The Future of Fly Fishing?

• tomgamber

• Sep 17, 2009

• #2

I will probably keep one steelhead if its caught near the end of the day. I didn't go to the beach this year which is the only place I usually keep fish.

 

Last edited: Sep 17, 2009

• jayL

• Sep 18, 2009

• #3

Same as tom. I murder dozens in cold blood when I hit the beach. When my friends and I went, the house cost so much that we had to fend for ourselves with food. $15 in lures fed us for half the trip. No beach this year, so no fish kept.

I usually creel a large trout on the stocked streams earlier in the year for other people, but they didn't want any this year. Odds are I'll take a salmon or an erie steel, but not sure.

I am still curious what a wild trout tastes like, but haven't gotten the nerve to crack a neck.

 

Last edited: Sep 18, 2009

• PSUFishMenace

• Sep 18, 2009

• #4

In other years I have always seriously considered keeping (but never actually done it) any fish that are really in bad shape after the fight, or will ask someone else if they want it, but luckily I haven't had to think about that this year. Released every one healthy and eager to get back to their lies.

Only fish I have ever kept were flounder or Canadian walleyes. Never anything in PA.

 

Last edited: Sep 18, 2009

F

• Fishidiot

• Sep 19, 2009

• #5

I'll usually whack a few stockies in marginal waters to eat over the course of a year. I don't keep wild trout, muskies, sharks, or bass. Other fish I'll keep on occasion - blues, stripers, channel cats, walleye, flounder, weaks, various fresh and salt "panfish," etc. If I have any luck with steelhead this year I wouldn't mind keeping a fish for the smoker.

 

Last edited: Sep 19, 2009

• Acristickid

• Sep 19, 2009

• #6

No problem with steel or stockies- but for god sake throw the wilds back.

Saw a guy catch a 25 and a quarter inch brown on the Madison River with corn and it made me sick to my stomach. It was all over Ennis that night and by the next day the guy was feely guilty. Good!

Like abortion- just because it is legal dont make it right.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 19, 2009

• MKern

• Sep 20, 2009

• #7

I didn't keep any and won't. Come to think about it, I've never kept a fish; we don't eat it.

 

Last edited: Sep 20, 2009

• JackM

• Sep 21, 2009

• #8

Only have "kept" steelhead-- that is, I have given them to people I fished with that wanted to have one. My favorite give away was fishing next to a couple gentlemen that had a few years on me. We were on opposite sides of Elk creek and the catching was difficult. We were talking back and forth and I sense they were there looking for a couple fish for eating and when I finally got one on, I asked the fellows as I was playing it if they would like to take it if I landed it. They did and the one gentleman had a net so I told him if he netted it for me, it was his. He quickly put his rod down and crossed the creek with his net. I think I made my day as well as his.

 

Last edited: Sep 21, 2009

• bowmandjk

• Sep 21, 2009

• #9

i keep a couple steelheads if i bring a cooler with ice i walk back to the car and put it on ice as soon as i catch it ,but i live here so i fish 4 and 5 times a week when they run . I never keep wild trout they always go back

 

Last edited: Sep 21, 2009

• salmo

• Sep 22, 2009

• #10

I can't remember the last time I killed a trout intentionally. I have been fishing without a creel for at least twenty years.

 

Last edited: Sep 22, 2009

T

• Tiny

• Sep 22, 2009

• #11

I give stock to my grandmother it take her back to her youth she enjoys making them but when she pass away as for me I Hate fish send them back

 

Last edited: Sep 22, 2009

• littlelehigh

• Sep 22, 2009

• #12

You guys would have subconsciously made me feel way to guilty if I kept any trout this year. All were returned safely to their lie and I am very happy to fish for them again! I have no plans on keeping trout in the upcoming years either!

 

Last edited: Sep 22, 2009

S

• Squaretail

• Sep 22, 2009

• #13

Its hard for me to forget an older gentleman that came into my store telling me how hes keeps every single one and was presently up to 480-something from the Mahontago. He then tells me he gives them all to his son in law who was standing next to him at approximately 400lbs.
Man was that a hard smile to hold back.

 

Last edited: Sep 22, 2009

• noclue

• Sep 24, 2009

• #14

I kept 5 trout this year. It was before I started to fly fish. Now that I fly fish I find it more satisfying to release them.

 

Last edited: Sep 24, 2009

W

• Will

• Sep 25, 2009

• #15

Jack, you have some seriously good fish karma if you can not only start thinking about what you will do with the fish, but discuss it, out loud with other people, and still not lose that fish. Maybe it was because you didn't want it for yourself. My dad taught me as a kid that you never start thinking about keeping or cooking the fish until you have it in the net. A bit of fun superstition, obviously, but with a grain of truth having to do with concentrating on keeping a tight line, etc.

 

Last edited: Sep 25, 2009

• pmazero

• Sep 25, 2009

• #16

Never kept a fish caught on a fly. Catch and Release- learn it, live it, love it... FYI Pre-killed trout is on special at Giant Eagle right now..take advantage and save yourself the effort and the life of a true native.

 

Last edited: Sep 25, 2009

D

• davekile

• Sep 28, 2009

• #17

Who are the faces of fly fishing’s future? Where are the anglers, explorers, fly tiers, film makers, and conservationists who are making fly fishing not only a sport, but their life’s calling? Is there another Lefty Kreh, Joe Brooks, or Lee Wulff waiting in the shadows?

American Angler wants to know your thoughts on the matter, with only one criteria: All candidates must be 40 years of age or younger as of December 31, 2009. American angler is looking to identify the next generation of fly-fishing innovators— the true young guns of the industry—and they will include your collective input in a cover story to be featured in an upcoming issue of American Angler.

Submit your nominations here at American Angler.

Have any suggestions...leave a comment.