One of our favorite fishing related videos is watching western wildlife management officials stock trout from airplanes. This method allows the officers to release trout into high alpine lakes that may be unreachable via paved roads. The history of the practice is truly an interesting tale, laid out by Gizmodo writer Anders Halverson below:
“In the years that followed World War II, America experienced a period of economic growth and prosperity unlike any that had occurred before. Wealth spread to a broad spectrum of Americans who, at the same time, were enjoying an unprecedented amount of leisure time. The twelve-hour day, typical of the early nineteenth century, had largely given way and eight-hour workdays had become standard. Thanks largely to the efforts of the labor unions, many Americans were even enjoying two-day weekends and paid vacations for the first time. And thanks to the technology and manufacturing abilities developed during the war, Americans could cheaply purchase the easiest and most efficient fishing gear ever developed. Spinning reels, fiberglass rods, and long strands of monofilament made it easy even for novices to catch fish. Americans responded by making fishing one of the most popular sports in the country. One person in five, about 21 million people, went fishing in 1955, together spending 400 million days trying to catch fish, a huge increase over the prewar years.
Almost as important, the end of World War II also yielded an abundance of surplus military airplanes as well as a large number of demobilized pilots. Forty-year-old Al Reese was the first to join the California Department of Fish and Game. A former barnstormer and crop duster, Reese spent the war years training army cadets to fly. When that gig was over, Reese turned his can-do mind to another problem, stocking California’s abundant and often remote mountain lakes. He was sure he could do it from the air.”
Read the rest of the article at the link, here!
Dan Zazworsky is the Flylords Head of Content and Managing Editor. Check him out on Instagram: @dan.zaz!
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