I've been busy and therefore unable to be active on the boards for the
last few weeks. And, people ask me what I do on the Vineyard in the
winter. Life happens, and the job, and so it goes. Enough
Vonnegutisms!
I really understand your post. I have a very hard time with marketing of
hobbies, sports and pastimes, as I was involved with the bicycling
industry for years. I still ride. I was born for the track, but I love the
road and my MTB. But it went corporate, my life was changing and I
got out.
So, here it comes... The Marketing and Corporate America types see a
"product" and an op to make money. And when the Big Money moves in
so does the hype. Then, the folks who actually know things and pass
them along get past over or pushed aside, or worse. The wheel gets
reinvented continuously but with different paint or material and the
traditions get buried and lost. Joe Sixpack is convinced that he has to
have this years newest, hottest phony improvement.
Back to Kurt V..."And so it goes.!"
Without looking back to what I used to do any more, I think that I've
learned more over the years about fishing by going out and making my
mistakes and by listening to my peers and the advice of fly fishing
elders.
My life has been made much more interesting by meeting folks like
you, Ken, and I'm truly privileged to have fished with and been taught
by the likes of Joe Humphreys and Ed Shenk. I think that the books by
the masters of the fly have much more content than the Corporate
American crap delivered by the industry through the magazines and
the trade shows.
To tip my hat to my mom, she used to say, "Go out and stay out. Don't
come home till dinner time and watch out for your little brother."
Therefore, it's up to us to make sure that tradition is carried on. It's our
watch, and the enemy is at the gates. It's important that we do our
best for our brothers in sport.
I don't know how many want to know, but Boards like yours, courtesy
on the stream or beach, a fly passed to someone one doesn't know, or
a civil word to someone who didn't expect it are a better way to pass
something on than a magazine article without acknowledgments or a
fly rod designed for tournaments, "and so it goes!"
Long live the floating line!
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