The fly-fishing world has always, for better or worse, spun around an axis of trout.
You all know the deal. Something like 75% of all fly rods, total, sold in the U.S. are 9-foot, 5-weights. The vast majority of product SKUs are trout-centric. Trout, trout, trout.
Don’t get me wrong… I love trout. I live for trout fishing. I’m the editor of TROUT magazine. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that climate change has altered the trout world as we know it, at least in many places.
Of course, you can stand under the tailwater, where the river temps remain constantly, trout-friendly cool. You can hike into the high country. Thank goodness. But a lot of the freestone rivers—and the tailwaters, once you get several miles downstream—are feeling it. The trout are absolutely feeling it.
Depending on who you talk with, “Hoot Owl” restrictions are akin to putting a Band-Aid on a compound fracture. You tell me how realistically effective it is to call quitting time at 1 or 2 p.m. Seriously?
Keep Fish Wet has just come out with a pretty eye-opening reality check on water temps and trout.
As someone who has written to encourage anglers to broaden the horizons, and target bass, and carp, and pike, and myriad other less temperature-sensitive species, I’ve seen the writing on the wall for years. I’d personally rather fish in salt water these days, but even there, we’re seeing changes.
And I still like to fly-fish for trout. Especially when they are on the epic summer hatches. I dream of heading north to Alaska, but I hear that even there, the runs of fish are not what they were.
Where do you stand? Is this much to do about nothing? Has the fly-fishing paradigm completely shifted as we know it? Can we manage the situation through education, good practices and cooperation? Or is it business as usual? Recreation as usual?
To AFFTA’s credit, they’ve called out the climate change issue and that’s where AFFTA’s focus belongs. But words demand action.
So how are you acting? I wouldn’t raise the issue were I not seriously concerned about what this sport looks like 15 years from now. And I think a lot of us (perhaps even myself) are just fiddling away as Rome has started to burn.
-K. Deeter
