It’s the day after election day in the USA, when the vast majority of citizens celebrate the end of irritating election coverage orderly transfer of power.
For at least half the country, it’s a time of hope, and in the interest of making the fly fishing world a better place and becoming Absolute Ruler of Fly Fishing, I’m turning to the Undergrounders and asking the seminal question:
What would you like to see changed about fly fishing in the next four years?
What problems would you like solved? What issues do you see looming?
In the past, I’ve rewarded smart-assed answers, but this time, “cogent” will likely get the nod (well, the first nod anyway).
Win Something For Being Smart
The best answer (as judged by the Absolute Ruler of the Fly Fishing Universe-elect) wins a copy of Fishizzle – Steve Apple’s weirdly entertaining fly fishing movie that introduced fishing salesmeister Al Braughtinwood to the world (I posted a review here).
So have at it, Undergrounders. Environment? Climate Change? Invasives? Overpriced gear? Lack of courtesy?
What challenges do fly fishermen face? And yes, I may be using your answers in an upcoming article.
It’s the beginning of the next four years for the rest of the country, it might as well be for fly fishermen too.
So wader up, Undergrounders. Time to get right into the thick of it.
See you in the Comments section (and this would be a great chance for a few lurkers to come out of hiding), Tom Chandler.
River access. I would like to every state adopt river access laws similar to to Montana’s Stream Access Law.
http://www.montanariveraction.org/stream.access.html
have good fishing,
WT
WT(Quote)
What the freak does “cogent†mean? Now I have nothing to go on except a “smart-assed answer.”
In the next four years I’d like to see a fly fishing world (and bedroom) where size really doesn’t matter!!!
See you at my Fishizzle-stuffed mail box, Oatka
oatka(Quote)
What would you like to see changed about fly fishing in the next four years?
What problems would you like solved? What issues do you see looming?
I would like to see more Drs. (Piedetric specialist, Cancer specialist,especially), I would like to see more Judges and Lawyers and Law Enforcement Gang investigators on the rivers…this to me would be a sign that a cure for cancer and childrens crippling alingments and our gang problmes facing the next generation have taken a step forward to being solved.
It would be nice to see the net profit of just one oil company (Exxon/Mobile, Chevron/Texaco, etc) be with in a resonable margin.
I would really like to see a 1,000 new desalting plants on-line from Santa Barbra to the Mexico border…producing millions of gallons of fresh water for So. California use so our Northern Ca Rivers and the Delta would stopped being Raped.
Thats all.
samistopdog(Quote)
Others.
Sully(Quote)
Respect.
At one time it was a religious experience, with each practitioner tossing the yoke of their work-a-day world in favor of clean water, the solace of deep woods, and the admiration of their quarry – regardless of size or specie. Now it seems were linked with competitive Emo’s intent only on watershed domination – the true measure of success. The fish have to be big, the stories bigger, and unless a smoking crater is left in their wake, the trip was unsuccessful.
I assume it’s so they can move onward to the next Extreme sport – as they’ve had their way with this one…
Both the advertising and manufacturer’s seem to have warmed to this new breed of disposable warrior; magazines are replete with fierce poses, remote locales, and nosebleed pricing on even the simplest tackle, I assume it’s to keep “the Club†small and dues have to be dear to keep the membership exclusive.
My first twenty years chasing trout were unremarkable, a big fish was 12†and a worthy tale over a campfire. Now, unless I’ve fished Kamchatka or landed a 50†Taimen – I’m unworthy of the rod I hold, and should shrink back to the parking lot with the rest of the fairies..
These ersatz experts are tightlipped and unfriendly, they “possess†stretches of river and “own†riffles – they posture and moan with every missed fish and take it all personally, including your unwelcome feet in their water.
No matter where you are that’s exactly where they want to be next, and they don’t disguise that fact very well.
Increasing humans and decreasing water makes the premise onerous and silly – and this lack of reverence is obvious in the “Tomahawk Chop†cast; many don’t practice between trips, they don’t refine skills, and the thousand dollar rod is left idle until the next watershed needs taming.
I’d as soon not share the water with them, enduring their harsh glare as I move past, my presence making them redouble their heroics – lengthening their cast unnecessarily hoping to impress me on how uber they’ve become since first reading the magazine in the dentist’s office. I don’t smirk, I try not to give offence, and usually find my way clear of the pack some miles from the parking area.
Our goals are different, I’m busy enjoying the lack of deadlines, traffic noise, and ambulance sirens – and they hunt in packs, loud, boisterous, and uncaring. They leave the empty water bottles that I pick up, they leave the big fish untouched and wary, and roar out of the parking lot in a spray of dust and gravel. Somehow it’s important to dominate or despoil as much water as is possible – and “sucks†is the watchword of the day.
Fishing “sucksâ€, as do motels, the absence of Starbucks, local girls, and local steaks. Skills are legendary, so the watershed sucks when it remains chaste and fails to surrender all its enormous fish on a whim.
I remain friendly and helpful despite grating my teeth to do so, hoping to see a friendly smile and sweat-stained fedora – bespeaking the presence of another hard core piscator. There’s plenty left … you just have to walk further from the parking lot.
kbarton10(Quote)
Environmental and water quality will become an even bigger issue in the western states, Montana and Wyoming in particular, as the efforts to develope alternative energy sources heats up (sorry about the pun). The develpment of natural gas and coal deposits will most certainly present major environmental concerns about stream quality and trout habitat due to the waste products of mining and drilling.
Here in the midwest we are starting to see more concerns about stream access due to development, lower water flows due to depletion of aquifers, and I fear a reduction in funds to combat such issues due to job losses, a reduced tax base from lost industry and the distinct possibility of the diversion of current conservation funds to social welfare programs.
Hey-and lower prices on good gear would be a plus!
harry(Quote)
Didn’t your election day post set the tone for the next four years?
jeff(Quote)
Two Things:
1) More help legislatively and fiscally in the conservation/rehabilitation realm. If we’re gonna up spending and spread the wealth, our fine-finned friends could use a few welfare checks and a free health care system of their own.
2) Mutual Understanding/Respect. I know kbarton already said it, but its one of those things that sets me off too. I’m only home a few weeks a year, and I try to fish every time I do manage to get back there – I really don’t have an excuse not to, I can walk to the upper sac out my back door. But when I’m out there relaxing, because my life style away from home tends to spin me up, I don’t appreciate the loudmouths and ego-driven punks that I can hear cussing and flogging the water over the roar of two runs. And, standing up after releasing a catch to find someone has waded 20 yards upstream of me on a stretch of the river that is not that crowded, and begins to fish ‘their water’ leaving me to dodge their backcast puts a funk in my chi. Say anything to them and the response is another cussing session about their water, which mind you they’re whipping about with their pole, and the concluding statement that I ought to jog on if I’ve got a problem with it. So instead of saying anything I get out, move a few hundred yards upstream and wade back in.
Long story short, I don’t get a whole lot of opportunity to be on the water, or outdoors in general. Trips home are the sole exception. I don’t declare any runs or pools as ‘my water’, I’m not creating a shitstorm out there when my line breaks or I lose a fish, I’m just trying to relax, trying to enjoy myself. If someone else is on the water and is coming from that competitive standpoint, or that of the status-by-size/count, that’s fine, but it would be nice if they could leave me out of it. Let me do my thing and they can do theirs.
JRaine(Quote)
There is a waning interest in communing with nature so in the next four years we need a grass roots effort to increase our numbers, or at least maintain current levels:
I am going to teach people I know to fly fish. I have one asking for lessons, and another interested.
I will continue to do the field research looking for water that my father can still fish.
I will continue to show my wife and friends boring fishing videos (maybe?) to keep them thinking about next season.
What I would like to see is::
for Nestle go into bankruptcy in the economic downturn because they have invested too heavily in bottled water at a time when the world sees it as just adding to our global warming crisis. (This is not just pandering to the Absolute Ruler of Fly Fishing, I really want this one)
Westlands gets sued into oblivion… (pandering)… and people start to see water as a public resource that should be protected and used wisely
The department of land use get out from under the shadow of business. More agencies being to manage the land in a sustainable way that restores tradition waterways and watersheds.
The fly fishing industry stop convincing me that I need more gear. I’m weak in this way, they shouldn’t take advantage of that. It’s unethical
Timo(Quote)
KB’s response is on parr (clever play on words huh?) with my thoughts. Perfect.
I would like the industry to get off their high horse. Salmonids are not the only fish out there; deal with it. All this in your face extreme fishing is a bunch of bullshit, like those clowns riding their 1000 cc ATVs through your favorite fishing hole because they are trying to overcompensate for a deficiency in a certain area (besides their brains). Maybe it’s because it’s just plain old boring to rehash indicator nymph fishing in their sponsor driven mags for the umpteenth time, but adventure fishing is part of the problem. Like competitive fly fishing, it’s all about bigger, better, faster. You wonder about how didymo and other stream nasties get spread around the world. It’s not from the brownliner (ironic isn’t it). I don’t really care if the industry wants to perpetuate the societal elitism that is currently in place, it doesn’t really matter to me. But they need to keep from turning their backs on us brownliners, and accept and celebrate fly anglers of all type. This is a time for unity amongst us, not division.
There are so many issues outside of “the industry” facing us anglers. Stream access, depleted fish stocks, development, poor agricultural practices, climate shift, invasive species, PETA, where do you start? The biggest threat is environmental degradation. Without clean water you don’t have shit. Politics need to stay out of natural resource agencies. Fully fund these agencies and let the professionals do their job. They’re trying to do the right thing. That will take care of the biggest bite from these threats. Probably the biggest thing that we can all do is reduce, reuse recycle. There is way too much overconsumption going on here in the US. Just remember, every one of those lithium or nickel, metal-hydride batteries that are used for digital cameras or other high-end electronics will have to come from places like the proposed Pebble Mine. Puck Febble!
It’s all about moderation.
Jean-Paul Lipton(Quote)
Respect. KBarton said it best. Rather than try to “one-up” him, I’ll simply second what he has said.
Also, I enjoy teaching people to cast a fly rod, and am working on becoming certified as a casting instructor, not so I can charge for lessons, but so I can “give back”, and communicate my enthusiasm for a wonderful way to spend time in the outdoors.
FFF’s code of ethics teaches that we should respect others’ fishing styles. I try to do that, even though I probably won’t become a bait caster anytime soon.
Kentucky Jim(Quote)
Getting more kids involved at an earlier age and teaching them the importance of respect for the outdoors, wildlife and others that are fishing.
Dustin(Quote)
Definitely respect. I second what K.Barton, J.Raine, and Jean-Paul have already said.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned. It would be nice if fly shops would drop the attitude one often encounters at their establishments. Don’t get me wrong, there ARE some good shops out there. The Ted Fay Fly Shop is one of the best. Kienes Fly Shop in Sac is another one. One the other hand there are fly shops who look at you like you’re a homeless person if you don’t spend at least $60 after walking through their doors.
Heddon17(Quote)
How about a universal fishing license for life.
I’ll pay top dollar for it and you can jab a radio i.d. tag in my back.
That way I could spend less time in Walmart and more time on the water, getting done what needs to be done.
JK Smith(Quote)
Since I can’t approach the pinnacle of eloquent espousal that emanates from the keyboard of kbarton10 I will have to appeal to our more basal values:
We just need more irie in our lives, whether riparian or terrestrial.
(Glossary of Jamaican Reggae-Rasta words, expressions, and slang:
“Irie (I-ree) – Means everything is alright. Expression of feeling great and cool.â€
Often obtained by consumption of appropriate amounts of Shastafarian Porter.)
A. Wannabe Travelwriter(Quote)
Weren’t these the questions asked?
-What would you like to see changed about fly fishing in the next four years?
-What problems would you like solved?
-What issues do you see looming?
Still like my answer the best, even though it might be more “terse” than “cogent”.
Sully(Quote)