>>331930Yes I do know that, in fact I fish in the surf more often than anything else. I love fly fishing and have done it in many different places and with a large variety of fly and line types. But fly fishing is still the least versatile. It offers the shortest cast distances, the greatest sensitivity to wind and surroundings (back casts snagging on things), the smallest selection of baits/lures (vs a spinning setup) and is effective in the smallest selection of waters.
I could take my spinning rod and fish off the pier, off the beach, off a boat, off a freshwater bank, with both live and cut bait, or surface lures, or deep water lures, or whatever the fuck I feel like. You can toss out a rooster tail just as easily as you can toss out a live minnow just as easily as you can troll with flashers.
Fly fishing is a lot more delicate and just plain harder to do. It is by far more rewarding and more fun when you actually catch fish, but you snag stuff, you can't cast very far, you can't cast as accurately, you can't cast in wind, you can't fish very deep, you can't just plunk a piece of meat out there and see what happens.
I'm the only fly lover out of all my buddies. Let me tell you, it really sucks when 4 of you are standing on a bank and you're the only one not catching anything because you can't keep up with their spinning gear. Maybe the fish are deep, maybe they're only taking still bait, maybe they're holed up out of your reach, but being the only guy fly fishing usually means you are either the only one catching anything, or the only one catching nothing.
But, those soft rods make the smallest trout feel like a tuna, and hand-line fighting a fish is so much more exciting than just cranking it in on a mechanical reel. That's why I fly fish. Also because it's an absolute killer in streams and creeks.
