What’s the percentage of all fishermen and women that sometimes or always fly fish?
https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/fly...e-united-statesThis article pegs the number at a million or a million five that are really into fly fishing. I’ve seen other numbers that put the total number of fishermen and women in the USA at over 30 million.
Dallas/Fort worth Metro might represent about 2 percent of total USA population. 2 percent of a million fly fishermen total equals 20,000 people. Is DFW over or under represented by fly fishermen? I would argue under represented as compared to much of the country where fly fishing is more mainstream.
Let’s say it’s 20,000. Some, many of those are getting gear online. Some are getting gear at their destination fly area shops, maybe a place in Montana or Colorado or wherever they might be traveling to fish.
You start chipping seriously away at 20,000 with online, big box, or destination fly shops and there’s not much leftover for the local fly shops.
I haven’t bought anything in a Houston fly shop which are about an hour away by car. I’ve bought a few tying supplies at BPS. The image that’ I see projected online by the Houston dedicated Fly shops is geared toward high end gear and high end trips to celebrated spots. I’m not into either so I stay away. They know the market and I think must be in catering to the affluent fly fishermen. There’s a limited number of those people so therefore a limited number of fly shops. One well off guy might easily drop $3,000 plus on gear in one afternoon. No wonder the fly shops give him the royal treatment.
There’s absolutely zero locally in fly fishing gear. What’s left is either drive a minimum of 40 minutes to a big box or go online. I choose online.
I think fly fishing in general and especially the dedicated fly shops at least in Houston have put most of their eggs in the cater to the affluent basket. That’s fine, I can manage to get the stuff I need online.
As the F&S article suggests, fly fishing doesn’t really want to broaden the base and therefore crowd out their precious rivers. As if I really care to go to an overcrowded, heavily pressured, fish elbow to elbow famous trout stream. You couldn’t pay me to fish in a place like that.
Give me my muddy redfish and flounder marshes, my sandy Speckled trout surf, and green water oxbow LMB, sunfish and catfish. I’m not sure I want to go to a shop where they appear to mainly speak Montana trout or Bahamian bonefish, no offense to either fish or location. But they don’t need me I guess because there’s no way I’m dropping $800 on a rod or $600 on a reel or $500 on some waders.