1/25

The Outdoors Industry Association has released its annual survey. According to the Association,"The 2008 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report, is based on an on-line survey capturing responses from over 60,000 Americans ages six and older and covers 114 different outdoor activities, making it the largest survey of its type examining participation in sports and outdoor activities."

The survey found that fly fishing among ages 6-17 dropped a little over 50% or 729,000 participants.  Among 18 – 24 year olds the drop was 11.82% or 94,000. Participants of all ages dropped 8.9% or 545,000. This means there was some increase in fly fishing participation amoung adults over twenty four.

When kids are younger they can’t wait to get out at recess to play. That outdoor trend is changing. Why are our young people loosing interest in outdoor activities. Some of the reasons given for not participating in outdoor activities.

 This disinterest in the outdoors by our young people is a major cause of childhood obesity (1 in 5  children are clinically obese). "Researchers say the trend also contributes to increases in depression (more than 3 million in treatment) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (increased 30% since 1997) among children." Editor Note: Not being outdoors enough may also be contributing to the massive increases in "autisum" diagnoses among children.

"Young people who grow up without experiencing nature are far less likely to be active participants in the outdoors and champions of the environment as adults– resulting in a negative compounding effect on the health of our children and our natural world."  How can we expect our children to respect and love our planet when we as adults don’t show that love and respect. 

"Among boys ages 6 to 12, participation in outdoor recreation dropped from 79% to 72% in 2007. Among girls of the same age, participation dropped from 77% to 61%. This drop, concerning in and of itself, opened a significant gap between the participation rates of boys and girls ages 6 to 12 – 72% to 61%. In 2006, participation in outdoor activities among these two groups were nearly equal – 79% for boys and 77% for girls." 

As we age and don’t get outdoors to exercise, our bodies deterioriate. This trend among our youth will make the future hip and joint replacment surgeons happy campers when the majority of today’s overweight and under exercised youth reach 65.

Youth who do learn to participate in outdoor activities are introduced by parents or family, friends and relatives. The Gateway Activities to introduce a young person to the outdoors are "Fishing (any type), Camping (RV, Car, Backyard), Bicycling (any type), Hiking (Day) and Running/Jogging/Trail Running".  Participants in Gateway activities are 3 or 4 times as likely to take part in other outdoor sports.

Here is the message to the Outdoor Equipment Manufacturers, the Fly Fishing Equipment Manufacturers and others who provide lodging or support services for outdoor activities. Start getting involved with getting a kid outdoors or suffer the consequences in loss of jobs and profits.

To the parents, friends and relatives who have kids under 17. GET OFF YOUR COUCH POTATO and Take Your Kids Outdoors for some FUN.  You and the kids will benefit from the exercise and you will probably have fun too.

Download the Full OIA 2008 Report

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
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9/9

Bas Pro’s Kids Day Fishing Derby last Saturday 9/6/08 was a great success.  Eighty kids plus walkins signed up for the morning fishing derby.  Eighty kids also signed up for the afternoon derby. 

The Fishing Derby was held at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.  The Arsenal is part of the National Wildlife Refuge system.  Many species including bison and eagles reside on the Arsenal. This event was put on by Commerce City and sponsored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Bass Pro Shops.

Fishing with artificial lures or flies only was allowed at the derby.  U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Bass Pro personnel conducted casting classes for the kids.  Bass Pro supplied some nice prizes for the event.  The kids fished Mary’s Lake which contains perch, sunfish, crappie, bass and catfish.  Fifteen minutes before the morning derby started someone caught a 1.5 pound bass from Mary’s Lake.

Bass Pro Personnel included Troy Coburn  BPS "Bass" Fishing Pro, Goldie Sellers BPS "Crappie" Fishing Pro, Jim Cranmer BPS "Walleye" Fishing Pro and Simone M. Geoffrion of Bass Pro assisted in teaching the kids fishing. Randy Kittleson, president of CCTU also assisted in teaching the kids fishing.

Yours truely, Nancy from Bass Pro Sports Women Outdoors and Ralph from Cherry Creek Anglers chapter of Trout Unlimited demonstrated fly tying for kids and adults. This was my first public tying experience but fun.

Watch the Fly Fishing Colorado blog for future announcements of Bass Pro events

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

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 Who Does Poaching Hurt?
All of us who hunt, fish, trap, watch wildlife, guides and outfitters or sell gear for these activities.

How Does Poaching Hurt?
By removing trophy elk, deer, big horn sheep, fish or other trophy species, the gene pool is damaged.  Trophies of any species are survivors.  Removing the survivors damages the herd or the fishery so that less survivors are produced.  If enough poaching occurs, there will be less trophies for all of us who hunt, fish or watch wildlife. 

What is Poaching - from a poche, bag or pocket or to cook in simmering liquid per the Websters online Dictionary. But the kind of poaching I am talking about is where a person illegally takes fish or shoots game without a license, out of season, in an illegal manner or in a place were fishing and hunting is not allowed.  Sometimes poaching occurs on private land and sometimes on public land. When poaching happens on private land, land owners often associate a few bad apples with all the law abiding hunters and fishermen.  The result is less and less access to private lands.

When poaching occurs on public land the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact may be applied to a person(s) caught poaching.  License suspensions in one state will usually result in suspension in all member states and may be a lifetime revocation of hunting, fishing or trapping licenses.

This excerpt from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife explains the basic concepts of the Compact:
The Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact (Compact) is an agreement in which member states reciprocate regarding the suspension or revocation of licenses and permits resulting from violations concerning hunting, fishing and trapping laws. If a person’s license or permit privileges which come under the scope of the Compact are suspended or revoked in one member state, they are subject to suspension or revocation in all member states. In addition to license and permit suspensions and revocations which result from a conviction for the illegal pursuit, possession or taking of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, shellfish and crustaceans, failing to appear in court or to otherwise answer a ticket or summons issued for such violations will also result in license or permit suspension. Compact member states also agree to recognize convictions for violations within the scope of the Compact  which occur in all other member states and to apply them toward license and permit suspension and revocations in the state in which the person resides. The article also has a brief history of the Compact.

For states in the compact, nearly 17,000 poachers have lost their hunting, fishing or trapping privileges since 1998, including more than 2,800 so far this year (2007). License revocations can range from one year up to a lifetime for a flagrant violation.  In 2006, Colorado set the record for license revocations with 582 followed by Iowa with 543. (Editor Note: Way to go guys.)  see http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/board/showthread.php?t=43889 for the full story about what happened to one angler who was caught poaching. 

Here is a link to the Colorado DOW information about the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact.  The member states participating in the Compact are:  Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

This is 28 states out of 50 in the Unites States.  Over 50% of the states are participating with each other to stop poaching, protect wildlife, fisheries and maintain the flow of license revenues. 

Hawaii, Louisiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire are in the process of passing legislation about joining the Compact.  Arkansas and Kentucky have passed legislation to join the Compact. Alaska is considering joining.

Stopping poaching protects revenues from hunting and fishing related to trips, equipment sales, guide fees and other such revenues. (According the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 2006 Survey some $109 Billion dollars is involved in hunting, fishing and wildlife watching with wildlife watching being the largest component.)  By the time you add the trickle down effect, this is multiplied to about $730 billion dollars. Much more than pocket change. 

In Colorado, the "Operation Game Thief" number is 1-877-265-6648 or email at game.thief@state.co.us. If you carry a cell phone program this number on speed dial.  Try and get photos of the poaching while in process and the license plate number of involved vehicles. For information on two cases the CDOW has successfully prosecuted with assistance from New Mexico, Wyoming and Arkansas Wildlife Departments.  http://wildlife.state.co.us/RulesRegs/.  Links to all states Wildlife Agencies

It is up to all of us to report poaching and protect our precious fishing and wildlife resources.

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

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If you hold a Colorado Annual Fishing License, the license period has been extended to 3/31/2009.  The Habitat Stamp period has also been extended to 3/31/2009.

Starting 4/1/2009, the fishing season  will run from 4/1 through 3/31 the next year.  (Ex. 4/1/2009 – 3/31/2010)

Per a DOW representative I talked with today, this change is being done to bring the fishing licenses into sync with other licenses and improve management of the license programs overall.  http://wildlife.state.co.us/Fishing/SeasonDatesAndFees/

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

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7/30

There’s no denying it. Northern Pike are big toothy critters.  Especially the ones I ran across the other day in this post. This newwest.net post on pike fishing at the Cree Lodge in northern Saskatchewan, Canada caught my eye.

Gene with 47 inch pike caught at Unknown Lake on Cree River – Guide Louie on right called this a "Holy Shit Fish".

Bills 42 incher and native Dene guide Louie

 Read rest of this great post

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 7/17

I fish Bear Creek west of metro Denver a lot and write fishing condition reports about it.  Here are some Virtual Earth views of some cool fly fishing spots.

There are two ways to use the links.  Each link will take you to the spot named.  And it will open in a new window.  The other way is to start with No. 1 and then copy each succeeding link to the browser address bar.  This is the better method as it will take you along the creek in an overview fashion. 

Enjoy your tour.  Next time on the Creek see if you can find some of these spots.

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

Here are some nice photos of the trail system in Lair o Bear Open Space, Bear Creek shots and shady picnic areas.
http://www.denver-realestateonline.com/2008/07/19/denver-living-adventure-at-lair-o-the-bear/

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2/16/08

Reported by a member of a fly fishing forum in which I hang out.  Sat 2/09, he had gone to the Arkansas River in Pueblo, CO for some fly fishing.  Turns out there were so many bait fishers out that it was almost shoulder to shoulder combat fishing.  Most of the bait fishers had strings of 2-3 fish.  But our intrepid fly fisher persevered and out fished the bait fishers by about 4 or 5 to 1.  This is as it should be with a good fly fisherman.  We can almost always outfish the bait slingers.  Then he made the observation that we (fly fishermen) would do better with some bad weather so as not to compete with the bait fishermen.  Bad Weather was abundant around Pueblo this last week so our guy got his wish.

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  8/26

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