Wes,
Is this lifted from the Westfly board?
Monte
Wes Wada wrote:
Weighing in on this subject, here's the posting by flyfishing cartoonist and writer Gene Trump of Corvallis, Oregon...
My father used spinning gear and fly gear. And actually, I learned to first fish with a casting bubble and a wet fly -- not worms. So I know kids don't really need to use bait to learn to fish -- I didn't. Some of the regulation proposals using kids as the reason to open the fishery up for bait is just hogwash.
Okay, back on subject...
If my Dad thought he could catch fish with his fly rod, he'd use it. If he thought he'd catch more fish with a spinning rod, he used that.
I had enough trouble getting tangled up with my Zebco push-button spinning reel and mono line so he never let me touch his fly gear.
It never crossed my mind that there was a difference between fly anglers and spin anglers. I thought anglers were just anglers and they used different tools depending on the circumstances.
Later on, when I gave up spin fishing and joined a fly fishing club, starting reading fly fishing books and magazines I realized that there is a difference. More or less.
Actually it started out as less. When the fly club in Corvallis first started, just about every member would give up on fly gear during winter steelhead season and switch to spinning rods. It was curious to attend a winter meeting and listen to fly club members talking about the best method for tying roe on a bait hook
Of course things changed and folks started catching winter steelhead with flies but I still know some who give up the "quiet sport" for spinning gear during the winter steelhead run.
Honestly, I've never met someone on a lake or river that hassled me because I was fly fishing. Quite the contrary. Many spin guys come up and ask me questions because they are considering trying fly gear because it looks like fun.
So maybe, just maybe, we really all are just anglers. And sure, some anglers are in it for different reasons -- and that might be considered snob appeal.
And yes, along with snobs there are slobs. But when I was spin fishing, I don't remember ever leaving crap along the river or lake, so I don't think the fact that you spin fish makes you a slob. Nor does the fact that you fly fish make you a snob.
Personally, this angling thing is quite humorous -- I suppose you could come up with a more difficult method for catching fish but you'd have to work at it. I laugh out loud sometimes when folks take it too seriously.
Slobs I can do without. But I like the snobs -- they play well in my cartoons
-- Monte Smith Halsey, Oregon http://community.webshots.com/user/nwflytyer Daiichi Pro Staff Team Member www.anglersportgroup.com
