11-12-2004, 02:05 AM
You both have a point, and its a wake up for everyone that yields a rod in Colorado waters. But I must say I've fished for trout with both bait and flies and there's no way flies cause a higher mortality rate than the hooks bait fisherman use.
Serveral reasons for this. One most of the hooks that flyfisherman use are size 12 and smaller which means they have much smaller barbs and rust out much quicker than the standard 10 to 2 sizes most bait people use. Secondly I've flyfished for the past decade and have never played a fish to death, if that happens its usually because they were kept out of the water too long. Thirdly the very few times that I've had fish take flies deep I've either cut the line or been able to use pliers leaving the fish with a hook a fraction of the size of a bait hook. But to compare what fish ingest more often flies or bait, there no comparison. And the more restrictions the better. Thats the way I look at it!
Oats
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