last child in the woods

Where are all the fishing punks these days?

Last child in the woods is the title of a book I just picked up. (Richard Louv) I'm not too far along, but the gist of it is this. "Nature deficit disorder" is an affliction that rages amongst our nations kids and could (in my opinion) be one of the root causes for all the issues, perceived or real, that kids today face. Here's the old "when I was a lad" part, but all true....We grubbed around in the woods and creeks and fields at will, exploring, learning and just being grubby kids. I cant really recall the last time I saw kids grubbing at the trout stream or the state park, on their own, unstructured and in nature. My own buddies with kids claim it's just not safe these days, bullshit I say. there were just as many weirdo's when we were kids, but the current state of media and availability of information means we just know more about them now. I think what it's really about is parents structuring their lives so that the kids are 100% occupied and that in turn frees the parents up to do their shopping or coffee or whatever. to hell with soccer and camp, take the little rats camping and turn them loose with a few essential grubbing items and show them what the natural world is all about.

true guide story. Last summer I had a bunch of great trips, but the most enjoyable was a father and his 2 sons age 9-13 or so. Dad was an accomplished fly angler and there was a tricky trico hatch going on, so I turned him loose and took the youngsters grubbing. We discovered a ton of crayfish and sculpins amongst the bottom critters, made a big rock pen and had an old fashioned crayfish rodeo and hoedown! Every once in a while we'd cast to a nearby trout, but for the most part were absorbed in our crayfish rodeo. I had more fun that day, they were stoked, dad was stoked and we learned a lot more then just how to trick a 12" trout on a #20 dry fly.

Get outside for crying out loud

end of rant