the wind), you are trolling. > But are you also not flyfishing? Continued---Part 2
