I've heard this question posed before but never gave it much thought. Then the other day I happened to see a somewhat famous fly fishing guide on a daytime talk show introducing the audience to the sport/ The guide said something like (I'm paraphrasing here): "what do you picture when someone mentions fly fishing; an old grey-haired dude smoking a pipe along a stream, right? That's boring. I go fishing for the adventure. The way I fly fish it's very athletic & adrenaline-packed."
Well, okay. That sounds fun & exciting & I'm all for it but let's not be so quick to call that pipe smoking angler boring. In fact if we stop to talk to this fellow we might just find he's an interesting character (& maybe even a little crazy). Who knows, we might learn a lot from him. How boring can he be anyway? After all isn't he trying to catch the same fish we are? All this got me thinking about the question of a generation gap between younger & older anglers within the sport of fly fishing.
I guess the answer depends on your perspective, but as far as I can see there isn't much of a gap. Sure, there's always anglers who give people who are different than they are the 'ol fish eye - but it's that way everywhere in life. For my take, I've known some young people who were more closed-minded than some folks three times their age. I really don't know how much attitude has to do with age - experience yes, but not necessarily age.
Anglers young & old share more in common, I think, than any differences they might have. We all get excited at the possibility of tricking a fish with fur & feather. We all enjoy the places we fish. Most of us are, at a minimum, a little bit insane - at least to the non-angling portion of the population. There's even more that young & older fly anglers have in common & when I begin to add them all up in my head I start to wonder why the question is even being asked.
There is one extra responsibility that falls on the shoulders of older anglers & that is to share what you've learned & to encourage the youth to take up the sport. Like it or not, younger folks are the future & if we don't get them fly fishing what will the sport be like in the next generations? Will it still be here?
There's a popular tackle ad that says something like, "on the water we're all the same". I tend to agree with that. Why focus on somebody's age at all? I think what's probably important for all of us is to be kind & courteous to the other anglers we encounter, while learning & sharing as much as we can regardless of how old or young we might be.
Well, okay. That sounds fun & exciting & I'm all for it but let's not be so quick to call that pipe smoking angler boring. In fact if we stop to talk to this fellow we might just find he's an interesting character (& maybe even a little crazy). Who knows, we might learn a lot from him. How boring can he be anyway? After all isn't he trying to catch the same fish we are? All this got me thinking about the question of a generation gap between younger & older anglers within the sport of fly fishing.
I guess the answer depends on your perspective, but as far as I can see there isn't much of a gap. Sure, there's always anglers who give people who are different than they are the 'ol fish eye - but it's that way everywhere in life. For my take, I've known some young people who were more closed-minded than some folks three times their age. I really don't know how much attitude has to do with age - experience yes, but not necessarily age.
Anglers young & old share more in common, I think, than any differences they might have. We all get excited at the possibility of tricking a fish with fur & feather. We all enjoy the places we fish. Most of us are, at a minimum, a little bit insane - at least to the non-angling portion of the population. There's even more that young & older fly anglers have in common & when I begin to add them all up in my head I start to wonder why the question is even being asked.
There is one extra responsibility that falls on the shoulders of older anglers & that is to share what you've learned & to encourage the youth to take up the sport. Like it or not, younger folks are the future & if we don't get them fly fishing what will the sport be like in the next generations? Will it still be here?
There's a popular tackle ad that says something like, "on the water we're all the same". I tend to agree with that. Why focus on somebody's age at all? I think what's probably important for all of us is to be kind & courteous to the other anglers we encounter, while learning & sharing as much as we can regardless of how old or young we might be.
RSS Feed
