"Hills Bros...red can."
Fly fishing is not just another form of fishing. It is indeed an evolution, as 99 percent of anglers start out as bait fishermen. The reason you stick that worm on your kid's hook is because you know it is the best chance they have to catch a fish. Fish feed by smell first and all other senses next. No one is going to argue with you that you can catch fish with roe, but the guy that can catch more fish than you using scentless flies is obviously going to be a more skilled fisherman. Now that does not mean all fly fisherman are better fisherman, and you probably do catch more fish with your roe than most fly fishermen do with flies. Now, I cannot explain to you why I would intentionally choose to fish in a manner that puts me at an obvious disadvantage to you when we are going head to head in a "catch the most fish" contest, but I can tell you that every fish I catch is going to feel a lot more satisfying to me knowing I fooled it into biting a bunch of fur and feathers, than it would by fooling it by sticking a hook into the actual stuff it is eating. Fly fishing is more difficult then fishing with bait, from the casting and presentation of the offering, to the control of a drifting fly, to the playing of the fish itself (do I fight it on the reel or on the line?). A fly fisherman has made a conscious choice to put the fishing ahead of the catching. Most bait fisherman do not get that, hence the reference to us being "elitist."