Answers engraved on a size 20 hook please.. :-)

Taken from the Shorter OED (which is means the definitions are from before 1911):

Art: 1. Skill as the result of knowledge and practice. 2. The application of skill to subjects as poetry, music etc

Skill: 1. to have discrimination or knowledge,, esp in a specified matter. 2. Practical knowledge in combination with ability; cleverness, expertness.

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Wanted: A polarised monocle.

A combination of both - and that is not fence sitting, IMHO there are aspects of each which are mutually dependant.

Nigel

I'll take Art from those definitions as 'Skill' comes into both of the Art definitions.

Is that cheating?

I don't know if it's art, but I know I like it!

The definitions are actually quite close - closer than I'd thought they'd be. I keep referring to elements of the sport as art-forms..

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Wanted: A polarised monocle.

This is an age old question and usually comes up in The Sun around the time of the Turner Prize - how often do you hear in the pub, "That's not art, I could do it!" A common misconception that 'the art' is in some way bound up in the ability or skill to apply paint or turn a lump of marble into a naked woman and for the same reason - fly fishing is a skill not an art, even though we may like to grandiose it because we love it and see some 'beauty' in it. Art is not 'beauty'.

'Art' is conceptual and should not be confused with any character state paradigm or methodological ambience. (Sorry... but guess who's degree is in Fine Art. )

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[I]"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel."[/I] Roderick L Haig-Brown

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M, you've regurgitated this question again, it's been on here a few times!!

But, I believe it's an ARTIST AT WORK casting a tight line, presenting a perfect imitation of some form of insect or fly-life on the water, finding that delicate balance, just like an artist painting a scene on canvas where every stroke of his brush is perfectly placed! I'm of the opinion that fly fishing is a noble art practised by Gentlemen; and Ladies of-course!!

There's more to it than just fluff-chucking; and I hate that saying "Fluff Chucking" So yes there's a lot more to fly fishing than mere skill,

M

Nah. It may well be that we have a sense of inner satisfaction from casting a perfect line... but there's no expression in it. Without getting into the philosophy of aesthetics (I'll leave that to Lighthouse), to my mind, art must have some quality of expression.

Perhaps we could say that the successful physical application of acquired knowledge to the spectacle of angling is a display of skill. We see art, perhaps, in the way that this skill is demonstrated. The more exact, precise, delicate and elegant the display of this skill, the more it becomes an art. It's just a thought.
TerryC.
PS The question would have been easier to answer if it had been, 'Is fishing an art or a a science?'

Hmm
A personal view. If what you do is the result of a deliberate application of knowledge and expertise (being able to do do what you want to do and knowing what it is that you want to do in any given situation) then its a skill. If you do it instinctively then I'd call it an art. (A man who knows and knows that he knows, is a wise man, heed him; a man who knows and does not know that he knows, is a poet, honour him)
Alternatively what you do may be to apply a skill, not having your skill I might perceive it as an art.

If I suggest that my son puts on a dry CDC at my suggestion and sits down with his Ipod and roll-ups and I try a variety of different tactics and he outfishes me because he was using the right fly when the fish "came on" and couldn't be ****d to change where was the skill or the art? The fascination of the whole of whatever it is that it's impossible to say and a matter of perspective.

GD

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We come from dust; we return to dust. I'm going to fish