Today the gumbo you made from your grandmother’s recipe is headed out to a local military base. Your grandma loved to feed people so that is why her gumbo recipe serves 20. Every time you make her gumbo you can feel that she is with you. IYou still remember crying on Facetime with your mother when you were making your first pot ever because you were worried that you would disappoint your grandmother’s memory.
If you are gong to be perfectly honest, you have to admit that there have been bad pots and scorched roux. In the end, however, you have had more successes than failures. You have had more tasty results than not, and this weekend was one of the good ones.
You know that your grandmother would have been proud of your results today, mostly because her recipe is still feeding people. Generations later. And someday you hope you can pass on this recipe and this tradition of cooking for others to your children. Maybe your sons and daughters will feed a military base or all their friends. Either way there is so much love in each pot. Not just from you, but from generations of cajun women.
As you wrap up one of your grandmother’s traditions in the kitchen today, you are also preparing to follow one of your grandfather’s traditions tomorrow. Early in the morning tomorrow you are going to load up the car with the same discount fly rods your grandfather helped you pick out nearly 10 years ago. You are anxious to show your husband the other love you learned from your southern grandparents.
Fly Fishing Gear Bags Offer a Great Way to Get Away for the Weekend
You will not be eating gumbo tomorrow, but you do have a plan for some pretty good bonfire recipes after tomorrow morning’s outing with the discount fly rods and reels that have ben part of your weekends for as long as you can remember. You, of course, are not alone. Consider some of these facts and figures about the many ways that discount fly rods and other kinds of fishing equipment have played roles in one of the. best outdoor, socially distanced outings:
- There were approximately 11.6 million youth fishing participants in the year 2017. In a group of people between the ages of six and 17 years, these folks are participating in a sport that is at its roots both socially distanced and safe.
- As another indication of the youthfulness of this outdoor sport, it is important to note that more than 60% of recreational fishing participants were under 45 in 2017.
- In total, an estimated 51.59 million people went fishing in 2017. And while some of these fishing folks are enjoying their craft from a boat or a lakeshore, there are a growing number of people who are pulling out their discount fly rods and reels and working on their fly fishing techniques.
- According to the latest research, the break down of the participants from 2017 indicated that more than 49 million Americans participated in freshwater, saltwater and fly fishing.
- In 2017, another statistic that stands out is that the largest share of fishing participants went on four to eleven trips, but a small percentage went on fishing outings more than 104 times a year. In a time when so many people have seen their travel and vacation plans cancelled, an outdoor fishing trip is one of the safest ways to still enjoy time together.
- As many as 9.6 billion pounds of fish were caught in the U.S. in the year 2016 alone.
- In 2018, 20.38% of respondents between the ages of 18 to 29 years stated that they went fishing in just the last 12 months.
- Another source that tracks the popularity of fly and other kinds of fishing, game and parks commissions indicate that there were just under 30 million paid fishing license holders in the country. The gross cost of these fishing licenses exceeded $720 million in that year, helping to develop the resources needed for this sport.
Whether you are cooking your grandmother’s gumbo recipe this weekend or you are planning for a fly fishing trip in honor of your grandfather, enjoy the memories!
