MODERN TIMES

Fly fishing has registered a more or less constant and very notable expansion in the last 20 years. In this extended period of time the materials have evolved dramatically. Currently we have more resistant latest generation graphites and especially with actions that make launching easier and at a greater distance. Large arbor fly reels provide perfect storage for new fly lines that have also evolved greatly with all types of profiles and with lines for all types of water including temperature differences. All this and much more, breathable waders, special threads, very comfortable boots with soles of all kinds and a very long etc. But there is a factor that has clearly transformed the world of fishing: No Kill fishing. This has been a fabulous event. Most fly fishermen do not kill any fish caught and this philosophy has moved to all other fishing modalities.

There are currently a large number of new fishermen who practice Czech Nymphing. Very long rods with semi-automatic reels. The new fishermen no longer have to learn to launch correctly with a fly rod because with this system it is simply not necessary to launch a couple of nymphs at close range, but in addition not only this, these new fishermen regularly catch trout and all imaginable sizes. This was unthinkable 10 years ago. Dry fly fishing is only practiced frequently by some because it does not provide eloquent results in very fishy rivers. Another relevant aspect is fly fishing trips. Fishermen fly over the world to fish anywhere, however remote and wild it may seem a priori. Some fishermen spend indecent amounts of money to try to catch the fish of their life, or just another colossal fish in their collection.

The mobile phone has been a big big bang that has revolutionized the world. Everything is photographed, videotaped and posted on social networks in minutes, any news reaches any part of the planet in an unlikely time. Many fishermen do not consider a good fishing day if they do not get a large number of catches and also with large fish. We can affirm that traditional fly fishing has gone from being a pleasant and carefree activity to become a constant competition with the river to obtain again and again the largest possible number of catches, which are then photographed and filmed to hang them on the net. . Definitely traditional fly fishing has become lethargic. I love hearing the roar of the current, the song of the birds, observing not only the water but the sky, the forests and the mountains, while my feet are sunk in the water and the current gently strikes my waders. All this while throwing with my fly rod to the other shore or near an old tree half submerged in the waters, because there you can find a beautiful fish that may catch my fly. Every time I see more fishermen with headphones listening to music or knowing what while fishing. Others explain with joy their countless catches that day after day try to increase. His travels through unknown rivers and the large number of fish they caught in those distant lands.

Knowing a river can take a lifetime. The river is constantly changing and I love to meet and rediscover it in its uninterrupted evolution. Illusion and self-criticism in research fill my spirit with relentless happiness. I like to travel from time to time, to know new or not so new places but that I have not visited for years, but not only for fishing but for the people I met, for what I can learn from them, for eating in that restaurant near the river where from its windows you can see a forest or a meadow where the view is lost among an infinite variety of greens.

But I keep thinking … here I have so much to understand and learn! It is a fantastic feeling!

The current society derived from the immediacy of results that must be constantly improved, the continuous shopping on the net to buy things and more things, the stubborn and stubborn competition, I also want to do what that one does and finally the more I do . The best fishermen I once knew were very humble people and very rich in humanity, very austere with only the indispensable and at the same time very happy with their life, with a great sense of humor and above all a great kindness. They did nothing for simple interest, they did it simply because they loved to do it.   For my part when I go fishing, now more than ever, I like to fish sensations and moments and deeply enjoy all this. But all this is past and we are facing the new generation of millennials and the new industry 4.0, robotization and total computerization. Of course all this is unstoppable and of course also that everything will continue to evolve in an almost unpredictable unknown direction. The world is already theirs and will be whatever they want it to be. The future is here because it has already passed.

“Do not criticize what you cannot understand, because times are changing”   Bob Dylan 1964.

Modern Times

~ Carles Vivé