There are those opine these days that the world has become a less civil, less welcoming and less hospitable place.
Some social science ‘experts’ say that folks around the world are less connected with friends, family, coworkers, neighbors and acquaintances than ever before in history, despite the almost overwhelming array of nuisance communication tools at our beck and call.
I’m not sure how much stock you place in ‘social science’ in your neck of the woods; many of our fly fishing colleagues here in Montana and from around the fruited plain view social science (and probably social scientists as well) somewhat askance. Missouri River Steve put it another way on the phone last night – “I call bullshit….”
Please note that not all of us who view social science with a jaundiced eye are deliberately antagonistic (only some of us); we simply have a very different frame of reference – the world of fly fishing.
In fact – we understand that we’re part of a larger fellowship that transcends boundaries of all sorts – the fellowship of the fly.
While we slave away at the screen play for our upcoming feature movie “The Fellowship of the Fly” (we really are writing one, and there happen to be some striking resemblances to another fellowship movie) – here are some more concrete, real-life examples of ‘the fellowship’.
From the dank and dark recesses of my humble Bozeman office I have interacted with individuals on five different continents – North and South America, Australia, Europe, and Asia – in the past 48 hours simply talking about fly fishing in the neighborhood.
Granted, I’m fortunate enough to be part of a fledgling (and even that is a considerable overstatement) business related to fly fishing and outdoor media (Dry Fly Media), and am fortunate enough to be part of a team of semi-readable bloggers who like to write about rivers, fly fishing, and fun stuff in the neighborhood just for the hell of it.
With the tap of a few keys in a somewhat rational order it is possible to send a stream of electrons plummeting across cyberspace to our new friends in Sydney, London, Calgary, Sao Paolo and Paris (my wife is a linguist and has helped with the last two).
Most of these folks will be in the neighborhood in the next few months to fish.
Here’s perhaps an even more interesting example.
Jake and I had a question about the most recent issue of Catch magazine; expecting a form reply from an autoresponder sometime in the next 2 or 3 months, I sent an email into Catch last week asking a simple, one sentence question.
Within an hour up pops a response from Catch magazine. Not only from Catch, but from the maestro Brian O’Keefe himself. I’m not much into ‘hero worship’, but Brian is in most fly fisher folks’ eyes the most freakin’ accomplished photographer of our sport in a generation.
Brian had taken the time to look over our website (Dry Fly Media), and sent this reply (very much in keeping with our ‘About Us’ pages here and on Dry Fly Media…)
Thanks for the note. I enjoyed your website. My 2 cents –
AKA – Big Fish, Stubby, BO
Favorite Fly – deer hair mouse for Alaska rainbows
Favorite River – Middle Beaverhead – where nobody floats – with hoppers (me – damned nice choice)
Favorite Food – Right out of Jake’s – Elk steak and home grown mashed potatoes and home grown salad – hey that was last night – and Thai and French and fresh, on the boat Alaska king crab and Texas BBQ and NC BBQ and all curries and oysters.
Favorite Camera – I made a career out of the Canon EOS film cameras and still have a new one in the box. Also shoot Canon 20D
When I grow up – Have one million readers of Catch Magazine and sell it to you guys for big bucks!!!Tell Mary Ellen that I get Belgium chocolate from our Catch readers over there and Paris is the most amazing city in the world.
Tell Jess I have a 43 year old Appy, not much of a jumper.
Tell Jake I know of a good Beaver for sale in AK.(The business answer to our question went here…..)
I attached a sneak peek at some shots from Argentina a couple weeks ago.
Like Jake, I need to do some tractor time (John Deere – what else) as my irrigation just came on and things are happening fast. So, I won’t be able to hear my cell phone. Email is cool. I’ll be in around 2.
Brian then followed his comments with his home and cell numbers, and his address. Damn, folks just don’t do that anymore these days. Actually, I guess some do.
Needless to say, Jake and I were floored, just like we were the first time we interacted with a very humble and down to earth KB of Singlebarbed fame, Alex of the Fat Guys, Nathan from the Tennessee Valley Angler, Wayne from Will Fish for Work, or the dozens and dozens of wonderful folks we’ve chatted with over the past several years.
Most of those wonderful folks aren’t ‘famous’ (or infamous) – they’re just everyday fly fisher folk like us.
Is everybody you meet on the river part of the fellowship? Surely not; but the good guys and gals far, far outnumber the dinks and dickheads.
That my friends is the power of the fellowship of the fly. Share the power today.
