Is it worth the money and time?

[CatBassin]

I ran into some guys from up north about a year ago at Wally World and started talkin to them about fishing and the conversation turned to fly fishing, which I never have done any, and how it worked well on nice largemouths. I gave it some thought and let it go until this year a couple weeks when I walked into a fly shop while my wife was shopping to kill some time. I asked the owner of the shop about this and he said he had been doing it since the late 70's and it worked great because you can lay a fly on some lilly pads without making a sound and catch some real bucket mouths. Anyway, he said he gives lesson for this for $35 and had a bass fly rod and reel kit for $110, so I was wondering have any of y'all ever tried using a fly fishing outfit to catch largemouth bass and do you think it's really worth it?

[Paul Roberts]

Welcome

Gosh...depends on what you want, and maybe your expectations, patience and fishing experience.

If you are a complete novice and feel you need to have a certain catch rate and learn about bass fishing and keep up with the VanDams and ... then maybe not.

But, if you don't mind a steep learning curve, as fly-casting is not intuitive and a real challenge, and carry some romance in your heart, FF can be just awesome. I LOVE it. It is limiting though, in terms of depth and distance (at first). But you can take it very far, if you decide to. Fly-casting is mesmerizing (once you get the hang of it and this won't be overnight), and fighting fish on fly tackle is "the best" there is in my book.

Also, I think stillwater and warmwater FF is easier than moving water. DO take the lesson -best $35 you'll spend toward getting you going.

If you have the bucks, you might also want a lighter rig for bluegills -they are a blast and catch rates are so high you learn more quickly.

[CatBassin]

I have been fishing since I was 3 years old, and bass fishing most of that time, and don't think I need a certain catch ratio. I'm not taking any offense from what you said I see where you're coming from, I mean there are the people that worry about catching a limit every time or trying to go down in the history books, I just fish to relax and love to learn new things whenever I can. I was just curious of what others have experienced.

[farmpond1]

I think it depends a little on how much money and time you have in the first place.  I mean, if you are very limited in each, it may be difficult to justify all of what goes into fly fishing.  But if you have plenty of both, than by all means, go for it.  I find flyfishing a lot of fun-though I do tend to flip flop between methods.  My biggest regret is not having more time to devote to each.

[kms399]

how do you even get a 5 lb bass out of lilly pads with fly gear.

[pondhopper]

Bass on a flyrod can be a blast, and adds a technique to your bag.

[Paul Roberts]

how do you even get a 5 lb bass out of lilly pads with fly gear.

How do you do it with an UL spinning rig? You don't. There's fly-tackle for billfish, if you decide to do it. FFs come a long way.