How many feel we are getting way to?

Question

Technical in our sporting equipment?

Reels with computer chips to control back lashes, side view sonar, etc.

Rifle scopes with range finding abilities and being able to show you the drop of the bullet.

Come on I might be 60 but still consider hunting and fishing a sport.

With all the tech stuff showing up on the market pretty soon your reel will do everything, what fun is that going to be?

Granted both my boats have GPS/Fish Finders and most of my reels are not cheap. But if this keeps up where will the fun and the sport of chase be left.

Our waters and lands are being pressure way to much as it is.

Be well my friends

Answer 1

This is a great question!

I've been just as guilty as anybody with using technology in the wilderness but, I've been changing over the last year.  My experience comes from being a wilderness navigation and survival instructor.

From a navigation stand point, I'm finding it hard to get people to do the compass navigation course before doing the GPS course.  I want people to be able to use a map and compass first and formost, but people don't want to - they're intimidated by the compass, and too lazy to learn how to use it.  People would rather rely on a GPS.  I rarely take a GPS out with me when I hike, or backpack anymore, and even then I rarely turn it on.

I've simplified my my backpacking gear - got rid of lanterns, solar chargers, fancy fire starters & liquids, cumbersome stoves, expensive high-tech clothing and sleeping gear, range finders.  I just carry less stuff with me that's more multi-purpose and have learned alot about using what I find in the wilderness.

From a survival/backpacking stand point, I think people don't realize that they have to be creative when they're in the wilderness.  I saw a group of backpackers hike 10 km back to there car to leave because, they realized that they forgot their cutlery.  There was wood, knives, and an axe, and they didn't think is was possible to make a wooden spoon to eat their soup and pasta.

It's sad when we can't do something so simple as make a wooden spoon to feed ourselves....

Answer 2

With the rate technology is movin' my friends know matter what area it be in ~ eventually and inevitably it will strangle us all, not only us homo sapiens, but wildlife and the lands that we take so much for granted, as well... No smiley or fish on this one ~

Answer 3

Great Question !!!

I for one am GLAD technology has advanced the way it has in the fly fishing world, rods are much lighter and much more responsive that

you can learn the art of casting much easier than with today's rods

than those of yesteryear. The reels have come a long way also, being lighter and having much better drags. A lighter outfit will enable you to fish longer with less fatique.

Today's vices are superb and the materials we have available to us to create flys was not avaible to us just a few years ago.

Of course, I can only speak from the fly fishing aspect, but I do embrace the change. That doesn't mean you don't have to put your time in on the stream and make the proper fly selection, I for one would not ever want to give up that challenge.

Tight Lines

Answer 4

Useless young people?

I'm 26 and consider myself "young" compared to most fisherman I see.I fish fairly often and mostly from shore.I don't have a fancy fish finder or a gps for when I do go out on a boat.I don't even own a cell phone.I don't have these things because I don't need them.For me fishing is about fun and relaxation.I don't need to catch 20 fish because I have the best fish finder on the market.Call it taking pride in what I do but I prefer the old fashioned ways that people used years before fish finders and gps were invented.

Though I will admit if I entered into fishing tournaments where there were money/prizes at stake I would probably have some fancy gadgets.

Answer 5

You know something GF ive been feeling very much the same, not to offend any of the "bass guys" but i think that bass fishing has gone WAY to technical especially with all the advertising for tournaments what ever happened to a simple local competition? I do think technology has helped us to a degree, i mean now we are fishing with ultra light rods made from a blend of carbon fiber etc etc as for all the equipment on the market i think its gone a little too far, ive seen items in bass pro to advise you what color lure to use in the water, that is going too far, when my grandfather used to fish for salmon with a traditional fly rod and silk lines all he took where a box of simple flies tied by himself and a a stream-side thermometer filled with mercury and well he was an excellent fisherman with out all this electronic equipment we have now, in truth i still have a old bamboo fly rod with silk lines and a box of very old dries and when i feel technology has gone too far i take it out and leave the sage, fishpond, orvis etc at home and still catch trout on an outfit that is around 90 years old.

Answer 6

Well Golden Feather,

While it is true that our equipment is getting more technical, it still comes down to the sportsman making the right decisions to locate the game and/or fish that we each decide to pursue and harvest. As responsible sportsmen (and women) we owe it to our fish & wildlife to harvest that creature in the most ethical and efficient manner possible. The equipment we use is a matter of personal preference and one we must have confidence in using to be successful. And just because this high-tech equipment exists, does not mean that you have to use it. It just means that it exists. There is no substitute for experience in the outdoors. Tight lines!  

Answer 7

While I do agree with you that it seems things are getting way too technical, so is everything else. Refrigerators with HD tv's built in, cars that parallel park themselves. I think it's a sign of the new times and it was destined to happen. I kind of like that fact that the fishing industry is staying in "the now" from a technological standpoint. With that being said, I do agree that it takes the fun factor out a bit. I, however, will not pay an insane amount of money for a reel that does what I have proven to myself  I can do on my own with my trusty plain baitcaster! As mentioned already, we don't have to use these things. You're right, fishing and hunting are sports, but when quarterbacks started playing in concussion proof helmets that they could hear plays being called into, I knew all sports would change.

Answer 8

We are going to create a bunch of useless young people because what they know is to depend mostly on their technology.Al tough I am still young,30 but I am partly into the tech development cos if the technology is available then I will try to understand it.If u understand the core well then we can use those understandings in our fishing/hunting to bring it to the highest level.Also its not the tech alone that is generating this but the system of modern society too hit it hard.People today just look for the easy way out of many situation,they approach everything in a less intense way.Maybe we r just to ignorant to believe that we don't take it for granted most of the time but we can change our ways.In developed countries ,we take most of the better things from the worlds resources,we should really give something back to the poorer nations/to our world.The best way to enjoy the true fun in fishing is to learn the knowledge/facts/data's with practice to defeat the fish in the most natural way possible.That's real sport/skills and its fair.If given a chance,I would like to learn catching fish with my bare hands/spear.My friends practice ancient fish spearing underwater n they dive without any modern gears.The downside is that u couldn't do it without some safety gears with u,we want to be connected to nature in a safer way.

Answer 9

Basically, technology marches on. I remember reading articles from the 1950's where people were complaining about this newfangled monofilament fishing line because it was like fishing with a leader -- it meant you didn't need to know how to tie a blood knot. Now it's fluorocarbon which is basically invisible under water, and braided lines which are far stronger than what we oldtimers are used to.

Nowadays, people talk about casting a baitcaster by adjusting the magnetic brake -- when I learned, you used your thumb. They make reels with depth counters on them, instead of the angler having to know how deep his bait is. Gear ratios are higher -- when I started, the standard reel was the Penn Squidder at 3:1; now reels that size come with 6:1 gear ratios. And instead of the jerky dry drags of back then, there are nice smooth wet drags, which you can set tighter without worrying about breaking the line.

Then there's GPS so boats can go to the precise location they want to go to, and hi-res sonar that read not only the bottom, but the fish (and show enough detail that you have a good idea what kind of fish are there). And side-scan sonar, so you can search a wider swath of water for marks. I talked to an old-time skipper who said he learned how to find his spots with only a compass, a watch, and a paper graph, and he said "Today, it's almost too easy." His problem was other guys following his boat and poaching his spots with a couple of button presses. (We're talking about rocks 10 feet across a few miles from shore in a couple hundred feet of water -- spots you wouldn't otherwise know about without a LOT of looking.)

But the overall catches (I'm talking about southern California saltwater) aren't as big as they were 40 years ago. The technology marches on, but so does the overfishing and habitat destruction.

Trying to look at the bright side of all of this, the advancing technology lets us enjoy the challenge somewhat more. If we were stuck with the equipment of the 1960's today, we wouldn't catch much at all. On the other hand, if we had fluorocarbon, GPS, sonar, etc. in the 1960's then there would have been no challenge to the fishing... and we would have emptied the ocean even quicker (assuming the commercial fishermen had the same electronics).

Somehow I think the habitat degradation and overfishing aren't a problem in freshwater, in which case all the hi-tech stuff in bass tournaments and so on becomes overkill. I wonder how those pros would do in a rented skiff with a 9 hp engine, one rod, one small tackle box, and no electronics. That, to me, would be a true test of fishing ability.

But then, I still drive a car with a stick shift.

Answer 10

I have a feeling that the "gadgetry" will be somewhat self limiting. When the gadgets start taking the fun and challenge out of it, people will start to go a bit reto. That does not mean that many gadgets won't survive or that new ones won't come along and be popular.

I still love being able to get as close to my quarry as possible before I click the shutter of my high tech digital camera!

Answer 11

With ALL of the high tec gadgets that are available in hunting & fishing gear, which looks great, is just like giving students computers, with which to do their school work.  If they have a glitch in the system, they will have NO idea how to figure out how to solve a problem,  

Answer 12

I love keeping it simple. Hook, line worm bobber.

I use tons of other things too, but i love that simple rig. one of my favorite parts of fishing is going to a place like walmart, seeing the stuff they have, and maby getting a few new lures, and hooks.