It’s only the 4th of January and I’m already short tempered and disgusted with the offerings on cable TV. The original idea behind cable was to pay for the service and avoid commercials, but guess what, most shows – especially outdoor programs – are nothing more than infomercials. By the time you’re done watching those shows, you either check the available balance on your credit card, or change hobbies … if you don’t get the equipment the host is using, you’re not going to be successful and won’t have any fun. But if I do watch, read or listen to the “pros,” I’m going to have to take a class because my generation isn’t very adept at using all of the electronic gizmos and gadgets that are “required” to catch fish. 
What ever happened to Mort Neff, Howard Shelly and Gene Little or other pioneers in outdoor programing? Back when Michigan Outdoors aired on TV, the idea was to get outdoors and have fun fishing, hunting or just plain being outdoors. Their aim was to show how it was done and the rewards of doing it …like eating what you caught or killed.
The equipment they used was what was available – not because of the name brand, but because of its function. Most of which was handed down from father to son and so on. Fly fishing was one of the more expensive sports because of the time and material put into the building of a rod. But it wasn’t uncommon for a piscator to use one fly rod for all his fly fishing.
Times have changed of course, and since the movie, A River Runs Through It, prices have skyrocketed for everything from hooks to waders. Remember when monofilament was sold on 1,000 yard spools for a couple of bucks? You chose it for its tinsel strength and didn’t care about the small print. One spool filled all of your reels and then some. Now you pay $30 – $50 or more for the same mono line. I won’t even get into fluorocarbon. (Yea, I know; it’s new and improved.)
I think what has me in this foul mood, is, I’m bored and waiting for the sun to either let the lake freeze so I can sit on it and fish, or warm things up.
Ok, I’ve vented. I’m going to my tying desk and tie the same patterns I’ve tied for the last 40 or so years – patterns I’ve caught fish on – and put them in my old fly boxes, in my old vest and fish them in the same water I’ve fished for years and have a map of in my mind.
And if you see me on a lake or stream, don’t bother to tell me I’m not doing it right; I’m having fun.
TD
I’m with you Terry! I’ve been tying tying ISO patterns. Got 4 doz tyed. Time to switch patterns. Stimulators and black caddis on the menu. Even the fly fishing shows kinda bore me. Saltwater and exotic locations are not in my near term future. I go to u tube to watch the fishing that interests me.