Time To Renew Fly Fishing Club Memberships – if That’s Your Thing
Other things expire and renew at the first of years too. For example, Fort Worth Fly Fishers, which is part of the International Federation of Fly Fishers, has a January renewal as well. Texas’ two separate councils – the Southern Council and the Gulf Coast Council are being unified by the establishment in an effort to better serve members. This organizational stuff is foreign to me, but interesting.
The slow bleed of membership numbers in fly fishing organizations, and the aging of the remaining populous, is obviously cause for dire concern among those who feel the need for the club concept to be an integral part of their fly fishing existence. It’s going to take some huge changes to infuse the fountain of youth into fly fishing organizations, and when there’s a bunch of old(er) white dudes (like me) trying to figure out how to do this … not a good sign … it reminds me of the Republican party.
It seems to me, with all this change maybe the Fort Worth and Dallas Chapters would think about regularly combining forces for the greater good as well. They would both benefit from new websites for sure. The Dallas Fly Fishers site is somewhere beyond bad. About the best site I’ve seen nearby is the Houston Fly Fisher site which ranks high in search, looks good and is easy to use. It’s at Texas FlyFishers of Houston http://www.texasflyfishers.org/.
There’s a lot of room for debate when it comes to the usefulness of organized fly fishing clubs, and unless there’s a quantum shift in the makeup of clubs and their stated purposes, I am afraid the club naysayers have a distinct advantage. Really, the only way to change people’s opinions on the current design of clubs, is to begin to change the clubs at their core. Maybe then they can be again seen as useful and a more constructive use of member’s valuable time.
In For a Pennie – In For a Pound
And in regard to that reorganization of the two Texas Councils – Southern and Gulf Coast – the latest word, as of this writing, is that I’ve been tapped to be the Texas Northern Region’s “North Regional Director.” It’s a strange turn of events that has me “joining the establishment,” but the establishment has taken such a beating that it could be about ready for constructive change that leads to; a better organization with greater outreach, more diversity in every way, and a more optimistic future for fly fishing in the US.
Who knows? It may be me that’s about to take the beating – with the changes that are coming online this year at the International Federation of Fly Fishers, and the Texas reorganization. Somehow the vision of me being beaten down like a pinata keeps forcing its way into my awareness. Dueling fly rods at sunrise perhaps?
Category: Life Observed, Texas Fly Fishing Club
