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Date: March 10, 2008 at 19:53:27
From: ken, [pool-70-109-211-205.prvdri.east.verizon.net]
Subject: Re: From the thread below


No, There was no Salt water fly fishing industry pre- 94. Some people but not many.

No magazines no shops no guides no destinations no video's. There were a couple of clubs like Rhody flyrodders which I was a part of and the Atlantic Coast fly rodders in New Jersey that Bob Popovics belonged to but that was about it. I am sure there were other grass roots things that I never became aware of. Our newsletter was about the only press that salt water fly rodding had but there was the United Fly tyer group in Boston that would have one meeting a year on the salt and a magazine called Double Haul. I am sure there were other things but it was a small group of people who fly fished the salt at least for stripers the way we do now.
People did not believe that you (they) could catch stripers or bluefish on a fly rod but they were fascinated by the idea back then.
.

A group did form in the Sixties and it had a magazine. I am not sure of all these parts but I am sure that there are people out there who know all the names and dates and times and can set it all in proper order. I cannot.

No, it had nothing to do with the publication of Stripermoon at all.

The only reason I wrote that book was because friends bugged me to do it. So I did.

It wasn't about gear though. IT was about traditional striepr fishing the way I knew it. There was not a book that focused on striper fishing with a fly rod at the time I wrote it. Between the time I wrote Stripermoon and it got into the stores another book came out.

I am glad I wrote the one I wrote. People like it still. That pleases me.

When that other book came out, the movie a River Runs through it was out and everyone wanted to be Brad Pitt and it was a done deal.

People came to teh beaches in droves (that is the truth) and the interest corresponded with the lift of the ban on striper fishing and the supposed recovery of the fishery.
It was domino effect thing.

Shops opened everywhere and guides appeared out of the mist and all kinds of experts appeared and the rest is history.
Then it collapsed.
It started to fade in 97 and the numbers have been dropping ever since.
It is a shame as it is a great way to fish and I wish more folks had learned the older traditional ways to fly fish instead of the modern fast food ones as the sport would have continued to grow.

It was a cash cow and it was milked dry by people who knew nothing about fishing or feeding the cow to keep the cow healthy. It stopped giving milk.

The traditional approach remains healthy and is growing and spreading as it is based on nature and is real.

Things are changing now and people are recognizing that there is more to fishing in the ocean than what they were led to believe.

No fault, no blame it was just human nature.

It had to happen that way I suppose.


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