Learning to Fly Fish is Easier than you Think

            Seven years ago, I walked into the Detroit Bass Pro Shop with $100 gift card. I was unsure of what I was going to buy, but would undoubtedly be leaving with something. On a whim, I bought my first fly rod.

            Fly fishing has always been interesting to me. I grew up on a little fishing lake in a residential subdivision. An old man, the owner of the local grocery store, who lived down the street was a fly fisherman. Most warm summer evenings, I could be found on the end of pier starring at a bobber waiting on the slight tug of a bluegill or crappie. Reprieves from my patient waits would arrive when the old man topped the hill on his way to beat down jon boat, carrying nothing but his strung fly rod.

Always lighting his pipe before a cast was made; the old man would oar along the shore line gently laying surface bugs around fallen trees, lily pads, brush, and piers. Watching the tailing loops of his well executed casts mesmerized me.

My grandfather, shaman of my early woodsmanship, was consulted. Fly fishing it turned out was “a much too complicated waste of time.” Grandfather’s words were written in stone. I put my hopes behind me.

Due to growing up during the great depression, grandfather was a substance fisherman. Fish were for eating and it was his job, and that of his brother, to put fish on the family dinner table. Methods of fishing which produced the most fish were utilized for the plain and simple reason of filling a creel much quicker.

Grandfather had a solid argument. Fishermen can usually catch more fish when taking advantage of technology.  Mastering modern equipment happens a lot faster as well, since in modern bait casting, the overall learning curve is reduced.

Fly fishing is about embracing the elements of natural experience that modern fishing attempts to reduce or eliminate; moving slow, conserving traditional customs, and becoming a steward of silence. Fly fishing is truly an art.  

Learning to fly fish doesn’t have to mean you give up bait-casting for largemouths or jigging for walleyes. You’re only adding another avenue of outdoor enjoyment to your existing repertoire of pursuits. Just as many hunters chase game with firearms and archery equipment, fly fishers can commingle their angling exploits.

I personally find greater satisfaction in traditional outdoor adventure. Shooting wooden bows and casting bamboo highlight my pleasures. Yet every year, I spend a great deal of time casting spinner baits, chasing crappie with minnow tipped tube jigs, blasting guns at fast moving birds, and sending .50 caliber muzzleloader bullets towards soon to be steaks.

Taking advantage of as many outdoor opportunities as possible seems to be my personal mantra. I just can’t see putting all my eggs in one basket. Yet some who begin fly fishing soon forsake all others.

Fly fishing is easier to begin than most think. The normal perception of fly fishing is mountains and trout. Eastern and western mountain states dominate preconceived notions harbored by those who assume to know where fly fishing is popular.

Right here in the Midwest, Michigan is a fly fishing paradise. Trout, salmon, and steelhead dominate the scope of the fly fishing community throughout the “glove,” but smallmouth, largemouth, bluegills, northern pike, and carp also provide incredible fly fishing opportunity in Michigan.

Equipment needs are actually minimal. A rod and reel are necessities. As are backing, a fly line, leader, and a fly. Everything else just makes the experience that much easier. There are plenty of packages available providing all these aforementioned elements costing less than $100.

Many fail to grasp the simple reality that they can buy a cheap fly rod combination package, take it with them up to the cabin and hone their early fly fishing expertise on the six-inch bluegills swarming the pilings at the end of the pier.

These packages are of course going to offer basic, entry level equipment. Which is fine, because lets face it, we often go and buy the best under the premise of good intentions, before putting it away after a couple of uses not to be seen again until cleaning the closet years later. Buy an intro package and figure out if the art of fly fishing is for you.

Comparing fly fishing to golf is quite fair. The first few times you try either, chances are you won’t be very good. With the right attitude and a little persistence, you’ll get better each time you go. Until all of a sudden, you’re a pretty decent fly caster who’s catching fish on most outings. Like golf, you’ll never be as good as you’d like to be. You will always want to cast just a little better, tie your flies a little crisper and fish new waters for nothing more than the challenge of figuring out these foreign environments.

Culture is in my opinion the most significant difference between fly-fishing and spin fishing. The creativity of fly fishing speaks to the mentality of a certain sect of society. In my local club here in Indiana, most members teach or work in some creative regard at Indiana University. But this doesn’t mean the rest of our local population is incapable of discovering what it is we already know. Chances are they just need someone to point out to them that it can be done. The way Columbus so crazily contrived the world may not be flat. Seems a little obvious now, but that’s the way many view fly fishing the Midwest. Like some ancient right reserved for water above a certain elevation.  

Its unfortunate so many Midwesterners are under the impression that grass grows greener in the shadow of mountains. The typical uninformed mindset of Midwestern masses is that without mountains or trout, fly fishing can’t exist. Its ridiculous to any of us who have slipped past the hurdle of this false mentality manifested by untold magazine covers depicting a sunglass clad twenty-something or pipe-smoking, wool wearing retiree grip-and-grinning a native cut as evening settles in Teton Valley.

Fly fishing is applicable to all waters for nearly all species of fish. In the Midwest, anglers are blessed with great variety and possibility in regards to experiencing different fly fishing adventures. If you have a local fly shop in your area, stop by and allow a professional to outfit you for your life’s next great sporting passion; fly fishing.