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Date: August 18, 2006 at 14:48:13
From: ken, [pool-64-223-60-5.prov.east.verizon.net]
Subject: A letter I received about the tournament . posted with permission
By the way - this fellow is a lawyer.
Forgive me if I come across as long-winded..
I’ve never considered fishing, especially fly fishing, a tournament sort of sport for me, personally. I have fished with a fly for about 20 of my 30 years. My uncle taught me to fish at 7, on the Salmon River in Colchester, Connecticut, with ultra light spinning gear. He taught me the importance of presentation, and how to read currents and structure. He taught me to understand nature’s intricacies and cycles. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the Salmon River, but its access is interesting. A road runs along the length of the “fishy” water, and to access the spin-fishing area, at that time one had to travel past the fly-fishing-only water. At a young age, I always considered that the “big time,” as I passed fishermen and awed at their elegant flowing casts on my way to our spin fishing hole. I thought that when I understood enough about fishing, I could “graduate” to fly fishing. My uncle bought me a fly tying kit and an LL bean beginner’s outfit for Christmas when I was 9 or 10, and I was off and running. I taught myself to tie from pictures in catalogs and magazines. In the beginning my flies were crude and always over-dressed. I learned through experience and trial and error. I read everything I could. I was, and still am, a fly fishing sponge. I befriended the regular old-timers who gathered on the Salmon River banks at the “handicapped pool” and had tailgate feasts with them on the old Opening Day. We enjoyed each other’s company. It wasn’t about competition. For me, there’s always been so much more. The endless wonders of nature. The camaraderie of fishing companions. The enjoyment that comes with matching the hatch, or not being able to. Just being a part of nature’s cycle, and being able to experience it firsthand. My list is countless.
If you’re still reading this, you’re most likely asking yourself why I’m writing all this and who really cares…. Well, this is my fishing history. It’s shaped me as a fisherman, and as a person. Since those early days, fishing has been a passion. It’s in me. It’s a part of me. I can’t explain it. I don’t really know why I’m so drawn to it. I just know that I always have been. At this point I fly fish as much as I can, wherever I can. From Lake Ontario, Erie, and Michigan tribs for salmon/browns/steelhead. To trout in Montana for the past 12 summers, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and of course my native New England’s fresh and salt waters. I’ve fished the salt for bones and permit in the Bahamas. Each experience has been very different and has brought its own enjoyment and enlightenment. But there’s truly nothing like home. And when I think of Connecticut as home, I don’t think trout, I think saltwater, and stripers. And one has a tendency to want to protect his home.
A friend of mine has a 21’ center console boat in the mouth of the Thames River. The past few years, I’ve fished with him in the Sound for stripers perhaps a couple dozen times. It seems to me to be increasingly rare to find a boater who “gets it.” Just last weekend, off of Watch Hill, we were drifting along the reef when a pod of bass starting busting bait on the surface. We had caught a couple previously, and decided to “sit this one out” so to speak. We watched from afar as three boats zipped right up to the center of the school with four strokes blazing, and the fish went down and didn’t come back up. Angry words were exchanged between the boaters. We laughed our heads off. None of them caught anything.
I’m generalizing your theories here, but I agree with your premise that media and marketing are destroying fly fishing. Our society’s need to have everything bigger, faster, longer, stronger, lighter, etc., than the next guy borders on the absurd. As a prime example, as an annual Montana vacationer (going back to “pre-movie” days), I’ve seen the changes that have taken place since “the movie.” Some of them for the better; the $3 Bridge Foundation has done marvelous things for the Madison River. But many changes have been for the worse. Overdevelopment (the number of lodges is growing exponentially) will most certainly become an issue, as it causes more runoff and erosion. Valuable and essential habitat will continue to be razed and built up. It’s a shame. As a collective group, we’ve got to take the power back. Count me in for the tournament. I may not be a competitive fisherman, but I’ll fish my ass off for the cause.
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