What Bluegill Can Tell Us About the Future

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BiggerThomas
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Location: Whenever somebody's looking to be free...look in their eyes--you'll see me.

What Bluegill Can Tell Us About the Future

Post by BiggerThomas » Fri Aug 28, 2020 5:31 pm

I took my sons to a local pond today for some bluegill. The little 3 wt outfitted with a small hopper produced tons of fun & tons of fish.

However, what struck me was this: a pack of bike-riding tweens showed up, all with rods, worms, and bobbers. Now, being the dry-fly snob I am, I would usually have said something about how they can only go downhill from here, not just in fishing, but in life; but today I was happy to see them out there, since that meant they weren't at home on their devices.

They took their rods from their bikes and proceeded to cast into the pond, which was loaded with fish. After the first cast, and no bites--mind you, this was all of 15 seconds--they packed up and left. I thought to myself, kids these days (I am old enough now to say that!) are always on their devices; it doesn't matter where they are, or if they don't actually have them.

If it doesn't happen instantaneously, you must abandon it and find something else.

Everyone knows the research on the shrinking attention spans among youth--there are plenty of academic studies on them--but today I witnessed a different metric for measuring the effect of constant technology on kids: no patience even for bluegill, the easiest species to catch.
"Most anglers spend their lives in making rules for trout, and trout spend theirs in breaking them."

-From Letters to Young Fly-Fishers, (1926) Sir George Aston,

Vance
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Re: What Bluegill Can Tell Us About the Future

Post by Vance » Sat Aug 29, 2020 7:44 am

Hello, boy you wrote the truth about kids now a days. I have six grandkids from 21 down to 8. If they did not have there phones they would be lost. They have to have the fastest thumbs in the world. They are always texting or playing games on there phones. I took my one grandson to the shore to go fishing . This is what he did put some bunkers pieces on the hook then cast it out in to the surf and proceeded to sit in a chair got out his phone and played with it. I said Alec you have to move a little and cast again. Why do I have to move the bait is out there let them find it This kid is 18 and going to Clemson this year I just hope he graduates in four years. Have many others have these kids? Bill the mailman

martalus
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Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:39 pm

Re: What Bluegill Can Tell Us About the Future

Post by martalus » Sat Aug 29, 2020 1:19 pm

That 's weird that they would make the effort to get equipment, get worms, and ride their bikes there and give up so quickly. Maybe they got a text from a friend for a better spot nearby? We have a 4 and half your old and she expresses no interest in phones-she even tells us to get off them which I appreciate. I see other kids from like age 18 months with phones in their hands. They are addictive but sometimes parents get stuck in the trap of giving them a phone/device to distract them and so the habit is born.

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