What the hell is fly fishing?

Fly fishing falls squarely into the category of things that (i) I’ve heard of before, but (ii) don’t really know what they mean. Given, however, that something called “Fly Fishing” is going to be filming on our block on May 3, I did a little research into it and here is what I’ve learned:

Regular fishing basically uses a rod, a relatively weightless line, some sort of bait like a worm, and a “sinker” or weight near bait. The weight of the sinker is what allows you to cast the bait and hook out into the water.

Fly fishing does not use an actual fly as bait, dork. It uses a rod, a weighted line (sort of like a heavy rope at the gym, I gather), some sort of artificial “fly” (made out of feathers or something that imitates an insect), and no sinker or weight near the hook. Because there is no weight at the end of the line, you sort of chop the fishing pole in a tomahawk-like motion to fling the “fly” away from you and out into the water.

Importantly, because there is no sinker on the end of the line, the bait doesn’t sink, and you can catch fish like trout that swim on the top of the water.

So why on earth would anything involving this slightly altered form of fishing be filming on our block? I’m not exactly sure, but I think that the shoot is associated with the “Fly Fishing Film Tour,” which is basically a collection of 10 or so fly fishing-related short films that are produced on a yearly basis by a small film company in Boulder, Colorado. The films tell true, up-lifting stories about fly fishing from around the world. You can see the winner of the 2019 Tour here (it’s only 12 minutes long): THE MIDNIGHT MISSION - Award Winning Short Film - YouTube.

Perhaps the 2022 Fly Fishing Film Tour will feature gratuitous shots of fly fishing on the Hudson. If so, we’ll organize a fly fishing event in 2023.