fish flies with a spinning rod? There are some places that I am severely limited by trees, banks and wind by a fly rod. I think nymphing would be easy enough, however, not so sure about the dries. On more skittish fish, they may bolt if a casting bobber is placed to close. I have seen clear casting bobbers before, but I am not sure what type would be the best. I am thinking maybe slip- bobbers would work well for nymphs. Any thoughts or experiences welcomed.

Before my brother really got into fly fishing, when we would go fishing for wild brookies together I would give him a small bugger to use on a spinning rod. I always caught more fish since you can be at a greater distance from the fish with a fly rod and not spook as many, but he still caught a few.

Small creeks require some roll casting Not a cast you can't make with a fly rod on a small creek with a tight canopy. Keep at it.

Need to learn the bow and arrow cast. It is very accurate out to 10-12 feet in tight cover. The longer the rod, the longer you can cast. I found a video on YouTube, but have not yet learned how to properly insert a link.

George goes over it in his dynamic nymphing book too.

I think a fly rod is the better tool for nymphing. There are simply things you can do in a small stream with a floating line and high sticking that are tough to do with a spinning outfit, however it has been done and can be effective, but not with a float in a small stream. It takes a long super light spinning rod, light braid line to cast 1/32 and 1/64 oz. weighted nymphs, and a light flourocarbon leader. This is finicky stuff for spinning so you are probably better off with smaller fly outfit if you can master the casts required. I know a number of spinning folks who use tungsten bead weighted nymphs and tiny jigs that are basically like weighted nymphs very effectively, but you need a very specialized outfit, tackle, and techniques to do it and an outfit like that will limit the other spinning lures you can use. You are basically copying what a fly rod was purpose built to do.
Bait casting outfits are better for casting large and heavy lures, spinning is good for medium to small lures, and fly rods are purpose built for the lighter stuff like flies.
Yeah, you have the saltwater guys casting big stuff with telephone poles and plastic coated steel cable flylines for tarpon. but that is taking fly fishing to an extreme and they would probably not do that except for the fact that tarpon are absolutely goofy for flies.

gents, I've been flippin' flies for a long time, I've seen humphreys shoot his bow n' arrow, and roll-casted myself silly. I'm talking about scenarios where I can't even get in the water, on a bank, surrounded by a wall of trees, and the river is 130 feet wide. Normally, can't even fly fish this, unless I fish below my feet. The spinning rod would allow me to flick a slip-bobber, or an indicator with shot, out into the rivers.

some of you guys have to fish flies with a spinning rod, or maybe not.......

Beast,
Why cant you get in the water..is it because of depth? If depth isnt a problem where you can wade, then learn to Spey/Switch cast which is nothing more or less than a fancy type of roll cast.I find on the Lehigh River and also some other rivers out of state that this style of casting gets the job done.
And yes you can also fish dries,wets,softhackles,streamers as effectively as when you have no bankside foliage or obstructions to bother you as well.

As for tight quarters IMHO the Bow & Arrow,and Roll Casts,as well as single handed spey casts are the standard depending on each different casting dilema.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

Used to throw sucker spawn & nymphs on the noodle rod for steelhead once upon a time on the PA Erie tribs, but ultimately found a fly rod much more effective, even for the jigs & maggots we used to use.

The situation you described (scenarios where you can't even get in the water, on a bank, surrounded by a wall of trees, and the river is 130 feet wide.) is exactly why I am learning spey casting & brushing up on using a switch rod.

Back in my spinning rod days, I used to fish flies with spinning gear on occasion.

Of course streamers, buggers, and the like, but also nymphs and soft hackles. I like a fly rod better for these, ESPECIALLY in tight places, but it can be done with a spinning rod just fine.

Spinning rods begin to make more sense when you're either working something really fast, like spinners (and you can do buggers this way), or else when you're trying to cast lots of weight large distances.

You can do dries with a casting bubble but it's real tough.

That said, I can admit to also running bait with a fly rod!

Sorry for the misunderstanding Beast. I thought limited by trees and banks meant you were working a tight little stream.
You could probably use a light 10-13' spinning rod designed for float fishing. Raven tackle has good info on picking a float and shot pattern for various fishing applications.

A big thingaboober, a couple a nymphs, and a couple B shot otta work eh?

I used to keep flies in my tackle box with my spin rod and I also used bait with a fly rod! When I was a teenager and after I gave up on fly fishing the first time around, I fished with nightcrawlers. I liked the action of the fly rod better and the creeks I fished were 15 feet wide. No need for any big casting, just lob it in and let it drift.

me and my buddy who just got into fishing have been going to a local stocked stream to fish. as of now most of the fish are in riffle water and eating under water insects. so i found a few good spots and add a double nymph rig to his line and second canst when i was working it to see if it works bamm. i have been doing well fly fishing and he was always getting skunked. once we swiched to nymphs i think he caught 4 or 5 trout in 20 min. now he is calling me wanna go fish like every day. haha. he want to get a cheap fly rod too.

bait on fly rod? blasphemy...eh, I used to do this, for prospecting purposes, yeah........that's it...prospecting, haha. When I was fishing a new area of river, and didn't know how many trout held in the pools, I would dip the grubs after a good skunking.

was going to try spin fishing flies right now, but looks like the skies are about to open up again. What a difference a month makes.........