In the recent issue of Arizona Highways I think I saw the future for the fly fisher of the 21st century. It was a small item on the editorial page that mentioned a new feature in the magazine, 2D bar codes. They are using these in conjunction with their articles on hiking opportunities in Arizona. The 2D bar code does not look anything like the conventional bar code that we see on products in the store. It does not contain any numbers or letters just a series of squiggly lines and some rectangles.
AMEN to all that you said Neil! As a starting bait drowner (GASP!!!) and bottom dredger it seemed to be an easy transition to nymphing and without indicators. Still prefer fishing without indicators although I tried them for a little bit just couldn’t get used to watching something floating along as opposed to “feeling” a take. Been told that I’m missing out on a lot of takes; but, that’s just fine with me. Came late to fly fishing and without a mentor to straighten out my many mistakes, not the least of which is pitiful fly flinging. Not a bug ID person either and that’s fine too. They invented the “Keep It Simple Stupid” series just for me. happy in my ignorance. Grn Mt Man
I can relate to much of your article Neil. great reading your thoughts and perspective. That’s why I tend to try and make my own future. Crowds and keeping with the trends are not requirements for catching fish:^)
You are as tep ahead of me neil. I have not got a cell phone.
Rick
… to regularly using technology to inform my fishing decisions.
Almost every morning for the past five or six years, I’ve used the usgs water data service and a reliable internet weather service to check stream flows and the ten day weather forecasts to make decisions on where to fish on the short term.
Now, about those phones that take pictures and connect to the internet and have “apps” whatever those are …
John
If you’re looking for a good deal, keep your eye on those that come in to flyfishing expecting instant gratification.
They’ll be selling all their gear in less than 3 years
I do not know if it evolution or revolution that we all are experiencing! Being 62 years old, I remember a time when there was no such thing as wash & wear clothes (everything was either cotton or wool. The freezer in the refrigerator was the size of a two slice toaster (half of it was taken up with the ice cube trays). Television had only three channels, and everything was black & white. Houses and cars did not have air conditioning, there were no microwave ovens, and all stores were close on Sundays and Holidays. If you needed information you visited your local library. In the large cities we has mass transits, it was called Street Cars, and many families did not own an automobile. There were no portable radios, or calculators, and computers where so large that they filled a building, and either required a ticker tape spool or a lot of punch cards to program the computer for you number crunching (only big businesses and the government had them). Cars did not have GPS, all they had was a little compass to show which direction the front of the car was pointed. Cars did not have computers, and houses did not have computers. There was a time when you could work on your own car…those days are gone.
I am wondering if our advancements are tools for us as masters to use, or are our modern tools becoming the master’s telling us what to do? Sometimes I just like driving down back roads, and not take the fastest way, getting off the highways and interstate freeways, to see the America that we rarely experience anymore.
In 2001 I drove from Minnesota to the Delaware Fish-In, on the Interstate, for my return home I took the Lincoln Highway. The difference in what you experience makes the forgotten byways more enjoyable.
What will it be next, all the fish are tagged with locater chips so you will know where the fish are, and how big the fish is? Where is the sport in that?
I prefer the road less taken, it holds more discoveries than the road more taken. I will continue to take the less traveled path in life, until my time is up, but I will have experienced places and events I otherwise would have missed out on. ~Parnelli
A month or so ago I was fishing the Hoh River on the Olympic Peninsula here in Washington State when I realized I had not made my ferry reservations to get back home the next day. From the bank of the river I was able to access the Washington State ferry system’s web site and secure my reservation for an afternoon sailing the next day using my cell phone. Next, while still sitting on the bank I carefully surveyed the river deciding where along the seams and currents a steelhead might hold. Sometime within the next half dozen or so casts I was able to hook and bring to hand a nice 8 or 9 pound native hen. I love technology but it will never replace the ability to read a steelhead river. The only way to learn how to read water is to spend time on the water. There is not an app for that.
Neil,
You have “hit the nail on the head” and I could not agree with you more. I run across so many new people to fly fishing and they are not interested in learning anything or trying to learn anything on their own. They just want to know what rod, what reel, what line and what fly are you using to catch your fish and what they never seem to understand is that all that equipment is just that, equipment. This equipment does not catch fish. The person who knows how to read the water, the person who knows where his fly is in the water, the person who knows how to impart action to his fly and the person who has “become one” with his surroundings is the person who catches the fish.
Technology has its place and is important, but, not in my fly fishing. I want to learn on my own and that way it is in my memory where it cannot be “deleted” or forgotten. When I am fly fishing, I want to be as close to Mother Nature as I can get. Nothing bothers me more than to be enjoying the river and the peace and quiet and then hear a cell phone ringing somewhere. I guess at age 62, I do not need all the new tech toys to entertain me. I can do that on my own. I guess that is why I fish by myself a lot unless I find someone who enjoys the experience the way I do and then it is fun to share it.
Another great article, Neil. Keep them coming…
I’ve actually reversed directions in the last several years and am weaning myself off uneccessary technology. The TV is gone, the computer, admittedly is obviously still here, but other than weather, e-mail, and a little carefully screened news gathering, it doesn’t do much that a typewriter can’t do. I have a cell phone, but all it does is make calls. The funny thing is, the more uneccessary stuff I get rid of, the less necessary what’s left seems to be.
Oh yeah, flyfishing, the whole reason I got into it as deeply as I have is because I love puzzles, and every day on the water is a new one to figure out.
One fo the best things you can do, is when bringing a new person to the sport…you show them what is “needed”…and what is “not needed”. Give them the tools…and they will choose their own course.
Absolutely true Neil;
I suspect that your vision of the future might just come to pass. New technology will for some be a blessing and for others like myself sometimes a loss of something precious. I guess I am what they call a late adopter. I do not now nor have I ever owned a cell phone. On the other hand I am not about to give up my digital camera or internet and have lately been looking at the S.P.O.T. locator system that would allow my significant other to know my whereabouts when I am off seeking solitude and solving the puzzle myself on some mountain stream.