Flyfishing - A Sport Or A Form Of Art?

If you are a leisure fisherman, you most likely have some understanding about flyfishing even when you do not indulge in this particular style of fishing personally. Having said that, the vast majority of people that don't catch fish for sport or recreation tend not to know a great deal at all about this certain method of hooking fish. Because of this, fly angling is surrounded by an air of obscurity for many individuals.

The American motion picture, A River Runs Through It, that was released in 1992 and starred famous actor Brad Pitt is founded on the semi-autobiographical book of the same name. The narrative, by Norman Maclean tells of two young boys growing up in Missoula, Montana in the nineteen-twenties. While much of the tale is about growing up, it is also about flyfishing. In both the movie and the book, the notion of fly fishing as a kind of calculated, yet lyrical, art form comes across really strongly.

During the very first chapter of the book, the father of the narrator compares fly angling to a form of art by saying, "It is an art that is performed on a four-count rhythm between ten and two o'clock".

Whether fly fishing is, in fact, a form of art is a matter for the theorists to talk about. Suffice it to say, neither Norman Maclean's novel nor the movie version of the book have done anything to dispel the mystery surrounding this kind of fishing. Perhaps it's because much flyfishing is conducted in out of the way spots like up in the mountains where the river runs cool and crystal clear and the bass flick their tails lazily in its watery depths that fly fishing has gotten a reputation for being a meditative pastime.

While species of fish may be captured employing a fly in saltwater as well as freshwater, the idea is still there that this is not the kind of angling you can rush. It takes patience and a readiness to wait for success. Needless to say, there's time to reflect upon the meaning of living, the world and many other things whilst waiting. It is hardly astonishing then, that flyfishing is thought to be a much more contemplative kind of activity than, let's say, matching wits with a huge marlin or a feisty tiger fish.

This is not to suggest that a freshwater trout captured using a fly won't put up a fight, but rather that the emphasis with this type of angling rests on the angler's deftness in casting the fly and on the fluid 'dance' between man and fish. Competition fishing and deep sea angling, on the other hand, come off as being far more 'red in tooth and claw' than flyfishing, with the line between sport and battle in the former seeming somewhat blurred. Viewed like this, flyfishing comes off as a gentler and less competitive pastime.

Okay, you may not concur with the above explanation of flyfishing as an art rather than a sporting activity. In reality, it could even be both. There's skill and artistry in all forms of angling but girls, I'm sure you will agree, only flyfishing has got Brad Pitt!

the weeknd payroll tax payroll tax aisha khan alanis morissette vanessa bryant vanessa bryant