With the many captivating and, euphoria-producing experiences fly fishing offers to anglers around the world, it’s hard not to fall in love with this wonderful sport. But, what in particular makes fly fishing so addictive?

Let me count the ways!

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Why Is Fly Fishing Addictive?

Every year, for about the last fifteen, my son and I, along with a small group of close buddies, have made an annual trek from our Denver area homes to the fabled first thirteen mile stretch of the gold-medal Bighorn River that flows east out of Yellowtail Reservoir from Ft. Smith Montana.

We go with but one purpose in mind… to fly fish. And from just about the moment we arrive, that is just what we do, all day, every day, from nearly sunup to sundown, six days in a row. Aside from some other shorter trips around Colorado and Wyoming, this is when we give ourselves fully to our angling addiction, and, to a man, though generally satisfied at trip’s conclusion, we always feel sad when we pack up our vehicles and drive away.

Inevitably, when I rehash the trip with my wife (while trying to get her interested in looking through six days worth of “grip & grin” photos), she hits me with an observation that goes something like this: “I wish you’d smile like that more often.”

Which is her way of telling me that the smile she sees in the photographs is something unusually deeper than normal, a whole-face smile; one that arises from a part of me that I too often sequester; one that reflects a soul at peace.

Perhaps it’s this level of peace that is the ultimate source of the euphoria fly fishing anglers feel after a day (or week) on the water.

If we’re honest with ourselves, albeit a primary contributor, it’s not simply the act of casting, catching and landing a fish that gives rest to our souls. No, it’s much more than that. So, in this post, I’ll attempt to apply amateur psychological skills to help us understand why the sport of fly fishing can be so addictive.

Here, in no particular order, are ten reasons why people (like me) get addicted to fly fishing.

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1. Tranquility

It’s an understatement to say that our world has become extraordinarily loud, frenetic, demanding and, yes, angrier and angrier by the minute. From the moment we wake up in the morning until (and often beyond) when our heads hit the pillow at night, life comes at us with what sometimes feels like a relentless onslaught of noise, confusion, frustration and stress.

It’s no secret that we all long for inner peace and tranquility.

When we fly fishers wader-up, rig-up and wade-in, the world, and all its annoying static, immediately begins to recede.

Maybe it’s the sound of flowing, cascading water.

Perhaps it’s the breathtaking beauty of a mountain river valley.

Or maybe it’s the sweet smell of sage swirling in with the clean mountain air.

Maybe… probably, it’s all of the above, and more, that gives rise to an unusual sense of inner tranquility that helps purge the soul of its built-up world clutter.

2. Variety

Fly fishing offers more variety than any other fishing methods. It can be done just about anywhere fish reside: a high mountain lake, a small stream or brook, a river of most any size, a pond, a lake or an ocean.

Within a single day, a fly fishing angler might find him or herself in any number of different settings and situations, trying to induce strikes from deep below or right on top of the surface; from out in the open to underneath tight, overhanging cover; with a single and delicate dry fly rig, a dry-dropper rig, or a weighted triple nymph setup.

As they say, variety is the spice of life. It’s this kind of variety that feeds an angler’s daily hope and, in doing so, nourishes the soul.

3. Active

In their mind’s eye, many picture the act of fishing as depicted in American lore: a straw-hatted boy headin’ on down to the local crick with rolled up dungarees, bamboo pole or short spin caster and a coffee can full o’ worms. Picture Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer or Opie Taylor, kickin’ back, snoozin’ in the summer sun with a long piece of straw in his mouth, a pole propped between his toes and, at the end of his line, a dangling worm and a bobber.

Fly fishing couldn’t be any more different.

As peaceful as it can be, it’s a rather active pursuit, requiring attention, concentration, balance and quite a bit of endurance.

A day of fly fishing usually involves a fair amount of hiking to and from the river, fighting a strong current while negotiating one’s way over and through slick and rocky river beds, enduring variances in temperature, from bone-chilling mornings to wicked hot afternoons and, at the end of it all, the application of plenty of Icy Hot on all the requisite sore spots.

A full day of fly fishing can be an exhausting affair. So, too, is a day driving the desk.

Which one do you think is better for you?

4. Fly Fishing Scratches Our Hunter/Gatherer Itch

As a man, I recognize my neanderthal-like urge to hunt and gather; a survival instinct instilled by Almighty God Himself, and one that I occasionally must indulge to be at one with my circadian rhythms.

Fly fishing is the answer. There is something divinely congruent about using a glorified stick, string and bundle of thread, feathers and animal fur (technologically advanced, of course… I’m not a knuckle dragger, after all) to hunt and catch my next meal; to bring home the Christmas goose, as it were.

And even though most fly fishermen, myself among them, practice catch-and-release, there is still something deeply gratifying about scratching our hunter/gatherer itch.

5. The More You Fly Fish, The Better You Get

This may seem an obvious adage: the more you do something, the better you’re likely to get, right?

Not always true though, especially when it comes to another sporting addiction I once succumbed to, namely, golf. While I still love to play golf, as a younger man, I became obsessed with it. Yes, the more I played, the better I got. For a while, that is. As my scores came down, I found myself on the range more and more often, hitting hundreds of balls, spending too many hours practicing my putting, my chipping, sand play, and investing way too much money on instruction, equipment, clothing and, of course, balls.

And then the whole thing went south.

My bad swing habits became horribly grooved, my back started to vice up and my scores began to climb. As a result, I became way too grumpy, my marriage stumbled and my work life deteriorated. The more I played, the worse I got. Too slowly, I realized that I had allowed this once-fun, stress-reducing sport to harm my spirit and my soul.

Four to six hours on the golf course often left me disappointed or, worse, angry.

Not so with fly fishing. Yes, if not kept in check, fly fishing can become just as harmful as any other such pursuit.

That said, the more you fly fish, the better you tend to get, and the better you get, the more peaceful your spirit tends to become. And even if you have the occasional “I got skunked” day on the water, I am confident saying that anger will never be the residual emotion.

6. The Tug is the Drug

One of my good fly fishing buddies always says, “The tug is the drug.” The more I’ve thought about that, the more I realize just how right he is.

There’s a moment every fly fishing angler loves. It happens just after you’ve made that perfect cast and have watched a beautiful trout emerge from the depths to hammer it. It happens right after your strike indicator darts hard right and three feet down. It’s the split-second pause after you react with a good hook set. It’s when you feel the tug and a subsequent wriggle that confirms fish-on! Not a miss. Not a snag.

It’s then the surge of adrenaline — the drug from the tug — hits your system. If you’re blessed enough, that beautiful rainbow will sky or tail dance for you; that big brown will offer you a brief glimpse of its size just before taking your rig downward, hard and strong.

The drug’s impact will continue until you net your catch, unhook it, picture it and let it swim away. It’s no wonder how a successful day of frequent strikes and landings will leave you feeling rather euphoric.

7. Mentally Consuming

I just rebooted my computer. It desperately needed it. I realized I hadn’t shut it down in weeks. Over that time, it had become gradually, almost imperceptibly slower. It had developed several disjointed behaviors and head-scratching application oddities (in computer geek parlance, it was getting wonky). Its files, docs, apps and memory had gotten overly cluttered and the dreaded “pinwheel of death” was showing up way too often. Instead of throwing it out of my fifth story office window, I shut it down and left.

I’m sure every one of you reading this has done this hundreds of times in your life. So, why do we see this need when it comes to an inanimate object like a computer but fail to recognize it when it comes to our own brains and spirits?

They get just as junked up, just as slow, just as wonky. But instead of rebooting, we trudge on and on, ignoring the need to shut them down until we flame out in some way. But how are we supposed to reboot when we can’t really shut our brains down completely?

Again, the answer for many is to hang out the sign: “Gone Fishing!” and leave to do so.

For most of its practitioners, fly fishing provides such a reboot.

On the water, our focus is almost solely on catching the next fish. When it wanders, it wanders to fly fishing topics, like:

How can I improve my next cast?

I see a fish feeding in the next run; what’s my best approach?

What fly or rig should I try next?

What’s the best mend to keep my fly from skating?

Am I getting my fly deep enough?

And stuff like that.

Sure, it may venture into things like: I’m getting hungry. I wonder if that storm is going to miss us? Or, do I have a rock in my boot? But those thoughts are fleeting amid our fly fishing focus.

It’s uncanny how often, after a day on the water, I have not thought about work or any other brain-cluttering stresses, not even once. The ultimate benefit of this focus? My brain and spirit have enjoyed a reboot.

I come back soul-cleansed with a clear head, a refreshed heart, an improved outlook, more productive, more patient, more loving, more deeply connected with my Creator, and just plain happier.

Try to name any other addiction that can provide all of that!

Need a reboot? Shut it down and go fly fishing!

8. Endless Learning

Speaking of our brains, while they need that frequent reboot, they also love to have their seemingly endless capacity for learning continuously supplied. In a previous post, I discussed how fly fishing provides ongoing, wide open opportunities for enjoyable and positively-reinforced learning. For me, the more I learn about fly fishing, the more I want to learn.

Since, at every stage, the application of new knowledge has produced greater fish-catching success, my thirst for knowledge about the sport, and all its physical, scientific and, yes, spiritual disciplines is nearly insatiable.

9. Camaraderie

I’m relaxing in one of those Walmart plastic chairs on the back deck of a rather rustic cabin — okay, let’s call it what it really is, a glorified double-wide — with an icy Corona in hand. I’m munching on a cold shrimp. Lemon, and a small glob of cocktail sauce drips on my shirt.

Now at rest after a long and taxing day, cliques of still-rigged fly rods lay tilted against the deck rail in various corners. Hanging on the wall behind me, a row of damp and empty waders dangle from dowel pegs, in no particular order, amidst a collection of stained and faded fishing vests. They look about as weary as I feel.

Just below them is a disjointed collection of wading boots, none of which will dry out before we lace them up again in the morning. A beat-to-heck grill in the corner sputters to get going. It’ll heat up soon enough. The steaks are waiting. A jaw-dropping sunset, another Montana masterpiece, plays itself out over a swaying wheat field foreground, just behind the silhouette of the butte that forms the river’s northern boundary. It’s all the entertainment we’ll need tonight.

If Iowa is baseball’s heaven, Montana is fly fishing’s.

Around me sit my son and several of my oldest and most cherished friends. Between toasts and gulps, we’re telling stories, just as we have after every day we’ve spent on the water together. The stories range from where, and with what fly rig we all had the most success to tales of lost giants, boat mishaps and where we were when the day’s thunderstorm rolled through.

Mostly, though, as guys do, we disparage each other with off-color jokes, bad imitations and dredging up hilarious embarrassments from each of our pasts. Today’s entries bring as much belly laughter as those we’ve told and embellished time and time again.

And when we all hit the sack, my gut sore from hours of great stories and side-splitting laughter, I will rest, deeply thankful for the blessings of family, close friends and fly fishing.

I realized long ago that this kind of camaraderie is as much a part of the fly fishing experience as all the other addictive stuff I’ve been writing about.

10. Therapeutic

Ultimately, all of the addiction-inducing things listed above come together to produce a unique and deeply therapeutic benefit to the fly fishing enthusiast.

Regardless of how our trips turn out, we come away feeling more peaceful, more rested, more at one with our Creator, more in tune with our friends, families and our souls.

I’m sure it has something to do with endorphins but when something you do makes you feel so good, especially when it’s a generally healthy pursuit, you can’t help but become rather committed to it.

Call it love. Call it obsession. Call it addiction.

Call it whatever you’d like, but to be hooked on fly fishing is to be so for life.

Final Thoughts

So how’d I do as an amateur psychologist? Certainly, offering just ten reasons people get addicted to fly fishing is barely scratching the surface.

So, first, we hope you’ll sign up to be a regular member of the Fly Fishing Fix family and, second, we invite you to offer your own reasons for your fly fishing obsession in the “Leave a Reply” box below.

Tight lines!