AT News: The Ethical Minefield of AI-generated Journalism
For a fly-fishing media brand, AI-generated content concerns aren’t just about whether stories are “good,” but whether they’re trustworthy, legal and creatively taboo.
The Ethical Minefield of AI-generated Journalism
Over the past few months, we’ve had a few (clearly AI-generated) articles sent to us by readers that were published without attribution by other fly-fishing media brands–the question is always: Is this okay?
The answer seems patently obvious: no, it’s not–both from basic attribution and copyright infringement perspectives (most media brands are using AI tools trained on the work of other journalists without fair compensation, and there is a massive ethical debate regarding how AI models are trained). But the sliding gray scale for what constitutes “original” and “ethical” work output in a world of ever-evolving AI-human integration gets really gray and thorny in a hurry.
Basic attribution: for readers or even manufacturing brands supporting AI-enabled media brands, what does it mean when they don’t know or can’t tell that written output is being created by an LLM instead of an actual human writer and editor? Obviously, the most immediate ethical hurdle is disclosure. Readers should know if the words they are reading (or photographs they’re viewing) were crafted by a human, a machine, or a machine directly trained on human content without their consent (in The New York Times v. OpenAI, the newspaper has sued OpenAI, claiming its models were trained on millions of NYT’s paywalled articles). Passing off AI-generated content as “staff written” or using fake AI-generated avatars is widely considered unethical, but the gray scale around all of this is getting increasingly blurred.
The “Human-in-the-Loop” threshold: take the recent case of Nick Lichtenberg, a Fortune staff writer who’s been using generative AI tools to lap his fellow journalists (producing ~600 stories in about six months) by openly and aggressively using generative AI to produce incredibly high volumes of content (profiled by the WSJ). He, and risk-taking news departments like Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer, are unapologetically leaning into generative AI not only for background research and fact checking, but everyday writing and content creation. To say this has touched a journalistic nerve is an understatement...
Lichtenberg, in his own defense, has stated, “I try to be as disciplined as possible. My boss, Alyson [Shontell], told the Journal that most of these stories are at least 50% me, and you could look at that both ways: as a criticism or as a compliment. The friends I’m on less strained terms with are having some fun with this subject now, and I think the ‘50% me’ thing is a glass-half-full way to look at it. The AI is useful for gathering the quotes and stats and then all of the other stuff should be 50% me in terms of my voice, my journalistic interpretation of all of the raw material. To me, using AI is a way to gather raw material really quickly. And that’s why I’ve been a little surprised by the reaction to this, because to me, it should be a journalist’s dream to have machines gather raw material for you quickly and synthesise information for you to check…”
This “hybrid-writer-role” is largely the case that journalists like Pete Pachal (of The Media Copilot and FastCompany) have been making about how generative AI is changing the media landscape, specifically, that rote grunt work and button pushing on software should be handled by machines, while the more elevated cognitive disciplines, like ideating, writing and editing, will necessarily stay (and become) the human domain: “[a]gents open the possibility that journalists could instruct them to manage all of this infrastructure while they go and do the important, human-centered work of reporting and editing.” And more, “Agents are a crucible for knowledge work, burning away anything and everything that can be automated, leaving only the parts of the job that can’t be easily repeated–the work that requires either creating new information or judgment, context, and taste.” But there’s also the crippling elephant in the room: a shift to AI writing has significant implications for the people who actually do the work, i.e. what will journalists be doing in five years if you automate 99% of the (backend) process?
It’s a lot to take in, honestly. And I could make two completely divergent but equally compelling arguments from each side of this technology-versus-human chasm: one, of course, we should be leaning into technology and eliminating mind-numbing, rote tasks with automation; two, what does it mean to have humans integrating with machines, and what does this mean for us as independent thinkers and creators–artistically, individually, existentially?
I’m not sure we even know, but this precipice should both provoke and terrify us.
My sister, Liz Steketee, is a long-time West Coast photographer and mixed-media artist, and part of the first generation of photographic “deconstructionists” who went deep on stripping down and rebuilding imagery with physical and digital tools back in the mid-90s. She was “stitching” together hundreds of photos with Photoshop years before iPhones and “panos” ever existed. Artists like her are uniquely positioned to comment on the evolution of technology as it intersects with these new agentic mediums, attempting to answer the unanswerable questions about their creative veracity: How much AI output is “real”? How much is “manufactured”? Does it even matter?
“I think photoshop is a tool and only that. The mucking with reality has been part of photography since its inception, darkroom magic has always been. I fully embraced Photoshop at its start, because I knew I had a wider vision of photography. I saw it as a canvas, a starting point. I still do.
Truth be told, I don’t use AI for imagery. Not exactly on moral grounds, but because it doesn’t enhance my personal image making at this stage of my career. I’m much more interested in rough edges and my own collaging of parts and AI isn’t useful to me in that arena. I have used AI strictly as a shaping tool to create outlines for sewing.
The sliding line between reality and fantasy is not all that important to me. Memory and experience are now and always have been a construct. Whether in the mind or on the page, all experiences shift, change and are truly created in our minds. I’ve dedicated my entire artistic career to this concept. I don’t like AI, but it’s not a concern for me. Nothing is true reality.
I have been manipulating my photography since the day I learned how to take and make a photograph. I’ve never believed in any truth in photography.
As a person living in today’s fraught and divisive political world, I see tailored messages and lies to sway public opinion. For that, I have no answer other than to be an honest, curious and informed citizen who looks at all sources of information and uses critical thinking.
Artists are trained in critical and creative thinking. It’s the core of the practice. As such, we’re primed to doubt and question what we see and hear, but also dream and experiment. I trust these skills to get me through.”
I guess all of this is to say: the intuitive human mind (and spirit) will always break through the hegemonic noise, whether it’s crafting essays, tying flies, rolling fly rods, building drift boats, writing songs, or deconstructing photographs.
And any output worth reading, listening to, rowing, or tying onto the end of your fly line should be defiantly alive.
Like everything in the world that matters.
And to all the “growth hacking” brands more interested in agentic scale, operational efficiency and synthetic attempts to pass off machined intellect as human, will the temporary marketing gains be enough to offset the permanent credibility losses?
Only time will tell.
But we’re betting our Flylab readers, and the fly-fishing community as a whole, value honest, original and “lived” work. Will we publish less and grow slower? Possibly. But we’ll also take more risks, tell better stories and build deeper connections along the way.
All AI will ever be good at is replicating existing constructs, because it lacks the living “friction” required to invent new ones–it’s just a giant, digital house of mirrors.
The famous writer, John Updike, once said, “I’m willing to show good taste, if I can, in somebody else’s living room, but our reading life is too short for a writer to be in any way polite. Since his words enter into another’s brain in silence and intimacy, he should be as honest and explicit as we are with ourselves.”
I suspect real writers, readers and curators will grow weary of machined content sooner than we think… – Andrew Steketee
The Boundary Waters Loses Its Senate Fight Against a Chilean Copper Mine
Last week, the Senate voted (50-49) to lift a federal ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, sending the measure to the President for his signature.
Part of the problem in the current political landscape is that both Democrats and Republicans have increasingly blurred the lines between global climate change (a polarizing and abstract challenge) and the localized necessity for clean air and water.
Most Americans, regardless of party, view the protection of their (immediate) natural resources as a fundamental right and expectation. In that light, last week’s vote was an abject failure.
When anglers show up to the voting booth in November, here’s the basic question you’ll need to consider: you’re being asked to choose between a platform that promises cheaper, “homegrown” energy (although many of these extraction companies are foreign) and less bureaucratic regulations, and a platform that promises a more aggressive defense of your local watersheds and resources.
And what’s the argument for “American First” energy independence, when, as Wes Siler points out, “the [p]rofits will go to Chile, the copper will go to China where it will help that country race head of us in its AI buildout and any jobs created will go to workers from outside the state and country.”
U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) summed up the 50-49 vote this way:
“I can tell you, as somebody who has been a natural resources trustee, who has had to negotiate with copper companies in my own state, that this type of copper mining has never been done without polluting the water. Never, not once.
So, we’re guaranteeing that we’re going to pollute the Boundary Waters.
I know it’s fashionable today to talk about selling off the public lands, these places, this place that people like Teddy Roosevelt and Sigurd Olson and so many others fought to preserve, they’re the anvil on which we have forged our collective identity as a country.
They’re the places we are still free.
They are not places to sell off to some foreign company for a few years of profit, a few years versus a century of identity for the people of Minnesota and this country.
This is a dark day for this body.
This is a stain on what the Senate used to be, but is certainly not today.
The public lands are the one thing when I go home that unites my constituents from left to right, whether you’re a bow hunter or a bunny hugger, it doesn’t matter.
They love our public lands. They care about our public lands. There are many places that we can mine and do it right. My dad worked for Anaconda Copper. My grandfather was a gold miner.
This is a boondoggle.
This is wrong…”
Vote with your brain in November, not your wallet. – Andrew Steketee
Korkers: Salt Sneakers
The guys at Korkers are awesome–we’ve already tested and reviewed their Stealth Sneakers, and we thought they delivered: “If you’re a weekend warrior, who likes to dabble into the backcountry, this boot/shoe is for you. If you row a boat all the time, and don’t want goat stompers on your feet every day, these are a good option too.”
Next up, we’ll be testing and reviewing the Korkers Salt Sneakers–same lightweight, athletic “feel” over the bulk and weight of traditional wading boots, but also specialized for salt water: walking in coral, bumping into spiny creatures on the flats and not marking up your boat deck with the boot’s “non-marking” rubber outsole. The Stealth Sneaker grip (on both wet and dry surfaces) really stood out, particularly boat decks, and the Salt Sneaker delivers the same “sole tech.” It also has an “industrial-grade, puncture resistant internal plate” to protect you from sharp coral and other spiky, potentially toxic creatures. Stepping on a sea urchin can definitely ruin your saltwater trip. Like everything Korkers builds, these “boots” should be comfortable, well designed and sturdy.
Recent News
More on the Boundary Waters Senate vote from Christopher Keyes at Re:Public: America Last. “It is Antofagasta PLC–a Chilean conglomerate controlled by billionaire Jean-Paul Luksic Fontbona–whose subsidiary Twin Metals Minnesota has spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying fees trying to get its hands on this watershed. What’s more, the copper it extracts, assuming this project ever survives its legal gauntlet, will almost certainly be processed in China. That’s perhaps the most galling aspect of this whole galling affair: The United States Senate just permanently weakened its own ability to protect the most popular wilderness in the country, on behalf of a Chilean billionaire’s mining company, so that minerals from American public land can be shipped to Chinese smelters. Representative Pete Stauber (R-Minnesota), who introduced the House version of this resolution, recently wrote an op-ed in The Hill to make the national security case for mining. In it, he invoked F-35s flying combat sorties over Iran during Operation Epic Fury. Every precision-guided munition, he wrote, ‘every B-2 Spirit that penetrated Iranian air defenses’ relied on critical minerals–copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium. ‘These are not abstractions,’ Stauber wrote. ‘They are the physical building blocks behind American air dominance.’ It was stirring material, but it was also a lie by omission. Stauber’s resolution contains no provision requiring any mineral extracted from the Boundary Waters watershed to remain in the United States. There’s no guarantee that a single ounce of copper from this mine ever ends up in an American aircraft, munition, or military system. Antofagasta, the company that would do the mining, sends its minerals to China for processing, because that is where the smelters are. That is also where the market is. We know this because it is in the Congressional record. When Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-New Mexico) pressed Stauber directly on this fact during a January 20 House Rules Committee hearing–Is this an American company?–he answered honestly: ‘It’s not an American company.’ And the copper? It would end up, he acknowledged, ‘overseas.’”
Outdoor influencer fealty and “being stuck in the middle”: hunting influencer Steve Rinella on the Boundary Waters outcome, “What a massive disappointment. A ton of behind the scenes effort went into this fight, as well as a lot of overt and direct pressure. In the end it was all for nothing. As expected, the vote split largely along party lines. It’s crushing that party loyalty speaks louder to our reps than free and individual thinking. There are rumors of senators who knew their vote was wrong and admitted it, but they had to do what they were told. I say this all the time, but a lot of the outdoorsmen I know are stuck fighting two battles at once. We’re always trying to beat back the worst ideas coming from both the left and right. Lean one direction and you start losing your traditional rights. Lean the other way and you lose habitat. Makes for a generally shitty political reality.” This politically manufactured drama (“stuck fighting two battles at once”) is the real disappointment for the outdoor industry–guys like Rinella and orgs like the NRA frame these debates as zero-sum choices and existential threats (Democratic candidates are going to take your guns versus Republican candidates are (now) going to take your habitat), when in fact these choices are incredibly simple. It’s pure fear mongering. Democrats are not taking your guns, and Republicans are definitely selling out your public lands. That’s the hard and very simple math. Own it and move on. The next step is using your enormous platform to advocate for people (candidates) who support clean air, water and our hunting and fishing resources. Anything less is pure, American fealty to the special interest groups (and foreign industries) focused mining, drilling and extracting on your public lands.
A Boundary Waters statement from Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: Congress Undoes Boundary Waters Protections Despite Nationwide Public Opposition. “While today’s vote marks a setback, BHA emphasized that the level of engagement and awareness generated around the issue represents meaningful long-term progress. ‘We haven’t just held the line, we’ve moved it,’ Ryan Callaghan, President and CEO, said. ‘It would’ve been easy to assume this thing was decided before it even started. Many told us not to even try. But that’s not who we are. You don’t find hope sitting on the sidelines, you find it by showing up. That notion is the core of every hunter and angler; we don’t accept foregone conclusions. And people across this country did just that. Because of our efforts, more folks are paying attention, and more lawmakers are being forced to acknowledge that public lands are not a minor part of the American consciousness.’” Keep raising public awareness around these public lands issues and the tide will turn. Nice work.
American Rivers announces America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2026, and, yes, the Boundary Waters makes the list at number three. “The Boundary Waters and its pristine water, incredible hunting and fishing habitat, and economically important outdoor recreation, are threatened by proposed sulfide-ore copper mining on public lands in the headwaters just outside of the wilderness area’s boundary.”
From Hatch Magazine: Trump Administration Orders Dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service. “What this actually is, stripped of the Orwellian window dressing, is the largest forced purge of a federal land management agency in American history. It dwarfs anything that’s come before. The BLM headquarters move in Trump’s first term–widely understood, even then, as a deliberate gutting of the agency–involved a few hundred positions. This involves thousands. That one closed zero regional offices. This one closes all ten. That one touched one agency’s headquarters. This one dismantles the headquarters, collapses the regional structure, and wipes out the scientific backbone of the largest forestry organization on Earth.”
Founders of the new Recast app are hoping to disrupt the EU secondhand fishing gear market. “An app has been launched in Europe with a clear ambition: to become the go-to platform where anglers across the region buy and sell second-hand fishing gear, regardless of discipline, geography or language. By replacing current platforms, the founders of the Recast app say they will open up opportunities across the angling industry–starting with investors that could stand to make big returns from a business model that has been proven to work in other markets where consumers trade and upgrade gear. From founder Pieter de Jong, ‘Gear is durable, anglers upgrade frequently and there is consistent demand for quality equipment across all styles of fishing. What is missing is a layer that brings all of that together, with trust and security built in.’” This is not Recast Fly Fishing, the American secondhand brand, based in the Pacific Northwest, though they share a hyper-similar brand name.
From Angling International: New Guideline CEO on why they’re targeting the U.S. market again. “Guideline, the Norwegian company with markets across Europe, Canada and New Zealand, first attempted to enter the notoriously difficult, but lucrative U.S. market 15 years ago and by the company’s own admission ‘lost a lot of money.’ Espen Myhre, who was appointed CEO earlier this year after 18 years with the group, said, ‘You learn from your mistakes, adapt and adjust. We are a more mature company now, have built an e-commerce platform and established our own subsidiary, Guideline Flyfish Inc, in the U.S.’”
Backcountry Launches Brand Incubator. Backcountry Garage, a new innovation platform and brand incubator for emerging outdoor brands, is being designed to “empower founders with the resources, expertise, and distribution to scale great ideas. The first act of Backcountry Garage is the acquisition of Coalatree, a Utah-based eco-minded gear and apparel brand.” Kevin Lenau, Backcountry president, said, “Backcountry Garage is how we keep pushing when much of the industry is waiting–partnering with builders and founders who are rethinking how great gear should perform so our community feels the difference every day on the trail, at the crag, and in their own backyards.”
TFFJ on the loss of Dave Grossman: “Dave was a writer and guide, and the co-founder of Southern Culture on the Fly. If you’re not familiar with SCOF–which Dave handed off to a new crew a few years back–go take a look. It’ll give you a good sense of what we’ve lost with Dave’s passing. It was a pleasure and a privilege to have the opportunity to work with Dave a few times over the years. We never tired of his witty, unapologetic writing and his ability to string together words, sentences and ideas in a way that was wholly his own.”
Fly-fishing Media
Andrew Luter, founder of Rio Chato Investments and an early-stage outdoor recreation and lifestyle brand investor, talks about his experiences with Fishing the Good Fight, a non profit focused on men’s mental health. “Here’s what I didn’t expect when I got involved with FTGF: The work made me a sharper investor. When you sit with men processing that kind of weight, you develop a different relationship with what the outdoor industry is actually selling. Not gear. Not performance. Not aesthetic. Healing. Belonging. Presence. The brands in my portfolio that understand this–that they’re not in the equipment business but in the human experience business–are the ones that build real loyalty. The ones that earn word of mouth that no marketing budget can replicate. The ones that last.”
From Greg Thomas: Fly Fishing Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. “[Fred] Telleen caught a fish here and there, and I continued to be snakebit, totally shunned by whatever trout were out there. I tried shallow with leeches. I tried deep under an indicator. I cast at 45s. I cast at 90s. I kept moving. Sometimes I stayed put, daring the fish to swim to me. I tried pink, beadhead nymphs. I went Bam-Bam leech with a pink head. I went purple rabbbit-strip leech with a black bead head. To no avail. I did, however, spend a significant amount of time shooting scenics and documenting Telleen’s triumphs. In the end, there was nothing to really complain about. Fred and I enjoyed a beautiful day with swans whistling overhead and those rugged mountains parading in front…”
Lindsay Kocka writes about the practical next steps after blowing the shot at a fish of a lifetime. “Maybe you line the fish. Maybe your casting distance falls horribly short. Maybe you hook up and find your line tangled around your ankles, or despite doing everything right, you just wind up losing the fish for any number of technical or environmental reasons. During these instances, more often than not, your body spikes into sympathetic activation, characterized by an elevated heart rate, narrowed attention, and heightened arousal. That response can be useful in the moment of output, but it’s less than ideal when the system stays stuck in overdrive and doesn’t appropriately downshift afterward…”
House of Fly Podcast: Fred Telleen. Telleen, a well-respected guide and angler, tells some classic Alaska stories: “As we floated underneath some trees, bark started falling into my drift boat. And I look up and there’s a young grizzly that this big boar had apparently sent up the tree–it was barely able to hang on and as we floated under the tree, then he fell out…”
From Trout Unlimited: Conservation Towns, Philipsburg, MT. “Every town goes through a metamorphosis and Philipsburg did that, but they did it with a lot of hard work. You take care of the present, you plan for the future and you honor the past, and that is alive in Philipsburg today.” The county’s diverse recreational resources have been built on longstanding partnerships between private landowners, public, federal lands and a community of conservation-minded residents. The model works.
Real life and filmmaking from Patagonia: “Oly’s Dean” follows 9-year-old Oly Hickman as he moves through his family’s fishing lodge in the heart of steelhead country. Jeff Hickman, Oly’s dad, has been swinging for steelhead in Oregon and British Columbia for 40+ years. He runs his BC operations out of Kimsquit Bay Lodge and BC West.
SCORCHER: Midwest Smallmouth Musings with cutoff t-shirts and music from Mr. Dibbs. Featuring: Kyle Zempel of Black Earth Angling, Tim Landwehr of Tightlines Fly Fishing Co., Aaron Przybylski of Thorne Bros Fly Shop, fly angler/artist Jake Keeler and filmmaker Mike Thienes. Good crew and quality AV from TFFJ.
Gear Buzz
From Field Mag: What Is Dermizax Waterproofing & How Is It Different from Gore-Tex? “When someone asks for a Band-Aid or a Kleenex, we don’t think twice about what they mean. The brand has become the product. In the world of outdoor apparel, Gore-Tex has reached that level–its name is often shorthand for ‘waterproof.’ But recent years of PFAS pivoting have opened the door for outside innovation and now, Gore isn’t the only membrane worth knowing. Dermizax, developed by Japanese chemical corp Toray (the leading manufacturer of Carbon Fiber), has emerged as a serious alternative–especially for high-output pursuits where comfort, stretch, and moisture management matter as much as outright protection…”
Jeff Currier from Yellow Dog Flyfishing breaks down the differences between Patagonia and New Zealand and the gear you need for the trip(s)–bring your classic patterns. “If a guide is willing to take you to a lake in New Zealand, always go…”
Jess McGlothlin covers Core Photography Skills for anglers and aspiring photographers. “Learn how your equipment works–be it a phone, a quick-shot camera, or a hefty DSLR. Spend a bit of time reading the owner’s manual, then leave the paperwork behind and get out to shoot. Take the camera with you everywhere; experiment with different settings in different light conditions. Shoot lots of images–the beauty of the digital era is you can simply delete the ‘learning’ shots. Shoot enough that setting ISO, aperture, and focal length becomes second nature.”
CosmicJohn from Box of Rain goes deep on tippet, long leader presentations and trout visual acuity, “The visual acuity of a trout’s eye is about 1/14th that of a human’s with 20/20 vision. So, however well you can see the tippet at 28 feet with your eyes corrected to 20/20 is what the trout sees at 2 feet. And if they can see the tippet they sure can see the hook hanging below the fly and the eye of the hook it’s tied to. So is there a reason for a longer and lighter tippet? Yes there is, but visibility isn’t the reason…”
From GearJunkie: The Best Fishing Waders of 2026. “Waders are essential gear for anglers. But dang, they’re tough to get right. They need to be the epitome of waterproof, all while standing up to constant streamside abuse. The best fishing waders will keep you dry and function so well that you forget about them. The wrong set will leave you cold, wet, and miserable. In the latest 10-month test round, lead contributor Morgan Nowels tested two sets of waders across Tennessee, Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia over 40 days. Our best overall pick, the Skwala RS Wader, still reigns supreme…”
Recast Fly Fishing provides some solid, practical advice on getting your pre-owned fly rod repaired. “Our main question should be whether a manufacturer will accept a repair request for a rod owned by someone other than the original registered owner. Unfortunately, most manufacturers do a terrible job of answering this question on their websites. Seriously, if you ever tried to figure this out and gave up in confusion, you are not alone. The information about repairs and warranties are usually mixed together. In many cases, the repair form is actually the same form as the warranty form, with all the associated warnings about being the original registered owner…” Tom Kirkman also goes deep on fly rod manufacturing flaws in RodMaker Magazine (more good stuff).
From Huckberry’s Journal: The Military Built Half Your Closet. “Look through your own wardrobe, and you’ll find the signatures everywhere. It’s evident in the bomber and field jackets, maybe a little less in your chukkas, and the trace is truly faint when you get to the chinos and t-shirts. But the lineage is there. Clothes engineered to solve practical problems: how to keep soldiers warm at altitude, cool in tropical heat, mobile but rugged for combat, and equipped to help a soldier carry all they needed to. The result was clothing built around function: durable fabrics, simple silhouettes, and details refined through years of trial and error. When those garments eventually made their way home with returning soldiers, they reshaped civilian dress. Today, military design language is everywhere, from heritage brands to graphic tees to even the most unassuming chinos and, if you know what you’re looking for, it’s still some of the best made and stylish clothing out there.”
Boating News
Jack’s Plastic Welding goes orbital, supplying specialized inflatable recovery platforms used during NASA’s Artemis II splashdown. Further proof that gear trusted on the Grand Canyon also works just fine for lunar missions. Climate models are also hinting at a possible El Niño return later this year, which could tilt conditions toward a wetter pattern out West, something anyone who prefers actual water under their boat will be watching closely. American Rivers is raising concerns over Senate passage of legislation that could reopen mining upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a move conservation groups warn could impact water quality across one of North America’s most iconic paddling destinations. On the saltier side of things, Chittum Boatworks renewed its support of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s research into bonefish spawning habitat in the Florida Keys, reinforcing the increasingly tight link between boatbuilders and fisheries conservation. And if all this has you itching to explore somewhere new, the National Rivers Project has become an awesome trip-planning tool, helping paddlers and anglers discover new stretches of water without digging through a maze of agency websites.
From Tim Romano’s Small Craft Stories: Laborer, Craftsman, Artist–The Work of John O’Connor. “I met John O’Connor of RiverGuideGear this past winter at the Denver Fly Fishing Show. His booth was somewhat inconspicuously tucked just off the main floor near the entrance, but it didn’t stay unnoticed for long. I was immediately drawn to the incredibly sexy rope seats he makes for dories and drift boats as I’m partial to seats of this style and honestly hadn’t seen anything quite like them before. The craftsmanship was obvious right away. These are beautifully machined, thoughtfully designed and built to be used. Then I started noticing everything else on the table: trailer kickstands, ‘no-snag’ drain plugs, seat quick-releases, something called the Shuttle Safe, nets, oar docks, and probably the best designed fly-line winder I’ve ever seen…”
Why Mercury Motors? with Conway Bowman. “In over 20 years of using Mercury’s, he’s never had one fail. ‘Mercury’s are, for me, totally fail-proof. They are reliable,’ says Bowman. ‘I’m on the water every single day, and I need a totally reliable outboard motor to get the job done. Whether it’s chasing down mako sharks or going for bluefin tuna, I need a motor that starts every time.’”
From Small Craft Sales, the go-to marketplace for buying and selling small boats and other specialty watercraft. Fishing options for sale:
The Catchercraft Freestone: one-man fishing raft. It’s got a ~9-foot, deluxe welded frame, rubber by Jacks Plastic Welding, floor-less design, so you can stand in the water while the boat stays with you. Light enough for the truck, capable enough for legit current. Includes an NRS seat, oarlocks, plus room for overnight gear.
10.5-foot sandstone colored Rocky Mountain Raft, Storm: River Boat Works fishing frame and RiverSmith swift cast Rod holders. The perfect low water setup, or take off the frame and run an R2 on the creek. It can fit in the back of some open bed trucks, so no trailer required. No holes, never patched.
14-foot Rocky Mountain Raft: Down River Equipment Fishing Frame and captain’s chair, anchor system and bay cover with additional swivel chair. Drop stitch self bailing floor. Removable thwarts also included. Trailer purchase negotiable.
A fully decked out 2024 14.5-foot Steamtech Steelhead (Maravia) with all the trimmings. Barley used.
Low-water beauty: two-man Outcast PAC 1150 with a Downriver Equipment fishing frame.
TrackFly Industry Trends
The month of March continued a trend we have been seeing since Q4 of last year: positive dollar-sales growth compared to comparable months of prior year, but driven more by increasing ASP’s (Average Selling Prices) than by unit-sales growth.
For Q1 overall, we are measuring: dollar-sales up +11%, units up +2%, ASP’s up +9%. Noteworthy growth has come in the Rods and Reels categories, which (particularly in Rods) seems partially driven by closeouts.
Any unit-sales growth is encouraging, and we see it YTD in Flies, Leader-Tippet, Accessories & Tools, Rods, Reels, Lines, Eyewear. But we want to be clear–some portion of that early season growth is due to the early fishing season that has ramped up quickly in the western half of the country, due to warmer temps and lower-than-normal snowpack. If precipitation remains low through the spring and early summer, it’s possible we might see unit-sales begin trending downward earlier than usual this season, perhaps even in July.
Regarding Average Selling Prices: since October of last year, markedly higher ASP’s in most categories are at least partly due to 2025 tariffs, which tracks with what we see across many consumer goods categories, both within and outside of the outdoor industry. What will happen with tariffs for the remainder of 2026 is unclear. But if the Middle East conflict continues well into summer, and if petroleum prices stay high, then increasing landed costs on many imported goods may force some brands to consider moving wholesale prices and MSRP’s upward again. That eventually could influence how some anglers will choose to spend their discretionary dollars.
It’s worth remembering–and we mention it regularly–that dollar-sales growth driven mainly by rising ASP’s, resulting from higher supply chain costs, is hardly market growth. Anglers are not really buying more, just paying more. And most brands and retailers are not generally putting much more, if anything, to the bottom line.
What’s the good news? Well, the fly-fishing industry is doing better than some other outdoor verticals. People are fishing; and, quite consistently, they are going to fly shops for consumables (Flies, Leader-Tippet, Floatant, Indicators, etc.). And so far this year, they are eagerly spending on Rods, Reels, Waders, Eyewear, Vehicle Racks and more. The early season warmth, with a mild runoff, is obviously outside of our control, but it’s helping to drive sell-through for the moment.
What can we control? If you are a brand, in an early season ramp-up like this, you need to have enough available to ship quickly–in some instances, that might mean more product shipping earlier in the season than in a normal year. Whatever your retail partners are calling for, if you can.
And if you are a retailer, call your suppliers early for product, particularly if your sell-through is increasing quickly this season, and go as deep as you comfortably can with core SKU’s. Connecting with Brand partners through TrackFly Sales Insights can help with that.
TrackFly is a data aggregation and analytics platform, connecting specialty retailers, brands and sales professionals. They are helping Flylab track key fly-fishing industry trends.
Music
Courtney Barnett, the supremely talented Australian songwriter, has always been working through something human and internal: anxiety, depression, panic attacks and managing the music industry’s high-wire act. But her new album, Creature of Habit, feels like a welcome departure from an artist going around in circles in her own head. Here, and notwithstanding the “ironic” album title, the ten new songs live in a more overt, expansive and “unstuck” head space, following her move from Melbourne to Los Angeles, as well as ditching her old label (Milk! Records). Making music is an inherently tortuous and vulnerable process, but at some point, and if you’re good enough, you eventually own the ups and downs, lean into the painful (unknowable) process and start making clean, unapologetic art. Six albums in, she’s finally entering the flow. Songs worth listening to: Wonder, Site Unseen, One Thing At A Time, Mantis, Sugar Plum, Another Beautiful Day. The Pitchfork write-up, “Since 2021’s underwhelming Things Take Time, Take Time, she’s tried to get unstuck through therapy, pottery classes, a Georgia O’Keeffe obsession, and a move from Australia to Los Angeles. The result, Creature of Habit, plays like the soundtrack to a long drive on a desert highway, where all you can hear are the bumps and groans of the car, the rhythms of the pavement, and your thoughts. Appropriately, Barnett wrote much of it from a Joshua Tree sublet, while considering whether she wanted to keep making music. The sprawling, bittersweet atmosphere–shaped by those repetitive guitars and a perpetual search for meaning–at times recalls Barnett’s collaboration with Kurt Vile. Take the wistful chords of ‘Mantis,’ where she’s frustrated about living on autopilot and wants to get organized, while Andrew Sloane’s bassline chugs along and steadily ratchets up the pressure. ‘I got my head sorted, sort of/I keep going just because,’ she intones. Emphasis on the ‘sort of…’” – Andrew Steketee
 | A guest post by
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There is no place for AI in spaces of creative beauty.
I agree with a lot of your points. Ai is a tool, just like photoshop. The problem is that where an artist sees efficiency, others see “cost effective”. Even the fact that we call it content (filler) is indicative of the continuous devaluing of creativity. I’m not sure where the bottom is, but we’ve gotta be damn close.