A CHALLENGE COURSE?

July 19, 2010

Every once in a while a topic comes up and I’m torn as to if I should write about it.
It can be that something which might be interesting to me might not be interesting to you at all - or I might not want to bring attention to something which might be better left alone. Confusing? Sure is and that’s why it is difficult for me as a writer.

An example: A friend of mine has been sitting on an idea for a way to introduce a new generation to fly fishing in a fun way - in fact his idea is similar to one that the late Castwell had in 1998. According to an article in a trade magazine I read Lefty Kreh had this idea way back in 1969. He tried to get a “prominent” fly rod manufacturer interested but it didn’t happen. 

The idea consists of building a fly fishing “Challenge Course” on a river where people could learn how to improve their abilities in a perfect teaching environment for Kreh and his fly fishing protégés. (The previous quoted in part from the article in Fishing Tackler Retailer magazine.) So Lefty has found a place and the course has been built and is in operation. It supposedly has real people and real fish, unlike Castwell’s version which had phony fish. Castwell’s was a “pay to play” where anyone could pay a small fee and fish the course. I won’t belabor the idea; it’s easier to understand if you just read it here.

Obviously, while Castwell had some really good points in his GULP, he created it as humor. I remember a phone call we had from a Washington fly rod manufacturer when the article ran - to the effect that the concept wasn’t too far off, since the Japanese were already working on it. It wouldn’t be very difficult at all to fence off a stretch of a spring creek, stock it with really big trout, feed them well and charge really big bucks to the high rollers to “learn” how to catch them.

Sometime ago Tom Travis taught some schools on a local spring creek. The schools were reasonably priced and very well attended. The idea was to teach folks how to fish a spring creek (which isn’t the same as your run-of-the-mill stream.) The idea was to teach anyone that was interested how to successfully fish a challenging stream that is the home for wild trout.

I made a couple of phone calls to the place in PA where Lefty’s challenge course is located and after talking to the club manager I spent some time on Google. While the FTR magazine stated “the course will be open to the public from June 14 through November 30" the manager told me the course does not “stand alone” and can only be used as part of club membership.

Club membership requires an a steep ‘deposit’ and annual dues of $6,000 according to a Sept. 2009 posting on Google. I would say that it’s little out of my league and not something that I would recommend for “introducing a new generation to fly fishing in a fun and exciting way.”

Another good idea bites the dust, unless it was all about the money in the first place.

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