Hello all,
I’ve been a very avid surfcaster for about 24 years. About 6-7 years ago I got caught up in the fly fishing “craze” and went out & bought a nice GLX 9’/9WT and a 10’/10WT, VS Spakenburg, lots of flies etc. etc. Took flycasting lessons and got pretty good at it. I started to flyfish a lot but soon got a little frustrated because almost every time I went there was just too much wind. It seemed that for several seasons in a row, we had very windy springs, so what I would start to do was to keep my regular surfrod in the truck whenever I attempted to go flyfishing. If it was too windy when I got there then the flyrod went back in the truck and out came the surfrod. Well, you can guess what happened. I began subconsciously “lowering the bar”. In other words, what was fishable to me a few days ago started to look “too windy”. After a while I got to the point that I didn’t attempt flyfishing at all unless it was dead calm. I admit that I did flyfish a lot on the “good” days and did pretty well (never anything big, always small schoolies) but it was a lot of fun.
For the last 2-3 years our springs around here have been a lot calmer for more days in a row, so it is much more conducive to flyfishing. However, for some reason I just do not feel the motivation to go to the beach with just the flyrod. In fact, I have not attempted it at all for the last couple of years. My fly tackle has been relegated to a dusty corner of the garage. What if I go to the beach and it’s windy again? I don’t have the time to drive all the way home and get the surf rod and go all the way back. So, I feel like I've given up on flyfishing. However, in my heart I really do want to get back into it again, but before I spend a lot of money on new flies and such I would like to ask you folks a few questions:
1. Is flyfishing really a “means to the end”? I used to think it was before I initially got into the sport. I used to think that flyfishers used such tackle simply for the sake of it. For example, I could never understand why guys would throw these huge, massive 10” long bunker flies with heavy outfits when a wooden plug would accomplish the same thing and in almost any kind of wind. When I got into the sport, I realized that flyfishing has its place and is often the only way one can fool a fish especially when the forage is very small or numerous. But the last few years I have had second thoughts about it. I have seen a marked drop in the number of surf flyrodders at Montauk. A few years ago they were everywhere. Now, you might see one or two. Where did they all go?
2. What advantage do flyrodders have over pluggers? I have often heard that a cinder worm fly will catch bass during a swarm when no plug, bucktail or rubber lure would get a second look. But there has to be other reasons, as the cinder worm hatch is a fleeting even that only happens 1-2 times a year. For the rest of the season what can the flyrodder do more effectively than the plugger, the bucktailer or the eeler?
3. How many of you flyfish solely, and how many of you tend to go back & forth between flyfishing and plugging and, if so, why?
I hope I’m not bringing everyone’s head down but I really do want to get back into the sport of flyfishing. I guess I just need a little shove to let me know that it is not a means to an end. I want to flyfish for the sake of catching fish, not just for the “romance” of the sport. Of course, I admit it’s a great feeling casting a deceiver at false dawn into the break of a wave, but I want to catch fish consistently, and if all I’m doing is casting for the sake of it I’d rather be doing something else.
Thanks everyone.
Sincerely,
John
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