1. This is much more than a "sport" to me.  I believe that any dedicated fisherman, wether of the fly fishing variety or not, must first of all be involved actively in the world that surrounds him/her;  in this case, the outdoors.   This means that we must be aware of our surroundings, how we relate to them and how they determine the quality of our fishing experience.  How does this relate to how many fish we catch?  Probably quite a bit I suspect, but at the very least, it makes us "friends" of the waters/lands we fish on and there can never be enough of us when we consider how eager the industrial giants of the world are to swallow up what's left of our natural landscape!

         2. I think that flyfishing puts me in closer contact with the whole "ecosystem" and how fish (trout) in particular) react and exist in the waters they live in.  This has also made me a better fisherman in the process, which is an added bonus!

3. Flyfishing involves so much more than simply casting a line/lure to waiting fish.  It can be technical, fussy, frustrating and pretentious if we let it, but at its heart, fly fishing is plain good therapy for those of us who tire quickly of the never ending demands of the "real world".  In my case, I think it is often a pure sense of escape that holds me in its spell for as long as I'm on the river.  That's why you'll see me returning to the river so often!

FLY FISHING READING

I LOVE TO READ ABOUT FLY FISHING, WETHER IT BE ABOUT TECHNIQUES, FLIES, ANECDOTAL STORIES, HUMOUR OR TRIP PLANNING, I DEVOUR GOOD FLY FISHING WRITING VORACIOUSLY.  THE LINKS BELOW WILL HOOK YOU UP WITH SOME OF MY FAVOURITE AUTHORS:

JOHN GIERACH IS ONE OF MY TRUE FLY FISHING "HEROES", BECAUSE OF THE WAY HE WRITES AND, PERHAPS MORE IMPORTANTLY, BECAUSE HE'S LIVING MY FANTASY! (SORRY JOHN, I KNOW THAT MIGHT POP A SEAM IN YOUR WADERS BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE TO HEAR THIS SORT OF STUFF). 

 I LOVE MANY THINGS ABOUT THE WAY GIERACH VIEWS OUR SPORT, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS HIS OFTEN SELF-DEPRECATING VIEW OF HIS CONSIDERABLE SKILLS AS WELL AS HIS CONSTANT ATTEMPTS TO DEMISTIFY FLY FISHING AND STRIP AWAY THE PRETENTION THAT CAN SOMETIMES COME TO OUR WATERS.  HE IS A KEEN OBSERVER OF WHAT MAKES OUR PASTTIME THE GREATEST ONE IN THE WORLD AND HE DOES A MASTERFUL JOB OF MIXING HUMOUR, INFORMATION AND GREAT STORY TELLING.  HERE'S A SPOT YOU CAN FIND A REVIEW OF ONE HIS LATEST EFFORTS:

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?show=Hardcover:Sale:068486858x:8.98

WHEN IT COMES TO TECHNIQUE AND FISHING THE WATER, THERE ARE MANY GREAT AUTHORS, BUT THE ONE WHO HAS GIVEN ME THE BEST KNOWLEDGE (PROBABLY BECAUSE I FISH THE BOW SO MUCH) IS CALGARY AUTHOR AND FLY FISHING STORE OPERATOR, JIM MCLENNAN. 

I TOOK AN INTRODUCTORY FLY FISHING COURSE FROM JIM MANY YEARS AGO AND SINCE THEN, I'VE ALWAYS BEEN EAGER TO READ ANYTHING HE PRODUCES ON FLY FISHING.  hE PUBLISHES REGULARLY IN FLY FISHERMAN MAGAZINE AND HAS PUBLISHED THREE FINE BOOKS ON FLY FISHING IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA. (HIS "BLUE RIBBON BOW" REMAINS AS A CLASSIC PIECE OF BOW RIVER WRITING AND IS A PREREQUISITE FOR ANY WHO WANT TO KNOW THIS RIVER) I FIND McLENNAN'S STYLE TO BE CONCISE, INFORMATIVE AND ALWAYS IN TOUCH WITH THE BEST PRINCIPLES OF FLY FISHING.  THE LINKS BELOW WILL GET YOU INTO MORE INFORMATION ON MY FAVOURITE LOCAL "GURU":

http://www.flyshop.com/About/Mclennan/