Getting started in fly fishing may be the most challenging forms of casting and fishing. It involves hunting—in this case for fish. It’s simply a completely self-involved sport. You prepare yourself, through fly casting, fly tying, reading, practicing, observing, fishing, exploring, and learning through realtime online peer-bonding, and travelall done as a lifelong adventure quest to capture those most beautiful of creatures, the fish of the world. And when you have caught them, you release them.

Does this make sense? Absolutely, but only to fly fishers. The rest of the world considers us a bit nutty. “Why,” they say, “would anyone put so much effort into such an obsessive behavior?” Relax, guys. Is this fly fishing a sport after all? It is a sport, in a sense the king of sports because it requires that sporting behavior follow the most demanding code of conduct.

Some fly fishers insist that their fishing be done exclusively with dry flies fished only over rising fish. This is the crown¬ing, exclusionary challenge, requiring in some cases (on closed club waters) that one not cast his fly for hours, un¬til he glimpses that first rising trout. These practitioners are called “purists.” God love ’um, for they teach us all to be good, if not practical.