Fish Finders Blog

most everything is different, first off the false casting the the previous answer mentioned is used mostly with dry flys (which look like insects on the surface of the water) the “wave” back and forth thing is to dry the fly so it floats. false casting can also be used to make further casts with other types of flys. fly fishing by the way is one of the oldest forms of fishing, it pretty much developed in england and bait casting split off from it later on. “regular fishing” or spin fishing didn’t really show up until after WW II when the first spinning reel was invented in france.
generally with fly fishing you are using flys that look like insects which are the main food source for most fresh water fish, often the the flys are made (called tying) by the fisherman. because of this most fly fisherman pay close attention to what fish are eating and entomology (study of insects) so they can identify what and when the fish are eating. further more they learn to read the water, meaning they have a pretty good idea of what it looks like under the water by what it looks like on the surface, by knowing what the bottom looks like they know where the fish are, have you ever noticed that the spinning rods tend to line up in the slow holes while the fly fisherman are standing in the rapids, there is a reason for that.
the flys are cast by the weight of the line not the weight of the lure like regular fishing. most fly fishermen use lines that float (they are made of a flexible pvc) although there are times when a sinking line is used (usually in lakes) or just a sinking tip line (lakes and rivers, commonly used for salmon and steelhead).
regular fishing usually uses lures (fish imitations) or worms (there are flys for both fish and worms though) sometimes things like corn or powerbait (which is great for farm raised planters not so much for naturals) and the cast is down stream or across and retrieved, usually the strike is felt. for the most part fly fishing casts upstream and the strike is seen either when the fish take the dry fly or with a strike indicator.
fly fishing uses a much lighter and longer rod that is more sensitive than the average spinning rod. fly reels are a 1:1 ratio and it will not automatically feed line if the fish runs while your reeling in, fly fishermen are very careful when it comes to the fight, usually the reel is only used on larger fish and sometimes its necessary to pull large fish in by hand (if they charge you), smaller fish are pulled in by hand. it takes a bit more skill to land a fish on a fly rod.
there are plenty of exceptions to everything (for example you can get special bobbers that are weighted for casting flys with a spinning rod).
this could go on and on so I’ll stop here. hopefully its enough to give you an idea. I fly fish and its highly unlikely that you’ll ever see me with a spinning rod, fly fishing is just way more fun, it’s one of those things you can work on your entire life and there will always be more to learn, its also not really a drinking mans form of angling as it requires constant attention, you are always doing something, not really a sit and wait thing.