My observations were highly UK-centric. I have no doubt that people elsewhere in the world will stick with it or discover its charms. Anyone from NZ care to comment on how you guys see things? Softbaiting seems to be a popular thing, where once it never really used to exist.

No decline in the USA it seems. Quite the opposite..https://www.hatchmag.com/blog/fly-fishi ... er/7715377

They were offered to the English youth fly fishing team, but no-one ever came to pick them up!

I fear they are not really collectors items. Why? Because loads of people kept them. If only there was a museum of (fly) fishing. I'd happily donate. I've tons of Fly Fishing & Fly Tying magazines, from very early days, that I've tried to give away/swap/whatever. You'd think that they would be a...

I still have all the early copies of Trout Fisherman magazine including No.1 that proved so inspiring in the mid-70's. I've never managed to find a good home for them, alas.

I don't think it important to get youngsters into fly fishing. Any fishing will do. If they stick with fishing as they grow up, they will find a branch of the sport that delivers the maximum pleasure, which may or may not be with a fly rod. In the UK it seems that sea fishing is on a bit of a roll a...

There is an upside in the UK. As small stocked fisheries decline, what fly fishing remains is becoming more 'real'. People are going after wild bass and mullet with the fly rod, and the disastrous collapse in UK salmon will doubtless result in stretches of river traditionally preserved for salmon an...

Another reason for the decline in 'entry-level' small stillwater fly fisheries has been the return of Otters. You now need to have your fisheries fenced if they carry enough stock to attract these creatures. And we fly fishers need space behind us for casting, which means a longer - and more expensi...

Even I have crossed to the dark side, Paul. I fly fish exclusively for trout, but now have several lovely lure rods for pike, bass and perch. UL and BFS lure angling in the modern world are decidedly sexy, and I'm sure have impacted on numbers taking up fly fishing. Check out Youtube films about sof...