The other pleasures of fly fishing, with Dylan Tomine

I’ve been asked to touch more on the spirituality of fly fishing in my podcasts, and honestly I’m not very good at that. So I asked a thoughtful friend and author, Dylan Tomine [32:54], to touch on these aspects of fly fishing. I don’t think we got very spiritual, but we do ramble on about the other aspects of fly fishing we enjoy besides catching fish, casting, and tying flies. It’s mostly about the people.

In the Fly Box this week, I had some great questions, including:

I am going backpacking and want to travel light but fish some streamers in the middle of the day. What should I take for lines?

Will my 6-weight Helios rod be too heavy for fishing Slough Creek in Yellowstone Park?

How do you decide when to give up when fishing a small stream?

For fishing the banks of small ponds, will my 6-weight Pro line be OK or should I try a Bank Shot line for roll casting?

Can I use straight level fluorocarbon for a leader for lake trout and small mouth bass?

My polarized sunglasses don’t work well for spotting trout. Are all polarized sunglasses equal in terms of seeing fish?

What line should I use on my 9-foot, 8-weight Encounter rod when fishing 10 to 15 feet of water?

What do you do when switching from nymph fishing to fishing a hatch? What about furled leaders?

I keep losing large rainbow trout when they jump. I am indicator nymphing. Am I doing something wrong?