Fly anglers will point out that any bozo can stick a hook into live bait, chuck it into the water and attract a fish. Fooling a fish on a fly—an unscented, lightweight lure made mostly of fur, feathers and other natural materials—is more challenging and thus more rewarding.
Fly-fishing has always had a certain snob appeal. It’s the method favored by an elite minority, most famously for trout but also striped bass, a popular game fish that travels in schools up and down the East Coast most of the year. (Northern New England’s summer season is already in full swing; stripers will return en masse to the New York City area this fall.) Given the troubling recent decline of these aggressive feeders in some regions, catch-and-release fly-fishing is also looking more and more like the only ethical way to target them.
Despite being ingeniously designed and hand-tied, the flies themselves typically max out at a few bucks a pop, making it no big deal if one gets shredded by a sharp-toothed bluefish or breaks off after a misplaced cast.
