ESPN Great Outdoor Games

Over at the message board at the Wisconsin Fly Fishing Page
(wisflyfishing.com) there has been a somewhat acrimonious debate
concerning the planned fly fishing (as opposed to fly casting) contest
that is going to be held on one of the spring creek near Madison in
conjunction with ESPN's Great Outdoor Games. The board is divided into
several camps. One says that this is a great thing. That it will
increase awareness of fly fishing, add to the local tourism coffers
and expose Wisconsin's great fishing to the world. Another camp says
this is a terrible thing. They say that this will reduce fly fishing
to the status of bass tounaments, that little or none of the money
generated will actually benefit the cold water fishery and that it
will expose Wisconsin's great fishery to the world. My own take on it
is that it will probably be considered a minor event by most viewers,
who will be watching what appears to be from the published schedule
hours and hours of log rolling. My question to this group, seeing that
the level of acrimony has been sinking to dangerous levels, is what do
you think of fly fishing contests, ESPN's in particular and the whole
genre in general?


g.c.

By the way Wolfgang et al, you missed some great fishing at the WFFP
Spring Clave. There were times when the river seemed to be inhabited
by schools of 12 to 16 inch red and black spotted porpoises, with
dozens of trout in each pool doing head to tail rolls as they were
taking the sulphur emergers. Truly awesome. I did alright, with most
of my fish coming off a snowshoe hare winged emerger. It seemed to
work best though when fished with an active retrieve. It probably was
a way to make the fish take notice of the fly when surrounded by
thousands of naturals. How did you and Joel make out...er...do
fishing?

My question to this group, seeing that
the level of acrimony has been sinking to dangerous levels, is what do
you think of fly fishing contests, ESPN's in particular and the whole
genre in general?

I lived in the UK where they do quite a few fly fishing competitions.
ESPN is trying to include "the other kind of fishing" in the US. Harm?
No, not great. Its not on the level of the Olympics rechanneling
whole rivers to get a 300 yard long kayak course. Increased
out-of-state traffic on a river for a year or two, but then again, those
are tourism dollars.
Man, by nature, is a competitive animal. Just because its a
competition, I don't think the show will have any greater impact than
having some fly fishing show come in and showing up on the Outdoor Life
Network. And yes, there will be some trickle down, albeit small, in
increase licenses and local awareness.
--
Frank Reid
Reverse Email to reply

"George Cleveland" wrote in message
...
....what do
you think of fly fishing contests, ESPN's in particular and the
whole
genre in general?

Mild distaste.

By the way Wolfgang et al, you missed some great fishing at the WFFP
Spring Clave. There were times when the river seemed to be inhabited
by schools of 12 to 16 inch red and black spotted porpoises, with
dozens of trout in each pool doing head to tail rolls as they were
taking the sulphur emergers. Truly awesome.

Sure. Of course. I was somewhere else.

I did alright, with most
of my fish coming off a snowshoe hare winged emerger. It seemed to
work best though when fished with an active retrieve. It probably
was
a way to make the fish take notice of the fly when surrounded by
thousands of naturals.

Good trick, if you can do it. Personally, I've alwys found such
embarrassments of riches to be .......um.....well, embarrassing.

How did you and Joel make out...er...do
fishing?

I got a rough draft of a TR. I'm in the process of trying to prune it
down to about 30,000 words. Will probably post later today or some
time tomorrow. For now, suffice to say we did pretty well.....much
better than expected.

Wolfgang

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 05:40:46 -0500, George Cleveland
wrote:

Over at the message board at the Wisconsin Fly Fishing Page
(wisflyfishing.com) there has been a somewhat acrimonious debate
concerning the planned fly fishing (as opposed to fly casting) contest
that is going to be held on one of the spring creek near Madison in
conjunction with ESPN's Great Outdoor Games.

Yeah, what's with that kinda stuff, anyway? Has the US, as nation and a
people, become SO lazy that "we" need even non-contact, participatory
sports like, apparently, (fly-)fishing to be done and broadcast rather
than just going out and doing it one's ownself? Frankly, the idea of
watching ANY fishing tournament seems right up there with spending a
couple of hours watching "The Paint-Drying Show," but that's just me.

The board is divided into several camps.

Whoda thunk such a thing would be possible?

One says that this is a great thing. That it will increase awareness of
fly fishing, add to the local tourism coffers and expose Wisconsin's
great fishing to the world.

Fly-fishing doesn't need more awareness of its existence...besides,
wouldn't do any good anyway...heck, a fair portion of those with the
gear need more awareness of fly-fishing... As to the "add to the local
tourist coffers," if they mean during the event, that's probably a
given, and how much should be easy to (roughly) calculate. Of course,
there may be many folks out there who were completely unaware that
Wisconsin had fish...

Another camp says
this is a terrible thing. They say that this will reduce fly fishing
to the status of bass tounaments,

Yeah, no silly-assed e-LEET pretentious yuppie wants to be confused with
what they see as silly-assed redneck crackers...

Flyfishing has no "status" beyond what individuals wish to hang on it
for themselves...and they are almost always wrong...

that little or none of the money
generated will actually benefit the cold water fishery

Again, that should be a fact-of-the-numbers thing.

and that it
will expose Wisconsin's great fishery to the world. My own take on it
is that it will probably be considered a minor event by most viewers,
who will be watching

what appears to be from the published schedule
hours and hours of log rolling.

So, what, they'll be 26 people with the TV tuned to this, and 5 of those
only because they can't find the remote and are too lazy to get up...
"hours and hours of log rolling"?! Sweet Sadie's panties, if I only had
"hours and hours" to live, I now know how to make them seems like "years
and years"...

My question to this group, seeing that
the level of acrimony has been sinking to dangerous levels, is what do
you think of fly fishing contests, ESPN's in particular and the whole
genre in general?

What do _I_ think of the above 3 items, speaking for me? Silly, sounds
boring, and silly. What do I think _others_ should think? Well,
obviously, I hope, as do we all, that they would think the same as me,
but if they don't, hey, watch away and enjoy, if that's your thing...get
little "Lefty Kreh" action figures for the kids, and fish with whatever
your hero-o-th-moment uses...just make sure their endorsement contracts
and your pocketbook can comfortably sync up, and hope that Rolls and
Porsche don't decide to fight it out for the FFing crowd in a "damned
the expenses" kind of way...

Frankly, I suspect the whole thing is non-issue, but...

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY, at a stream near you, it's FISH ACTION at its
BEST... IT'S SPILLS! IT'S CHILLS! IT'S A THRILL-O-MINUTE!!! BRING THE
KIDS...SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY...

Reid, it's your time, boy...you know folks only watch these things for
the wrecks...you'll be bigger than Richard Petty or whatever
right-turner is hot at the moment...

HTH,
TC,
R

Reid, it's your time, boy...you know folks only watch these things for
the wrecks...you'll be bigger than Richard Petty or whatever
right-turner is hot at the moment...

HTH,
TC,
R

Yeh, tried it. Only sponsor I could get was SoSpenders, the life vest
folks, and that just ruined the show. One and only episode had Gerald
Ford as a guest.
--
Frank Reid
Reverse Email to reply

George wrote:snipMy question to this group, seeing that
the level of acrimony has been sinking to dangerous levels, is what do
you think of fly fishing contests, ESPN's in particular and the whole
genre in general?

I think very little of fly fishing contests, but I think they are more
appropriate for ESPN than either the scrabble or poker contests that they
televise. I can ignore them all.

Big Dale

George Cleveland wrote:

... My question to this group, seeing that
the level of acrimony has been sinking to dangerous levels, is what do
you think of fly fishing contests, ESPN's in particular and the whole
genre in general?

Fishing is like making love, if you're competing at it, you ain't
doin' it right. But as long as no laws are being broken, I don't
much shiv a git about how somebody else gets their fishing rocks
off, or their real rocks either for that matter.

--
Ken Fortenberry

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 05:40:46 -0500, George Cleveland
wrote:

Over at the message board at the Wisconsin Fly Fishing Page
(wisflyfishing.com) there has been a somewhat acrimonious debate
concerning the planned fly fishing (as opposed to fly casting) contest
that is going to be held on one of the spring creek near Madison in
conjunction with ESPN's Great Outdoor Games. The board is divided into
several camps. One says that this is a great thing. That it will
increase awareness of fly fishing, add to the local tourism coffers
and expose Wisconsin's great fishing to the world. Another camp says
this is a terrible thing. They say that this will reduce fly fishing
to the status of bass tounaments, that little or none of the money
generated will actually benefit the cold water fishery and that it
will expose Wisconsin's great fishery to the world. My own take on it
is that it will probably be considered a minor event by most viewers,
who will be watching what appears to be from the published schedule
hours and hours of log rolling. My question to this group, seeing that
the level of acrimony has been sinking to dangerous levels, is what do
you think of fly fishing contests, ESPN's in particular and the whole
genre in general?

You didn't mention the thing that ****ed me off about some of the
posters on the WFFB. Some of them were suggesting using tactics to
stop it that they'd vilify PETA for trying on them.

I'm reading enough fights here that I didn't want to read any more
over there. I think it's going to be a tempura in a teapot
(intentional malaprop, indicating even smaller size). Doofy to go
one way or another on. It'll happen, it'll be over, and you'll have
maybe a few more fly fishers and several more spin fishers trying the
river. If they don't catch anything wonderful, they'll go away.
--

rbc:vixen,Minnow Goddess,Willow Watcher,and all that sort of thing.
Often taunted by trout.
Only a fool would refuse to believe in luck. Only a damn fool would rely on it.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli

George Cleveland wrote in
:

My question to this group, seeing that
the level of acrimony has been sinking to dangerous levels, is what do
you think of fly fishing contests, ESPN's in particular and the whole
genre in general?



I like the Fly Rod and Reel/Cabelas Trout Bum Tournament, largely cause one
of our Chapter members won.

Actually, its pretty nifty. You're given a budget, and you need to use
that budget to have a good fishing experience. How many fish you catch
doesn't have much to do with the outcome

Scott