Duh on me. I see your point that it would attract sponsors that sell hiking/camping gear.
… and I think most people here know that I am willing to share information or ideas on just about any fly angling topic if I think it will help, whether there is a forum or not.
For example, I recently provided, by PM, information on how to post pix on the BB to stevekiley, turvy, and mahaveny even though we don’t have a “Photography Forum.” They asked and they got help, as have many others in the past.
Most people here know I would do the same thing, publicly or privately, regarding hiking or camping if a question was raised on the FAOL Forum, or the Sound Off Forum, or the “Whatever” Forum.
What I did say is what you quoted - “I don’t see enough … connection between fly angling and camping / hiking to warrant a separate forum here on FAOL.” That’s my opinion.
John
Saw a lot of them at Ft. Hood get educated real fast about scorpions, western diamnd back rattlers, tarantulas, wild boars, mountan lions, black bears, torrential rain storms, tornadoes, heat and so on that you encounter there in that Texas wilderness.
The Boss Lady has spoken and she is watching us. Whatever she decides I am happy with.
How many times do we hear a person state that they are going to be at this place at that time of the year and most of us respond with the type of fly fishing gear they will need. Only a very few here will think tell them about the weather where they are going at that time of year, the terrain conditions and what type of gear they should have todeal with those things. I admit I am guilty of that myself.
I personally would like to see a Camping / Hiking forum. Should be a lot of really good info on the subject and a very large number of FF folks might be interested in sharing experiences and thoughts on the Subjects. Also we all can learn from experiences of others. In the past these have been placed on the Fly Anglers On Line Forum which is a General Discussion of Fly Angling topics. Perhaps more would be inclined to post on these subjects if a Special thread (s) were on the BB.
I am totally for the furled leaders board. Would also be interested to have it include “tying your own knotted leaders” as well. Many prefer to make their own by knotting different sizes and length. These subjects are all about Fly fishing and are both leaders a lot of us use.
Hi all,
This forum idea is infinitely more interesting to me than many of the existing or proposed forums.
I’ve wondered for a while if a "where to stay, play & eat " category wouldn’t be of some use, although I have a feeling it would lay dormant for several months per year.
Within a category like that, recommendations of campgrounds and backcountry outfitting questions and tips could be posted. Along with the best lodging accommodations, eateries, camp recipes, gear, etc. kind of a " On the road " or " Out and about forum ". You might add a few nuggets for non-angling family members also.
But you’d need to make it clear in the topic directory that this new " forum " is the place to go for this type of info.
That hasn’t always been the case with the forum directories. The paddling forum directory says nothing about float tubing and pontoons. Yet I’ll bet there are nearly equal if not more power boaters, tubers and pontoon enthusiasts here as true paddle sports enthusiasts, yet it’s in that forum where a lot of the pontoon, float tube & power boat talk goes on.
As it is, I miss a lot of good content on this site and fail to participate in a timely manner, because of the departmentalization of the differening disciplines.
To go through each of the forums, open each new topic or recent posts takes more time than I often have available. So my first stop for the exchange of any info within this site tends to be this one “Fly Anglers Online” forum. More visits than not, I never make it to the other info exchange forums before it’s time to bolt for the door.
Having blithered on about all of that…
If you build a camping & hiking forum, I will hang around that campfire from time to time.
Dave
Another belated point I’d like to make … and it certainly fits right in with fishing. Another thing I’ve loved to do in the past (albeit has been awhile), is load up the canoe with all the fly fishing bric-a-brac - plus throw in the tent plus a little camping gear, launch out and just meandor down a special river … fishing here and there, stopping off where-ever and then stopping for the night at a special spot. Nothing like camping streamside and sitting by a campfire! Certainly the fishing gives purpose to it all!
Here’s a pic of my favorite canoe and grand daughter, although we’re not camping and are just out for a ride - you get the point!
I think forums are better served with less categories.
I’m all for it! That’s all we do on our fishing vacations, is camp and hike while we fish. Even living along the Deschutes I hike it alot and camp along it as well. There can be alot of good information obtained from this. Especially for those East Coast paved roaders who may not know what to do if their little Prius gets on some gravel and starts to “fish tail” and their stuck out in the wood and couldn’t start a fire to stay warm. We’ve seen this happen around hear where some out of towners get lost on some Forest Service road and aren’t found till spring. Happens almost every year.
you beat me to that one…I would so love to see a hiking/camping forum…and would participate.
I’d like to see it, too.
Perhaps a catch-all section for all activities tangentially related to fly fishing…but not totally off-topic…would be a more elegant compromise between having a separate section for paddling, camping/hiking, orienteering/geocaching, mountain biking, backpacking, etc. Rather than have 6 forums that only see 10 threads per month, why not combine them all and get one forum with all these activities in one place. The cross-pollination effect might get a few hikers to look into geocaching, or a few campers interested in biking. This will also make that one forum much more of an active section.
Just my 2 cents. Really, I don’t care much one way or another about having a separate section created for these activities, as they seem to work their way into the relevant discussions on the board as-is.
Sounds like a good idea, could be called the “Outdoor Living” board.
It might be as simple as renaming the Paddling forum which sees a lot less traffic than the other boards.
I think the furling forum is a good idea but as mentioned earlier, expand it to include built knotted leaders as well and call it “The Leader Board” very punny huh?
Personally, I consider ‘roughing it’ to mean going without room service.
That being said, I do like having all the different forums separated into as many categories as possible, though, and don’t see any reason not to have as many as the operators are comfortable maintaining.
That allows me to easily ‘skip’ the stuff I’m not interested in.
Once the specific category or forum is operational, the administrators will quickly see if it’s going to be well used or not and make the appropriate decision from there.
Ron’s not all that busy, right? 
Buddy
I am all for a camping and hiking forum. I think if the administers have time and interest it would be a great help. I might even be interested in helping if there is anything I could do. Now I want my summer back so I can go camp and fly fish. The shack nasties are already starting to get to me.