WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 23.3% of fly anglers now fish from home—up from only 0.01% before the 2019 pandemic.
“Before the pandemic, few people believed it was possible to fish from home,” said Jeb Anderson, lead author of the report and associate director of lifestyle research at Pew Research Center. “But COVID-19 shifted the paradigm for U.S. workplaces, and today, nearly 13% of full-time workers work from home, and about 30% use a hybrid model. Naturally, some people would adapt this model to other activities.”
“When I have to fish at the river, I can spend hours in traffic getting there and back,” said Elijah Smith-Johnson, an Apple software engineer who works from home in Pittsburgh. “Fishing from home saves time and money. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on waders and boots, I can fish in my pajamas and slippers. And most of all, I don’t have to let fishing control my life. I can do it on my schedule and integrate it into other activities. It keeps me fresh.”
But traditional anglers aren’t buying it. “There is no way in hell these people are fishing from home,” said Bucky Hartford, a fly fishing guide in State College, PA. “They can tell you they are fishing, but I guarantee you the ones showing up at the river do way more fishing than the couch jockeys at home in their pajamas. I can’t believe we are having this discussion.”
River-centric traditionalists like Mr. Hartford back up their claims by citing prominent studies about the mental well-being hazards of remote fishing. For example, a recent study by the American Psychiatric Association concluded that “avoiding the annoyance of commuting doesn’t always offset the misery of loneliness and isolation from nature.”
Still, anglers like Mr. Smith-Johnson believe this is another example of the unwillingness of baby boomers to accept that society has changed. “With the advances in live webcam technology, I can be at any river I choose, when I choose. And I’ll put my AI-generated fish photos up against any the old-timers get on the river.”
Fly-fishing industry experts are skeptical about the trend. Still, some of the prominent players have begun hedging their bets. For example, the Orvis Company in Roanoke, VA, has recently introduced high-tech pajamas to its Clearwater® and PRO® collections, along with a lightweight, wireless headphone/microphone combination called StreamCast®.
