# Lost passion for Fly Fishing - want it back!



## asago

Maybe this thread will get the FF section going again. Need some advice and opinions... 

I feel like I've lost my passion for fly fishing (and fishing in general to some degree). I'm not sure why but I know I miss _it_. Not the fishing per se - but the passion for it. Again I don't know why it happened but I know the progression of events that have occurred along the way and I have some theories. I have been fly fishing for over 25 years. I grew up fishing the rivers and streams of North GA, Tennessee, and N.C. I used to fish almost EVERY DAY and be gone on trips ALL weekend. I loved it - every aspect of it. Wild trout, stocked, DH, float trips, jet boat trips up shallow rocky rivers for stripers, gar, carp on the flats, you name it I was all over it.

5 years ago I moved here and was in paradise. I packed up my 2-5 weight rods and re-lined my 6,8,10, and 12 and for a year or so chased anything and everything I could in my little pathfinder all over the local waters. But something happened.... my fly rods all of a sudden stopped coming with me in the boat... then got put away completely and now I've reached a point where the only trips I even make are when out of town relatives or friends come into town and want to go catch whatever is in season and biting at the time. I'm simply not motivated to get out there. Part of me wonders if I'm just getting older... or perhaps the challenge isn't there in saltwater. In freshwater you have to find the feeding fish then match the food... here it seems like you just have to find the fish and anything reasonable you throw at them works. Or perhaps it's just winter time blues...

Any advice on how to get that passion back?


----------



## Fisherdad1

Fli-agara??


----------



## PBTH

Take me out and try to put me on fish. I guarantee that'll give you plenty of challenge. Then when you get tired of watching me blow shots, you'll be plenty excited to be the one on bow, showing off.


----------



## Tobiwan

Fisherdad1 said:


> Fli-agara??


haha :thumbup:


----------



## Chris V

You just have to get out there and put yourself within casting range of a big, ugly, moss-backed, sea monster and when your hands start shaking and knees wobble just prior to one of the most "fish feverish" casts you've made in your life; you'll have it back


----------



## lsucole

Asago , I know how you feel. I freshwater fly fished a lot as a kid in my early high school years. My grandfather started me on fly fishing in those days ( I am now 56). I then got heavy into bass fishing and then into saltwater for specks/reds and even a little blue water. I then started to realize that I was just tired of it -- especially the offshore part which Katrina solved for me ( the Donzi was never found!). I tell you what got me back into fly fishing after all of that --"BRIM" FISHING ! I moved into a house that is on a subdivision pond. I went and got a 7 1/2 ' 3 weight outfit and a few poppers and had a BLAST catching bream and bass. Then I got back into shallow water marsh fishing for specks and reds with light tackle spinning and now saltwater fly fishing as well. I even dumped my big bay boat and got a small Carolina Skiff that is easy to handle and maintain. I guess that going back to my "roots" of fishing really got me back into it again. Good Luck!


----------



## asago

lsucole said:


> Asago , I know how you feel. I freshwater fly fished a lot as a kid in my early high school years. My grandfather started me on fly fishing in those days ( I am now 56). I then got heavy into bass fishing and then into saltwater for specks/reds and even a little blue water. I then started to realize that I was just tired of it -- especially the offshore part which Katrina solved for me ( the Donzi was never found!). I tell you what got me back into fly fishing after all of that --"BRIM" FISHING ! I moved into a house that is on a subdivision pond. I went and got a 7 1/2 ' 3 weight outfit and a few poppers and had a BLAST catching bream and bass. Then I got back into shallow water marsh fishing for specks and reds with light tackle spinning and now saltwater fly fishing as well. I even dumped my big bay boat and got a small Carolina Skiff that is easy to handle and maintain. I guess that going back to my "roots" of fishing really got me back into it again. Good Luck!


Funny you should mention that! I've been thinking about heading north to find some pond farms and play with poppers. Also been wondering if runs up the Escambia or BW rivers would be fruitful. One of the programs I used to REALLY enjoy was the white/hybrid/striped bass runs up the river in the summer. I have to think that same run exists here and if it's anything like GA all you had to do was find the first natural or man-made impoundment on the river and the fish would be stacked up. Anyone run up those rivers and try this?


----------



## CaptHarry

I'll stop by and issue a swift kick to your apparent case of mangina, and this will all be straightened out. :thumbsup:

L8, Harry


----------



## captken

*Go over to the Ochlocknee River*

Start below the dam at Jackson Bluff and just keep going south. I usually fish a #6 Sponge spider or white popper the same size. This isn't an especially pretty river but it has lots of fish. I also like to fish the Chipola starting around Marianna. 

A new, non-competitive type fishing buddy is always nice. Introduce a kid to fly fishing.

IMHO, competitoin deadens the experience.


----------



## FlyLipps

Aaron don't make Capt.Harry and I do a fly intervention at O'Zone's involving alcohol and you strapped to a bar stool, eyes propped open Clockwork Orange style, forcing you to watch hours of Flip Pallot fly fishing videos until you get your mind right!! 
You have to know that fly fishing is never about the catching, numbers are not the determining factor, it really is about the experience. Maybe you just haven't been fly fishing enough with the right people lately. And I know you used to tie, do you still do that? There is something great about tying your own flies and then using them to fool fish. Nothing fuels that passion like a fish crashing a fly that you tied, unless it's on a pattern you have created.


----------



## Charlie2

*Fly Fishing*

My late Pa-in-Law and I fly fished about everything that had water in it with a fly rod. One person in the bow with a fly rod and the other in back with a short casting rod with plug to fish the 'holes' were the fly rod couldn't reach. Just like a vacuum cleaner. It definitely keeps your interest up.. :thumbup:


----------



## shadowwalker

asago said:


> Maybe this thread will get the FF section going again. Need some advice and opinions...
> 
> I feel like I've lost my passion for fly fishing (and fishing in general to some degree). I'm not sure why but I know I miss _it_. Not the fishing per se - but the passion for it. Again I don't know why it happened but I know the progression of events that have occurred along the way and I have some theories. I have been fly fishing for over 25 years. I grew up fishing the rivers and streams of North GA, Tennessee, and N.C. I used to fish almost EVERY DAY and be gone on trips ALL weekend. I loved it - every aspect of it. Wild trout, stocked, DH, float trips, jet boat trips up shallow rocky rivers for stripers, gar, carp on the flats, you name it I was all over it.
> 
> 5 years ago I moved here and was in paradise. I packed up my 2-5 weight rods and re-lined my 6,8,10, and 12 and for a year or so chased anything and everything I could in my little pathfinder all over the local waters. But something happened.... my fly rods all of a sudden stopped coming with me in the boat... then got put away completely and now I've reached a point where the only trips I even make are when out of town relatives or friends come into town and want to go catch whatever is in season and biting at the time. I'm simply not motivated to get out there. Part of me wonders if I'm just getting older... or perhaps the challenge isn't there in saltwater. In freshwater you have to find the feeding fish then match the food... here it seems like you just have to find the fish and anything reasonable you throw at them works. Or perhaps it's just winter time blues...
> 
> Any advice on how to get that passion back?


 I have one simple question. When did you stop teaching fly fishing? :shifty:


----------



## asago

Thanks for the thoughtful responses guys! All great ideas and suggestions (Capt. Harry I'm waiting for my ass kicking ). It made me do a lot of thinking. I haven't figured out yet how to get that passion back but I do think we need another night @ Ozone!


----------



## wtbfishin

Passion is very important in life, good luck w/your quest for continued passion of FF, I think you've done well to keep it for 25 years and believe it will return given some time away or maybe just Harry kickin' your butt will do the trick :no:! From what little I see your in it deep and have a lot to offer the sport. What the heck ya goin' to do GOLF!!!:whistling:


----------



## CaptainClif.com

Did you find your passion? When its foul out I tie flies and watch B-Movie flyfishing videos on Vimeo. That, with a little whiskey gets me through February. 

I love to watch a big fish eat a fly I tied just for them. Once I focused on sightfishing exclusively _(almost)_, my passion became even stronger. Ill still chase blitzing fish, but sightfishing is where I found a solid home for my passion in flyfishing.


----------



## asago

SWEET pics! I'm actually going to try something new... and it's not Fly fishing. I spent the winter building a 100% portable light system (nothing attached to the boat permanently) for flounder gigging of all things. Tonight is going to be a test run. I know they are still offshore but I'm anxious to try out these lights!


----------



## wtbfishin

Well have fun, doubt anybody will get annoyed w/that .


----------



## lsucole

I think the lights are a GREAT idea !! Just put your lights out and cast out around them with a 6wt.and small clouser !


----------



## Flyman1

Have you ever chased schools of pompano up and down the beach? Stood there for hours while waiting for a huge jack to swim within casting distance? If you can't see the fish...you don't cast...no blind casting...then all of the sudden a monster red is 30 feet away...you make your cast and he inhales the fly....your reel is screaming...ahh the backing...all on a 5 weight!!!! Pompano on a 3 weight.... Jacks on a 5-7.. Reds on a 5-7....Spanish and lady fish 3 weight....when the water hits 70 degrees....get ready... Just a few days away!!! Sight fishing the surf using light rods will bring passion back...


----------



## Yobenny

You just talked yourself into believing fly fishing is the top shelf and you done mastered it that's all.

Fly fishing is for ballerinas with a tutu on, get some real gear and go get some real fish..


----------



## Flyman1

Lol! Can't even reply to that!!....saturday stripe on a 3 weight....


----------

