I posted this elsewhere to try to stir up some dialogue and spread the joy. Thought you guys might like to read it too.
I started fly fishing two years ago. I use it primarily in smaller estuaries in slow to moderate current and sometimes in the surf. I use floating line techniques only. This was a choice I made because I selected the fly rod to catch fish in situations that were better suited for a flyrod than conventional (or spinning) gear. This approach led me to the floater. I didn't choose to flyfish for the sake of catching fish on a flyrod. Truth be told, reeling in a fish on spinning gear may be less intimate, but it's a hell of a lot more comfortable. From my experience, the flyrod itself stinks as a fish fighting tool no matter how heavy the gear is. I chose the flyrod only because it was a better tool for specific tasks.
There are many purists out there that only choose to flyfish and will make a flyrod work in situations it really was not intended for and that’s OK, it's innovative. There are also traditional surf anglers out there that believe that flyfishing is a sport only for "sensitive" or "light on their feet" guys. The truth is, both could benefit greatly from the other. The flyrod is simply a tool that was developed for a specific set tasks ( it was not developed for saltwater game either, but it happens to excel in many situations). One of those tasks is to deliver very small offerings that would be difficult by other means. But perhaps, most importantly, the flyrod and its various techniques were developed with the challenges of proper presentation in mind. This is why a flyrod excels in areas with current. It is sometimes very difficult with traditional gear to properly present your offering from a specific location to fish feeding in a specific manner at a certain position. With traditional gear (swimming plugs, jigs, etc.) this problem is typically approached by shifting your position on the shore to present your offering at different angles, perspectives and depths to the fish. With the flyrod and a floating line, the angler is given a variety of options just by modifying his presentation without the need to move his position. Different types of drifts, swings, etc. It gives you the ability to cover a much wider range of water, angles and depth with a single tool, from just one position. Of course, in order to take advantage of these benefits, the angler must take the time to practice and perfect these techniques. This is part of the reason so many drop the sport before really giving it a chance, simply because it's too hard. I'm not very consistent yet myself, but these techniques has proven far too useful for me to ever drop it. I'll be flyfishing for a while.
This brings me to the next part. Lines. Lines drove me crazy for a while. I originally got a 9wt Loomis rod and a 10wt line because that was what was recommended by the guy at the shop. I practiced and practiced but never seemed to feel the rod "load" properly. Someone finally suggested that I should try going up a few line weights. I was skeptical at first and people said I was using it as a crutch because of my poor casting technique. I tried it anyway and was amazed with the results. The rod felt like it was finally doing something. I could move a lot of line with very little effort. It made flyfishing enjoyable and allowed me to work on more important things like presentation. Why is "overlining" frowned upon and considered a crutch? You don't need a crutch if everything is working properly. You only need a crutch if something is broken. In this case it wasn't my casting technique that was broken, it was the rod labeling. It worked so well I don't see how it could be considered wrong. If it makes casting easier it must be right. Why try to make it harder? Why bother judging this approach as novice? It works. Period.
Now, I typically only work a line at relatively short ranges, say... 15-60 ft. Not too many situations locally ask for more than that and if they did, I'd probably go to spinning gear (again, selecting the right too for the job). This in part, affected my choice to use a line heavier than the rating on the rod. This led me to some questions though: How do manufacturers rate their rods? I know all of the line weight and grain weight stuff, but it seems that all that just tries to oversimplify a fairly complicated problem. Are saltwater rods designed for sinking lines which tend to have heavier grain weights and in some cases longer heads than floaters? And if a 9wt sinker has a higher grain weight than another floating 9wt isn't that a case of the manufacturer mislabeling the product. And if that's the case aren't you already "overlining" your rod even though the box says something different? Who is right? There is an answer. Everyone's right and everyone's wrong. If you think I'm wrong, try weighing the head of your fast sink line and you may find the actual grain weight is 2 or 3 times heavier than the line weight rating on the box. Might be worth checking out. Do some of you find your 9wt sinker is easier to cast than your 9wt floater? This might be the reason.
There is only one way to properly line a rod for yourself and that is by trying a variety of lines and paying attention to the "actual" weights of the ones you find are appropriate for your style of fishing. Everyone has a different casting style. Some fast, some slow, some with big loops, some with tight loops... I've adopted a slower style of casting. This being said, I haven't found a rod with a label I could trust yet and I don't think I will. Don't get me wrong there's a lot of good gear out there. It just seems that all companies and "professional fisherman" designing their own series of rods have their own ways of rating and labeling and there is definitely a lack of consistency between them. This just makes it more confusing for all of us.
I've definitely been influenced by a certain school of thought which has led me away from sinking lines and weighted flies. I'm not trying to say that those methods are wrong though. I've tried them too. They just seem like a spinning gear adaptation of the flyrod and their range of uses, although effective at times, seem very limited for the shore bound striper fisherman. There are lots of ways to skin a cat. I just found the way I like best.
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