America Cup Redux: “Is Competition Good or Bad?”

The Denver Post‘s Scott Willoughby raises some interesting questions about the place of top-level competition in fly fishing this morning.   Namely, does catching fish (and lots of them) in high-pressure situations hurt the sport or help it?  And does learning more difficult techniques that result in higher catch rates make the sport more enjoyable or just “cheapen” it?

Individual America Cup winner and Hardy representative Rob Kolanda: “[E]ven if you’re a guy that likes to do suspension fishing with an indicator and split shot, if you’re able to look at a different aspect of the sport and are able to understand how other people are catching fish, it will probably make you a better indicator fisherman.”