In an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19, government officials back in March placed serious restrictions on public gatherings. Most meeting locations – libraries, church halls, community centers – were closed or unavailable to groups. For many fly fishing clubs which used these facilities for their monthly activities, it meant going into limbo.
Videotelephony to the rescue! Better known as webconferencing, it’s online video and audio software which runs off a cloud platform. Applications such as Zoom, Webex, Google Meets, Facebook Live and several others allow groups to hold virtual meetings. Attendees can participate thru laptops, tablets, smartphones, or any other device connected to the internet. Presentations can incorporate slideshows, videos, and shared documents.
For a few clubs in the Gulf Coast Council, this has been a salvation. The Kisatchie Fly Fishers (Alexandria) were one of the first to adopt web meeting technology, opting for the Zoom application. They began having bi-weekly fly tying sessions in March.
KFF Tying Chair Bill Morrison sent members an email with instructional videos for loading the Zoom app on different devices, attending meetings and webinars, and testing their audio/video connections. Later, he created his own, more simplified video on the use of Zoom, with emphasis on use for club meetings.
The Kisatchie club had looked at other applications, but Zoom seemed to have the most features for the best price, as well as great customer support. The KFF board voted to purchase Zoom Pro, which for $149 a year offered unlimited sessions, nearly unlimited time per session, a maximum of 100 attendees, as well as recording of sessions.
In April, Kisatchie extended an offer to neighboring Acadiana Fly Rodders of Lafayette to join in the tying sessions. AFR accepted and the joint sessions have been a positive for members of both clubs to get to know each other.
One of the challenges for a virtual tying session is getting materials to the tiers. To do this, the upcoming flies are decided weeks in advance. Materials are then ordered, and received. Participants for that session must email or fill out an online form stating their wish to receive materials for that fly. Enough materials for 2-3 flies are then put in plastic snack bags, inside envelopes, and mailed to the tiers on the Thursday before the Tuesday session. The only hiccup in this process has been inventory stocks of some materials at fly shops. The ‘Rona created a shortage of certain materials, but that seems to be easing up.
With the prospect of in-person meetings not returning for several months, other regional clubs have now adopted web conferencing. The Eastern Shore Fly Fishers (Daphne) have gone to Zoom meetings, their latest held on July 16th. The New Orleans Fly Fishers recently purchased Zoom Pro and will begin holding virtual meetings this month. Fly Fishers of Northwest Florida (Pensacola) are also looking into online meetings. It should be noted that the Gulf Coast Council Board has also transitioned from phone conference board meetings to Zoom. And our parent organization, Fly Fishers International, began holding Zoom webinars in June ranging from conservation seminars, tying demonstrations, and casting education.
How have members accepted virtual meetings? It’s been a mixed bag. Prior to the pandemic shutdown, attendance at Kisatchie fly tying sessions was between 24 and 31. Members attendance at the Zoom sessions has ranged from 12 to 15, or about half the in-person meetings.
On the other hand, response to the recorded video clips has been very good. Morrison records the walkthrough portion of the tying session (Zoom feature) and Catch Cormier (webmaster) posts it to their website. The post link is then shared on Facebook. Site statistics show that dozens of folks are clicking on these Facebook links.
Even when things get back to normal, Morrison anticipates the Kisatchie club will still do at least one virtual tying session a month, in addition to an in-person session. The reason is the wide geographic distribution of KFF membership – about a fifth of their 81 member families live 45 minutes or more from their meeting location. These Zoom sessions have been especially popular with these outlying members.
