The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I have golfing friends that have to reserve their Tee times weeks or months in advance. If I had to reserve my rock weeks or months in advance to flyfish a particular river, I would probably just hang up my flyrods and find something else to interest myself.

bt45,

What I really want is for my son to be able to catch steelhead after school, not once or twice a year on a family vacation.

I have never been to the Trinity, but I hear it's crowded. The problem is that the Trinity is the only game in town.

I think we need to look at the big picture.

Politicians take action when they know that something is important to large numbers of constituents. If large numbers of fishermen let it be known that native fish populations, water quality and habitat were important to them, you'd see some action in places like the San Lorenzo River, Alameda Creek, The Carmel River etc. If the coastal creeks, rivers and their tributaries became quality fisheries, nobody would drive to the Trinity, they'd fish in their own neighborhoods. Who is going to put the political pressure on? You guessed it, fishermen. More precisely, fishermen in large numbers.

I can draw a paralel to another sport I'm familiar with - surfing. When there's a good swell, people spread out, they don't surf at Steamer Lane or the Hook, they spread up and down the coast and everybody has more space.

Good luck with the vomiting. Don't forget to brush your teeth afterwords.

That is the problem with argument by analogy, too easily preverted. Nobody is talking about taking reservations for rocks. Although, now that I think about it, I saw there's a guide at the Fly Shop in Redding that has a two year waiting list...

The problem is that the Trinity is the only game in town.

I disagree. The Trinity is not the only steelhead game in town, it is really just the easiest steelhead game in town (and one of the prettiest), hence its popularity. There are lots of steelhead streams in California, and many have quality fisheries, they are just harder to fish, harder to get to, and harder to access.

I agree with you overall though. More people making noise means more attention paid by politicians. I do think if we made more noise, we have more than enough people in fly fishing to make a difference. In addition, if we connected with other fishing groups, or even hunting groups, we would have an even larger voice. Even so, I think people would still drive to the Trinity to fish for steelhead. I do, and I have steelhead streams close by.

Dawn

you just keep believing the T is the only game in town...that is fine with me. I hope the rest of the world thinks that also.

jtukk wrote:
I feel compelled to weigh in...

I see nothing wrong with casting tournaments. I watch fly casting tournaments nearly every weekend and am continualy amazed by the skills tournament casters posess. I have no doubt that these skills translate to the river - distance, accuracy - all of it.

If tournaments and competitions bring people into the sport, then lets have more tournaments and competitions. Bringing people into the sport is a good thing. I don't want more people on my stream either; however, we need more people willing to voice their opinion about conservation, land use, habitat restoration, public access, polution and all the other hot topics we are faced with. Alameda Creek in Fremont used to have a huge salmon and steelhead run, and could again if it was important to enough people. If there were as many fly fishermen as golfers, there would be healthy fish populations in every waterway in the State, healthy steelhead runs in every coastal river.

If casting tournaments aren't your proverbial cup of tea, then don't participate.

I'm curious what GRevel had in mind when he said he was thinking about Xtreem fishing competitions. I'll go wet wade the Trinity with you in February and we can call it a competiton. You in, GR?

Who's to say that if competitions bring new, and more people to the sport, that that will increase the conservation voices. Didn't we see a dramatic rise in fly fishermen, after "the movie" came out. Did we see the same spike in conservation participation/voices. Maybe we did, but I wonder if it offset the additional impact to the watersheds. Are competitive fly fisherfolks going to be more conservation minded than the average fly fisher.

I don't have the answer, but if I have more fishermen competeing for the same space, i'll have plenty of time to ponder it while I wait for my turn on the rock.
brians

Brians has a point. I've no idea if new fishermen will be any more conservation minded than the fishermen that already exist. Dawn may have the answer with all of us being more active and vocal in the conservation efforts.

I also agree with Dawn when she said the T isn't the only game in town, but it does seem to be the most popular. I'm going to try the Mokelumne this weekend.

there was a poster on this board (he who shall not be named ) thought it would be a good idea to limit the angler days on popular waters like Putah Creek, the Trinity, Owens river, Walker River. He even mentioned it in comments to the F&G Commission this last summer. I don't think we are to that point yet.

There is no problem with growing the sport of angling, whether fly, lure or bait, as long as we stop the habitat degradation that has occured and demand more clean water for fish. Polluted water and the money grubbers who caused it are the problems. If we had healthy Salmon and Steelhead runs up the Sacramento and San Joaquin River that went up to their historical like the Pit (could you imagine steelhead and spring salmon in Hat Creek?) , Mc Cloud, NFFR, SFAR, Moke, ... we would not be talking about having casting competitions to drum up angler excitement.

Tournaments would not increase interest/participation in fly fishing. You would get a decent turn out for a entry fee goes to conservation style event, but primarily from people who allready know and understand the sport. A reward/competetive tournment (as evidenced by the response here on this board) does not appeal in any way to the large majority of fly fishers. Many adults who don't fly fish are intimidated by the sport and view it as far to difficult. Competetive tournaments will generate very little new participation because the last thing a green fly fisher is going to do is enter a competition or think he/she can take it up to be competetive. I just don't see it working out very well.

I don't actually have my brother's back on stuff he starts (sorry bro, but doing what you did is like mentioning gun control laws at the republican debate... just ask Giuliani... You will get booed). The Oompa Loompa thing was directed at George’s parents, who are in fact my parents. That was what pushed me to act in the way I did.
George May have been the first to reference age and bragging, but quite honestly this was directed at both parties here, myself included.
I can't control my age, so if you are going to judge me and look down on I would prefer that you did that based on my merit not something I have no control over for example you could judge me on my response to the Oompa Loompa post, and that would be legit.
I have nothing against Arizona nor did I make that Claim. I personally couldn't live there, because there are no Steelhead in the area.
The weight thing was an attempt to stress the absurdity of judgment based on age. That was wrong of me and for that I apologize.
BTW there are a lot of things that exist after midnight i.e. pss but touché nonetheless.
Dusty

This thread reinforces my desire to fish alone. I know none of you, and based on what I've read.....you frighten me!

The lack of civility, needless name calling (implied or otherwise) and chest thumping is quite sad. Have I learned anything about the idea, good or bad, of tournament casting or fishing? Perhaps a little, but I mostly learned that those with the strongest opinion's are hard to listen to and if they had any good idea's - it was buried in hyperbole and ego.

I participate (lurk mostly) in a few DB's depending on the hobby and all of them have this affliction to a certain extent. However, flyfisher's seem to be the most opinionated of them all. There is more black and white here, less give and take and sadly enough, given the stereotype of the flyfisherman, less respect. It's about dialouge.




BTW, I'm 53 with an 20 year olds heart, a lousy caster and worse fisherman, never shared a table with Lefty, I purchase stuff from Kienes and Orvis and Cabela's, don't like crowds but love to see people catch fish, can't tell the difference between a Republican and a Democrat, drive a small car.....and a big one, have a vise I never use......


Did I miss anything?

nice dialouge...