Quick Quip...

Old Smallies: Although one would think that because smallmouth bass can reach a size of 10 - 12 lbs that they are a long living fish. In fact, it is actually uncommon for a smallies to live beyond 7 years of age. So if you catch a big one, make sure you put it back. The bigger females lay the most eggs, and the one on the end of your hook may have only one or two spawning years left!

What's New...

In our continuing goal to make TFN interactive and more of an on-line community, we now introduce TFN SONAR!™ Search to replace our old Net-Links section. SONAR! is our own fishing-only search engine which you can either use here at TFN, or download and use on your own homepage. So far, we have over 1,300 links in the database, so check to see if yours is there. If it is, check that we have all your correct information. If you don't see your homepage there, be sure to add it! Of course, SONAR! is part of our new database-driven systems, which also includes the new TFN Fishing Travel Directory, the revamped Free Email NewsFlash subscription system and the completely overhauledTFN Fishing Event Calendar, which has replaced the obsolete Tournament Listings Page.

That's four interactive overhauling projects completed... Stay tuned for even more soon!

This Issue...

This is one site that expects the number of visitors to decline at this time of year when the fishing seasons get rolling across North America. However, there are a few nuggets in the Volume 3, Number 14 issue that you might want to read before you head out on the water. In particular, check out the Hooked on Bass Review and Contest and get your entry in. Who knows - you might just receive a new CD filled with bassin' information from In-fisherman before the season starts!

Comment...

The TFN Community - where do we go from here?

In the first 2 ½ years of TFN, we have gone from a very small 5-6 page site to one with over 3,000 pages. What started out as a hobby and an experiment to see if sponsors would support such an endeavour on behalf of the fishing properties I represented has become a property unto itself, multi-faceted and huge by any Internet standard. And although some sponsorship dollars have come in, they by no means have even begun to scratch the surface of the investment that has been made. However, I continue undaunted by the past in making TFN the #1 fishing experience on the Internet.

So the question now is where to take TFN. It is my opinion that the information, no matter how voluminous it might be, either existing or in the future, is not enough. The experience of the TFN Custom Forums (and briefly with the TB2 program - but more on that next issue) has given me what I believe to be a profound awareness of where the Web is going.

Those of you who visit TFN daily, weekly, or even once in a while, are contributing to something of which you may not be aware - a sense of community - and the value of this community cannot be taken lightly.

For a brief moment, let's look at today's society compared (for those of you who can) with the post-war boom years of 1945-1970. What is different? If you live in a rural area away from urban sprawl, perhaps not that much has really changed. But for my part, I was born in 1958 - which makes me now 40 years old (or so my wife tells me) - and grew up in an urban environment. When I was growing up, we went outside to play. Participating in school-sponsored or neighborhood pick-up team sports of all kinds and getting together with other neighbourhood kids was what life was all about after school. We would go away on weekends with our parents, or our friend's parents, to the cottage, or camping, where we would learn about the outdoors and fishing. There were no computers, no Sega, no Nintendo, no 57 channels on cable, and our moms were most often at home to look after us, answer life's questions and make sure we didn't stray too far.

It doesn't take brain surgery to realize that everything has radically changed. With the volume and intensity of today's crime-rates, political correctness, taxes so high that both parents now have to work to make ends meet, and the proliferation of technology such as this website, the world experienced by youngsters is so much different than what it was in previous generations that it defies exaggeration.

My concern is that we are now de-evolving the sense of community that we humans took so many millennia to form. And this is not just 'Third Wave' thinking. The nuclear family unit has been replaced by groups of people surviving together in a way that no longer requires the same amount of commitment as was customary in the past. Everyone has their own little sterile world. It may be only their own TV. For many who are better off, it is their own computer and Internet connection - their own solo activities and their own personal group of friends. The "Me Generation" has been taken to an extreme.

What's missing is personal contact and the concept of neighbourhood - of community. Although I embrace the technology that makes this sterile environment easier to make use of, I strongly disagree with those who create technology solely for the purpose of financial gain at the expense of social responsibility.

Yes, that's right, I actually acquiesce to a social responsibility. Every web-site has it but few do anything about it.

This area is where I want TFN to be different. The recent Smith Mountain Lake Trip (in which I was supposed to participate - Sorry folks, I got 'snagged' by local media requests about the Canadian Sportfishing situation) is one example that really made sense to me. Here were a number of 'regulars' from the TFN Custom Forums getting together off-line and participating in an outing in the outdoors. What a concept! My hat goes off to those of you who put the SML program together and carried it through - especially since many of the participants had to travel out-of-pocket to get there and be involved!

This is what TFN should be all about - people getting together with people, and the website being the hub for the activities.

I've stated my intentions in the past to start off-line TFN clubs, and this is an area in which I'd like to do more work. Unfortunately the the lack of available time has prevented the clubs from becoming a reality to this point, but I feel the concept is important, and intend on getting the program off the ground one way or another.

The TFN Club program is important for 2 reasons. First of all, the number of fishing licenses sold each year has been steadily declining since 1993. The proliferation of other recreational activities that involve less of an investment in both time and equipment, such as video games and cable TV, have resulted in folks (including kids) not becoming as involved as they once did in the outdoors.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the breakdown of the neighbourhood, including the rise in local crime-rates, and the income-related necessity of both parents (where there are 2 parents) to work has resulted in a situation where the lack of ongoing supervision and life-skills direction has resulted in fewer and fewer outdoors-oriented role models for our youngsters to look up to. I heard a worrisome statistic this week: a Dennis Rodman signed Chicago Bulls shirt sells on the open market for the same price as one signed by Michael Jordan. What does that tell you about today's role models?

But I digress. The bottom line is that those of you who spend a considerable amount of their time in the TFN Forums combined with those who don't, but are reading this commentary, already belong to a community. My goal is to make sure that TFN provides you with what you need to make our community bigger and stronger.

Therefore, I will entertain any suggestions whatsoever that you think might help us all reach this goal of strengthening the TFN community and getting neighbourhoods, families and kids together once again to the benefit of everyone.

I can be reached from the "Contact Us" option on the right menu.

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

Scott M. Binnie, Managing Editor