Fly fishing is an old pastime that comes from the art of fishing itself. Lightweight lures that imitate flies encourage fish to come to or near the surface of water and take a good bite of the bait. Fishing flies themselves have a long history and can be as diverse as the fish they are meant to catch.
As far back as 200 A. D., fly fishing was recorded as a sport among men. In one of the first books about fishing, written in the fifteen hundreds, there were instructions on how to make fishing flies. Along with how to make a rod were useful tips on when to use a certain type of fly, depending on the season or the time of year.
A fishing fly used to be called an artificial fly. This is because once upon a time they were made from actual flies captured and used as bait. However, it soon became realized that these flies could be imitated with feathers and bits of fur. It would be very difficult to make a profitable business out of capturing Mayflies and other large insects in order to use them as bait. However, anyone who knows anything about craft supplies knows that feathers and fur can be found very easily. The challenge is in knowing what to use and when.
Fishing with fishing flies requires knowing where a person will be fishing, what sort of fishing they want to do and for what sort of fish. Different fish have different habits. Some do not eat from the surface of the water they live in, while other fish types will leap right out of the water and into the air to catch the right bait. Some fish wait hungrily beneath the overhang of trees for bugs and worms to fall down to the water. Other fish actually eat berries or vegetation.
Fishing flies can imitate what prey a species of fish is used to. Some are meant to look like crustaceans more than flies, and will imitate things such as underwater shrimp. Some fishing flies will work hard to act like actual flies, and can be ‘nymphs’, which look like immature fly larvae, or ‘emergers’, which try to look like flies moving from larvae stage to adulthood.
River fish have different feeding habits and prey styles than lake or ocean fish. In a river, there might still be crustaceans and crabs and the like. However, river fish also enjoy the monopoly presented by spawning fish. A large majority of fish return to the rivers they were born in to mate and lay their spawn. So, many fish consider eggs a part of their diet. In Europe, using fishing flies that look like eggs is frowned up and considered unsportsmanlike. Some fishing flies will imitate the rotting flesh of dead fish instead, since so many species perish after they have lain their eggs.
Dry flies are meant to stay on the surface of the water. The materials they are made from will help them stay buoyant. Fly fishermen will tap the fly on the surface of the water repeatedly, in and around the same spot, encouraging fish to take notice and to eventually strike and bite the fly and hook. Other fishing flies are meant to sink beneath the surface. They will be made of heavier materials that react a certain way as they become wet and drag through the water. Some people say that it is less about imitating fish prey than it is about colour. So it’s no surprise that some fishing flies can be very colourful and look nothing like any known insect or bug that a fish might eat. They work and the fish bite just the same.
As many fish as there are in the lakes and the ocean, there are also fishing flies to match. Once upon a time, the patterns could be counted easily but now with so many fishermen spending time at this peaceful hobby, it would be hard to record all possible patterns and styles. Artificial flies can require a good amount of skill to make, just like fishing itself. The art of making flies is peaceful in most cases and a very good hobby to relax and enjoy.
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