Deeter: Luck Has Nothing to do With Flyfishing

This is for all you out there who are thinking about dabbling in fly fishing, but need another reason to take the plunge…

Two kids are fishing from the same rowboat, one in the bow, one in the stern. They’re both dunking worms. The kid in the front of the boat catches 12 fish. The kid in the back gets zip. How does that happen? Luck. It takes no skill to dangle a worm.

Six guys go on an offshore charter. Each gets assigned a rod in the spread. The same guy’s rod gets lit up four times… the other five guys are 0-fer. Why? Sheer dumb luck.

Sometimes, parking my brain on hold is exactly the type of fishing I enjoy. Most often, it isn’t. I like to control my fishing destiny, don’t you?

Which is why I love fly fishing. Fly fishing has absolutely nothing to do with luck. At least not as much to do with luck as many other types of fishing. In fact, I’d say any other type of fishing. Some people shoot craps, some people like chess.

With all the things you have to pull together to catch fish on the fly… a cast, a drift, picking the right bug, and finding where the fish will be in the river… the luck factor is almost nil. Sure, you can be lucky and have good conditions (or not). But in the end, it’s not a luck game. Two guys go for wild cutthroat trout during a mayfly hatch… one guy catches 12 fish on dry flies, the other gets blanked. Luck? Hardly.

The thing of it is, many people are under the false assumption that it’s difficult to learn all those things it takes to catch fish with flies. Untrue. You can go from absolute beginner to effective angler with a fly rod in a matter of hours. Trust me.

Or you can trust your luck.

Deeter