Quick Quip...

The Ultimate Freshness Test Here's an old wives' tale that, as do most, has a ring of truth about it. If you are unsure whether or not the fish you're about to cook is fresh, simply put it in water. If it sinks, it's fresh. If it floats, don't eat it. Now I wonder how this pertains to flying fish?

What's New...

TFN Adds Another New Section: As I wrote a few issues ago, We're busy at work here at TFN to make sure that we provide you with the type of community you're looking for. Many of you in the past have requested a place for fishing reports. In fact, we get many requests for how the fishing is - wherever - each and every week. Subsequently, I'm pleased to announce the launch of the TFN Fishing Reports section which has been placed in TFN interACTIVE!. TFN Fishing Reports has been designed using the same technology as the TFN Custom Forums and Chat, resulting in one frustrating point that must be addressed. Although this technology is sound and the programming airtight (or as much as can reasonably assured on the Web), there is still a glitch with webTV users. This is not our fault, nor the fault of the software. webTV has admitted that their system has a bug that prevents their customers from using these types of systems. It is an oversight on their part. However, we have contacted them on three different occasions to make some sort of 'fix' available, and although they have promised to get back to us quickly, we have never heard back from them.

This sounds to us like the same kind of corporate arrogance that almost put AOL out of business a few years ago. We'll keep trying, but it doesn't sound like webTV really cares about what its customers want fixed.

In any case, we invite the rest of you to participate in this new interactive section of TFN. For all you charter, guide, resort and camp owners, we even allow you to put a SMALL ad for your business at the bottom of your reports - for free!

Travel Update: We're pleased to announce the new agency agreement with Kasba Lake Lodge, one of the best known and most successful fly-in camps in northern Canada (the Northwest Territories to be more precise) Make sure you check out the article from a Kasba visitor in this issue's Destinations column. And when you want to book your trip, make sure you use the TFN Travel Agency!

Interactive Update: Remember that Tuesday Night is Chat Night. But if you can't make it, and/or want to get together some other time, send an email to our intrepid Forumsmaster, Max Huber to get your scheduled event posted for others to read. Hey, the more hte merrier!

Send in those stories! As I said before, "Ya can't win if ya don't play!". Check out the Hooked on Bass contest and send in your stories to win a free CD ROM filled with bassin' info, video, audio and diagrams from In-Fisherman™! And remember - we also have the same contest running for Walleye stories - you could win the Way Of The Walleye CD Rom!

Comment... About those consumer shows...

It's at this time of year that the big Outdoors Consumer Shows start to wind down, only to be replaced shortly by the small, retail-bait-'n'-tackle variety. I don't know about anyone else, but I sense a change taking place in these events.
First of all, I must admit that due to my work here at TFN, I actually must attend the major shows here in the Toronto area each year as a member of that media mega-lopoly known as "the press". And, some of you may be somewhat perplexed to learn that in this capacity I don't pay to get in. But once there, I'm also unable to anonimously migrate from booth to booth, buying a new tackle box here and shortly thereafter purchasing more than the amount of lures and terminal tackle for which said storage unit was designed there, forcing me to buy a second, bigger box somewhere else.

Alas, my philosophy on attending outdoor consumer shows has become somewhat jaded over the years. Now my goal is to get in, see everyone I have to see (most of the industry-types flock to these shows, as much for industry business as to display their latests gizmos), and then get the heck out as soon as possible.

The more I attend these events as a matter of necessity, the more I realize that all the faces are the same; not just the vendors and maufacturer's reps, but the customers as well. Although it really is no wonder that everything always seems to be more or less the same, I have noticed the following trends:

The small retailers are gone, and the larger ones have taken over their space. By larger retailers, I do not mean the X-Marts, Pro Shops and other "big-box" or mail-order giants. If these huge retailers were to appear at the shows, all the others, and I mean ALL would leave 'en masse'. A few years ago, one of the better known Canadian television show groups showed up at a show with a brand new Bass Pro Shops sign, and all the retailers started to pack up and leave. Needless to say, the sign was removed. But, the fact remains that the impact of the mega-stores on anglers buying habits, coupled with the decline in number of anglers over the last 3-4 years has had the effect of reducing the number of local shops, thereby reducing the number that sell product at the shows.

The outdoors market is changing and much of it is driven by technology. The way I fish, and the way most pros fish, you would have to call the activity a sport. Making thousands of casts during a single day on the water is not passive recreation. However, we must acknowledge that it's the recreational part of the passtime that first gets us involved - sometimes with a family member - and often not involving tremendous success. If you look around at the outdoors shows now, yes there's still the kids' trout pond, but there's now also a rock-climbing wall, a kayaking center, and a pool for personal watercraft. Heck, this years Toronto Sportsmen's Show even featured an indoor rodeo - probably common place in Oklahoma, but in Toronto?

I would imagine that these changes are due to the faster pace of life in the world's urban centers manifesting itself in the increased need for risk and heavy physical exursion from urbanites' recreational passtimes.

There is less and less innovation taking place in fishing. For a decade or so, from the mid 80's through the mid 90's, every year brought with it a whole new range of products form many of the larger manufacturers. New technologies were constantly being introduced and applied to everything from plastic baits to reel gear systems and even the materials used to make rods. I'm not sure whether its because we've "hit the wall" in terms of technology, or because a slowdown in sales over the past few years has forced companies to reduce their research and development budgets, but the last major breakthroughs I can think of are the materials used in some of the newer fishing lines, and perhaps the adaptation of global positioning systems as a navigational aid, both on and off the water.

Let's face it; although there are a number of factors that have affected the fish poulation and subsequent 'catchability' over the last decade, all we really still need to fish is to sit on the bank of a stream with a cane pole, hook and worm. If I think of all the money I spent on lures that have never produced (whether it's my fault or not) and other contraptions that simply gather rust and dust, its no wonder that I'm not buying as much these days.

In addition, although I try to support local bait 'n' tackles when I can, it's difficult to justify $8.95 for a lure that I gan buy at the local 'big-box' store for only $4.95. And when I go to the outdoors shows, the retailers there sell at prices closer to the $8.95 than the $4.95, at least for anything in which I might have some interest.

So I guess these is the questions: does the number of us visiting these shows continue to decline, replaced by those interested in the other outdoor activities? If so, what does that tell us about the future of our favorite sport? Will it once again be relegated to second-class status? Will we as participants once again be castigated and refered to collectively as "Bubba and Junior"?

Now is the time to think about these questions and discuss ways to revitalize participation in one of the oldest and most universally available activities known to man.

Until next issue...
(tight lines, get it wet, good fishin', see you on the water, etc., etc.).

Scott M. Binnie, Managing Editor