“I’ll take up fly fishing when I get tired of catching fish,” a salty old flats guide once told me as I flushed yet another redfish by waving an 8-weight at it one time too many.
He was not wrong, in that fly fishing is really not a good way to fish if you want to put a lot of fish in the boat in most situations. It is a sport, as some have said of golf, pursued with instruments ill-conceived to the purpose.
Which makes it all the more surprising that fly fishing is on a roll, according to a recent industry survey from a report published by the Outdoor Foundation (OF) and the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF). It’s estimated that 7.8 million people went fly fishing in the U.S. in 2020—up a amazing 42% from the 5.5 million who fly fished in 2010. Fly fishing participation is also up 20% from 2016 levels.
Fly fishing had some cache for several years after the 1992 release of A River Runs Through It, in which Brad Pitt proved that fly fishing can be cool, but there’s no obvious reason for the current run up.
The International Fly Tackle Dealers Show had experienced record attendance in recent years, as well, up to the start of the covid years.
The number of fly-fishing trips anglers take has surged as well.
OF and RBFF estimate that Americans went on 97 million fly fishing outings in 2020, up 27% from 2019 levels. And fly tackle and accessory sales were up some 70 percent according to Southwick Associates (southwickassociates.com) 2020 Retail Fishing Equipment Market Size Report.
Surprisingly, the most fly fishers are not in the Rockies, as you might expect, but in the South Atlantic region, with over 20% of all participants. The Middle Atlantic region accounts for another 17%.
While trout anglers and panfish anglers surely make up a large portion of that total east of the Mississippi, saltwater fly fishers chasing redfish and other species are also increasing steadily, as evinced by the growing number of flats fishing guides who offer fly fishing trips.
Of course, tarpon anglers have long been aware of the unusual affinity of these saltwater giants for eating flies just 2 to 3 inches long.
While it’s hard to say where trends come from, I’d guess that the explosion in YouTube videos of anglers having success with fly tackle, both on freshwater and salt, is a big part of the boom. The videos not only show that fly fishing can be productive but also exactly how to do it, and that makes it easier for all of us to pick up the necessary knowledge for success.
Fishing is a big tent. If you want to catch trout on a cane pole and a gob of worms, I’m all for it. Ditto if you want to fish a 12-inch mullet on 80-pound tackle under a Florida Keys bridge to hook up with a silver king that weighs more than you do.
I once fished with a guide who promised we would catch 20 snook in a morning on fly rod. And we did.
He rigged live sardines on a 10-weight and drifted them under docks.
But there’s definitely a special attraction to fooling fish on lures that in some cases are nearly microscopic, and on leaders that are barely stronger than spider web in the case of trout.
Of course, when it comes to fishing for bass, you’re sometimes trying to throw lures about the size of a canary, and just as difficult to cast. (I’ve not personally fished with a canary, I rush to add, though I have done well with tree frogs on occasion. I’d guess canaries would be good for largemouths—I once saw one try to grab a young gallinule off a lily pad—but I digress.)
We don’t fish because we need food, in most cases, we do it because we love it. It’s somewhat like bowhunting for hunters, where you have to master the gear as well as master the habits of the quarry, the challenges of the habitat and your own ability to fit into the natural systems.
A part of the satisfaction comes from the very fact that you are succeeding with “an instrument ill conceived to the purpose.”
Apparently that challenge is appealing to an awful lot of Americans in 2022.
— Frank Sargeant
Frankmako1@gmail.com