HAVE WE LOST OUR WAY? - Neil - Jan 16, 2012

[flyguy66]

Bob,

I think that's an excellent point. I wish I encountered more people like this on the saltwater, but I don't. Amazingly, with far more water to fish, jet ski, sail, putter around in power boats, etc., they somehow seem attracted to the notion of invading each other's space, engaging in reckless conduct, and exhibiting the most unsportsmanlike behavior imaginable. I am not exaggerating when I say fishermen mourn the deaths of friends almost every year who were killed when some other fishing boat "buzzed" them, ran over them at anchor/wading/in a kayak, or because jet skiers collided with them.

I've been out on weekdays when there was not another boat on the horizon for many miles and then I've heard the feint, broken drone of a jet ski in the distance growing louder for several minutes as the idiot made a bee-line across miles of water to get to where I and a friend were fishing so he could cut donuts around the boat and the little spoil island where we were fishing. In similar situations, I've had motor boats pull up next to us and beach on a spoil island while we were fishing the shallows around one, get out to drop a couple of beach chairs and do some sunbathing. There are countless similar spoil islands all over the place within minutes of each other. Most never have anyone on them. A few days ago, I was wade fishing a shallow grass flat the last 30 minutes before sunset alone in a secluded cove of a state park I had paid to enter. A guy in a runabout with a girl on board puts in not 30 ft from me and drops anchor, laughs and says to his girl, "Well, now that we scared all the fish he'll be leaving." They proceed to break out some wine and snacks to watch the sunset as a reel up and walk off. These are mild accounts!

This is the reality of fly fishing in salt water when you just want to fish for a few hours close to home...so to speak. You learn to live with it. Of course, you can get away from the crowds for the more serious adventures. That's why this sort of stuff doesn't (or shouldn't) happen during guided trips. But I learned my lesson last year about not carrying a concealed weapon on the water. That's how bad it actually does get when you're fishing near enough to the ramp to get in and out in a few hours or doing some walk-in fishing at a park.

Have we "lost our way?" You bet! But don't blame the Internet or graphite fly rods and PVC coated fly lines. We've lost our way as an entire society.

[LadyFisher]

I second, or third or fourth that comment as well. "We've lost our way as an entire society." I didn't ever expect it see it in my lifetime. Surprise!!

[Bobinmich]

Have we "lost our way?" You bet! But don't blame the Internet or graphite fly rods and PVC coated fly lines. We've lost our way as an entire society.

FG,

My heart goes out to you. It is a shame that there are people like that out there. I consider myself fortunate not to have run into very many of them. I fish salt too. Not where you are but in other places. Maybe I am a romantic but I continue to have faith in human beings. I will cling to the notion that for every a h out there there are hundreds of good people - maybe even thousands. I hope you won't let your sample embitter you to that notion.

But we did get off topic, didn't we? We were talking about the influence of technology on our sport. I would like to focus on a technology that has added greatly to fly fishing. That being the forum that JC and LF were so kind to put together for us. The one we are using right now. It is, no less, an example of technology no different in concept from graphite rods and weight forward lines. When we want to damn technology, we must be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water. I think, like your human fishing partners, you can pick and choose those technologies you consider beneficial to your situation and be mindful that others will have an entire different set of rules, no better or lesser than our own.

Godspeed,

Bob

[jszymczyk]

...."Now being somewhat of a naturalist I had a grasp of entomology and I could at least tell a mayfly from a caddis. Everything else was pretty much Greek to me. However, since I had a firm foundation of fishing with bait and lures before I started seriously fly fishing it was not a real big stretch to start fishing with flies."....

The main takeaway for me, and one that I feel is at the crux of the issue is highighted above. If we have lost our way, it's not because flyfisherman are not of the same social stature. It's because far too many of them have little if any background in the outdoors. If you have no idea how to first even "catch a fish" then you lose something in the pursuit of flyfishing. Too often folks go from a 3-piece suit to flyfishing, and think that because they bought their setup from a pro at Orvis or LL Bean, that they somehow have "arrived".

It was stated to me by a family member years ago. He said...."I guarantee you, the person with the most expensive clothes and rifle and never shoots a deer, never stalked squirrels with a .22 either."

His statement says alot about flyfishing as well. I don't think we have lost our way.....I think too many folks flyfishing these days never even knew "the way" to begin with.

Bob,

I think that's an excellent point. I wish I encountered more people like this on the saltwater, but I don't. Amazingly, with far more water to fish, jet ski, sail, putter around in power boats, etc., they somehow seem attracted to the notion of invading each other's space, engaging in reckless conduct, and exhibiting the most unsportsmanlike behavior imaginable. I am not exaggerating when I say fishermen mourn the deaths of friends almost every year who were killed when some other fishing boat "buzzed" them, ran over them at anchor/wading/in a kayak, or because jet skiers collided with them.

I've been out on weekdays when there was not another boat on the horizon for many miles and then I've heard the feint, broken drone of a jet ski in the distance growing louder for several minutes as the idiot made a bee-line across miles of water to get to where I and a friend were fishing so he could cut donuts around the boat and the little spoil island where we were fishing. In similar situations, I've had motor boats pull up next to us and beach on a spoil island while we were fishing the shallows around one, get out to drop a couple of beach chairs and do some sunbathing. There are countless similar spoil islands all over the place within minutes of each other. Most never have anyone on them. A few days ago, I was wade fishing a shallow grass flat the last 30 minutes before sunset alone in a secluded cove of a state park I had paid to enter. A guy in a runabout with a girl on board puts in not 30 ft from me and drops anchor, laughs and says to his girl, "Well, now that we scared all the fish he'll be leaving." They proceed to break out some wine and snacks to watch the sunset as a reel up and walk off. These are mild accounts!

This is the reality of fly fishing in salt water when you just want to fish for a few hours close to home...so to speak. You learn to live with it. Of course, you can get away from the crowds for the more serious adventures. That's why this sort of stuff doesn't (or shouldn't) happen during guided trips. But I learned my lesson last year about not carrying a concealed weapon on the water. That's how bad it actually does get when you're fishing near enough to the ramp to get in and out in a few hours or doing some walk-in fishing at a park.

Have we "lost our way?" You bet! But don't blame the Internet or graphite fly rods and PVC coated fly lines. We've lost our way as an entire society.

excellent posts guys!

Unlike Bob in Mich, I have largely lost my "faith" in human beings... my life experiences have shown me that people are AT LEAST as likely to be bone-headed as not.

Like Fly Guy, I have no concept of why people feel the need to intrude on fishing space... I've had uncounted experiences similar to what he described.