x100 Whether folks became organized or not to pursue the FFO agenda matters not to me. What really matters is it makes NO sense whatsoever. I truly believe that many of the proponents of FFO are doing so because they are pursuing self serving agendas aimed at restricting whom they perceive to be competition on the river. When pushed, they openly admit that.
Meanwhile, what they have accomplished is placing a significant barrier in the way of young or inexperienced new anglers to taking an interest in our sport. This is leading to fewer anglers who are passionate about rivers, leaving that to those of us who cling onto the fishery because we harbour distant memories of what we once enjoyed. Last time I checked, there are fewer and fewer of these old guard anglers still alive. Soon there will be no one to speak for the river if we keep this up. Totally irresponsible IMO.
Time to open up rivers for all anglers regardless of tackle orientation. If the agenda was truly about "conservation" these same folks would instead lobby for smaller hook gaps and "artificial flies only" rather than FFO.
One major positive was DFO took the bull by the horns and opened the Qualicum up to all gear types. The FFO regulation is dead. A start!
