Alert: This is a post I wrote this past Summer before going on my blogging hiatus for family needs. As you know the old blog was archived. I would like to re-publish it here so that it is with my current blog and format. Hope you enjoy it once again!
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Words............. Like the old Bee Gees song............. "It's only words and words are all I have".......
Bloggers, myself included, long ago figured out that a good blog had to have a few pictures to help the blogger tell their story in their respective post. Rod Stewart, also of Rock music fame, sang "Every Picture Tells A Story". I have used that line on several blog posts and comments on my fellow bloggers posts over the years. However, today I make an exception to this well known blogger tip.
For today, I only have words. I guess you could call it an "Editorial". Shoot, I don't know what it is, but, I do know that I have words that need to come out. So I place them here on this post and respectfully hope that my readers will take the time to read and not just click out of my blog after seeing it is just a bunch of words.
I have to admit that I have had this post on cue for a few days and have given it more thought than usual for a post. You see, I am somewhat apprehensive about how my regular readers and any new readers might take this commentary.
I know what I want to say, wait take that back, I know what I have to say........ I have written a bunch of blog posts over the years on many different titled blogs. I didn't keep track of how many. I really didn't think it was important and never set a "number goal" to reach. The words came and went and the pictures added to my tales of my time on the water. My BlogBuddies seem to appreciate my words and pictures, and over the years, we have built a very solid foundation of fishing related posts that could fill up a corner in a library. All of my long time BlogBuddies, and I won't bother to mention by name because you know who you are, have been there to support me and my ramblings and that will never be forgotten. But, I am apprehensive about a change in direction that I am going to take with my blog. Hope you didn't think I was writing my blogging career epitaph.
I am plus (66) years old now and have began to look at the golden side of life. My fishing opportunities are not as adventurous as they once were. Fishing great waters and traveling long distances is definitely in the rear view mirror for me. Don't mean to whine here, but, on a Senior Citizen fixed income there is only so much a man can do.
So I am here today with words that are my own individual act of rebellion. That rebellion is towards the fly fishing industry and what it has become. High technology everything is swallowing up the fly fishing industry. The common man these days can hardly put food on the table for his family and pay the daily bills. Truth is many cannot do that. Let alone afford to buy high tech graphite or glass rods, expensive well tuned reels, and high end fly lines that end up setting a person back a $1,000 in the blink of an eye. That is just the beginning, too. Prices in fly shops are jacked up on everything in order to stay in business. Many of my favorite fly shops have come and gone. No longer able to stay afloat when dealing with only the most wealthy of customers.
I still believe that catching a trout or a bass or a bluegill on a fly is the most effective way to fish for them. There are those I know who would argue with me on that point......... However, that is what I prefer to do.
So comes the change in the concept of this new blog. Financially, I am unable to any longer fish with high end fishing gear. You will only get the basic gear news here. I am no longer able to wade deep in the trout streams due to age and physical limitations. So I will push on fly fishing as my health allows and I remain frugally responsible Recently, I purchased some new glasses that have improved my fine motor vision to the point that I can continue to tie flies to fish with and to use up a little of my downtime. Also,on occasion I will step back to a day and time many years ago on Evergreen Lake in Colorado, when I first learned to fish the fly on a spinning rod and a bubble. I did very well thank you and had a lot of fun in those days before I bit the "Fly Fishing" cookie with the standard fly rod and reel, vest, and all other paraphernalia that goes with it. I recently spent some time on the water experimenting with this old technique and realized that I had a blast. Also, you know what, my disabled grandson was able to cast out with this technique and catch his first trout. Folks, life doesn't get any better than that!
So I will post, occasionally, about my time on the water with a "bubble and fly" concept. I hope you still want to follow along on my efforts. I guarantee you that I will catch enough fish on the fly to keep me happy at both my tying bench and on the water. To each his own..............................
Bloggers, myself included, long ago figured out that a good blog had to have a few pictures to help the blogger tell their story in their respective post. Rod Stewart, also of Rock music fame, sang "Every Picture Tells A Story". I have used that line on several blog posts and comments on my fellow bloggers posts over the years. However, today I make an exception to this well known blogger tip.
For today, I only have words. I guess you could call it an "Editorial". Shoot, I don't know what it is, but, I do know that I have words that need to come out. So I place them here on this post and respectfully hope that my readers will take the time to read and not just click out of my blog after seeing it is just a bunch of words.
I have to admit that I have had this post on cue for a few days and have given it more thought than usual for a post. You see, I am somewhat apprehensive about how my regular readers and any new readers might take this commentary.
I know what I want to say, wait take that back, I know what I have to say........ I have written a bunch of blog posts over the years on many different titled blogs. I didn't keep track of how many. I really didn't think it was important and never set a "number goal" to reach. The words came and went and the pictures added to my tales of my time on the water. My BlogBuddies seem to appreciate my words and pictures, and over the years, we have built a very solid foundation of fishing related posts that could fill up a corner in a library. All of my long time BlogBuddies, and I won't bother to mention by name because you know who you are, have been there to support me and my ramblings and that will never be forgotten. But, I am apprehensive about a change in direction that I am going to take with my blog. Hope you didn't think I was writing my blogging career epitaph.
I am plus (66) years old now and have began to look at the golden side of life. My fishing opportunities are not as adventurous as they once were. Fishing great waters and traveling long distances is definitely in the rear view mirror for me. Don't mean to whine here, but, on a Senior Citizen fixed income there is only so much a man can do.
So I am here today with words that are my own individual act of rebellion. That rebellion is towards the fly fishing industry and what it has become. High technology everything is swallowing up the fly fishing industry. The common man these days can hardly put food on the table for his family and pay the daily bills. Truth is many cannot do that. Let alone afford to buy high tech graphite or glass rods, expensive well tuned reels, and high end fly lines that end up setting a person back a $1,000 in the blink of an eye. That is just the beginning, too. Prices in fly shops are jacked up on everything in order to stay in business. Many of my favorite fly shops have come and gone. No longer able to stay afloat when dealing with only the most wealthy of customers.
I still believe that catching a trout or a bass or a bluegill on a fly is the most effective way to fish for them. There are those I know who would argue with me on that point......... However, that is what I prefer to do.
So comes the change in the concept of this new blog. Financially, I am unable to any longer fish with high end fishing gear. You will only get the basic gear news here. I am no longer able to wade deep in the trout streams due to age and physical limitations. So I will push on fly fishing as my health allows and I remain frugally responsible Recently, I purchased some new glasses that have improved my fine motor vision to the point that I can continue to tie flies to fish with and to use up a little of my downtime. Also,on occasion I will step back to a day and time many years ago on Evergreen Lake in Colorado, when I first learned to fish the fly on a spinning rod and a bubble. I did very well thank you and had a lot of fun in those days before I bit the "Fly Fishing" cookie with the standard fly rod and reel, vest, and all other paraphernalia that goes with it. I recently spent some time on the water experimenting with this old technique and realized that I had a blast. Also, you know what, my disabled grandson was able to cast out with this technique and catch his first trout. Folks, life doesn't get any better than that!
So I will post, occasionally, about my time on the water with a "bubble and fly" concept. I hope you still want to follow along on my efforts. I guarantee you that I will catch enough fish on the fly to keep me happy at both my tying bench and on the water. To each his own..............................
Glad I read it again, thanks Mel. I'm glad you're back blogging an helping to keep the gear grubbing in check for all of us.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tim, I really appreciate you being a BlogBuddy. Thanks for taking the time to re-read and leave a comment. Fly Fishing and Fly Tying can both be a very pleasing and very cost effective pastime without going all in all the time. Peace and pleasure is where you find it............
DeleteHey Mel....Happy Veteran's Day. Thanks for your service.
ReplyDeleteHello, Alan
DeleteAs always a pleasure when you have the time to drop by and say hello. A Happy Veteran's Day to you, too, my friend. May we enjoy our day in a manner that we both find peaceful.
Mel
ReplyDeleteI remember this post well and still believe then as I do now that the fishing industry is becoming so commercialize; this post got a lot attention, so glad you are back blogging with us; hope you had a great Veteran's Day---thanks for your service!!!
Thank you, Bill, for your comments on this post from my recent archive. I really believe, as you, that things have really gotten out of hand. I would just like to relay to my readers, that I think that it has gone that way, and needlessly so!
DeleteVery happy to be back blogging and among my long time blogging friends. From this ol' Vet, thanks a bunch!
You know that I'm in about the same boat as you are as far and age and ability so I applaud you for this. A good fisherman doesn't need high tech gear to catch fish. And if it matters to someone that you and your grandson connect with fishing a fly and a bubble and they don't like it. Who cares. My money will always be one you Mel because I know where your heart is.
ReplyDeleteHoward, my BlogBrother, thank you so much for leaving this comment. It means a lot when you know your fellow fishers and blogging friends accept what you write, and, stand beside their fellow blogger with open arms and open minds. Thanks for your ten years or so of support and brotherly love..........................
DeleteGood to have you back, Mel!! Looking forward to more of your posts just like this one, and helping share the knowledge of a budget minded angler like yourself. There are some things I'll be working on this winter that will be right up the budget alley. You know I like to utilize my other gear, especially, my spinning rods. Fishing is fishing, and it's always a great time, no matter what the technique.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Justin, been great to get back in the swing of things a little. About time for a new post................
DeleteBudget minded fly fishing and fly tying is the only chance I have at this point, so, I am very blessed to make the best of it! Appreciate your open outlook on the use of spinning gear too............
Peace is where we find it!
Looking forward to reading about your budget minded ideas.