AFFTA is now sending me daily emails reminding me their IFTD trade show draws nigh, which suggests it’s time for the Undergrounders to engage in a little marketer-busting fun.
I call it: “Revolutionary, or Just A Bunch Of Hot Air?”
The premise is simple; marketers are fond of describing their latest/greatest/fastest/lightest product as Revolutionary.
Yet most simply aren’t.
In fact, to most observers, fly fishing is recognizably the same sport now as it was at the turn of the 20th century, suggesting even our “revolutions” are barely evolutionary (though it’s possible we look sillier now than we did then).
Has any development in the last 70 years truly “revolutionized” the sport of fly fishing?
First, The Obvious Answer…
While I might listen politely to an argument suggesting graphite fly rods revolutionized fly fishing, I’d suggest they really haven’t.
After all, someone casting fiberglass or bamboo looks pretty much the same as someone casting graphite.
You might argue that graphite made more extreme versions of fly fishing (saltwater fishing) more available to “average” anglers, but I’d suggest the majority of fly fishermen (certainly the freshwater fly fishermen) would do just fine with “older” rod materials.
So is graphite really revolutionary, or evolutionary? And in that same vein, can a graphite rod that’s simply lighter really be revolutionary?
What Else?
Any ideas?
Breathable waders may have saved hundreds (if not thousands) of fat, sweaty fly fishermen from heatstroke, but you’d be hard-pressed to convince they “revolutionized” the sport (though you’re welcome to try).
Any other ideas?
I’ve got one – and you’re going to hate it.
The Indicator
Indicator nymphing – and its close cousins – are relatively new to fly fishing (many date “modern” nymphing to the post-war era).
And hate it or love it, the lowly bobbicator has clearly changed the sport – physically, visually, and yes – viscerally.
Hire a guide, and they’ll probably fire up an indicator rig, regardless of your claimed expertise level. I once fished with a guide who actually threw a hissy fit because I’d decided I’d caught enough fish on a nymph, and broke out the dry fly rod.
And in truth, most newbies learn to indicator nymph before anything else – and many even believe it’s what fly fishing “is.”
So the indicator (bobbicator, whatever) seems to have physically changed the sport of fly fishing.
In other words, revolutionized it.
Any others?
With the IFTD show looming – and the hype meter probably about to get pegged – can any of the Undergrounders make a case for “revolutionary?”
Can any of fly fishing’s marketers?
As the announcements stream forth from the show, we’ll monitor them for words like “revolutionary” – and let the Undergrounders decide…
See you in marketing hell, Tom Chandler.
UPDATE: Some interesting thoughts (and a few rants) in the comments below. I added two more potentially revolutionary items in a comment below. You’ll be suprised, and at least some of you will be outraged…
lol classic! Great post :)
Terry(Quote)
I do hate it and you’re right, indicators have revolutionized the sport. They’ve also nearly eliminated the once legendary and mysterious ability of the most skilled of nymph aficionados to ‘sense’ a subsurface take with an uncanny, near sixth sense intuition…
Now, modern fly-fishermen just watch the ‘bobber’ (something any 7 yr old can do) for the take. So we’ve also lost something, arguably one aspect of the ‘finer’ reaches of the sport.
Geoffrey Britain(Quote)
Using a fly rod to fish with a indicator is revolutionary for bobber fishing, but it’s certainly not fly fishing.
Don(Quote)
Graphite is certainly not revolutionary and if anything devolution. There’s a very valid reason the Fly Fishing for Dummies book recommends graphite.
The breatheable waders are IMHO better and a lot tougher but I agree not revolutionary.
Bobbercators (I admit to using them occasionally but don’t like it) certainly are the lowest common denominator and questionable.
The whole sparkplug/czech nymph/ team sport/ tournament/ supersinktipstreamerabomination thing is just disgusting and certainly not fly fishing.
If anything the sport is devolving in this new century into a go fast tungsten fish at any price headcount free for all….. I for one refuse to play…..
The marketers have a beast to feed and the pastoral piscatorial pleasure model just doesn’t generate the big $$$ that an animal like Same (sorry I meant Sage) needs to survive.
Show me a fly fishing magazine that will put a 6″ wild brookie on the cover in a spectacular setting at least twice a year and I’ll buy a lifetime subscription……
Marty(Quote)
Fly lines that don’t need to be dried overnight (e.g. silk) has been an innovation that has likely attracted more to the sport — which I think is a good thing. If I had to hang my fly line to dry each evening I would find that an extraordinary PITA and my lovely would frown more often than she currently does with regards to having gear strewn about the house.
Steve Z(Quote)
I hate the word indicator, it prevokes violent thoughts for anyone willing to call it that. For god sake it’s a bobber not an indicator.
I have stopped using guides simply for the fact that when I nymph with them they insist on using a bobber and I flatly refuse, the looks I get are simply amazing. I will sit in the boat and refuse to fish and watch my partner fish away.
As for the bobber being some new idea is utterly a joke.
I do believe that fly tying materials have been the only thing in fly fishing that really has changed the sport. There are new materials coming out everyday that just plain makes tying flies that much easier. The flies are stronger so they last longer, the longer they last the more you can fish with them.
The computer has made the biggest difference in fly fishing, what can you not find on the internet these days?
KC Biehn(Quote)
I agree with all the comments above. Nothing is really revolutionary, fly fishing is much the same sport now as it was 100 years ago. True, the gear has changed, it has evolved with technology for the betterment of the experience. I do not think I would have enjoyed silk lines or Red Ball waders. I also have some old fly reels that I have fished with, certainly makes me appreciate my modern reels. The thing that will drastically change the sport (not revolutionize it) came to me as I was pulling my waders & boots out of the freezer this morning: Invasive species. I fish all over the state, I spend a lot of time caring for my gear. Good thing I am single, don’t think my ex would appreciate waders & boots in her freezer! Those of us who are responsible fisherman will be spending more & more time at this task. Fortunately, for me at least, this does not detract from the experience of fly fishing and is just a minor chore to be completed after I am off the water.
Link(Quote)
Revolutionary is mighty tough to justify, but were I to pick anything, it’d be the switch from cat gut to monofilament. It changed the entire fishing ritual, eliminating the pre-soak and the leader box from our vest, changed the knots we used at the fly, spawned the tippet spool, and made a huge difference in our fishing.
I would also suggest that the synthetics available to the fly tier have dramatically changed the attributes and characteristics of the flies we use. Synthetic thread that doesn’t rot – of tiny diameter – and all the lighter-than-air, opalescent, pearlescent, shiny filaments that have never been present prior to this last half century.
While I won’t insist all those new materials are revolutionary, it’s pretty close …
kbarton10(Quote)
Indicators are not revolutionary, any more than a cutt-bow is revolutionary.
its a hybrid… an evolutionary convergence if you will, between fly fishing and conventional fishing. What used to be a wide expanse between the two sports is growing ever narrower… its growing ever harder to tell the two sports apart, for better or for worse.
Ray(Quote)
I was thinking fly lines too. In one of Aldo Leopold’s stories he talks about having to sit for an hour or so to let his fly line dry, while rolling and smoking a cigarette. Maybe if we had to do that it would revolutionize our microwave, instant gratification, right now thinking? And we could learn to roll better?
How about DEET?
The fly vest has transormed into the fly backpack so you can buy and carry even more crap you don’t use.
The catch and release ethic
Most fly shops are travel agents too
Remember, you can’t pay $8.00 to buy a plastic comb to fluff up your bobber!
Dan(Quote)
A few good ideas mixed in amongst the rants. But here’s a couple I haven’t heard.
First, Catch & Release has changed the sport (dramatically) over the last 70 years, transforming it from a blood sport into a recreation. Good catch on that one from Dan.
Here’s two more:
Polarized sunglasses, and
Affordable Air Travel.
I hear the screams already. But hear me out.
Without polarized sunglasses, sight fishing (to anything but rising fish) would be damn near impossible, and whole segments of saltwater fly fishing might not exist at all.
(Arguable, but intriguing.)
As for affordable air travel, fly fishermen are no longer tied to their local habitats, and in fact, today’s “trout” bum has probably fished for steelhead in the NW, salmon in Alaska, bonefish in Belize, and tarpon in Florida.
Like so many of the advancements in the sport, I can’t say it’s necessarily a great thing – it seems to have ruined great masses of anglers, who can’t catch a trout on their home waters without whining about how it’s not as big as the salmon in Alaska – but it’s real.
And revolution is rarely pretty, right?
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Affordable air travel begat Invasive Species, which are about to revolutionize a lot more than fishing
kbarton10(Quote)
An economy based on consumption begat invasive species, not just cheap air travel. The Sierra Foothills are full of invasive plants brought to us during the Gold Rush.
Dan(Quote)
I’d like to comment on the post and not the comments:
I love this industry. Since entering it, I’ve found mostly helpful down-home people and just a few jerks. While I agree that there really haven’t been major advancements in technology, there have been major advancements in preservation, teaching, and conversation. We must keep the idea of our fly-fishing industry needs to keep growing – and with that I must admire those who have brought our sport to those who haven’t embraced it. I’m speaking of Casting for a Cure, Project Healing Waters, Trout Unlimited, Fishy Kid, etc. – those kinds of programs are spreading the word and creating new anglers.
I know it’s crowded out there already, but I must say, who will come up with the new revolutions? Who will be our legacy when we’re dead and gone? If you don’t teach, share news, and support the habitat, who will?
I believe it’s important to keep and grow our specific community. Don’t under estimate the knowledge that’s coming to the sport. Whether it happens this year, or ten years, don’t stop loving how we support our own community.
Yes, I love new rods, reels and indicators, but I still use the same stuff I always have. So, let’s focus on the future, and what is going to come of it?
I’ll be at IFTD this year in support of new media, bloggers, and education. Why? Because I love this industry.
Kyle(Quote)
This post isn’t so much about the industry as it is about the sport (outside of every marketer’s tendency to inflate the importance of an advance).
I also get the impression you’re treading dangerously close to conflating the health of the sport with the health of the industry.
I don’t have to love the industry to love the sport.
Most companies within the fly fishing industry are actively involved in growing the sport, and let’s face it, it’s in their commercial interest to do so.
A much smaller fraction of those companies are also actively involved in protecting the fisheries and the sport itself, and those companies are the ones that tend to see my support, both on this blog and at the cash register.
That the industry is somehow mainly responsible for the advancements in preservation and teaching is pretty damned debatable, in my view. In many, many cases, I’d suggest several of the industry’s biggest players aren’t coming anywhere near pulling their weight in that department (Casting for Recovery and the like are not part of the “industry”).
As for who’s coming up with the “new revolutions” I’d suggest that was one of the points of the post; I don’t there have been many, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons many of fly fish. If fly fishing ever turned into a mega-hyped technology race like smartphones or computers, I’d probably take up hiking instead.
I’m glad you’re finding the industry hospitable, but nobody’s yet convinced the health of the industry means all that much to an everyday fly fishermen – excepting those companies that are protecting the things needed to make fly fishing possible.
In any case, I won’t be at IFTD, so good luck with the social media room.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
It’s about time somebody drops the bomb on these guys that think slingin indicators and shot is flyfishing ! I’ve fished with alot of guys that have come up into flyfishing in the last few years and thats all they know how to do. The basic mechanics and control are seriously lacking in these guys. They don’t even know how to properly cast a flyrod. As for new gear, There’s nothing out there that’ll make you better. I like my old beat up gear. It’s got character and stories in each pocket. Oh and Tom, It’s fairly obviouse you dislike graphite. Even though its the best flyrod material ever developed. Keep the great stuff coming.
shon(Quote)
I don’t dislike it – I own a couple of graphite rods. Just think modulus is a much-overrated measure of “performance” in trout rods, where performance probably should be defined in terms other than line speed, etc.
That said, the kind of fishing I do – and seek out – makes it relatively easy to prefer low-modulus materials. It’s not a holy war kind of thing for me.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Tom,
I’ve got one word for you son: plastic. Replacing silk lines and gut leaders has chnged the way we fish, and the amount of time we spend taking care of line after each trip. Today’s lines and leaders let us play and land fish more quickly, and thus make catch and release practical, thereby changing the nature of the sport.
rc
Rich Comerford(Quote)
I remain unconvinced. Evolutionary, perhaps, but “easier” doesn’t equate to revolutionary for me. I suppose you could make a case that the “nylong/plastic” revolution (rods, lines, leaders, etc) just post-WWII all added up to a revolution, but even then, I’d have to be sold.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
How about hatchery fish?
If not revolutionary, they’re certainly a cause for revolution.
Kirk(Quote)
Power to the Wild Trout [clenched fist]
Tom Chandler(Quote)
This is going to make me sound like a curmudgeonly conservative (which, at least politically, I certainly am not) but one of the reasons fly fishing appeals to me is its lack of revolutionary developments. I could fish just as successfully (though probably for not as long at a time) with 1900 eras tackle as I do with the 2010 stuff I use now.
I think a person could make a case that the fish finding sonar has revolutionized the non-fly fishing crowd’s sport as perhaps has the introduction of spinning tackle. And certainly computers and the internet have revolutionized information technology, including the fly fishing media. But as far as fly fishing specific technology, that has certainly tended toward the evolutionary rather than revolutionary. And I’m down with that.
fishskicanoe(Quote)
It’s possible that’s one reason for fly fishing’s enduring charm; the same stuff you read about in the turn-of-the-century books pretty much still works.
Meanwhile, bass fishing is nothing like it was even a few decades ago.
That’s not good nor bad, just an observation.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
This may be a bit of a stretch, but one of the things that came to mind, for me, has been the shift away from bright and gawdy wet flies in favor of “matching the hatch”. True, the dry fly guys had been at it for a while, but nymphs, emergers, pupa, larva, etc being tied as the primary patterns to fill a box, and the mainstream acceptance of the tactics for fishing these patterns has really changed things.
Mark(Quote)
What about sinking lines? What about Spectra? Hell, what about monofilament leaders instead of cat gut? What about Spey rods in the U.S? Of course, as with most things, how you define the concept in question greatly influences the answer. Tom, how do you define “revolutionary?”
ISEguy(Quote)
The usual way. I offered some strong clues:
Definition of Revolutionize (from the Bing dictionary)
Spectra? Not a chance. Sinking lines? Again, I can’t see it.
Spey rods might achieve “revolution” status – they have “altered” the traditional appearance of fly fishing, but then, the technique dates back to the 18th century, and applies poorly to large chunks of the sport.
I wouldn’t confuse an outbreak in popularity with revolution – at least not yet.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
I agree with the notion that the internet has revolutionized the sport. I’ve purchased most of my equipment online (there’s very few other options in my area). I’ve learned almost all of my fly tying techniques from youtube & vimeo. I’ve gotten good advice and wisdom from sages like KB who’d I’d have never met pre-internet. I find good writing and great photographs (and vice versa).
These resources have allowed me to become more proficient faster, at less expense and with a greater return on my efforts. Now, I don’t have to wait for a once a month TU meeting (for example) to get some tips. I can with a few keystrokes see different techniques, find out water conditions, see fishing reports and find bargains. That’s a revolution.
Ed(Quote)
The Internet has revolutionized communications – not the sport of fly fishing, which is pretty much the same as it was prior to the 1990s.
In other words, the Internet may have revolutionized publishing or how fly fishermen exchange information, but it really hasn’t done anything to the sport (outside of shortening the learning curve some).
Tom Chandler(Quote)
I might have gone a bit off tangent thinking of the “sport” in a broader sense.
My limited experience is that some fly fisherman would like to have fly fishing be a guild or exclusive private club. They want to be High Priests of the casting rod. I think it’s this aspect that the internet changes. I would argue the dissemination of information changes the sport in that it makes it more accessible. I didn’t have to buy a ton of books, go to an Orvis school or hire a guide at $300/day. The internet lowers these barriers to entry (through the established knowledge base and cost of materials) and makes it more democratic. I think the improved communication allows the sport to reach a much wider audience (I’m anecdotal evidence of that). In turn, that wider audience when it’s on the river (or lake) just might disrupt the old order. What happens if in 5 years the number of fly fishermen doubles? I would think the increased traffic is bound to wreak some havoc.
I think you also perhaps under estimate the importance of that shorten learning curve. I think we all know or have hear of anglers who get all excited to fly fish but then grow frustrated with their lack of progress and give up the sport (we also hope we’re there when they have a yard sale). The length of that learning curve might be the difference between taking up or giving up the sport.
Thanks for “hearing me out” I enjoy reading your comments.
Ed(Quote)
“Breathable waders may have saved hundreds (if not thousands) of fat, sweaty fly fishermen from heatstroke, but you’d be hard-pressed to convince they “revolutionized†the sport (though you’re welcome to try).”
Revolutionized the sport? I think you are right…little has changed that. I can fish with the same set up I used as a beginner in 1962. It would work just fine, as it did then. The core truth remains: location, presentation, fly selection. Manage that and the rest is revolutionizing my personal experiences. There it has been revolutionary: fewer cracked fly lines, lighter rods for a disabled wrist; breathable waders that are easier to get in and out of when physically limited.
I for one am so tired of the new look of the sport that fosters trip envy, trout bum envy, and out and out marketing BS. Truth in advertising is a joke. Good article…thought provoking for sure.
Gary
Gary(Quote)
Hey, Boy. You really kicked the can over with that one!
My idea of an indicator is a Stimmy with a Pheasant Tail on enough tippet and splits to get it near or on the bottom!
I’m allergic to DEET, and most other revolutionary (expensive?) products. I love it when innovation catches up man’s capability to invent. Don’t forget that incomprehensible technology is often described at magic.
JJP(Quote)
There have been many interesting changes and improvements in equipment, gear and techniques, but nothing revolutionary so far. A revolutionary change would be fishing with explosives (already done, listen to Tom Rosenbauer’s Top Ten Tips for Blowing Shit Up) or not fishing at all (nothing new here).
By any fairly broad definition of “fly fishing”, there can be no revolutionary change because then it would be something else.
One has to wonder, however, what fishing a dry fly with a bubble on a spinning rig is called.
JimF(Quote)
Truly they are always coming up with new and improved fishing gear. The thing that really matters is that you are comfortable with that specific fishing gear.
Jacky(Quote)