How did we let it get this bad?

If the economy has got you down go fishing! Either way don't let to the experts convince you that a lack of dough or lunkers is all about how you're just not doing it right.

Last night I had a dream about the industry of fishing experts being a sham on par with the personal finance industry. The Daily Show interviewed author Helaine Olen who wrote “A Pound Foolish” that argues the personal finance industry of gurus like Suze Orman, and talking heads on CNBC are selling the lie that our financial problems are our own fault. It’s our own fault for being stupid, for not managing and investing our resources properly, for being spendthrifts and short-sighted. This ignores the fact that ½ of our nation is living paycheck to paycheck, it ignores that household income and purchasing strength has receded over the decades and salaries have remained largely stagnant while good jobs are becoming more and more scarce. In the 50s and 60s you could support a family on a single earner’s income, you could afford college without being thrown into perpetual debt. The fact of the matter is, historically, our incomes suck. The state of our economy sucks. Just go to Canada if you need confirmation. Many of their industries still pay excellent wages. While ours have been outsourced and undermined by unfair trade practices of countries that don’t regulate pollution. Here in the US our economy has been permanently fleeced by crooked financial schemes by the the likes of J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Our jobs have been pilfered over the decades by douchebags that feel the need to save every penny possible without regard for what that means to jobs in the US. Back in the 50s and 60s the manufacturing sector was strong, now it is a shadow of its former self. So when someone tries to sell you the techniques and tools to live in this pathetic economy, how to do it right, ignore the fog of consumer, self improvement culture, don’t look at yourself asking “why do I suck at this?”, look at our economy and ask yourself “how did we let it get this bad?”

Now take this realization about an industry of gurus showing you how to do it right and the lie it covers up and apply it to fishing.

All those experts, with their fancy boats and equipment, ARE PROFESSIONALS. They should, by definition, be able to catch fish. And yet they get skunked all the time! I am not a professional, I’m not even a mildly capable amature. I’m just some schmo with a fishing rod. How can I compete? And all these professionals, THAT SPEND ALL DAY FISHING, are telling me how to do it right. I’m not  jigging it right, my presentation does not jibe with the temperature gradient at the depth I’m trolling. The bag of minnows was not properly inflated with pure enough oxygen by the bait shop attendant. I’m not baitcasting properly, my open face reel is neither open, nor face, nor reel. I would have caught a fish that one outing if I had worked the structure on the lee side of the lake in the morning with a white jig head and chartreuse body making sure to skip the jig off the water so as to signal to the sleeping fish that “hey, theres food up here!!!.” But no instead I decided to work the rocky break in the middle of the main bay with a lindy rig hoping to snag a few eyes and instead I caught a single snake. What an IDIOT MOVE THAT WAS!!

Sure perhaps with all these deep insights and techniques and tools I would catch more fish. But the fact of the matter is this culture of professional fishing gurus ignores the fact that we have silently ignored for decades. It’s the fact that well over ½ of our fishermen are living cast to cast, it ignores that household catches and catch sizes have receded over the decades and lake stocking efforts have remained largely stagnant while good fishing holes are becoming more and more scarce. In the 50s and 60s you could easily feed a family for a month on a single day’s catch and you could afford a fishing trip without being thrown into perpetual debt. In other words, historically, our lakes suck. And the state of fishing sucks. Just go to Canada if you need confirmation. Many of their lakes still thrive as natural ecologies teeming with life. But the bounty of our lakes here in the US has been permanently stifled with chemical runoff from the likes of Scott Turf builder and Cenex fertilizer to all the prescription drugs that go through our sewer systems and then into the water. Our lakes have been pilfered over the decades by douchebags that have to keep every fish without regard for what that means to our lakes. Back in the 50s and 60s the lakes were swimming with life, now they are sloshing with milfoil, and algae blooms, and not so much fish. So when someone tries to sell you the techniques and tools to do it right, ignore the fog of consumer, self improvement culture, don’t look at yourself asking “why do I suck at this?”, look at our lakes and ask yourself “how did we let it get this bad?”