MarvB
Well-known member
Is fly fishing going to “implode” as a result of the pandemic?
www.anglingtrade.com
Interesting article...Covid, fly fishing, and the the outdoors in general
- Thread starter MarvB
- Start date
www.anglingtrade.com
noharleyyet
Well-known member
Paraphrased...FF Snobs dismayed ; )
MarvB
Well-known member
Pretty much. Does kind of sum it up for a lot of outdoor activities IMHO... we want recruitment into our “sports” to sustain them and for the numbers to be on our side when we face controversy ... we just don’t want to have to “see them” in the field!
Just like guns and ammo, a buggy of mine at the Fly Shop down in NorCal couldn’t keep anything in stock this year and his guides were poached like hired hit men!
Just like guns and ammo, a buggy of mine at the Fly Shop down in NorCal couldn’t keep anything in stock this year and his guides were poached like hired hit men!
Gellar
Well-known member
Flyfishing, to me, has been and will continue to be its own worst enemy for recruitment. I liken it a lot to baseball. In baseball, you have the purists who want the game to stay the same as it has been since the beginning. On the other hand you have fans who don't care about teams, just players and their fantasy numbers. They want a fast paced game and don't take the time to understand the intricacies of why a manager is doing something.
In flyfishing, you have the purists who turn their nose up at a $100, $200 or even $300 setup because it is inferior to their $1000 rig even though the lesser rig will catch just as many fish. The purists are also in utter disbelief at the thought of keeping a trout to bring home and eat even from an artificially sustained fishery. And on the other hand you have trout fisherman, who might not always want to flyfish depending on what the fish are eating that day. They cant and don't want a $400 pair of waders and they would like to bring home a few fish to enjoy a meal while safely releasing the rest.
Is the purist fly fisherman in the right and the nonpurist in the wrong or is it the other way around? Or perhaps could each group learn from each other, take notes, and enjoy the fact that they have something in common. Even if it isnt a $1000 flyrod.
In flyfishing, you have the purists who turn their nose up at a $100, $200 or even $300 setup because it is inferior to their $1000 rig even though the lesser rig will catch just as many fish. The purists are also in utter disbelief at the thought of keeping a trout to bring home and eat even from an artificially sustained fishery. And on the other hand you have trout fisherman, who might not always want to flyfish depending on what the fish are eating that day. They cant and don't want a $400 pair of waders and they would like to bring home a few fish to enjoy a meal while safely releasing the rest.
Is the purist fly fisherman in the right and the nonpurist in the wrong or is it the other way around? Or perhaps could each group learn from each other, take notes, and enjoy the fact that they have something in common. Even if it isnt a $1000 flyrod.
LuketheDog
Well-known member
I could go on about this for a looong time, I spent some time in the fly fishing industry in the shop and as a guide. The pandemic has little to do with the overcrowded rivers, that was going on way before 2020, over the past 8 years I've watched one of my own favorite stretches of water go from total sleeper to totally hammered. In my opinion the boom is the cause of two things: 1. The good thing-most people just love catching fish, it's undeniably fun. 2. The bad thing-the explosion of social media where you get to brag about your fish and flaunt your gear. I now live on a small highway that runs to the South Platte, the closest river to the south Denver metro, it's an absolute circus down there and the fishing isn't even that good. Yet every weekend I see the SAME dudes driving down to fish on the SAME stretch of water, taking a stiff-armed pic of EVERY fish they catch. It's like they are either lazy or have no imagination and don't realize there are literally thousands of miles of water they could fish within a few hours' drive. The end goal of most guys seems to be "likes" and not the experience, and it's far easier to take a quick float or nymph up a couple fish 20 feet from your vehicle than it is to take a long hike up a creek you've never been to just to see if there are any fish. I met a guy the other day who doesn't even own any dry flies, because "he catches plenty of fish while nymphing so why bother?" That kind of stuff blows my mind but I guess I can deal with it, while they fight over the hot spots I'll be up that little creek by myself somewhere...the last one I checked out had 16" brown trout in the beaver ponds.
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I like this analogy. This has basically been the FF industry since the 90s and honestly, probably since Dame Juliana/Isaac Waltons days
I thought of Deckers before I even finished the first sentence of the article.
This is the thing that drives me the craziest. I’ve done some guiding in the past and now row a personal boat with newbies a lot. I can absolutely boat more fish on a double or triple bobber nymph rig. But why miss out on all the other, more engaging and complex parts that actually teach you more than ‘chunk/mend once/watch bobber’
Combine high efficacy (look at the “balloon indicator” BS on the Green as an extreme example) with population explosion and proximity of water to said population, you get an untenable situation for both the fish and the anglers. The Platte/Green/Pan/Upper C/Madison are some of my favorite places, but it is starting to feel more like an amusement park ride than ‘fishing’, much less ‘connecting to nature’
But yes - the tone of the article is pretty whiney.
I can understand the frustration that the author is feeling, but he definitely comes across as "why can't the peasants just be content with the trout pond".
I grew up fishing several days a week. I even got into competitive bass fishing to pay for college. It's when I started making money that the sport lost it's allure. It was all about winning and big fish, and less about spending time with my dad on the lake.
I remember spending a week fishing the Yampa River in Colorado. My dad and I went into a local fly shop to try and get some info. The guy in the shop was a textbook FF Snob. He was almost disgusted by my fly rod setup and suggested maybe I go to the lake and soak a wad of powerbait. I ended up seeing him a few mornings later on the river. He had a client with him. I think I beat him to "his" spot because my dad and I were killing it while he and his client looked on with limp lines. We ended up catching bows, browns, brooks, and even a small pike. It was one of the most memorable days on the water with my dad I have ever had. What am I getting at? Do you think if that client would've gotten into that great of fishing that the guide would still be looking back at that day as such a memorable one? Sure, the client would likely remember it forever... but not the guide. If the author wants the outdoors to remain "pure", then maybe he should stop profiting from it completely? Once I stopped fishing for money, it became so much more enjoyable again
I grew up fishing several days a week. I even got into competitive bass fishing to pay for college. It's when I started making money that the sport lost it's allure. It was all about winning and big fish, and less about spending time with my dad on the lake.
I remember spending a week fishing the Yampa River in Colorado. My dad and I went into a local fly shop to try and get some info. The guy in the shop was a textbook FF Snob. He was almost disgusted by my fly rod setup and suggested maybe I go to the lake and soak a wad of powerbait. I ended up seeing him a few mornings later on the river. He had a client with him. I think I beat him to "his" spot because my dad and I were killing it while he and his client looked on with limp lines. We ended up catching bows, browns, brooks, and even a small pike. It was one of the most memorable days on the water with my dad I have ever had. What am I getting at? Do you think if that client would've gotten into that great of fishing that the guide would still be looking back at that day as such a memorable one? Sure, the client would likely remember it forever... but not the guide. If the author wants the outdoors to remain "pure", then maybe he should stop profiting from it completely? Once I stopped fishing for money, it became so much more enjoyable again
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rwc101
Guest
You could write the same article about hunting, mountain biking, rock climbing, skiing, etc.
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BuglinDrew
Guest
So many articles like this seem to ignore the main issue at play: explosive worldwide population growth. The world population has ballooned by 1.6 billion people in the last decade, at some point, some of those people are going to take up hobbies that intersect with ours. I won't deny that social media has certainly piqued and accelerated interest in recent years, but as far as I can tell, hunting and fishing pressure has been steadily increasing across the west since long before the advent of Facebook.
Having been in the fly fishing industry as media, a shop rat and guide, I have absolutely seen the elitist attitudes and every page in the book about what's "ruining" fly fishing. I think the simple fact is that there are going to be more people seeking different types of outdoor pursuits every single year. I believe that finding ways to mitigate pressure on the resource is far more productive than pointing fingers about who is ruining it for the rest of us.
To that regard, I do appreciate and agree with the author's takes at the end of this article, especially guides and outfitters communicating with each other to spread pressure out a little more.
Having been in the fly fishing industry as media, a shop rat and guide, I have absolutely seen the elitist attitudes and every page in the book about what's "ruining" fly fishing. I think the simple fact is that there are going to be more people seeking different types of outdoor pursuits every single year. I believe that finding ways to mitigate pressure on the resource is far more productive than pointing fingers about who is ruining it for the rest of us.
To that regard, I do appreciate and agree with the author's takes at the end of this article, especially guides and outfitters communicating with each other to spread pressure out a little more.
I stand on stumps by the trail and pee off of them.....
Irrelevant
Well-known member
Tragedy of the Commons. Stop having so many kids!
noharleyyet
Well-known member
Damn, wish I had to....
It’s only so I can pee farther.
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Deleted member 28227
Guest
N=1 but I think fly fishing is on a whole different level.
I duck hunted a bunch in 2013 in CO and then left the state and came back in 2016... I was shocked by how blown up my duck hunting spots were... by fisherman.
Before sunrise, in January... dudes wadding into my decoys, like WTF I had a drift boat crash into my spread the last day of duck season. It's just getting ridiculous.
CO has needed hoot owl laws and a fishing season for a decade now. Streams and Rivers, shut it down Nov - May.
I have two friends who are talking tomorrow off to go fly fishing on the western slope. SMH
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Deleted member 28227
Guest
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rwc101
Guest
Yeah, they're not making any new trout streams from what I hear.
Nymphing?!?! Gross, do people actually enjoy doing that? Everyone knows the ultimate ways to fly fish are dry flies or hucking big meat
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Deleted member 28227
Guest
You a little flycurious?
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longbow51
Guest
Sorry, but that ship sailed 3 decades ago, and I've fished with everything from a $6 Shakespeare to a $1000 Sage, and the juice is no longer worth the squeeze; tons of rude guides jockeying for position on each run to give their john the best chance. So, yeah, as with most things, we destroy what we love. Can't even imagine the shame of being a fishing guide.
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