Labels only serve to limit, divide and annoy. Yet a lot of anglers want to label themselves and others based on the fish they chase or how they fish. I think in this regard anglers in a specific niches in recreational fishing get it worse than others. People will try to belittle, shrink and defund any credit for catches because they species or method doesn’t line up with their views and values of fishing. Maybe the two worse niches I see getting drummed down and simultaneously doing the drumming are fly fishing anglers and big swimbait folks.
What’s interesting to me is how it seems to go both ways with these two niches. Maybe one is a response to the other, but then when I started to really dissect it I was somewhat marveled by the fact that fly anglers and big swimbait guys are just alike. And I think they get more hate than a lot of other niches while simultaneously belittling anglers who fish different ways than they do. I can speak on both niches because I consider myself an angler of all niches. I like to conventional fish. I’ve also spent a good bit of time throwing big swimbaits. And I fly fished for a lot of years and have picked it back up the last two years. So that got me wondering why there was so much chatter in and around these two niches.
At the end of the day, the “whys and hows” of what big swimbait and fly fishermen do are exactly the same. They might actually be the same anglers at heart and not even know it.
UNCONVENTIONAL ANGLERS VS CONVENTIONAL ANGLERS
If you use a typical spinning, baitcasting or spin cast reel, rod and line, you are what is considering a conventional fisherman because you are using conventional methods to catch fish. Whether that’s live bait or traditional artificial lures, you’re using conventional gear to fish in traditional ways.
If you use specialty gear like fly rods and reels, cartable fly line to throw uncastable hand tied flies to visually trick a fish, you are consider to be using unconventional methods. Now fly fishing is maybe one of the most traditional forms of fishing. It’s method of fishing dates back for centuries and it certainly is not out of the norm in fishing. But when take the total population of anglers, fly anglers are a tiny percentage of the total angling community. Most of which use conventional gear to fish.
Same could be said for swimbait anglers who use huge rods, oversized baitcasting reels, extra heavy lines and throw lures that weigh 2 to 12 ounces (yes nearly a pound) to try to entice the biggest fish in a system to bite. They are using very outside the norm methods and gear to catch outside the norm fish. Much akin to fly fishermen.
Yet, both communities of anglers seem to think of themselves as elite anglers because they use unconventional methods. And, conventional anglers think the unconventional methods are just ways to spend too much money to catch them same fish with a lot more work.
WHY DO MOST ANGLERS SCOFF AT THE UNCONVENTIONAL
It is interesting how live bait guys and traditional anglers think swimbait guys and fly anglers are a little off when it comes to fishing. I’ve been told I should turn in my man card since I’m fly fishing again, like using a fly rod is somehow less manly. And yet if I use the heaviest rods made with the heaviest lines to sling 6 ounce swimbaits, I’m going way overboard to “just catch a bass.”
So I guess I’m confused on which it is. Too light or way overboard? I mean I can’t be both or that wouldn’t fit into your label system you created to make you feel better about your own fishing.
See how the notion is silly. How bout trying to trick fish in less conventional ways actually requires a little skill but it’s not necessarily more skill than I use to fish with conventional tackle. At the end of the day. I still have to find fish. I still have to convince the fish to bite. I still have to figure out where the better fish live and how they react. Regardless of the gear or tactics I choose.
SWIMBAIT ANGLERS VS FLY FISHERMEN
What is particularly interesting about these two polar opposite niches is that when you boil them down to their base levels, they are the same. Yep I said it. Swimbaiters and fly fishers are the same.
If you think about it, honestly, they have a lot of uncanny similarities.
- They both are into high end gear.
- They both are looking for apex fish in a system.
- They both are looking to have an interaction with the fish that is visible in some manner.
- They both are scoffed at for doing things unconventionally.
- They both are fine being alone fishing and often prefer it.
- They continue to buy expensive gear when they already have a lot of expensive gear.
- If they have enough interactions they still consider the fishing to be good even if they don’t catch one.
I have been struggling to figure out why I like ultralight for panfish, fly fishing for trout and big swimbaits for big bass. Those all seem like three different crowds of anglers. But I find all of them very entertaining. Then I realized I’m picking the tools that give me the best chance to catch big ones.
Big trout are often super spooky so I either have to use light jigs on ultralight gear or fly rods with flys and be super stealthy with my casts and my presentations. Big bass are similarly weary and often will not react at all to small lures. So when I started using big baits in big reservoirs I started catching a lot more big fish.
So it’s easy to see that even though anglers carve up into different niches, what puts them in those niches are often similar reasons.
DEFINING ANGLERS
I suppose it’s human nature to try to quantify and qualify everything against our own beliefs and biases. A lot of cat fisherman just love wrestling with big cats and strong fish and think everything else is a joke comparatively speaking because it doesn’t pull as hard. A bunch of conventional bass guys think you got to lay the wood to the bass and only power fish for it be impressive.
A bunch of fly fishing trout guys think conventional or bait fishermen just take the easy road to catch little stockers and only the really big ones can be caught on flies. Or that it is somehow more traditional and meaningful to trick a fish with something hand tied out of animal fur and feather. There is something very cool about seeing a big fish and casting to it and catching it. That’s a hard thing to top in fishing.
I never have really understood fishermen who put down others who like fishing other ways. I mean, if using 2-pound line and having to really play the fish down is what you like and it makes fishing more enjoyable, I say go for it. I love it as well. If throwing huge baits on heavy tackle to try to catch giant fish is where you think it’s at, awesome man! It’s great fun. If you love sneaking in a small stream with your 9-foot 5-weight and dropping dry flies on the nose of rising trout is the most majestic way to catch a fish, good deal. It is certainly high on my list for enjoying my time on the water.
I think as we get older as anglers we start appreciate fishing for the escape that it is and understand that exploring new things and taking new adventures with good friends is where the real enjoyment is found. Go fishing in cool places. Go fishing with fun people. Try light line stuff and big bait stuff. Experiment. Go to the beautiful places where fish are found and find new fish you never would have experienced before.
But don’t try to minimize other anglers in niches you don’t fish. Or niches that don’t do it for you. It’s just bad form. That sort of judgement and labeling makes you look petty and insecure. I don’t enjoy fishing with live bait so I don’t do it. But I don’t think less of other anglers who do it. I don’t catfish much as it’s often in muddy places I don’t enjoy fishing. But I certainly have had some good times catfishing with my buddies and many of my close friends love catfishing. And so I will support their love for it.
I love throwing swimbaits for bass. I don’t get to do it as much as I would like as I live in a fairly tough place to do it consistently as we have not had a lot of big bass for a while. It’s cycling back and I’m looking forward to doing it more. I also have loved getting back into fly fishing. Throwing flies that don’t even weight 1/64 ounce to fish in ultra clear waters. There is something about trying to have an interaction with a fish that never gets old regardless of the setting or the method.
So I encourage fly fishing guys to try some big swimbait fishing for bass. And vice versa. You’d be surprised how much the two are alike and how similar the thought processes are. Regardless, enjoy the way you fish, experiment with other fish and methods from time to time and you’ll become a much better angler.
