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Date: December 29, 2002 at 23:10:46
From: ken, [pool-64-223-41-195.prov.east.verizon.net]
Subject: The coming year


Subject: The coming year

I have been thinking about how I would like the site to improve and be more inclusive of all types of fly fishermen. I have been very vocal and determined to make more people aware of the wealth of knowledge that there is in the world of fly-fishing that is contained in the traditions of our sport. That to a large degree has been accomplished and it has been a long and focused undertaking. Many people have been made aware that fly fishing in salt water is not a new frontier fishery and did not begin just a few years ago and that there have been people fishing with a fly rod for stripers and many other fish for well over a century. We do have a rich and full history with no need to re-write it and more and more of its rich tradition is becoming apparent to everyone.

People have re-discovered natural materials in flies and more and more people are tying a much larger variety of flies with traditional materials and a much larger variety of flies with man-made materials. Fly tiers are tying all kinds of new flies of every type and description and are no longer bound by to just a few well-known ideas of the recent past but have unleashed their creativity and are pushing the boundaries of fly design and are creating a whole new genre of flies that are incorporating ideas of the past and present and are raising the bar in fly design.
This is a good thing. I would like to see more of these new flies on the site tied with all types of materials for all of us to learn from and to get ideas from and to grow in our knowledge and practice of the state of the art as it is evolving.

Many more people have either discovered or re-discovered the benefits of line control and the
benefits of incorporating traditional line handling skills into their salt water fishing techniques.
The floating line is no longer seen as a secondary line by many but has taken its rightful place as the fundamental line that is necessary to use to master traditional line control and fundamental fly fishing techniques. The use of sinking lines has become more sophisticated and the elements of drag and effects when fishing these lines in current are much better known. Salt water fly fishermen are much more aware of the benefits and limitations of the lines they use in the salt then they ever were in the recent past. The intermediate line which has had a great following is still the choice of many and it is being used with an awareness that it is not the only line to use in many of the situations where up until a few years ago it was the only line that many people considered necessary to bring to the salt.

Awareness of the baitfish and their habits and the routines of the ways fish feed are becoming more important to the average salt water fly fisherman and this has caused a change in the way that many people view and approach fly fishing in the salt and this has happened in a very short period of time. People have many more tools and understandings of natural events and how the ocean operates than they did just a short time ago. People are no longer viewing salt water fly fishing as a casting only zone but are learning about the fish at their feet and the fish in the waves.

Many people fish with sinking lines and cast and retrieve as their favorite method of fishing the surf but they also know that there are other ways of fishing the surf and those who would never have considered using a floating line there have learned that it too is a good tool and have learned how to mend and fish the currents and present their flies in them to fish that are feeding there with these older traditional methods in addition to the newer sinking line methods that they enjoy. These methods and other new methods that are evolving that have not been seen yet will add to the sport and cause it to grow and be even broader in its scope.

Fly fishing in the ocean is good and it is becoming more inclusive now because more people have become experienced and are learning what they need to learn by following their own curiosity and by finding answers that suit their needs for themselves. There are many ways to fish with a fly rod in the ocean and the days of one type of rod and one type of line and one or two types of standard flies or weighted flies and everyone fishing the same way and carrying the same equipment and believing the same ideas about what is good and right and the only way to fly fish is over. Modern salt water fly fishing is coming of age and may have come of age already

Traditional presentation techniques have a long and rich history in fly-fishing. Cast and retrieve fly fishing has a much shorter history and it has richness also. They are different methods and both are good. There are many traditional techniques that are rooted in using the sunken line with an awareness of drag. There are many modern techniques that are suited to high line speed and casting with fast sinking lines. They are different and they both have their uses and best times and situations for using them. They are not the same but they are both valuable for every fly fisherman to know and to have awareness of and expertise in using them. There is more to modern fly-fishing than just modern methods. There is also a real need for the awareness and understanding of the fundamentals that those modern methods came from and are based on. Perhaps that is what I would like to see on the site an incorporation of both methods to a more inclusive view with a broader reach and wider view that will make more options in fly fishing and fly tying available to everyone.

It is about nature and fish and things that remain the same although they are always changing.


Posted with TalkShop version 2.71-8

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