# Fishing with non-fly fishing friends? TX Edition



## CKEAT (Aug 26, 2015)

That Texas trout, meat hauling, chest deep wading has always baffled me. 

Spend small fortunes into boats to scream across 8” of water for no apparent reason and stop in a foot of water to then wade out chest deep. 

I can’t help but laugh every time I see it.


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

Normally I would not, but it does depend on where/who. I ain’t an armpit deep wade fisher, but I’ve certainly worked shin deep water while others in the party fished that stuff. If it was a sight casting wading trip I would, but most of the non-fly guys I fish with aren’t sightcasting (unless with me) either.


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## RJTaylor (Oct 4, 2017)

I always took one. Lots of trips involved a wading stop, or 2. Most of the friends I hopped on with had already spent more than their fair share on the bow of my boat though.


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

I don’t think they’ll care so long as you don’t stick a clouser in them. 

I’ve fly fished many times on my buddies boats while they use baitcasting gear. We all have fun. We’ve waded, poled down on a spot, drifted, fished with the troll motor. There’s generally opportunities to fly fish about every trip. I’ll bring along my baitcasting set up, too.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

CKEAT said:


> That Texas trout, meat hauling, chest deep wading has always baffled me.
> 
> Spend small fortunes into boats to scream across 8” of water for no apparent reason and stop in a foot of water to then wade out chest deep.
> 
> I can’t help but laugh every time I see it.


Sorry buddy, that’s not the type of guys I run with. Sucks that that’s the people you know and or run with. 

Good luck with all that though.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Surffshr said:


> Normally I would not, but it does depend on where/who. I ain’t an armpit deep wade fisher, but I’ve certainly worked shin deep water while others in the party fished that stuff. If it was a sight casting wading trip I would, but most of the non-fly guys I fish with aren’t sightcasting (unless with me) either.


The guys I fish with aren’t the armpit deep kinda guys. Belly button deep is about as deep as we wade and that’s only crossing guts or pot holes. 

They just don’t fly fish. I haven’t brought one along because it seems like a pain to set it up and break it down when not being used.


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## RJTaylor (Oct 4, 2017)

MatthewAbbott said:


> The guys I fish with aren’t the armpit deep kinda guys. Belly button deep is about as deep as we wade and that’s only crossing guts or pot holes.
> 
> They just don’t fly fish. I haven’t brought one along because it seems like a pain to set it up and break it down when not being used.


Find one of those 2pc rod tubes that is made to hold a rigged rod. Takes about 2 minutes til you’re fish ready.


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## Surffshr (Dec 28, 2017)

MatthewAbbott said:


> They just don’t fly fish. I haven’t brought one along because it seems like a pain to set it up and break it down when not being used.


You would definitely be the “special” one with the fly rod and the PIA that it is in that regard. LOL


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## Drifter (Dec 13, 2018)

I thought real flyfisherman didn't have friends that don't flyfish


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Drifter said:


> I thought real flyfisherman didn't have friends that soak bait


Who soaks bait?


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

For the most part, I don’t break my fly rod down on the boat. It might be broken down to start the day, but stays ready after that. Sometimes, I’ll bring two and one stays in the case and the other is rigged and ready. My gear is organized and I have one small case for everything and a rod tube, so I’m not creating tripping hazards on the deck. 

We might go from place to place and I’ll hang on to the rod set up if I can’t find a suitable rod holder or safe place to stash it. 

I promise you no one makes a big deal about it. You’ll likely get positive feedback or at least some barely disguised jealousy when pulling in a nice fish on the fly rod.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

karstopo said:


> For the most part, I don’t break my fly rod down on the boat. It might be broken down to start the day, but stays ready after that. Sometimes, I’ll bring two and one stays in the case and the other is rigged and ready. My gear is organized and I have one small case for everything and a rod tube, so I’m not creating tripping hazards on the deck.
> 
> We might go from place to place and I’ll hang on to the rod set up if I can’t find a suitable rod holder or safe place to stash it.
> 
> I promise you no one makes a big deal about it. You’ll likely get positive feedback or at least some barely disguised jealousy when pulling in a nice fish on the fly rod.


 Like the idea of rigging it once at the first opportunity and leaving it rigged. Just seems like an inconvenience while traveling to other spots. I could hold on to it like you say while underway.


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## Drifter (Dec 13, 2018)

MatthewAbbott said:


> Who soaks bait?


there fixed it.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Drifter said:


> I thought real flyfisherman didn't have friends that don't flyfish





Drifter said:


> there fixed it.


I just pretend to be one on weekdays.


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## AZ_squid (Mar 14, 2018)

I've got Texas trout, chest deep wading buddies. I also have drift fishing popping cork meat hauling buddies. They're generally not synonymous. I don't fish with the meat haul guys most of the time, but the trout chasing belly deep guys I'll fish all day with them. Most of the big trout people are into conservation as well as the fly guys. We fish different water but don't necessarily have different ideals. Fly rod comes along with me on those trips most of the time, but then again I'm always the weird long rod guy.


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## jay.bush1434 (Dec 27, 2014)

I bring my fly rod all the time. As a matter of fact, I rarely grab a conventional rod. My non fly buddies all get that I like to fly fish. They bring their short rods on my boat and I take my long rods on their boats. I just wish they could pole better...


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

As long as you keep it rigged to not delay them and don’t hinder their fishing I don’t see how it could have a negative effect.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I fish a mix of fly and non-fly anglers year 'round in the backcountry of the 'glades.... and I can fish both at the same time easily... The fly guy gets the bow, the spin or plug fisher gets the rest of the skiff. My fly guy gets first shot -then the lure guy comes in behind him (or actually right across and ahead of him at times..). It takes a few minutes to work out the timing but seems to work out pretty well whether we're sight fishing or beating the bushes along one shoreline or other. The fly angler has the ability to finesse a fly near a really shallow fish, the lure guy has the ability to reach out much farther than the guy with the fly rod... I also encourage my fly fisher to be ready at a moment's notice to toss his (or her) fly behind a fish that's been hooked by their partner... and we get a few doubles that way - particularly with redfish... Note: both anglers must fish the same side of the boat - it won't work any other way...

It all changes when we're working big tarpon with a few exceptions... When we're actively fishing laid ups or rolling fish that aren't going anywhere (much of our tarpon fishing in the 'glades doesn't involve migrating fish at all...) I'll have one or the other up in the bow while the other angler just watches... In big open bays or along the coast where big fish are hanging out pre-migration we have the option while fly fishing them - to have a live bait 100 to as much as 300 feet behind the skiff -on the side of the boat that's not in the way of a fly caster just sitting in a rodholder and not "tended" at all.. At times things can get interesting with an angler hooked up on fly - then the live bait getting crunched... When we're sight-fishing tarpon at night (mostly fish from 20 to 40lbs) it's much the same except that the lure angler can toss his lure at fish that are no longer within the fly anglers range - as long as the fly guy casts first... and we seem to have few tangles or conflicts. Each night is different by the way - some nights the fly angler gets most of the bites - other nights he or she has to work hard to get just one or two takes while the lure angler gets multiple strikes... 

Some fly anglers don't want anyone on the skiff with them that isn't a fly angler - for others it's not the slightest problem at all...


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

MatthewAbbott said:


> I always find myself wanting to bring my fly rods but don’t want to be “that guy.”


Just be "that guy". Embrace it. Own it. 

Who knows...you may convert some of your buddies over. 

I discovered the fly rod myself because the people I was fishing exposed me to it...


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Thanks for the responses guys. I guessing I’ll start bringing a long rod along with me when I’m out on other peoples boats now.


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

I take my 7/8 weight 7’6” G.Loomis Short Stix on the friend’s boats. The foot and a half less rod makes it a little easier not to get in others way while fishing off the boat deck. 

I don’t want or ask for any special treatment on the boat because I’m using fly gear and my buddies don’t generally give me any. One has a 23’ Blue wave and the other a big Shoalwater. There’s tons of room on those boat to find a place to set up. Both generally take the bow to run troll motors, but those boats have good space on the stern end for a fly fisherman to fish. 

Neither of these guys focused chest deep wade fishermen. More like sight and sign fishermen along edges and shallow water fish hunters. They might wade where possible or edge along under electric power when not. But we all look for fish rather than work blindly along expanses of water.


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## Padre (Jul 29, 2016)

MatthewAbbott said:


> The guys I fish with aren’t the armpit deep kinda guys. Belly button deep is about as deep as we wade and that’s only crossing guts or pot holes.
> 
> They just don’t fly fish. I haven’t brought one along because it seems like a pain to set it up and break it down when not being used.

















No armpit wading for us. There is nothing like poling your flats boat up as skinny as it will go and wading for belly crawlers.


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## RJTaylor (Oct 4, 2017)

Padre said:


> View attachment 130154
> View attachment 130152
> No armpit wading for us. There is nothing like poling your flats boat up as skinny as it will go and wading for belly crawlers.


Did it many a year from a Dargel or Shallow Sport. Sometimes I think I caught more fish.


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## Padre (Jul 29, 2016)

RJTaylor said:


> Did it many a year from a Dargel or Shallow Sport. Sometimes I think I caught more fish.


You can definitely get closer to them without them seeing you.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

@Padre It’s always a little disheartening to wade up on nice fish with a bait caster in my hand. I still like to see them eat; even if it a soft plastic though.


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## AZ_squid (Mar 14, 2018)

MatthewAbbott said:


> @Padre It’s always a little disheartening to wade up on nice fish with a bait caster in my hand. I still like to see them eat; even if it a soft plastic though.


Fly just makes it that much more rewarding. I want that 30"+ trout, but I want it on my terms, sight casted on the fly rod. My biggest is about 27" on the fly and just under 30" on lures. It'll come, I can generally get on the big girls from the skiff but getting them to eat has been frustrating.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Something I forgot to mention is that many times my guy with a spinning or plug casting rod - is actually a fly angler who has "something else" in his or her hands while waiting their turn in the bow with a fly rod... 

I know many, many fly anglers who started with fly rods from the very beginning but older guys (like me...) started with spin or plug and only took up fly fishing after they'd learned to fish in other ways... For us, fly fishing is just one more way to go about your day on the water... I actually built my first fly rod - before I knew how to use it - but that wasn't un-common way back in the seventies... I'd been building my own rods since 1971 but only that first fly rod in 1976 (and no, I didn't get it right the first time...). All of this was well before the first graphite blanks were even available at all... Seems like just yesterday to me.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

AZ_squid said:


> Fly just makes it that much more rewarding. I want that 30"+ trout, but I want it on my terms, sight casted on the fly rod. My biggest is about 27" on the fly and just under 30" on lures. It'll come, I can generally get on the big girls from the skiff but getting them to eat has been frustrating.


I’d love to catch a 30”+ on any artificial. Lol. My PB is around that 27” mark and 23-24 on fly. I was hoping to try and specifically target big trout with the fly rod this spring but the way this year has turned out that didn’t happen.


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## AZ_squid (Mar 14, 2018)

MatthewAbbott said:


> I’d love to catch a 30”+ on any artificial. Lol. My PB is around that 27” mark and 23-24 on fly. I was hoping to try and specifically target big trout with the fly rod this spring but the way this year has turned out that didn’t happen.


30+ is the dream. Haha. Hope you can swing a few trips this spring and try to get on one.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Me too. Lol


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## Steve_Mevers (Feb 8, 2013)

The guys that fish in my boat know there will always be fly rods in the boat.


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Steve_Mevers said:


> The guys that fish in my boat know there will always be fly rods in the boat.


My boats the same.


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## jglidden (Feb 13, 2014)

Here is a radical idea... Ask the owner/operator of the boat if they have storage and if they mind.

Good luck!


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

jglidden said:


> Here is a radical idea... Ask the owner/operator of the boat if they have storage and if they mind.
> 
> Good luck!


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## Andresspinetti (Mar 5, 2018)

MatthewAbbott said:


> Do y’all take your fly rod when going out with friends who do not fly fish?
> 
> Strictly speaking of inshore/bay fishing. The majority of the time I’m on someone else’s boat they don’t fly fish but we are wade fishing. Do you guys bring the long rods along? Or keep to traditional tackle?
> 
> I always find myself wanting to bring my fly rods but don’t want to be “that guy.”


funny enough one of the only times i bit the bullet at went with my friends hip deep wading (which i hate more than when the weatherman is awfully wrong), i took my 6wt and landed my first and only 30 inch speck trout on fly so moral of the story is sometimes it pays off i guess haha


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Andresspinetti said:


> funny enough one of the only times i bit the bullet at went with my friends hip deep wading (which i hate more than when the weatherman is awfully wrong), i took my 6wt and landed my first and only 30 inch speck trout on fly so moral of the story is sometimes it pays off i guess haha


30” trout on fly is a lifetime fish, IMHO. Congrats! Any pics?


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## AZ_squid (Mar 14, 2018)

MatthewAbbott said:


> 30” trout on fly is a lifetime fish, IMHO. Congrats! Any pics?


No kidding. That's a hell of a fish.


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## Capnredfish (Feb 1, 2012)

I take a buddy that uses a fly rod. It looks fun and rewarding, but I don’t use a fly. I do catch more fish than he does. Speaking of trout. 13lb beauty caught on dead shrimp sight casting middle of a summer afternoon. I’ll stick to bait and part time artificials. I’ve thought of getting my daughter to try out fly fishing.


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## Finn Maccumhail (Apr 9, 2010)

MatthewAbbott said:


> I’d love to catch a 30”+ on any artificial. Lol. My PB is around that 27” mark and 23-24 on fly. I was hoping to try and specifically target big trout with the fly rod this spring but the way this year has turned out that didn’t happen.


I'm pretty sure getting a big, sow trout to eat a fly when she's laid up or you're sight-casting as at least as difficult as getting a permit to eat. Most all of my trout on the fly have been blind-casting the surf. I've tried repeatedly to get big trout I've seen to eat a fly but they just ignore it. They don't spook they just act too good to eat a well-placed fly.

It's maddening. Different from sheepies which generally flee in abject terror from a 1" piece of fluff like a grenade went off under the water. Permit seem to like to examine a fly from all angles for about an hour before they decide whether or not they're going to eat. Usually they don't eat.


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

Finn Maccumhail said:


> Different from sheepies which generally flee in abject terror from a 1" piece of fluff like a grenade went off under the water.


*lol* So true about the sheepies. I waded up onto a hole full of them here once and dropped a tiny crab fly into it softly. They acted like I stuck a cattle prod in and lit them up.

Sounds like the big TX trout act like our SWFL snook...


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## MatthewAbbott (Feb 25, 2017)

Finn Maccumhail said:


> I'm pretty sure getting a big, sow trout to eat a fly when she's laid up or you're sight-casting as at least as difficult as getting a permit to eat. Most all of my trout on the fly have been blind-casting the surf. I've tried repeatedly to get big trout I've seen to eat a fly but they just ignore it. They don't spook they just act too good to eat a well-placed fly.
> 
> It's maddening. Different from sheepies which generally flee in abject terror from a 1" piece of fluff like a grenade went off under the water. Permit seem to like to examine a fly from all angles for about an hour before they decide whether or not they're going to eat. Usually they don't eat.


I’ve never fished for permit but your spot on for the big trout (in clear water) and sheepies I cast at. Lol

Big trout also have a way to simply disappear.


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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)

Been known to take mine on my 22 Grady White and catch dolphin. It was not the casting or enticing the fish that I was looking for. They will eat anything.

It was the practice fighting of the fish I wanted o learn. It was fun and I learned a lot doing it.

Hmmm...……..Summers Comming


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

I went fly fishing for Tarpon and brought my non fly fishing friend. I'm waiting to cast to a fish on the string and plop a big artificial bait hit the water in front of me. Didn't catch a tarpon on that trip


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## mro (Jan 24, 2018)

When fishing two on a boat,
I wouldn't even think it would come up.
Anyone fishing with me on my boats could fish however they wanted. I might suggest while fishing but that's it. 

I'd not go with others who were not comfortable with a fly guy doing his thing.


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