Does anyone actually go flyfishing?

[Questor]

It's actually a serious question. With all the fly shops and places that sell fly fishing stuff in the Twin Cities, I see very, very few people actually going flyfishing for trout.

Where are all the fly fishermen who buy all that stuff? Or are they just buying stuff, putting it in a closet, and forgetting about it?

[DinkADunk]

Nice troll, I'll bite. Yep, we shure do go fly fishing. Brule, Rush, Kini, Hay Creek, Vermillion, SE MN. If you want to see people try finding a spot to park on Rush any Saturday or Sunday morning in May. All of the fly stores in the Twin Cities????? There are three which isn't many. Most of the other places are just playing at selling fly fishing gear.

[Katman]

My spot is hidden with a secret pass code!

Thats why no one can find me. You won't find the guys just one the river....you'd have to know where their secret hole is!

[so haaad]

Good one, Katman. It's kind of like accessing the batcave!

[JP Z]

Remember, it's not just trout we are after. I have more fun chasing bluegills, crappies and bass some days than i do trout......and yeah, there are 3ish flyshops in the cities (I'm in Brainerd where we have a goose-egg)

[DEADhead]

If you see me shopping at the fly shops in the metro, it's because there aren't any around here or in Fargo.

While I do a fair amount of mail order for gear, I like to be able to browse the tying sections at those shops and see if anything strikes my fancy.

I assure you that I am flyfishing, maybe not in the metro, but somewhere in state. And like jpz mentioned, not every has the opportunity to fish trout due to locale, so I am usually fishing pike, walleyes, bass and panfish. I hate crowds and usually try to find off times to avoid other anglers, like weekdays, along with fishing less traveled spots and often overlooked and unfished rivers.

Besides, I'd have a heck of a time explaining to the wife why I have thousands of dollars worth of fly gear and never fish...

[WxGuy]

I go fly fishing when everyone else is at work. And I'm working when everyone else is fly fishing. If I fish on the weekends I do my best to get off the beaten path.

It's a pretty sweet deal, but I miss out on some good afternoon hatches.

[Quickstrike]

I don't know where they are, but I love it. I just got done catching trout after trout the last two days and only saw a total of 3 other guys!

[JohnS]

Interesting question / suggestion. I think there's probably some truth to your suggestion about some fly fishing tackle getting put in the closet rather than used, but it doesn't apply to all fly fisherman!

Using rods owned as measure of tackle consumption, I suspect you would see a very wide range in the ratio of "days fished per year to rods owned" for different fly fisherman.

There are a some fly fisherman that only fish a few days per year but own enough rods to make that ratio less than 1.0. If you shop for used tackle on ebay or message boards, you find an amazing number of rods for sale as "fished twice" or similar from these guys.

On the other hand, there a guys like me who fish 10-20 days per year for each rod owned.

[DEADhead]

good point JohnS. a great example would be my 5 weight rod not seeing much action due to the lack of trout streams in the area. my 9 weight sees sees the bulk of the action with over 25+ days on the water, but it's not to say that I never use my 5 weight or don't need it, it's just that I don't get to fish trout as much as I'd like to, maybe 5-10 times a year, and then I have the option of my 6 weight too. It's actually my 7 wt that didn't see much action last year; I think I used it once.

[turiprap]

I guess I'm kind of an equipment junkie. I have two rods that don't see much action except on steelhead streams, another rod that's only used for bass fishing and, admittedly, too many light line rods for panfish and trout. However, in the course of a season, all the rods get used. My fishing diaries say that over the last several years I've been on the water about seventy times a year with them.

[Cyberfish]

I flyfish and tie my own flies, but I have never caught a trout, I mainly fish warmwater fish...

[Quickstrike]

I don't want to even know how many days a year i put in with a fly rod. during the spring and fall, I am out every day for at least a few hours and have to be pushing 5 days a week during the summer. I even got out a handfull of times in the middle of the winter!

[Nate McVey]

I just returned from a trip to CO that was supposed to be a snowboarding/relaxing trip with my new fiance......I lugged 2 fly rods, waders, vest and bought a one day license on the hopes that I would be able to get on a float with some guys I know from a fly shop in Silverthorne. Long story short, the float I was going to tag along with cancelled so I ended up wading by myself for about an hour. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!! Even with only landing one fish about 10 in. and taking up a portion of usable space in the truck, it was worth it to cast in those gold medal waters again.