Non-Fly An ode of appreciation to the dirtbag forum

speedbird

speedbird

Life of the Party
I have a confession: 70% of my fishing is dirtbag. Even with my endless fly boxes, fly tying vice on my desk, and constantly reading up on fly techniques, I just end up doing more gear fishing because I have the confidence it will get the tug going. Even so, this forum is my main source of fishing discussion. To be very frank, this is the one of the few Washington gear fishing community's I can tolerate. The Facebook groups, and many other forums, are full with the most insane conspiratorial thinking, overt racism (I got accused of being an illegal immigrant for keeping a 25" King last Puget Sound opener, which I found hilarious), and a genuinely disgusting complete contempt for the health of our fisheries, and most general fields of science. The breaking point for me is seeing the discourse over 8-2 pink closures, where the general consensus seems to be that there is an Indian/Inslee/Communist conspiracy to keep us from catching the last Stilly pink. I understand skepticism of WDFW, the tribes, and NOAA. I think this forum is the exact image of what healthy skepticism looks like. But the idea that flooding in an extremely damaged river ecosystem ISN'T going to seriously damage an anadramous run genuinely disgusts me.

I can see our angling culture putting many people off of fishing entirely, which is a damn shame, because there are so many decent, logical people, who respect our fisheries beyond just killing a fish. This forum and subforum seems to concentrate those people. I appreciate how different this forum is to many other Washington focussed fishing communities. Specifically how preservation of the resource is universally viewed as the ultimate objective in any fisheries management. Criticism of WDFW, the tribes, and other authorities is always logical before emotional. Politics are kept mostly fishing related, and I have yet to encounter any form of bigotry over here and I doubt I will. I think the Gear fishing sub forum is an excelent little corner of the internet that helps get me excited to go fish, and I am very glad to have found it
 
speedbird said:
I have a confession: 70% of my fishing is dirtbag. Even with my endless fly boxes, fly tying vice on my desk, and constantly reading up on fly techniques, I just end up doing more gear fishing because I have the confidence it will get the tug going. Even so, this forum is my main source of fishing discussion. To be very frank, this is the one of the few Washington gear fishing community's I can tolerate. The Facebook groups, and many other forums, are full with the most insane conspiratorial thinking, overt racism (I got accused of being an illegal immigrant for keeping a 25" King last Puget Sound opener, which I found hilarious), and a genuinely disgusting complete contempt for the health of our fisheries, and most general fields of science. The breaking point for me is seeing the discourse over 8-2 pink closures, where the general consensus seems to be that there is an Indian/Inslee/Communist conspiracy to keep us from catching the last Stilly pink. I understand skepticism of WDFW, the tribes, and NOAA. I think this forum is the exact image of what healthy skepticism looks like. But the idea that flooding in an extremely damaged river ecosystem ISN'T going to seriously damage an anadramous run genuinely disgusts me.

I can see our angling culture putting many people off of fishing entirely, which is a damn shame, because there are so many decent, logical people, who respect our fisheries beyond just killing a fish. This forum and subforum seems to concentrate those people. I appreciate how different this forum is to many other Washington focussed fishing communities. Specifically how preservation of the resource is universally viewed as the ultimate objective in any fisheries management. Criticism of WDFW, the tribes, and other authorities is always logical before emotional. Politics are kept mostly fishing related, and I have yet to encounter any form of bigotry over here and I doubt I will. I think the Gear fishing sub forum is an excelent little corner of the internet that helps get me excited to go fish, and I am very glad to have found it
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What happens when one of the owners here is a full on dirtbag 😉 well, I fly fish for carp too if that counts.
 
Evan B said:
What happens when one of the owners here is a full on dirtbag 😉 well, I fly fish for carp too if that counts.
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The thing is we feel like we know you enough to have confidence in you. You have shown the ability to mature that will make you a fine fly fisher in your old age, once you finally come back around to your better judgment. 😉
 
speedbird said:
I would argue fly fishing carp is more dirtbag than gear fishing
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Only if you snag ‘em.

My earlier comment was kind of dumb. For the record, I am very gear curious, happy to learn from you all here, appreciative of the forum, intolerant of the BS on other forums and outlets, not proficient at much gear fishing but also a fan. I just mostly like fly fishing. It’s not inherently better or worse than any other kind of fishing.

I really like fishing live bait for tuna.
 
Matt B said:
Only if you snag ‘em.

My earlier comment was kind of dumb. For the record, I am very gear curious, happy to learn from you all here, appreciative of the forum, intolerant of the BS on other forums and outlets, not proficient at much gear fishing but also a fan. I just mostly like fly fishing. It’s not inherently better or worse than any other kind of fishing.

I really like fishing live bait for tuna.
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My journey into full on dirtbag happened over many years. It really became my "main thing" ironically when I took the job at ECHO and moved to the NW Oregon/SW WA region. So, so many amazing fishing opportunities close to home, so long as you're not married to the fly pole. Fly fishing opportunities exist, but the truly good ones are 2hrs or more away... the same distance as the ocean and other such things.

Plus, I really like having freezers full of albacore, halibut, lingcod and salmon.

I'm sure many of you were around a couple years ago when we launched our gear-centric forum. It was at the request of a few of the more prolific posters on the biggest, most active fishing forum in my area. Said forum got purchased by the same entity that bought WFF. The honeymoon phase went fine, some great members showed up and got the place rollin. Quickly, it was apparent we were going to have to do a LOT more moderating. So many guys just couldn't help having to make everything a political battle ground. I had to deal with so many private messages from a few folks who just HAD to give me their thoughts on other posters, saying things like I should just ban them now because they're part of THAT political ideology, so on and so forth.

I thought we'd hit it big when we got featured in one of the more popular fishing and outdoor columns in a local publication. Membership shot up big time in a couple days time, yet not a single one of these new members participated in anything but lurking. Also, after the first month or so, user financial support went off a cliff. Didn't make sense to us to keep it open, so we decided the PNWFF Dirtbag forum was more than enough for us.

Thank you for sitting for story time.
 
I'm guilty of being wedded to fly fishing. It's the most fun way I've found to both catch and not catch fish. So I gave up salmon fishing for many years. A move put me in the mix of friends who liked to fish for salmon, dirtbaggers all. I like to eat salmon, so I decided to expand my Issac Walton "complete angler" intentions and rejoined the dirtbag fraternity. It usually involves trolling herring or other bait or lures, and I can only take that for up to 3 or 4 days at a time. But a couple such trips a year provides some quality table fare, a good time with other angler friends, and an expanded angling repertoire.
 
Salmo_g said:
I'm guilty of being wedded to fly fishing. It's the most fun way I've found to both catch and not catch fish. So I gave up salmon fishing for many years. A move put me in the mix of friends who liked to fish for salmon, dirtbaggers all. I like to eat salmon, so I decided to expand my Issac Walton "complete angler" intentions and rejoined the dirtbag fraternity. It usually involves trolling herring or other bait or lures, and I can only take that for up to 3 or 4 days at a time. But a couple such trips a year provides some quality table fare, a good time with other angler friends, and an expanded angling repertoire.
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I've dirtbagged with Salmo...he was kind enough to take me out in his boat on the Columbia for Springers once.
I caught one, so of course I was quite pleased with the trip.
He needs to work on both his swearing and beer drinking, as well as needing a more slovenly appearance in general, but has potential as a dirtbagger.
:)
 
speedbird said:
I have a confession: 70% of my fishing is dirtbag. Even with my endless fly boxes, fly tying vice on my desk, and constantly reading up on fly techniques, I just end up doing more gear fishing because I have the confidence it will get the tug going. Even so, this forum is my main source of fishing discussion. To be very frank, this is the one of the few Washington gear fishing community's I can tolerate. The Facebook groups, and many other forums, are full with the most insane conspiratorial thinking, overt racism (I got accused of being an illegal immigrant for keeping a 25" King last Puget Sound opener, which I found hilarious), and a genuinely disgusting complete contempt for the health of our fisheries, and most general fields of science. The breaking point for me is seeing the discourse over 8-2 pink closures, where the general consensus seems to be that there is an Indian/Inslee/Communist conspiracy to keep us from catching the last Stilly pink. I understand skepticism of WDFW, the tribes, and NOAA. I think this forum is the exact image of what healthy skepticism looks like. But the idea that flooding in an extremely damaged river ecosystem ISN'T going to seriously damage an anadramous run genuinely disgusts me.

I can see our angling culture putting many people off of fishing entirely, which is a damn shame, because there are so many decent, logical people, who respect our fisheries beyond just killing a fish. This forum and subforum seems to concentrate those people. I appreciate how different this forum is to many other Washington focussed fishing communities. Specifically how preservation of the resource is universally viewed as the ultimate objective in any fisheries management. Criticism of WDFW, the tribes, and other authorities is always logical before emotional. Politics are kept mostly fishing related, and I have yet to encounter any form of bigotry over here and I doubt I will. I think the Gear fishing sub forum is an excelent little corner of the internet that helps get me excited to go fish, and I am very glad to have found it
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Well said. I find it ironic that the real dirtbags live on many of the other fishing forums seemingly only to spew their vitriol about what they believe to be the causes of why they can't or don't catch fish.
 
Mossback said:
I've dirtbagged with Salmo...he was kind enough to take me out in his boat on the Columbia for Springers once.
I caught one, so of course I was quite pleased with the trip.
He needs to work on both his swearing and beer drinking, as well as needing a more slovenly appearance in general, but has potential as a dirtbagger.
:)
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I've got the cussing down to a science but no longer drink alcohol.
Does that eliminate me from the dirtbag brotherhood?
PS: I can dress like a slob with the best of them.😊
 
For many years I was a pure and wholesome fly fisher but recently was dragged back into dirtbagery thanks to @jasmillo 🙂
Must admit I do enjoy jigging and trolling flies with divers, it's just a more effective way to fish deeper in the water column, something that fly lines just can't reach. We fly fish the vast majority of the time and prefers it but there's a time a place for everything. It’s good to be well rounded!
 
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Wanative said:
I've got the cussing down to a science but no longer drink alcohol.
Does that eliminate me from the dirtbag brotherhood?
PS: I can dress like a slob with the best of them.😊
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Yer in....
 
Kfish said:
For many years I was a pure and wholesome fly fisher but recently was dragged back into dirtbagery thanks to @jasmillo 🙂
Must admit I do enjoy jigging and trolling flies with divers, it's just a more effective way to fish deeper in the water column, something that fly lines just can't reach. We fly fish the vast majority of the time and prefers it but there's a time a place for everything. It’s good to be well rounded!
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Jigging for Salmon and bottomfish is fun...I much prefer it to trolling, which can be fun, just a bit too sedentary for me.
 
This...
Doesn't matter, some days I'm simply too god damned lazy to do anything but grab a rod and box of spoons and tromp off to the river, other days I feel like going full Orvis, and grab every item known to man, and some branded clothing in matching colors, and wade stealthily in pursuit of my finned quarry.

:)
 
Mossback said:
This...
Doesn't matter, some days I'm simply too god damned lazy to do anything but grab a rod and box of spoons and tromp off to the river, other days I feel like going full Orvis, and grab every item known to man, and some branded clothing in matching colors, and wade stealthily in pursuit of my finned quarry.

:)
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When you've really gone down the gear rabbit hole, fly trips ARE the simple trips.

I have 16 rods going on my boat Sunday. Six different gear bags. It's out of control.
 
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