Prepare your mind to be blown.
I recently came across this video on the Orvis Blog (Orvis!!!) from some fellow named John Spriggs. It's from 2013. But I think it helps explain where our sport is now. For perspective, that's less than a year after Westwater Products patented the now ubiquitous "Thingamabobber," a strike indicator for nymphing that has found its way into virtually every new member of the sport's fanny pack, as well as trees, bushes, log jams, foam lines, and cut banks across the globe. No other product has been a part of more Gen Z fly fishers first casts than the Thingamabobber.
I mean, who doesn't love beautiful slow motion shots of bobbers skittering across the riffle surface, or tight casts with flaming hot pink bobbers streaking through the sky made by a guy in dreds and hipster shorts with a flat brim all to the tune of some bitchin reggae music? Is he wearing Crocs too??? And if that doesn't grab ya, how bout that dope shot of a foul hooked rainbow slow motion flailing? And how beautiful was that knapweed shot? You know, that invasive species plaguing the western landscape?
Anyway, this video is truly remarkable. At first I thought it was a parody. Nope. That's real life. That actually happened. Right in my backyard. I can't unsee this.
So a drone flying in the wilderness section of the lower madison too? Well that's illegal.
Also John Spriggs is a woman beater. He was arrested in Bend, Oregon for assaulting women.