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For today’s generation of young fly-
fishers, Instagram is home. This is where
they share fishing stories, communicate via
messaging, exchange tips and tricks, and
meet like-minded fishing buddies. Looking
through Instagram you’ll find an astonish-
ingly active, supportive and creative online
fly-fishing community. Of course, the main
purpose of the platform is to share images
and you’ll find no shortage of youngsters
sharing trophy fish photos and documenting
their adventures with friends.A GROWING TREND
I think this community of ‘Insta-fishers’ has
to be viewed in parallel with other trends
occurring among today’s young. There
is a growing number of us (and I include
myself in this group despite having recently
reached the ‘wrong’ side of 30), who yearn
for freedom from an increasingly urbanised
world, for a deeper contact with nature and
a desire to connect with our deepest hunter-
gatherer desires.
Growing up in what feels more and
more like an uncertain world, there is now
an increasing section of our generation
who value experiences over commodities,
and memories over material wealth. Sure,
there’s a small degree of gratuitous boast-
ing and “my fish is bigger than yours” in the
social media world but, generally speaking,
I view the new school of fly-fishing as an
immensely positive phenomenon. Noth-
ing reaches out farther and connects with
as many people as social media does. With
these online communities, fly-fishing isfindinga newimage,onethatis appealingto
a generationinsearchofadventure.
Surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding,
fly-fishing. I’d wagerthat severaldecades
agoyouwouldn’thaveencounteredmention
ofthesefour‘sports’inthesamesentence.
However,aroundtheglobetheboundaries
arebeingblurredandfly-fishingis cement-
ingitselffirmlyintheworldofwhatwere
oncedefinedasextremesportsbutarenow
usuallyreferredtoasadventuresports.
Sogreatisthelevelofintertwiningthat
a growingnumberoftheworld’stoppro-
fessionalsnowboardersspendthesummermonths trout fishing, documenting their
fishing adventures on film in the same
way that they document their hair-raising
mountain descents or stylish halfpipe runs,
complete with baggy clothes, oversized
shades, backward-facing caps and bang-
up-to-date soundtracks. If you think about
it, it makes perfect sense. Fly-fishing is an
escape, a chance to breath pure air, to find
your ‘zen’, to connect with the natural world
and focus purely on the task at hand.
Today’s young are all about healthy bod-
ies and minds, just look at the popularity of
yoga. In certain ways, for some of us, fly-
fishing ticks the same boxes. To ride that
wave, to cruise that fresh powder, to sight-
cast to and catch that rising trout on a dry
fly before admiring it for a moment and slip-
ping it back into the river. These are the wildClockwise from top: urban fly-fishers take a picture
for Instagram; casting for salmon on the Spey; action
shots of fly-casting show another side of the sportGo to Instagram and you’ll find an
TOMMY ASHBY; JAMES MUIR; JONATHON MUIR; SPORTFISHactive fly-fishing community