Interesting comments, Mark. Here's my take.
Obviously Orvis has built this elaborate fly-casting course to encourage rod
sales and interest in fly fishing in consumers. More power to the fly
shops. The Mill District which is the area the fly casting course is in, is
a restored, now commercial district, and they pitched in as well. We need
money behind the effort to keep interest in fly fishing alive.
Orvis is Orvis, and the Bend Orvis store has some very straight-on fly
fishers on the staff. The president of the Central Oregon Flyfishers works
at the store part-time. It's a very positive group of people, and it'd be
fun to work at the store, in that respect. There are also at least six
flyshops in the general area, and their survival depends on the commerce of
fly fishing.
On another note, I wish I were closer to a group of fly fishers who are
basically young guys. I know they are out there, but the fly fishing clubs I
see are comprised of a lot of folks around or past retirement age. Sure a
lot of you have seen the same thing. We are not yet a dying breed.
So the challenge is how do you get young people interested in fly fishing?
I have tried mightily to interest my nephew (now age 16) in fly fishing.
But we are two hours flighttime apart from each other. He liked to fish
when he was younger, but the parents never got him out into the wilds much
to wet a line. There are a lot of young people out there in similar
straits. If you don't plant the tree when the ground is fertile, it's a lot
harder to grow a tree. For my nephew, the ground is getting less fertile by
the day.
I feel (A.) you gotta get them out into the "wilds" and give them a nice
fishing experience. That's the hook. (B.) The hoped for result, is they
start to appreciate the natural beauty around them. And with soft guidance,
they start to preserve the flora and fauna that envelopes the fly fishing
experience.
I thoroughly enjoyed Boy Scouts growing up in Colorado. Enjoyed a lot of
stuff that isn't like anything in the city. That alone created a deep
appreciation of nature, inside me. But how many kids you know these days,
who are having a similar experience? Not many. That's troubling. Gotta do
something about that.
Your mileage may differ...
Wes Wada
Bend, OR
On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 7:29 PM, Mark Romero <markflie...@hotmail.com>wrote:
> Pretty cool Wes.......i read the entire article.........and as we all
> should know by now, "Opinions are like ********, and everybody has one." So,
> for me that has always meant that we're all right....and in a sense, nobody
> is wrong. It's all in ones point of view. I'm refering of course, to fly
> fishing as a "sport." As someone who deals with it every day as a sport, in
> the sense that my wife is the Captain of an international team or two,
> ("competetive fly fishing"), and because i know many who are involved with
> competitive fly fishing.....i have to give them their propers as
> sportsman...........but also, as someone who actually see's fly fishing as
> something that absolutely has nothing to do with "Sport," i also think that
> until we go FAR beyond looking at it in just such a simple minded
> way.......we will remain in trouble, in terms of rising the consciousness of
> those who need to help us, and have the power to help us do the things we
> need to do, to insure that the "habitat" is saved for future generations. As
> long as fly fishing is deleniated as just a "sport," and not totally
> understood as the much deeper thing it really is......we will not gain the
> political clout we need to impower ourselves to truely be able to save the
> wild places we need to insure, for the futrue of "the sport." And as long as
> the "industry" is more concerned with "promoting the sport, and selling
> rods".....anglers will continue to see their weekends as something so
> precious, they need to spend them ALL fishing, instead of doing stream work
> or planting trees. Greed begets greed Bro. i've watched this me me me me me
> me atitude perpetuate itself for years amoung fly fishers. And the only
> thing they can talk about in the bar at the end of the day, is size and
> numbers.................bores the hell out of me. You never hear them
> talkin' bout the rip rap or riparian work they just completed along a
> stream. Or how many vibert boxes they just got installed into the strem bed
> for rearing young trout. It's all, check out my new $800 rod........boring
> Bro. Highly BORING. i guess it's just me.........but i don't see much of a
> future for our steams and rivers if fly fishing is going to be continuely
> looked at, as just a sport.......i don't think that enough caring
> individualls will be inspired to do the work that needs to be done if that's
> as shallow as it's going to remain. There simply isn't enough time
> left..............you dig?
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:39:41 -0700
> Subject: [VFB] Something different: Orvis/Old Mill Fly-Casting Course
> From: w...@wadaworks.com
> To: vfb-mail@googlegroups.com
>
>
> .
> I will be doing this Thursday for the first time with friend Steve. It's
> an 18-"hole" deal.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/kokwq5
> Last weekend Orvis sponsored a Pro-Am tournament with a bunch of neat
> prizes. I was not in town, so couldn't participate, but will at least check
> it out on Thursday evening. I have seen a couple of the casting areas, but
> never have seen or casted the entire course.
>
>
> Wes Wada
> Bend, Oregon
>
> >
>
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