• small streams and how you fish them

    Had a discussion recently about small stream fishing and methods... and it made me think. I'm not sure where to post this, so it goes here where lurkers, members, search bots and everyone else can see.

    smallstreams is not about fly fishing. It's about fishing small streams in any responsible manner you choose.

    Sure, most of the participants here are primarily fly fishers, but I honestly believe there is nothing wrong with casting spinners on monofilament, there is nothing better or worse using some other type of pole that's been used for centuries and is the latest fashion from overseas. Fishing is fishing. I know there is a lot of leftover baggage from the elitist jerks who once elevated (in their own minds) fly fishing to be something greater than any other method, something purer, or recently, something more "extreme" (since that's the preferred cool but meaningless label du jour of the X Games generation) or something other than the blood sport that all angling really is. Yes, we try to protect the animals we target and save them from harm most of the time, but the bottom line is all forms of fishing have evolved from humans needing sustenance.

    Some of the best fishing days in my life have been with a light Ugly Stick, spinning reel and a tackle box loaded with Panther Martins, Rooster Tails, and Dardevle spoons... aaah, those black and white Dardevles used to just be irresistible to some of the Oregon high desert Lahontan strains...

    I didn't enjoy fishing any less when I used spinning gear. I didn't enjoy it any less when I have dapped with cane poles with worm bits for panfish.

    It's all fishing.

    This site happens to be about, for and by a community of people who prefer plying their angling craft, whatever it may be, in streams that most people overlook, often remote and usually only holding tiny fish, small streams captivate and call to us. The intimacy with nature, the joy of finding small jewels in small water, and the giddy elation we all feel when there is a tug at the end of the line.

    smallstreams.com is a simple community of people who prefer angling in specific locations - not with specific tools or because they see how they choose to approach this endeavor as anything other than a means to an end, the end being peaceful satisfaction.
    This article was originally published in forum thread: small streams and how you fish them started by gusstrand View original post
    Comments 14 Comments
    1. adam's Avatar
      adam -
      Ahh you sound like me.

      I invited the spin fishermen some time ago, I've always had this attitude, that's why I wanted to kill the tenkara forum.


      This place is bigger than that.



      BTW, mr surf photographer, we are the parents of the X-Games kids, it is our generation that spawned "extreme"


      That being said, I could not agree with you more, I'de search the archives for the article I wrote but it just doesn't matter, you wrote it pretty well, nailed it far as I'm concerned. Nicely done.
    1. Brooktrout's Avatar
      Brooktrout -
      i could not agree more with you guys. i learned to fish using worms dug from the ground and huge may flies fresh out of the big, wet morning spider webs on my grandfather's dock in AL.
    1. spod's Avatar
      spod -
      Quote Originally Posted by Brooktrout View Post
      i could not agree more with you guys. i learned to fish using worms dug from the ground and huge may flies fresh out of the big, wet morning spider webs on my grandfather's dock in AL.
      I usually fish small streams with a fly rod. However, I'll use it to cast a fly, worm("garden hackle" or fake one) or even those fly spinners but with the treble hook removed. I really enjoy catching trout on flies but one caught on a single worm drifted through a pool is just as much fun to me. Some regard fly fishing almost like a religion and as with religion, sacrilege can be committed by those who do not practise the 'art' in a particular way. Maybe everyone should read or reread "The Compleat Angler" by Mr. Walton?
      Cheers,
      Steve.
    1. heathcote's Avatar
      heathcote -
      Ho Ho! What a tangled web we can weave, Halford and Skues shake in your boots or revolve in the remains of your coffins; Waltonians rejoice, we can all go a fishing as the fancy takes us with fly, lure or bait and providing we do no harm enjoy our contemplative sport.
      I too come from an age of willow wands, mothers sewing cotton and bent pin. With a worm for bait the burn was supreme and a 4 inch trout a monster to delight the heart of a child. Now rapidly heading for my dotage I discover some have never grown up and fish just the same though with slightly more sophisticated tackle and the prize is to catch a fish of less than 1 inch on hook and line. Yes I have tried it and it is a challenge; with a size 22# hook and an 8 oz line the smallest that I managed was a 2 1/2 inch Bully (Sculpin) and I had a ball.
    1. Ernest's Avatar
      Ernest -
      I've written in these pages before how I began trout fishing with bait and then with spinners, but I turned to fly fishing because once the rudimentary skills are acquired it's much more effective.

      When I meet another fisherman on the stream or at a bridge pool, a rare thing for me, he is usually a bait fisherman. He often assumes I will look down on his methods because so many other fly fishermen seem to do so. That's not the case with me, and I learn a lot about streams and fish from the bait fishermen, and I always try to give them some information they can use.
    1. spod's Avatar
      spod -
      Quote Originally Posted by Ernest View Post
      I've written in these pages before how I began trout fishing with bait and then with spinners, but I turned to fly fishing because once the rudimentary skills are acquired it's much more effective.

      When I meet another fisherman on the stream or at a bridge pool, a rare thing for me, he is usually a bait fisherman. He often assumes I will look down on his methods because so many other fly fishermen seem to do so. That's not the case with me, and I learn a lot about streams and fish from the bait fishermen, and I always try to give them some information they can use.
      I really dont get fussed about the method that someone uses to catch trout--if it's legal then it's fine. Besides, who am I to pass judgement? A few weeks ago, I met and talked with a bloke fishing worms at a nearby small lake. He said that he'd wanted to try fly fishing but assumed it was too hard to learn all the casting. I handed him my rod and had him roll casting in a few minutes. I told him to not believe all the hype and mysticism that fly fishing has attracted. It's a fun way to fish--so is casting a bait or spinner.
      Cheers,
      Steve.
    1. gusstrand's Avatar
      gusstrand -
      "Don't believe all of the hype and mysticism that fly fishing has attracted. It's a fun way to fish."

      -spod, smallstreams member


    1. fredaevans's Avatar
      fredaevans -
      Interesting to review this thread as I post on a few UK based boards where 'small stream fishing' is more the norm than the exception. Fun to read even if the "Woozer! Look at this one" would be small for us if we were fishing The Salt for Salmon. That's assuming this 'Summer,' or rather theirs, is a 'take a pass.' Most of the UK is being deluged with rain fall.
    1. gusstrand's Avatar
      gusstrand -
      We have a fair amount of UK folks here too, Fred! It's a universal thing. Welcome, by the way!
    1. cbtrtbum's Avatar
      cbtrtbum -
      Just read this and thought I would echo a bunch of the comments already made. There was a time that I was one of those fly fishermen that believed our calling was higher than others (despite my upbringing of ugly sticks and rooster tails) Now with young boys I have revisited using spinning gear and spinners, bait etc. It has been a blast!! My favorite way to enjoy small streams is with a light cane fly rod, a silk fly line and a dry fly. Thats the method Ill use tomorrow when I get a chance on a favorite small stream. Over time I have learned that its all about FISHING.....All of the different facets are personal preference only. Rather than commit to only ONE form of angling, I have now realized that its all about the big picture. A lifetime as an angler. Peace and tight lines, Chris
    1. adam's Avatar
      adam -
      We are going through the same thing right now with tenkara anglers.

      My perception of many anglers new to *tenkara is high brow, superiority in fishing. A tenkara rod in the hands of a new angler can trump the skill of a intermediate fly angler. Take a look at all the new tenkara anglers and their blogs, web sites and their cottage sales of flys, lines, nets, guide services...

      The "superiority" of fly fishing all over again.

      Flye angling is old, multiple generations passed down.

      The Internet is new and has a leveling effect and at the same time, it filters the stream of information.

      Hear me out, a grandmother can now go to Target and get a laptop and have a specialized web site going in that afternoon. In a week, she can spread the word to thousands of people. I think this is good, and it's a step in the right direction as far as the spread of information.

      However, there are far more spin fisher people out there on planet earth. Far more people that bring the folding chair to the lake and struggle with the lid on the Power Bait.

      Does my Sakasa Kebari trump a snelled Eagle Claw hook?


      No.


      My catch rate is higher, but I risk far more fish, the snelled hook angler kills a few fish and eats his catch. A much more palatable reason to fish viewed by the non-fishing populace.


      As I grow older, and hopefully more wise, I am understanding cycles from the information feed from the media.


      ...and tenkara is augmenting fly fishing which is in a negative growth (read decline) phase. Here in Phoenix, a metropolitan area of about 4 million people, we had several fly shops in the last decade, we now have 1.


      Rod companies have effectively set up good conditions for tenkara to march right in and take over a large portion of their new customer base. The economy, the ease of use, the simplicity of tenkara has replaced those new to fly fishing. I think you will see in the future, fly fishing will again go through a period of renaissance. I think we have seen the peak, if there was one about 10 years ago. The growth of "fly fishers" isn't going like it was, they (the manufactures) priced themselves out of the market for far too long. The days of myself buying $700 reels, $700 rods, $80 fly lines, $500 waders, it's all gone (for me) and a lot of people and I have more money now than I ever have in my life, as I should.

      I introduced my three year old with a Buzz Lightyear spinning rod. At five, he has a much nicer Shakespeare Batman rod and he will start to fish Dad's Sakura (Japanese) tenkara rod. But when he is ready, I'll give him a rod that I made for him out of a culm of bamboo.

      And fly fishing will be his graduation, what he chooses to do with his degree is his decision.

      A long time ago, I shared what was taught to me with you guys here.

      A film canister with a few flys in the pocket of your surf trunks, a lite line fly rod, a nipper on a string around your neck and a hemostat clipped onto your t-shirt and start fishing a mile upstream of where you parked your car.
      Many of you took my advice and you are still here, keen fly anglers having honed your skills in simplicity.

      In that simplicity, we found fishing.

      Fishing at it's most fun form is simple.



      Fly fishing is not simple.



      I fish for the enjoyment of life in the outdoors.



      Quote Originally Posted by Sparse Grey Hackle View Post
      Although fish are important to fishing, catching them is not.


      That quote works best if you have a degree.


      Fishin is fishin.


      *the first wave of tenkara anglers here is only four years old.
    1. trout-nut's Avatar
      trout-nut -
      I also started real young drowning worms. Then I would like to think I had seen the light and started fly fishing. In the begining it was difficult. Then all of sudden things started to click. That was over 20 years ago. I just recently got started making bamboo fly rods. I really enjoy that part of it, almost as much as fishing. I've built quite a few graphite rods and fiberglass from blanks. A few years ago I bought some bamboo blanks which didn't help the addiction. So here I am planing my own rods and exploring the ups and downs of bamboo fly rod building. The addiction just never ends except when you are on a small mountian stream fishing bamboo. (the bamboo fly rod gods are smiling upon you)
    1. flickfly's Avatar
      flickfly -
      I started out in fishing with the usual short spincasting rod & Zebco reel. For me it was mostly urban or semi urban Trout fishing. (Syracuse has a few small spring-fed Trout trickles). After becoming addicted to Field&Stream,Sports Afield & Outdoor life I went out and started buying the short ultra-lite rods with ultralite open face reels with boat loads of ultralite lures.This all took place back in the early 70's. Watching a couple of flyfisherman fishing the same cricks I did decided That Was For Me ! By 11yrs old I was banging out my crude flies with my Hank Roberts fly-tying kit.I subscribed to FlyFisherman Magazine at 12yrs old. I knew then I was hooked for life.
    1. Doctor's Avatar
      Doctor -
      Gus
      I have had to join a couple of gardening forums to avoid running into fred LOL!!

      I to came to fly fishing from a youth spent drowning worms maggots and later spinning and pluggging ,went back to the bait when my son Hugh was of the age to want to fish with Dad ,now he is a double handed caster and fine boat fisherman ,sadly not turned on by the small streams but that may come .