FlyBass.com Surveys
We recently posted a survey for several months to determine what you thought the is the most difficult aspect of fly fishing.
Just over 200 of you posted you thought, thanks much!
The hardest part about fly fishing?
- Choosing the right fly
- Catching big fish
- Finding a convenient place to fish
- Determining fish location
- Fly casting
- Gear selection
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29.56%
22.66%
20.69%
17.24%
7.88%
1.97%
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Discussion
Equipment | ~2%
To turn it around, finding and selecting gear is the easy part, according to you! Anyone can do that with a little help.
Fly Casting | ~8%
Interesting - most of you thought fly casting wasn’t problematic. I can understand this given the transgressions one can get away with flopping a fly out there for smallmouth in many cases. However, placing or manipulating the fly properly is a huge issue for many anglers. It’s an issue easily overlooked and perhaps one of the most important aspects of the sport, especially for lunkers. More on that later.
Fish Location | ~17%
Determining fish location is a tough one for 17% of you. I agree, it can be tough. We’ll devote more time to all of this in the future. In the meantime, I’ve been re-reading Harry Murray’s book on fly fishing smallmouth (See Review). In this book he spends a great deal of time discussing fish location under various circumstances throughout the book.
Finding A Convenient Place to Fish | ~21%
I am surprised by this one, but not the way the question is worded. I believe folks were thinking of trout fishing when they answered this question. I feel smallmouth access is quite good throughout the range of the fish, where we can’t say the same about trout waters that are becoming more privatized all the time..
Catching Big Fish Consistently | ~23%
Not surprising here. However, I’m not sure catching big ones consistently is one of the most enchanting and possible aspects of fly fishing for smallmouth. If you’re not getting into big fish, perhaps you’re fishing the wrong water. Perhaps your not gunning for the big ones. Consistently catching big fish requires you to be doing a number of things well, both consciously and unconsciously. Picking the right water, flies, mindset, presentation, all contribute. More on this later.
Choosing the Right Fly! | 30%
And the winner of the toughest part about fly fishing is...not a huge surprise either!
How many times have you been on the river for any kind of fly fishing and noticed your drying patch had a “No Vacancy” sign on on it? In addition, for bass fishing, many of us stick to about three patterns that worked well at some point. Many times this short list mentality can be an obstacle to increasing success in any aspect of fishing. Don’t be afraid to try some new or old patterns. The best way to do this is to take a few new patterns with you and leave your vest at home. This forces you to learn new patterns and fish them in different ways until they either work or you call me up and tell me what I can do with my advice.
What You Can Expect
FlyBass.com will be devoting much more time to fly patterns in the future. If you have some local favorites, email a photo of the fly with complete tying instructions and explain in detail how you fish the fly and under what conditions. We will be enhancing our fly section and also offering links to resources on the web.
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