Some thoughts from Steve Schmidt, writer, photographer, fly-fishing guide, and owner of Western Rivers Flyfisher in Salt Lake.
As a seasoned angler whose adult life has revolved around fly fishing, I’ve witnessed our sport undergo significant changes in materials, equipment, and techniques. More than anything, the game has gotten easier over the years. Where we once had to learn to cast a fly rod, we now have products and techniques that limit the need for actual casting—the sport’s beautiful and defining skill. Now, it seems, we’re drifting away from what attracted us to fishing with flies in the first place: the challenge.
LINK (via Patagonia)
Yup. Reason why I very largely refuse to Euro Nymph (something that I was taught on the European rivers by some master practitioners nearly forty years ago) these days – I just don’t need numbers of fish, the sometimes simply ludicrous, returned body count that such baitfishing with tungstened-up flies can bring. to make me complete, as a Keane song opined,.Let’s hear it from the boys, now –
https://youtu.be/Oextk-If8HQ