bharkasaig

Where are you located??

What Chrome just said.

I haven't been on for ages, and I accept my part in not participating. And maybe some things have changed, but let me say why I'm on less.

Participating is hard. Some of you are funny as hell. Others are knowledgeable as hell. A few of you are both. To those people I doff my cap - you are the reason I have an account.

But often some innocent would post something, looking for help, and instead of help they would get either 'it's already been posted, go look' or would get some smart ass remark that in context is funny but out of context (and a newer poster usually doesn't get all the context) sounds very off-putting. Either way - no more posts to that discussion.

This is a forum. It is a chance to shoot the poop with other people. But don't forget that the glory of the pre-search-bar days was telling the same great story over and over again, or explaining your glory set-up over and over.

Maybe regular posts about similar topics. I love the topics of seasonal flies - but they are so situation that they can be easily changed to what flies are working or what flies worked?

And, as tiring as it sounds, politely explaining that fishing effectively requires building a body of knowledge along with time on water is key to keeping this forum going. Some of you do this really well, but others do not. And if it isn't done well it is taken as a 'this is not your place' statement.

Add to it that there are a few on here who post crap for their own promotion. Some of it is useful, but is so self-aggrandizing it is off-putting.

The whole point is fishing. When I'm fishing, I'm not on the forum. I'm only on here when I'm itching to fish (like now). When its fishing time, I'm on the water when I can. And, if i'm not, I don't always feel like I can ask a question.

I've learned a lot here. About how to fish, sure, but more importantly about stewardship - how to make sure my catches end up being some one else's monsters in the future. This has been the most valuable resource as I got into fishing.

I'll still check in occasionally. But, if everything actually fishing has been covered and this is really a place for a few people to shoot the poop while at work, I'll be coming back less and less.

My 85 cents.

That sucks, sorry to here. Nothing worse than a crap trip.

I once took the family fishing. Myself, wife, young son, and newborn daughter. My wife tied the baby to her and sat in her chair checking FB on her phone. Son is fishing for the first time and is swinging his rod around like mad.

I put my rod down and started walking towards him to help. He swings the rod and it looks like he's about to toss it into the harbour. My wife jumps up to stop him and in the process drops her phone. He was pretty far back so it should have been fine, but the phone bounces of the metal mooring thing and bounces right into the harbour.

She looked at me with one of those looks,

"What, I'm not jumping in after it!"

She was pissed.

I laughed.

She was more pissed.

I feel your pain. I'll pm you with details.

Yep, it was a good chat. Extended to rivers closer to home.

And how building community helps people and fish. He told me about his network of friends. As we sat he got text after text of emergence news. People sharing with a group the results of their hard work.

Made me think of all the garbage people report about on here, the disrespect people have towards others, and to fish. No way you get on his text list if your out snagging, poaching, or being a ass to others.