Someone called me the other day and told me “I can’t believe how many replies did you guys had when you asked how many guys amongst SJ magazine readers use or want to use a fly rod”. I wasn’t surprised. To me fly fishing from the surf is no different then plugging, tossing a chunk, or even hand lining. In each case, the point is to toss your offering into the seas and fool the gamefish while standing on terra firma.
Some will swear that plugging is the hardest, other will say there is nothing like fooling a fish on the fly and yet many will tell you that chunking is an art form, not just tossing a slab of meat into the ocean. All I can tell you is that unless you tried hand lining you have no idea how “challenging ” this sport can be. Imagine giving “drag” by squeezing a mono trough your fingers till they bleed. Yeah, that painful. No , I didn’t do it for macho reasons, I did it out of necessity as a child.
What I am trying to illustrate is that there are many forms of surfcasting and if you are standing on a shore and caching a fish or trying to, we want to know about it. For some reason , there is (thankfully) a small percentage of anglers who look down on anyone who doesn’t fish the way they do. What we find is that most anglers like to try to catch the fish with different techniques.
I have no idea why it took us a year to start covering fly fishing the surf, but it did. Maybe we were nervous about trying to be all things to all people. And we still are. The last thing I want is for this mag to feature stories you can’t relate to. Yes, we all want to know how anglers worldwide fish the surf but we can’t forget our roots. So as of next issue, you will see hopefully see some surf fly fishing content..and from surprising sources
Believe it or not, the most important part of this expanded coverage is finding a guy who can write a column about fly fishing the salt. How do you find a guy who is not snobbish, who swims to the rocks in wetsuit and a fly rod, who is a surfcaster first ? Not easy but I think we found him in John Papciak. I am thrilled to be able t tell you that John will be writing about fly fishing, yet I know it will be from surfcasters angle and experience.
Tommy and I are off to Somerset tomorrow, for both of us our first time. Looking forward seeing old friend Bob Popovic and Angelo Peluso at his authors booth. Hope some of you are going too.
What blew my mind was when I looked at the way a show is put together. Look on the exhibitor list and you’ll see a Tourism office of Bahamas, Ireland, Argentina and so on premises. I am going to guess telling you about opportunities of fly fishing in their countries. Obviously who is who of fly-tying, rod building and such are there too, along with lodges, destination and guides but I counted 43 seminars n. This is not counting equal number of fly tying lessons, casting presentations and even small, private lessons.
If that if not enough how about you catch one of the 139 fly fishing movies that are playing continually, every hour in what it looks like more than 20 screens simultaneously…….boys know how to throw a party, that is for sure
Z,
That show is a great show. Enjoy yourself.
Billy
↓Was there this pm and it was my first time. It was awesome! Fly fishing, surf casting I love them both…
↓I heard the show is great on NJ. I was thinking about going with Paco, but family duties first. Good luck & Drive Safetly Z
↓I went to the show for the first time on Friday and was amazed what a whole other world out there of Fly Fishing….. the place was packed with people and all upscale vendors from all over the country with top notch equipment….. 100’s of Fly Tiers showing their great skills and more then happy to show you how they do it…. they had so many vendors they were lined up even right through the lobby to the front door….
↓I was so thrilled, I wound up buying a Regal vise and stuff to start tying my own teasers…. if you have a chance, go today (Sunday) and check it out…
So let me get this straight. Cause u guys have an epiphany about flyfishin the salt all of a sudden it cool its ok. The fishing gods approve? Jeeze. The guys in ri & at the edge have been doin it forever. No one needs any ones approval to fish however they want. I might be outta line or harsh not that I fly that much but its a bit of a turn off like ur sayin ok guys flky fishing is in now cause we say so. I guess even z has to evolve. Lol no harm ment just get tired of all the suck up comments
↓as usually. you are flying off the deep end
↓I was only trying to illustrate my unfamiliarity with some aspect of fishing from shore. Guys have been fly fishing long island for decades. Fly fishing from surf is nota new art, its just something we haven’t practiced. Excuse us for trying
That show is cool but the saltwater show in March is better if you are a diehard surf fisherman. The show in Janury is about 70% freshwater and 30% saltwater fly fishing. The show in March has about the same amount of saltwater fly fishing but the other 70% still saltwater related. It is a much better show is you are a saltwater fly fisherman or plugger.
↓Hey TRisser, what show in March are you talking about? I’d like to go.
↓yea trisser what show
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