We’ve been hearing about a serious problem, no, an epidemic, that’s ripping through this great country of ours. People aren’t fishing enough. Let’s just take a second to catch our collective breath and retrieve our dropped jaws. Awful isn’t it?
There are many reasons to not go fishing more often, work, school, kids, spouses, work–but they all suck. There’s no reason you can’t sneak away, even just for a few casts, after quitting time. There’s a reason we all change our clocks back to add a few hours to our day every summer: to fish more. What? You didn’t know good’ ol Ben Franklin was a fly angler? It’s true. (Warning: that may not actually be true).
In case you’re not sure (if you have to ask, you need to fish more), here are seven warning signs that will alert you to this serious condition:
1) If You’re Missing A Sunglass Tan
–The one obvious sign of an angler, the sunglass tan, can also be a sign of not getting out enough. If you face is an even shade, no raccoon eyes, no little line beside your ears, it’s time to go fishing.
2) If Fish Stories Start With “The Other Day…”
–No. The only acceptable start to a fish story we want to hear is, “Yesterday…” or better yet, “This morning…” Actually, the best one would be, “When I skipped work yesterday to go fishing…”
3) If The Last Photo You Posted Wasn’t A Fish
–The only other acceptable photo is a sunset, which means you went out on the water, but just didn’t catch anything.
4) If Your Car Is Clean
–Sure, you might carpool to work everyday and have to keep your ride neat and tidy for Gary to have his morning caffeine binge, but if there aren’t at least a few flies rattling around or drying on your headliner then you need to get out more. (Extra points for rods still rigged up and fly lines that are still dripping wet).
5) If You’re Not Cut, Scraped Or Somehow Injured
–Fins, teeth, line burns, knot scars, bruises from that fallen tree you didn’t see–if you’ve gone fishing recently, your body will show it. If there’s not a single scab or sign of injury, at the very least on your hands, you should call in “not-sick” at work, they’ll understand. Probably.
6) If You Haven’t Fished A New Fly Yet
–Whether you’ve just finished your latest work of art at your tying vise or your latest flybox from Postfly is sitting un-loved on your pile of gear. You should be fishing enough to be losing flies and trying out new patterns all the time. Even if you just got the new flies yesterday, it’s time to go try them out.
7) If You Hate The World, Or You’re Just Generally Miserable
Fishing = happiness. It’s not rocket science, we need to get out there as much as possible to be happy. I start getting cranky if I haven’t fished in a while (a different cranky than if I need coffee, a cold beer or it’s just Monday), sometimes I can’t even think clearly if there’s been a serious time gap since the last time I had a fly rod in my hand. Not feeling chipper? GO FISH.
Have time to go fishing but not enough flies? Don’t waste time running to the store, subscribe to Postfly to get flies sent right to your house, and other stickers, swag and gear to show off your fishy pride off the water.
https://postflybox.com/blog/2018/10/18/invest-in-what-you-love-equity-crowdfunding-and-why-were-doing-it/
https://postflybox.com/blog/2018/11/06/river-etiquette-fish-karma-why-they-are-so-important/
https://postflybox.com/blog/2018/11/13/game-fish-of-the-week-brown-trout/
There is a problem, and the author is right….but (in my case at least) he is wrong about why I don’t fish more. I don’t fish more because my state has sought to exterminate the fisheries. I feel kind of crazy because I seem to be the only one who notices it, but over the last 2 decades, it has become obvious to me that we are being forcibly re-enculturated to not view the lakes and rivers as places to go fishing.
Ever increasing fishing licenses, the state/fed draining the lakes too quickly in the summer, and not filling them fast enough in the spring, open pogroms against “invasive warm-water species” (ie Largemouth Bass…a specie so popular people drive from thousands of miles away just to fish for them….and creates a multi-million dollar a year market in every state that has them) while the state dumps tens of thousands of STERILE, NON-NATIVE, planter-trout in all of our major rivers, streams, and lakes, right on top of the spawn of NATIVE trout, Salmon, and Steelhead….
So yeah…I’m not fishing as much as I should…..
if you want to stop feeling crazy, turn off Alex Jones and go fishing. there are no lizard people out there “re enculturating” us. my racoon tan is amazing, i’ve got chigger bites on my sac, and caught me a bunch of fun little bucketmouths with my glass four weight this morning on our local creek.
Chigger bites WHERE? I’ve done some wet wading but that sounds more like “free styling”. Watch out for the river eels bro! Tight lines!
you must be talking about california. this state’s fisheries management sucks. i leave the dept of fish n game notes about it all the time on the angler surveys they have at the local wild trout streams.
Move
I was learning to fly fish and despite some frustration with tangled line, etc, was loving it. But I cannot find other women to fish with. Do you have suggestions on how to connect with other female anglers?
Hi Kathleen,
I would do some research into local women’s fly fishing groups. I know in our area there are a few and at my old local fly shop, we held women’s fly fishing events almost quarterly. Another resource would be your local Trout Unlimited chapter, as they may know of more women in your area who pursue fish on the fly as well!
I hope this helps,
Dan