Very late to the party, but I feel an irresistable urge. Often forgotten
is that fly fishing wasn't "invented" as some "higher class" of angling,
quite the reverse. It was developed to catch fish feeding on insects
(both aquatic and terrestrial and too small to use as bait). At such
times the fish ignored regular baits. It was a practical way to get a
dish of trout or grayling. It used neither fly-rod, fly-reel, nor
fly-line, simply the same gear that was used for bait fishing. Flies
weren't cast, merely dapped or swung onto the water.
If one wanted to be "pure," one would fish only flies that imitated
these foods. It's worthwhile to refer to the twelve flies of Berners to
understand the beginnings. Of course one would also kill and eat all
those of suitable size.
In history, fly fishing was at times a commercial venture. "Anglers"
used as many as a dozen flies to work rough streams and harvest, not
surprisingly, quite small trout. I believe the practice continued in
France into the last century, however there the trout were generally
larger and harder to catch.
Today, we fish with a fly (the definition of which we can all agree has
been stretched to the limits of credulity---in the UK anything which
doesn't represent an insect is generally called a "lure;" excepting
salmon and seatrout flies), using all sorts of tackle and means of
presentation. One could make a quite reasonable argument that an angler
fishing with a spinning rod, bubble, and fly, is more of a fly-fisher
than someone dredging the bottom with a Popsicle and 400-grain shooting
head (and in some jurisdictions the former method would meet the legal
definition of fly fishing). Much as it would avoid any "ethical"
questions (an unfortunate use of the word as any legal method is
ethical), the likelihood that we could now reserve "fly fishing" to
refer to fishing the imitation of insects on or near the surface and
call everything else "fishing with a fly-rod" is remote. Cheers,
Paul
--
Paul Marriner
Outdoor Writing & Photography. Member OWAA & OWC. Author of Atlantic
Salmon, Ausable River Journal, Miramichi River Journal, and Modern
Atlantic Salmon Flies.
