What are "flies?"

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Why do we call our sport, "fly" fishing? 

    Back in the days when the technique of fishing we now call "fly fishing" began to be explored, it was based upon existing methods used to catch fish.  It was a natural extension of  then-current angling practice which used food known to be eaten by fish, attached to the end of a line, in an effort to catch them.  It became obvious that fish ate insects.  To imitate that type of food, "flies" tied on hooks evolved.  The evolution of this technique was a natural progression of the proven method of fishing with "bait."

    So, despite the existence of a somewhat widespread perception that fly fishing originated as an "aristocratic" pastime, or an angling style that was borne as an "art", with a foundation in a technique of casting destined only for the skilled or privileged, that is a lot of hooey . . . 

    For in its simplest form, fly fishing is just another form of baitfishing.

The fish don't care
   Fish are interested in eating food.  They are not particular about how that food gets to them.  Fishing, when using anything other than live bait, has always been designed to imitate live food.  Fly fishing is just another method of fooling fish into believing that the imitation we call a "fly" is a natural insect or other food source they consume.

Previous / Moving on, take a look at an the basic anatomy of a fly