With my last post about Trout Unlimited leadership (SARCASTICALLY) being communist taken down by our site admin overlords, let me tone this one down. Side note, can anyone on here take a freakin' joke?
As a little known but much hated (fair for the 1st 100 episodes) YouTuber who started out slinging' treble hooks from a spin rod, I have to say this openly. There is a serious problem with fly fishing elitism that permeates sites like this and trout fishing discourses in general.
Quick back story (that no one cares about, please move on to next paragraph). I started trout fishing in my late 20's. I didn't have an uncle or best friend or sage to guid me. I started out with an ugly stick, treble hook panther martins, and no whiff of a net, waders, wet hands, or ethical practices. My first videos are SO cringeworthy. Awful stuff guys. With that said, I was learning. As time went on, I bought a net, pinched my barbs, grabbed some cheap waders, and even went to single hooks. Nothing was ever good enough. As you grow and get better, the expectations from your audience get more onerous. With the ever shifting landscape of social acceptance, no matter what I did, it was not enough for the fly fisherman who were clearly 'better' than me.
As I slowly began to navigate the world of fly fishing, I started to notice something. In the fly shops. On forums like this. In the magazines like Trout. There was a subtle but clear undercurrent of 'othering' the guys who still used spinning reels and tactics. They weren't quite yet 'enlightened'. Sure, they caught fish and had fun, but they weren't like "us". This makes YOU and frankly US look pretentious. We are not better than anyone else enjoying the same recreational hobby, albeit doing it in a slightly different way.
Fly fishing is one type of fishing. Period. This idea that it's "THE" only way to fish is so unbecoming to our community. I used to be able to viscerally feel the contempt from fly fisherman when they'd see me on 'their' stream (ex. Cedar Run or Spring or Penns) while spin fishing. Maybe this is all in my head. But it isn't. You look down upon those who don't fish (or think) exactly the way you do. As a fly fisherman now myself almost exclusively (excepting salt water), I even catch myself sometimes looking down on the spin caster, but every time I catch myself and say, NO, they are just the same as me. And we need more of that around here.
What do you guys think? Are we pretentious DB's or am I way off the mark?
