Old, Stale, Negative Thread

[hooker-of-men]

I'd like to think I'm pretty positive and supportive about most aspects of fishing with a fly rod, as I really love that people throw themselves into so many avenues, from the traditionalists to the weird species folks to the wingnuts euronymphing at night (👀👀). However, I also feel a cathartic need for a sequestered thread of bad vibes and complaining about FF stuff that grates me. (Feel free to add your own pessimism.)

I'm airing out two grievances tonight as a start:

1) I don't even want to mention this dude's name / social media handle, as I'm certain the extra clicks are 100% what he lives for. But there's a social media tyer with a penchant for little gimmicks and live streams with bad late 90s music that I simply abhor. He can tie a fly, but it seems very possible he's never actually fished - and his substantial audience seems to be chronically online incels that also don't fish. This feels like a contender for one of the most depressing corners of the internet, and we have the good fortune of having it be an exceedingly popular representation of the culture. Hate it.

2) I gotta name names on this one: Davie McPhail, what in the actual f.ck are you doing? Dude is a world class fly tyer that will go down in history. He's indisputable. Unfortunately, though, he's now also linking his tying to a collection of AI generated songs about fly fishing that is being touted as a project with his son. Seen one of his Fulling Mill videos lately? Good god. I wanted to rupture my ear drums with my bodkin. Why not also use AI to create the tying video and fly while you're at it?

Please, feel encouraged to shake your fist at clouds here. This is a safe space.

 

[jifigz]

Hooker,
You're right; you are positive and supportive about most stuff, and I also dig your style of humor inserted into many of your posts.

I don't really follow any YT outdoors people/fly fishers, so I don't know who you're referencing in #1, and while I know Davie McPhail, I don't know his AI songs being used in new videos.

My grievance is this: the over-documentation of everything and the hero shots and social media personas. Social media and people's perfectly balanced rods on their backs and how they stare at the fish just off to the side. 🤢. And how everyone presents themselves as a professional. It's just all about clicks, likes, and vanity. Drives me NUTS!

 

[Zipper]

Go Pro's are the worst. If it's mounted on their head, I get sea sick. If it's on their chest, all I see is hands and the reel.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

not sure people get worked up over content they chose to click on. On the other hand if they are working a stream an don elf these guys are camping to set up a shot or produce a video, I get it

 

[dudemanspecial]

not sure people get worked up over content they chose to click on. On the other hand if they are working a stream an don elf these guys are camping to set up a shot or produce a video, I get it

You never got disappointed with a book, TV show or movie before? Same thing.

 

[jifigz]

not sure people get worked up over content they chose to click on. On the other hand if they are working a stream an don elf these guys are camping to set up a shot or produce a video, I get it

You don't have to click on anything to find this stuff; you simply have to open social media and scroll/look. I don't comment and don't view these things really, but the extreme level of staged photos and mimicry across the sport is just sickening to me.

However, unoriginality has always bothered me, and I hate when certain phrases or trends spread like a contagion and everyone begins doing it.

I know. I'm a curmudgeon.

 

[Letort]

Some YT video’s on tying are fabulous. I could see that they would have cut down my learning curve dramatically had they been available. Others also want to make me reach for the bodkin for both the eyes and the ears.

Not sure I have seen a YT video on fishing that offers any real value, other than to ease me into dreamland.

 

[dudemanspecial]

Something about the people that make money off of promoting fly fishing also trying to be champions of conservation really bothers me. I get that it's a catch 22, but it still rubs me the wrong way.

Edit: to clairify I wrote this with "influncers" and blogger types in mind, those that don't offer much beyond using public resources for their own gain. Retail gear companies get a pass here.

 

[wildtrout2]

You don't have to click on anything to find this stuff; you simply have to open social media and scroll/look.

I've found a very simple solution to this, don't open social media. PAFF is as close to social media as I'll ever get.

 

[troutbert]

Something about the people that make money off of promoting fly fishing also trying to be champions of conservation really bothers me. I get that it's a catch 22, but it still rubs me the wrong way.

Is there a conflict between flyfishing and conservation?

 

[Tigereye]

Anything " extreme"

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Hooker,
You're right; you are positive and supportive about most stuff, and I also dig your style of humor inserted into many of your posts.

I don't really follow any YT outdoors people/fly fishers, so I don't know who you're referencing in #1, and while I know Davie McPhail, I don't know his AI songs being used in new videos.

My grievance is this: the over-documentation of everything and the hero shots and social media personas. Social media and people's perfectly balanced rods on their backs and how they stare at the fish just off to the side. 🤢. And how everyone presents themselves as a professional. It's just all about clicks, likes, and vanity. Drives me NUTS!

This is a big one. Everyone tryin' to monetize their YT ffing adventures. I guess it's not that new-15 years ago it was guys who were fly fishing for 2 years deciding, "I'm pretty good at this euro-nymphing thing, I'll just become a guide since I'm an expert now".

 

[dudemanspecial]

Is there a conflict between flyfishing and conservation?

It's like a pimp talking up women's rights.

 

[wildtrout2]

Go Pro's are the worst. If it's mounted on their head, I get sea sick. If it's on their chest, all I see is hands and the reel.

I enjoy watching Dead Drift Outdoors videos. He often sets his cam in a fixed location and gets some really good dry fly takes. Wooly Bugged, who I also enjoyed, used to do something similar. I haven't seen a recent video of his, so not sure if he's still doing it?

 

[CinnamonJoe]

....
My grievance is this: the over-documentation of everything and the hero shots and social media personas. Social media and people's perfectly balanced rods on their backs and how they stare at the fish just off to the side. 🤢. And how everyone presents themselves as a professional. It's just all about clicks, likes, and vanity. Drives me NUTS!

This.

Why I like this forum so much: volunteers, serious amateurs, newbies and a few true pros/semi-pros, by and large, promote the good of the sport. Sensible stream reports, honest, shared, experiences. A plug here and there is fine. But nothing like that.

Joe

 

[Bamboozle]

I liked it when "videos" were those 16 mm things you watched on a screen at TU meetings...

These days it is beyond rare if I bother to look at any slick fly fishing related videos because if I hear bluegrass music (which I love) and see a logo and some fancy intro, I glaze over and click the timeline until I find the content and get out of Dodge...

It's not fly-fishing related, but my speed for "outdoor" video content is "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" (on MeTV Sunday's 7:30 - 9:30). I love the bad audio, intro and the "safari suits" the host's wear.

Speaking of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, who knew a zoo keeper named "Marlin Perkins" was such a bad-a$$ ? I watched an episode where he was wrestling with an anaconda!!

Maybe if Internet fly-fishing video content had hosts that looked like this:

And maybe some occasional "getting pulled in the creek" by brown trout or fish "wrasslin'" with 10" brook trout, a-la Jeremy Wade on "River Monsters" and I might be more interested in watching... 😉

 

[JG63]

This is a big one. Everyone tryin' to monetize their YT ffing adventures. I guess it's not that new-15 years ago it was guys who were fly fishing for 2 years deciding, "I'm pretty good at this euro-nymphing thing, I'll just become a guide since I'm an expert now".

I used the ROTFL emoji for your post because as a former pro in the 80/90’s and a brief resurgence from 2016-2021, I ended up pulling down my YT channel FB/Instagram accounts and disassociated with quite a few organizations, manufacturers, and “guides” - I could name quite a few names but that would just add to “cash from chaos” environment that this once “quiet” sport has become - it was never about the money for me as I certainly didn’t make enough $ in the first phase to support my family, or in the second phase as a side hustle for active duty retirement - it’s a shame the sport has become a reality show environment. I’ll teach anyone who wants to learn for free - casting, tying, reading the water, observation, patience, stewardship of the environment etc. - but I’ll never scream for the camera about monsters in the creek and smashing that like button …

 

[rancid waders]

The MP flyfishing guy catching large fish comes to mind, smashing the like button..... I have never seen a video of any YouTube personality getting low or high holed either

 

[jifigz]

I've found a very simple solution to this, don't open social media. PAFF is as close to social media as I'll ever get.

100%. I feel that.

 

[Sylvaneous]

My grievance is this: the over-documentation of everything and the hero shots and social media personas. Social media and people's perfectly balanced rods on their backs and how they stare at the fish just off to the side. 🤢. And how everyone presents themselves as a professional. It's just all about clicks, likes, and vanity. Drives me NUTS!

This techonology makes me think of the recent The Odyssey movie: So many opportunities to go awry. I've decried this in my moralist style (hey, at least I admit it!): these internet tools allow, no, encourage a cult, if that's the appropriate word, of the self. It also facilitates the ideas and intents of people to just spin off into the void, to go off the rails. Like kids say that they want to be an influencer, there are people of ALL stations that want the same thing. They then become consumed by 1) the events, actions, displays, stories, adventures that is their content creation, and 2) the techniques and processes requied by the technology to find success. It is just the lay of this new land.
Syl.