Bwag
08-15-2016, 10:12 AM
Just read an interesting article written by April Vokey. Let me first preface this with stating that in no way am I directing this post at anyone in particular, if I were, I'd have to start with myself. I've posted on here more than once about a trip. One of those posts I have removed as I felt I shared too much and I shat right where I ate and I ate pretty damn good! I won't do it no more! However, I've left another post to remain, because I gave up no sacred information or secret location and it was my break through moment swinging a fly shared with my dad.
I don't participate in social media other than Instagram as I enjoy photography, I have very few contacts on there (19 to be precise) and use hashtags very rarely. I can relate to what April is saying, I too find myself seeking a quiet stretch of river with nobody around, and I too get a little sand in my vagina so to speak when I drive 7+ hours to the river only to see other people had the same idea as I and quiet honestly I really shouldn't feel that way but I do and I know some dude is looking at me feeling the same way.
While I know that I'm not an internet sensation and that posting a picture on my private Instagram account to my 19 followers didn't create this mass movement to go fish where I just did, I have to think that those with accounts much larger than mine whether public or private and those who throw it all out there in other forms of social media quite possibly did.
I'll say it again, I was part of that problem and did such a thing right here on Kienes Forum, I removed a particular post a short while ago and pulled my head out of my ass. I don't think it's wrong to post a report about a specific river one fished, in fact I spend a lot of time on here and am thankful this forum exists, but I went too far even naming the spot and posting far too detailed pictures, just my opinion but that's fueling the fire of "I'm packing my bags and heading out the door".
Although I fished as a kid, this is only my 6th season fishing for Steelhead on the fly. I never knew it in its prime, long ago before the age of the internet and so called pecker measuring media posts of just how damn big and bright that fish was. But I have in my six short seasons watched posts on Instagram, blogs and forums turn what I knew as a somewhat quiet place into what is becoming a commercialized Spey Rod Shit Show.
I have no more right to the river than anyone else but can't help getting annoyed when I see people with thousands of followers on Instagram or blatantly posting in forums about trips to include exactly where they were fishing on somewhat quiet locations.
I've also watched some popular guides and guide outfits who heavily participate in social media start to offer trips (As in come camp for three days) on sections of rivers that used to either go unnamed or not fished altogether at certain times of the year. I can't help but feel the $ is pushing the posts as well as the ego, as some are very established guides who from all I've heard aren't even open to booking as they have return clients year after year.
While I don't consider myself young, I do have some years left in me to chase Steelhead and wonder what the future of swinging a fly holds. I quit reading fishing reports years ago, it's old news and with Steelhead goes the saying, "Here today gone tomorrow".
Some of the best trips I've had have been done the hard way, packing my bags, hitting the road with a general location in mind and figuring it out as I go. Along they way, I’ve met some great people the old fashioned way, face to face over a handshake and good conversation, some of whom have turned into good friends I now look forward to fishing with each Season even though it may have been a year since we last fished a run together.
I'm not sure where the balance is in all of this, I enjoy reading posts and looking at the photography but feel as a whole, those of us who choose to provide every detail are only removing what I consider to be some of the best parts of this sport, paying your dues. Learning about Steelhead as a fish not just that one rock in that one run they will always be sitting behind and just how many you can hook in a day, but also their life cycle, their habitat in and out of the Ocean, what helps and what harms them and what brings them home to the rivers we fish.
Also learning about the rivers they run not just that one section you can count on no matter what, but the river as she is, even when you're away from her what is she doing, how did the last winter storm shift the gravel from that submerged log where you last hooked a winter run so hot the line burnt your finger on the way out and left a mark, and just how dirty and high can that Coastal River be and you and can still hook into a fish less then a mile from the salt no matter what anyone says.
To me, that is what pulls me in and in turn encourages a great respect for the fish and the river, both depend on us far greater than we will ever depend on them and my learning about both won’t stop until I do.
It’s not all take and no give, if we choose to view it that way then our time on the river is short. I guess what I’m saying is some things are better left unsaid and better appreciated when you earn it and respect it. We don’t have to look too far back in halls of Steelhead history to see what it once was and what it has become, we have got to do our part.
Here’s a link to Vokey’s writings:
http://www.aprilvokey.com/blog/2016/06/07/draft/
I don't participate in social media other than Instagram as I enjoy photography, I have very few contacts on there (19 to be precise) and use hashtags very rarely. I can relate to what April is saying, I too find myself seeking a quiet stretch of river with nobody around, and I too get a little sand in my vagina so to speak when I drive 7+ hours to the river only to see other people had the same idea as I and quiet honestly I really shouldn't feel that way but I do and I know some dude is looking at me feeling the same way.
While I know that I'm not an internet sensation and that posting a picture on my private Instagram account to my 19 followers didn't create this mass movement to go fish where I just did, I have to think that those with accounts much larger than mine whether public or private and those who throw it all out there in other forms of social media quite possibly did.
I'll say it again, I was part of that problem and did such a thing right here on Kienes Forum, I removed a particular post a short while ago and pulled my head out of my ass. I don't think it's wrong to post a report about a specific river one fished, in fact I spend a lot of time on here and am thankful this forum exists, but I went too far even naming the spot and posting far too detailed pictures, just my opinion but that's fueling the fire of "I'm packing my bags and heading out the door".
Although I fished as a kid, this is only my 6th season fishing for Steelhead on the fly. I never knew it in its prime, long ago before the age of the internet and so called pecker measuring media posts of just how damn big and bright that fish was. But I have in my six short seasons watched posts on Instagram, blogs and forums turn what I knew as a somewhat quiet place into what is becoming a commercialized Spey Rod Shit Show.
I have no more right to the river than anyone else but can't help getting annoyed when I see people with thousands of followers on Instagram or blatantly posting in forums about trips to include exactly where they were fishing on somewhat quiet locations.
I've also watched some popular guides and guide outfits who heavily participate in social media start to offer trips (As in come camp for three days) on sections of rivers that used to either go unnamed or not fished altogether at certain times of the year. I can't help but feel the $ is pushing the posts as well as the ego, as some are very established guides who from all I've heard aren't even open to booking as they have return clients year after year.
While I don't consider myself young, I do have some years left in me to chase Steelhead and wonder what the future of swinging a fly holds. I quit reading fishing reports years ago, it's old news and with Steelhead goes the saying, "Here today gone tomorrow".
Some of the best trips I've had have been done the hard way, packing my bags, hitting the road with a general location in mind and figuring it out as I go. Along they way, I’ve met some great people the old fashioned way, face to face over a handshake and good conversation, some of whom have turned into good friends I now look forward to fishing with each Season even though it may have been a year since we last fished a run together.
I'm not sure where the balance is in all of this, I enjoy reading posts and looking at the photography but feel as a whole, those of us who choose to provide every detail are only removing what I consider to be some of the best parts of this sport, paying your dues. Learning about Steelhead as a fish not just that one rock in that one run they will always be sitting behind and just how many you can hook in a day, but also their life cycle, their habitat in and out of the Ocean, what helps and what harms them and what brings them home to the rivers we fish.
Also learning about the rivers they run not just that one section you can count on no matter what, but the river as she is, even when you're away from her what is she doing, how did the last winter storm shift the gravel from that submerged log where you last hooked a winter run so hot the line burnt your finger on the way out and left a mark, and just how dirty and high can that Coastal River be and you and can still hook into a fish less then a mile from the salt no matter what anyone says.
To me, that is what pulls me in and in turn encourages a great respect for the fish and the river, both depend on us far greater than we will ever depend on them and my learning about both won’t stop until I do.
It’s not all take and no give, if we choose to view it that way then our time on the river is short. I guess what I’m saying is some things are better left unsaid and better appreciated when you earn it and respect it. We don’t have to look too far back in halls of Steelhead history to see what it once was and what it has become, we have got to do our part.
Here’s a link to Vokey’s writings:
http://www.aprilvokey.com/blog/2016/06/07/draft/