A Social World

We’ve all done it. Sitting on our phones, scrolling the hours away; double tapping,
saving, and sending videos and pictures to friends and family. Procrastinating doing a chore or maybe an essay that’s due on Sunday. Then once you’re done with rotting your brain you regret not doing anything productive for the past couple hours. You’ll never get those two hours back, odds are you probably don’t even remember a video or meme you thought was funny just 15 minutes ago. Now sure, mixed in with the brain malnourishment there were some things that were useful. A how-to video for doing your hair or a math problem that you suspiciously just learned today in class. Your TikTok “For You Page” may have introduced you to a hobby that an influencer you follow has started doing. That’s exactly how I got into the sport of fly fishing. Seeing the scenery of Montana and pulling 25 inch fish out of a small stream seemed like the most awesome thing and was quickly added to my bucket list. After liking the video and adding it to my favorites, the algorithm on all my social medias was transitioned to fly fishing content: tutorials, entertainment, and bad examples flooded my feeds.

The internet allows people to post and share anything at any time. While there are many negative aspects to social media, this essay focuses on how it specifically impacts the fly fishing community. Social media, in all cases, is a double edged sword. It provides good things like awareness of water pollution for example, but also bad things, like disrespecting the fish after catching it or just a toxic online environment. But, does social media do more harm than good? That’s what I want to figure out.

As someone who has been fly fishing for a few years and actively engages with the
community on social media, I’ve seen firsthand both its benefits and drawbacks. I was
introduced into fly fishing via social media which was a good thing so that’s where I’ll start. The fly fishing side of social media is more beneficial than harmful. As of January 2025, 63.9% of the world’s population was on some sort of social media, that’s 5.28 billion people. It is the easiest way to reach someone that lives on a different continent than you. You can share a video and in that instant they can watch it too. Fly fishing is mostly a solo activity: it’s just you, the water, and the fish. Yet, there is a whole community of anglers (not just fly anglers) active on
social media. The most subscribed fly fishing YouTube channel, Mad River Outfitters, has more than 250,000 subscribers. One of the most subscribed fishing channels in general is BlacktipH, which has amassed almost five million subscribers. Social media is the number one way to introduce new anglers to the sport. On TikTok there are thousands of accounts dedicated to fishing in general or specific like fly fishing. All of this outreach introduces more people to the sport.

Another way that social media positively affects fly fishing is how it spreads
conservation awareness. To new fly fishermen (and even experienced ones), you are always
learning. Social media teaches people about issues that are happening in their community and communities around the world. Through social media, I was taught about a harmful mine that was going to operate in Alaska which would lead to harming the salmon population in Bristol Bay. I was informed on why conservation groups were protecting this piece of land and water (if you want to learn more go to this site: https://earthjustice.org/feature/alaska-bristol-bay-pebble-mine). This isn’t the only conservation group out there, organizations like Trout Unlimited and Keep Fish Wet are also constantly fighting to keep fish and their habitat safe. Social media doesn’t only teach about conservation, it also teaches about proper fish handling techniques, knot and casting tutorials, seasonal fishing tutorials. You don’t know how to do something, ask the online fly fishing community. Unfortunately, there are downsides to this.

With asking hundreds of thousands of people for help, arguments are always going to happen. “This is the best way!” “No, this is the correct way!”, asking a simple question will almost always lead to arguments and toxic remarks. This can be counterproductive and repulsive. Pushing people that are looking to get into our hobby away. Also, as I said earlier in the essay, you’ll get the people who think it’s funny to film harmful fish handling practices, like throwing their catch like a football back into the water, which can kill the fish. As angler’s, it is our responsibility to take care of the fish we catch so they’ll be here for thousands of years. On top of the arguing and poor fish handling, with social media being a big part of our lives, angler’s nowadays aren’t fishing for the thrill of the catch but rather to boast online about catching the biggest fish. This results in keeping fish out of water for too long to “get the perfect picture”. After getting this perfect picture, the angler does two things, blurs the background so others don’t steal their fishing spot, or just post it right away and tell people where they caught it. On one hand, blurring the background makes it where anglers looking for new spots can’t do so, people think you own the water but you don’t. The other hand is telling everyone and their mother the spot and rivers get so overfished the fish slowly start getting smaller and dying from stress. You’ll never find a happy medium.

Like fly fishing, social media needs a balance. It’s not only for getting the most likes and
follows, it’s for educating yourself and others in a respectful manner, for spreading the word for conservation, and for sharing memories from the water. As a community, us fly angler’s need to use social media in a supportive and responsible way. To introduce new people to our sport and to save the fish. Not everyone needs to be a “fly fishing influencer” and film themselves dressed in all Patagonia wear holding fish too long out of the water. Do your part and clean rivers, donate to organizations like Trout Unlimited or to stop the Pebble Mine. We are all one big community in a mostly solo sport, we must work together to protect the thing we all love.

This is essay two of the three fly fishing essays I mentioned in the behind the scenes post on my short film. Comment what you would grade it or any thought you have. I love to have a conversation!