I'VE SEEN THE FUTURE - Neil - September 20, 2010

[rtidd]

I'VE SEEN THE FUTURE

The date: 2050.

The place: somewhere in America.

The scenario: an angler preparing for a fly-fishing trip.

The check-list: reservations

In order to go fishing the angler must first have reservations. All of the water open to angling is under private management. State agencies that once managed the public fisheries turned over those duties to private management firms in the early part of the century due to budget problems. Now all waters that allow angling require the angler to make reservations. A fee, depending upon the quality of the water, is required of each angler. To fish quality waters it is usually necessary to make a reservation a couple years in advance

[Lotech]

Frightening thoughts. And not totally out of the realm of possibility. We need to guard ourselves against such happenings.

[NJTroutbum]

Though most is said tongue-in-cheek I would imagine.....so much of it is possible, if we take our eye off the ball for very long.

[DaveP63]

Everything up to the disposable tackle is entirely plausible and I'm not sure that disposable tackle isn't coming.

[Cliff955]

Sadly, I think this vision will probably be close to the truth. Politicians only respond to activists and I don't see many young people actively supporting fishing in general. There are however, a lot of them on the 'anti' side.

I hope I'm wrong!

Cliff

[Lew]

Unless someone invents a miracle pill, I won't be alive to see this scenario come to pass. When restrictive regulation starts to become oppressive, all the incentive to participate leaves me, and as a result, I no longer participate. I suspect that if the battles that would inevitably be fought over this sort of oppression were lost, anglers would be few and far between, and the lack of sales of licenses, permits, accesses, etc would be insufficient to sustain the bureacracy that is envisioned. That said, I'm sure there are people and politicians that envision those scenarios and worse, and we need to be ready to blast them out of OUR water.

[wgflyer]

Hmmm. I think you just described England.

[sirhoops23@yahoo.com]

These ideas in this thread frighten me mainly because of the hint of possibility and truth. It reminds me much of the "Blue Highway" battle going on up in Alaska. Unfortunately the driving force behind all of these ideas and possibilities seems to be money. I know different sides would argue this but it is a sad thing when something so pure comes to a battle for money. I most of us know the outcome of greed. I know there are those of you out there that are fighting this and I commend you and respect you.

[brhoff]

Ahh, come on...Neil, I usualy enjoy your articles but this one...not so much.

Consider lightening up a tad.

I respect your writing and views, I am reading them, no?

In my opion, take a walk...relax.

On the other hand. I appreciate this possibilty being presented and perhaps (though I hope not) you are way more perceptive then me.

Brett

[The Chronicler]

Brett,

Glad you read my stuff and appreciate the fact that you usually enjoy my articles. However, as a writer I am aware of the quote, "You can please some of the people all of the time but you cannot please all of the people all of the time." This article was written somewhat "tongue in cheek" and, for effect, it was somewhat over the top. However, some of what I wrote is already in place on some waters, and there certainly are forces at work that would put an end to all sport fishing since they view it as cruel to the fish. I am currently more blessed than many people since right outside my house is the Yellowstone River and within a couple hours drive I can access some of the finest trout water that remains in the United States. I have been blessed to have had the privilege over 50+ years to have fished some of the best trout water from the east coast to the west and all the parts in between, however, I am concerned, not panicked, that due to many factors present in our society, future generations may not be so blessed.

The Chronicler