My grandpa was always into fishing. I asked him if he ever went fly fishing. He kind of shuddered. "Frustrating?" "That's a word for it"
Told me about a time he worked at a lumber camp in Colorado. The old man there kept a fly rod on the front porch of the cabin. Every day at 5 he would walk down to the stream and catch trout for dinner for the workers.
Fishing marketing is incredibly intriguing. Current reel technology is probably only marginally different than your 30 year old Ambassador, but there are baitcasters that are $200+. A $200 reel won't catch more fish than a $50 one, but people still buy into the "new 8 bearing, neodymium braking, cross drilled carbon fiber spool" type marketing.
I grew up on the beaches of Australia, and had my share of fishing time, casting the long shores endlessly, catching and releasing, never eating much fish but having a good time wasting nothing but time with my grandfather, who bought me my first - and only - beach fishing rod. I learned to set my own rigs depending on conditions - the long trailer for the surf, the sinker spoon for the sand, and so on. Whenever I ran out of tackle, I'd don my snorkel and go out and do a collection, retrieving all the competing fishermens' stuff right off the reefs they'd left it. I learned that you don't need much to catch some stupid fish - just a few centimeters of an old white plastic straw and a small hook is enough to get yourself the surface dwellers.
Since I moved away from it all, and haven't picked up a fishing rod in decades, it all still stays with me - but I put that old passion into programming now.
Told me about a time he worked at a lumber camp in Colorado. The old man there kept a fly rod on the front porch of the cabin. Every day at 5 he would walk down to the stream and catch trout for dinner for the workers.