DIY Flyfishing?

I was recently watching a special on Flyfishing in Yellowstone in the DIY network. First, since when did DIY (Do-It-Yourself) network start with the fishing shows? But beyond that, the show was just terrible. Don’t get me wrong – any show filmed in Yellowstone on a variety of trout rivers is enough to keep my attention. My problem is with the way that flyfishing is being presented to the American TV viewer.

To be blunt, watching that show would make any non-flyfisher think that the sport is painfully boring. The guide/host talked gleefully about how he will often change flies 20 times over the course of a couple hours just to try to get one fish to rise. Now I can appreciate that idea from the perspective of challenging yourself to outwit a fish in any circumstances, but from the perspective of a new flyfisher, the prospect of spending a couple hours knee-deep in cold water changing flies over and over again sounds pretty terrible.

It was pretty much the same story with another flyfishing video I recently watched. Either these hosts are trying to scare people away from flyfishing (so that their favorite spots don’t get too crowded) or they simply have no idea how to make flyfishing seem appealing in a video format. Personally, while I don’t like crowded rivers either, I think flyfishing is a great sport that encourages learning about and conserving our greatest natural wonders. And I think it’s tons of fun. Why can’t these videos convey that?

Anyway. These are my thoughts. I think I need to create a series of videos that will show off the sport of flyfishing the way I see it. More on this later…