I used to be a meathead -- a bait fisherman. I caught my first brook trout on a night crawler. And still, if I'm catching smelt through the ice or fishing for flounder in Casco Bay I'll use bait. But not for trout or salmon, not since I was a kid who, at age 12, discovered flyfishing. For one thing, it's a lot more fun to catch a fish on a flyrod. And isn't it supposed to be about fun? Sport? Fishing for trout and salmon in Maine's lakes, ponds, rivers and streams is sportfishing, not market fishing. If it were about killing as many fish as possible in the shortest time, we would perhaps use grenades, as my Afghan friends sometimes do, or poison, as some Pacific islanders do, or electroshock. But that's not what sportfishing should be about.

Yet virtually every time the state tries to protect a body of water by limiting it to flyfishing, the meatheads set up a howl. They cry that as Mainers, they should be able to fish anywhere they damn please with whatever gear, lure or bait they damn please, kill as many fish as they like, and that the state is catering to a bunch of elite flyfishermen from away. But without such regulations, those waters would be in danger of being depleted by baitfishing and icefishing. The only reason Maine still has a lot of good trout and salmon fishing is because of those regulations, which not only make it more challenging to catch fish but allow more fish to be set free alive. In waters which have been open to general fishing, especially smaller bodies of water, the trout and salmon have been seriously depleted. History supports this -- look what happened to the legendary fisheries of even large lakes like Rangeley before the concept of regulation took hold. Given their own way on all the state's waters, the meatheads would ruin the fishing for all. Is that their "right?" I don't think so. And despite the regulations, those waters are still open to all, not just a bunch of fancy Dans from away. Besides, most of the anglers I meet on FFO waters turn out to be from Maine.

The meatheads (and the motorheads) like to throw around the term "elite" when they describe flyfishermen and canoers. What's so elite? Anyone can own a flyrod and learn to cast. What's elite about canoeing? Canoes are a lot cheaper than motorboats. When the motorheads demand "access" to water, they mean they want to be able to back their trailers into the pond or river and launch a motorboat. Those waters already have access: you can walk in. Is that elite, walking? Paddling? I've been on small ponds with a dozen canoes where you can still hear a pin drop. Imagine what it would be like on the same pond if a dozen motorboats were roaring around, trailing oil slicks and beer cans.

More FFO waters, more No Motors waters, I say. The fishing will be a lot better for everyone, and a lot quieter.