The Elitist Fly Fisherman....Reality or Myth?

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Mountainbrookie

Mountainbrookie

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Among fishermen, trout fishermen in particular, there seems to be an underlying sentiment that fly fishermen consider themselves elite compared to other methods of fishing. Is there a sound basis for this or is it mostly nothing more than misguided perception? Based on my own personal observations I'd tend to say it's more myth than reality.
 
I don't care if he ran hotter than the sun during the playoffs, I still don't consider Joe Flacco elite.
 
Mountainbrookie wrote:
Among fishermen, trout fishermen in particular, there seems to be an underlying sentiment that fly fishermen consider themselves elite compared to other methods of fishing. Is there a sound basis for this or is it mostly nothing more than misguided perception? Based on my own personal observations I'd tend to say it's more myth than reality.

I'm an all tackle angler, but mostly fly fish when it comes to trout. IMO, the equipment does not make the angler. However, like most stereotypes, this one is not entirely myth.

There are #censor# everywhere and some of them flyfish.
 
JasonS wrote:
I don't care if he ran hotter than the sun during the playoffs, I still don't consider Joe Flacco elite.

Agreed
 
I AM ELITE and don't you forget that. Where others have failed, I have succeeded with Fly rod in hand. And yes I can get trout with all of these items listed and more:

Fly fishing equip
Spin casting
Bait casting
Steal them off other fisherman's stringer without them knowing


JUST JOKING on the last one.

I would say it's more of myth than anything. We may like to think we are the elitest, or special because we use fly eqipment, but the truth of the matter is "it is just a rod with a reel, line, lure, and an extension of our capabilities." Please do not tell this secret to anyone though. I enjoy keeping the world under this personage.
 
Mountainbrookie wrote:
Among fishermen, trout fishermen in particular, there seems to be an underlying sentiment that fly fishermen consider themselves elite compared to other methods of fishing. Is there a sound basis for this or is it mostly nothing more than misguided perception? Based on my own personal observations I'd tend to say it's more myth than reality.
It's both
 
Its a reality.

Look at any thread on here about stocking or something and tell me its not. Name calling and disrespectful remarks directed at fisherman who use a reality bait flies rampant. Unjust stereotypes for a large group of fisherman when there may only be one slob fishing a certain section.
 
I think i might have triggered this thread from another forum. Am I wrong Brookie? ;)
 
O Snap! Blue stringer time!

When you say raccoons.........you mean the mullet and stringer brigade, amirght??

I wish they would not post that list ..... Way too many unemployed truck followers

These are just a few remarks on the last thread about stocking.

No Brookie elitism is just a myth...
 
its more of a myth then a reality
 
I think it would be more of a few bad apples that give the general population a bad name.

This is on both sides fly fishing and bait fishing.
 
mike_richardson wrote:
O Snap! Blue stringer time!

When you say raccoons.........you mean the mullet and stringer brigade, amirght??

Why are you insinuating I was talking about spin fishermen? I was talking about the generalized public that lives in my area. That includes fly fishermen. Maybe you are the one that is biased?
 
anyone know of an old expensive private spin fishing club? me neither ...
 
It's a reality. That's not to say we're all elitist snobs. Very few of us fit the stereotype to the degree that many ascribe to us. But there are a few real a-holes among us, and among the rest, there's just enough truth there to reinforce a stereotype.

And the same is true vice versa. As Mike Richardson says, there's a reverse stereotype where fly fishermen see bait fishermen as:

Truck chasers
They sit on lawn chairs with their rod on a forked stick.
They deep hook every fish.
They are meat hunters rather than sportsmen.
The litter and leave bait containers laying around.
They cry foul at any attempt to improve a wild trout fishery.

and the list goes on. Very few bait fishermen actually fit that stereotype to the degree we ascribe it. But there's just enough truth in it to reinforce established stereotypes. If we see something that doesn't fit we pass it off as an anomaly. If we see something that fits we're that much more certain of our mental image. Nevermind that the stuff that doesn't fit occurs more often than the stuff that does. That's just human nature.

I think there's also a divide among fly fishermen. Those who started with spinning rods and bait are a little more worldly than those who started with fly rods. The same is probably true on the other side too. Familiarity leads to understanding, and separation to ignorance.
 
Why do you assume that we're making references to all spin fishermen by taking jabs at the guys who go out one day a year, sit on a lawn chair at a bridge where they dump in buckets of fish 2 weeks prior, fill their coolers, then walk around saying, "I'm a fisherman!"?

There are no doubt many respectable spin fishermen and bait fishermen (bait fishing is a lost art, I think. In my dad's generation, he would tell me about guys who used bait and would really work the stuff-no power bait, no bobbers, but really present it as live food).

Slobs are what we usually take stabs at. The blue stringer time? That came from Becker seeing a WILD TROUT in one of the streams he fishes w/ a stringer hanging out of it. A blue stringer. That is just careless. If you want to keep fish, at least knock them out, don't shove a metal bar through their mouth or gills, and string them on a rope, only to have the rope come undone and that fish have to deal w/ that crap hanging out of its mouth.

I do admit, there is a sense of elitism. I'm guilty of it, but I think, again, its from the truck chasers. One of my favorite local streams has a lot of natives. It also happens to be an ATW. So when I go there and I see people sittin' on lawn chairs hauling out stocked bows, that's all well and good, but I do view those people as "different" than say, the fisherman I meet 3 miles up a small mountain stream-whether that fisherman is spin fishing or FFing.
 
ok you were talking about the general public ;)

Even if it was the general public it still sounds a bit elitist in any sense. You can circle back through the threads and see its a trend.

 
mike_richardson wrote:
ok you were talking about the general public ;)

Even if it was the general public it still sounds a bit elitist in any sense. You can circle back through the threads and see its a trend.

Yes, I was talking about the generalized public of the area I reside. If you feel that I am an elitist, I might be. However, others on here would laugh at you. Actually, they probably are. Just like they do for the rest of you posts.

O and just remember, you called me out. Have a good day :insert smiley face here:
 
Oh man. I sense Becks starting to get pissed.

RRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!
 
if u actually look at the definition of the word elite it pretty much means the best of the group, so yes there are elite fly fisherman just like there is a elite group in everything...its the way that a person conducts them some that makes them the snobs....i have said it before on other forums, i guess im one of the lucky ones, i have spend alot of time in fly areas and i have never ran into anybody like that...when i first started to fly fish i got alot of help from different people along the stream...i have fish a very long time and most of the time i was using spinning gear and thats when i run into very rude people (not a knock on spin fishing guys)....in the 4 years that i have been hardcore at fly fishing i have met alot of people and made some great friends, in the years before that i dont think i have ever really made a friendship along a stream......so if u ever see me in my orvis waders, wading jacket and boots, my fishpond vest and my orvis rod with lamson reel dont be afraid to stop and talk with me, im sure i will give you a few flies also.
 
I just wish I was as great at the sport, and had the vast knowledge that you do. I mean its a wonder you gained all this knowledge in your 3 years or so of fly fishing.

your smart remarks about people who use other methods of fly fishing, as well as remarks about people who fish for stocked trout, or jabs at members for other reasons are great examples of how you are not an elitist, or how you don't judge other fisherman who do not fish the same way that you do. I stand corrected.

Please send me a signed copy of your book or video when you come out with it. I know that by cruising an internet forum all day, and having a blog are great credentials of how great and how vast your knowledge of fly fishing is.
 
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