Just out of curiousity, how many of you fly-fish only, gear fish only or "whatever it takes to get 'em"?

I find that the more I fish, the more I enjoy the challenge and approaches of flyfishing. In cases where fly fishing is more of a pain then a joy, I gear fish (example: bottom fish and most saltwater). For certain types of fish and certain times of the year I gear fish only. However, most of my time is spent fly fishing. There is just something about getting a fish to rise to a fly that I really enjoy. Or even spotting fish then throwing to them with a hand tied fly.

This topic may have been brought up before but I have no memory of it.

I gear fish for salmon steelhead and bass but mostly flyfish for trout
Tyler

I go both ways. Whatever it takes to get the job done.

I flyfish small streams and ponds for trout in the summer. Gear fish Salmon and Steelhead. Although a friend of mine turned me onto dragging a fly for silvers up at Seiku this past season. That was really fun. I'm thinking of buying heavier fly gear and learning a thing or two on the rivers next season....

I fish all methods [started with flyfishing] but I have found after extensive research that fishing under a bobber [herring for silvers, jigs & bait for steelhead, coho, & 'nooks, chiranimids for trout] seems to satisfy my soul the best. Something about the visual nature of the strike, familiar but always different.

I would prefer to flyfish for everything, and did for a few years, but I'm just not that good of a flyfisherman. I still flyfish exclusively for trout, use both flies and hardware for bass, use hardware/bait for steelhead, northern pike and whatever else I try for. If I every learn the habbits of steelhead and northern pike, I'll probably start flyfishing for them more. As for now though I'm not one of those driven fishermen who absolutely _has_ to catch fish, I still prefer to catch fish and therefore will use hardware/bait.

I fly fish only. I have caught salmon, steelhead,
trout, bass, lincod etc. I have been fly fishing for only 6 years. To catch my first steelhead it took me 84 hours to catch it, After the first one they come much easier. I have nothing against bait fisherman just my personal preference to fly fish.

I started out a fly fish or die person. I spent so much time chasing trout that there was no corner of the west I have not traveled. Then I got the crazys for big fish on the fly. This made me do stuff like stand on a ladder in Pyramide lake Nevada for hundreds of hours a year (ever caught a 15 lb cutthroat ??? I have. Then I caught a couple steelhead on the fly and I WAS TOTALLY SCREWED... That was in the early 80's.. ever since nothing else will do. Along the way I found that in order to get in as much steelhead fishing as I wanted I would have to learn how to gear fish. This allowed me to fish with other people (that don't fly fish) Then I decided that I needed a drift boat. Got that all dialed in and these days I enjoy plugging as much as anything. From there I decided it was time to learn new stuff so I bought a jet boat and have been learning about Sturgon fishing.. its pretty cool. Now days I treat myself to a trip to Canada when I want to get back to my roots and fish for steelhead with the fly rod. Nothing on this earth can match the pure rush you get when a big double stripper buck hammers a bunny leach... My God I have an erection now.. and have to go ruff up the suspect

i attempted to flyfish a couple years ago bought a bass rig flyrod from cabellas but never could get the dang thing to cast any distance and lay out straight, so now it is retired in my shop
mike

I am a complete, absolute nut about fishing. I swing both ways. Gear, fly, bait, it doesn't matter to me. Power boat, drift boat, banking, that's all OK, too. I also tie flies and build rods, to round out the craziness.

And lest you try to horn in on my water, be aware that I handload ammunition, too. :-)

I chuck bait and hardware. No feather flicking (baitchucker)would kill me.

Steelhead/Salmon-guts, animals, or scrap metal.
Trout-animals or scrap metal.
Bass-everything!
Sunfish-flies, animals.
Lingcod/Rockcod/Salmon-herring, scrap metal.
Sturgeon-gutts, animals.

Bait for steelheading.
Plug cut herring and Buzz Bombs for salmon.
Trout....I don't bother with. Sorry, but a trout is a trout.
I like the feel of a fish on a fly rod, but I don't like the reel. It's like trying to ride a tricycle as an adult. But.....The Hubster outfished me 5 to 1 for bonefish using flies to my spinners and rubber crawdaddies. So....I will fly fish tropical waters with flies from now on.

If salmon return again like they did last summer, I'll try flinging flies at them. Love my Sage. But I really hate those reels.

diana

Trophydeer- I am curious as to how you catch lings on a fly-rod? Most of the lincod fishing I do is in deep water. It would be horrible trying to use a fly rod, I would think.

My preference has always been fly fishing- even for Kings off the mouth the the Puyallup. (Yeah that was me!) Something about it that is as addicting as crack...

During Winter, especially when the rivers are blown out, I am a gear junkie.

Steelhead fishing has always been a longrod and a spoon.I bought an 8 wieght this year but didn't use it much.I did take a look at my steely rivers from a fly fishermen point of veiw to prepare for a serios assault next year with fly gear.

Trout I prefer a fly but am not afraid to hang out at a couple of differant boat launches with the local old boys dunking power bait.

Salmon also has always been a gear show but I acasionaly get outfished by flyfishermen.Next season is going to be flyfishing only for incoming saltchuck salmon

Steelhead-Fly & Gear...it all depends on where I am fishing and however I feel like fishing that day. To this day, I think I've got more steelies on the fly then gear, if not, then it is 50/50.

Salmon-I rarely fish salmon in rivers but I love fishing for them in the salt with the fly (next summer/fall, I am going to focus on taking coho on poppers!!). Plus I love mooching for them and throwing herring under a float.

Trout-Fly-only...when I do fish for trout which is a rarity.

The only thing I've fly fished for was trout and bass. Been fairly successful at both. I'm going to buy a heavier fly rod set up for steelies this summer though. Typically, I'll use whatever method will work the best but I do want to fight a steelie on a fly rod. I was at a lake up in Canada full of wild rainbows a few years ago and in the morning, the best approach was to simply drown powerbait off the dock. In the afternoon, the best method was to troll flatfish or spoons around the shoreline. But in the evening, if you weren't flinging flies, you were out of luck.

From what I gather, fly fishing for steelies isn't near as productive as drift or float fishing. I've seen pictures of guys catch them on flies, I've talked to people who've done it, but I've never seen a steelhead landed on a fly or spoken with a fly fisher who's had any success on that particular day.

my favorite fishing in the world is salmon in the salt. the last 2 years I have been real successful at it. Ben

A couple years ago FJ and I were fishing the same small stretch of water with a fly guy. There were literally hundreds of salmon all around us and hungry....we were hooking up within 3 casts after releasing the previous fish....the fly guy....never hooked up....definitely swayed me to the gear side...