These are questions on the
minds of many parents and grandparents in America: what’s on the minds of young
Millennials? What motivates them? What convinces some to get involved with
making a positive difference in the world and not others? In Greater Yellowstone, what’s the key to
growing home-grown conservationists?
Every five years since the
late 1950s, the U.S. government compiles a report on the number of recreational
hunters and anglers in America. The
latest iteration pegs the number of people who fish in fresh and saltwater at close
to 47 million. The tally of those who
flyfish is pegged at around 4.5 million and it includes those who may only go
to a river once a year.
The late great flyfishing
legend Bud Lilly, who for decades operated Bud Lilly’s Fly Shop in West
Yellowstone, was a major force in conservation, helping to pioneer the concept
of catch and release. Lilly always
believed, and studies bore him out, that when the imprint of nature is made on
a child early, it tends to last life-long.
With their sons Logan and
Liam, Lisa Diekmann and her late husband, Alex, infected their boys early with
biophilia through a variety of cherished family activities, including Nordic skiing,
mountain biking and heading to waterways with flyrods in hand. Their spiritual reverence for stepping into a stream
is one to rival the Macleans.
Today, Logan Diekmann skis
with the cross-country team at the University of Utah that last year was
crowned NCAA champions. Liam is in his senior year at Bozeman High School
wielding a laptop keyboard as well as he can land a Royal Wulff on top of a
pool where a wild trout lurks.
Young Mr. Diekmann, who is
considering pursuing a career in conservation just as his father before him, doesn’t
claim to speak for an entire generation. But he is puzzled at why so many of
his contemporaries who were raised in the Rockies don’t have a stronger
affinity for nature.
Diekmann credits fishing with
getting him hooked and it is affecting the direction of his life. His column,
My Father’s Son, appears in both Mountain Journal and the online angling e-zine
MidCurrent.
You will enjoy the tales Liam
shares of his angling adventures as a Millennial, the insights he’s gleaned
about family bonds forged experiences in the backcountry and how a young man
ponders the notion of thinking beyond his own generation.
Mountain Journal welcomes
Liam Diekmann as our first official “flyfishing columnist.”
MOUNTAIN
JOURNAL: There aren't many
outdoors columnists your age out there. Fascinating is that some of the biggest
fans of your writing over the last year have been old guys in middle age and
beyond who relate to your stories. What do you enjoy most in writing
about flyfishing?
LIAM
DIEKMANN: The number one thing I enjoy
writing about fishing is being
able to tell stories. Ever since I was little I have always been able to
tell stories better in writing rather than physically speaking them. Hopefully
I can bring stories to life for readers here in a way that I’m not able to do
while talking.
MOJO: You’ve no doubt dealt with the eternal angler’s
lament. What is the biggest fish you ever hooked that got away and how did it
happen?
DIEKMANN:
One of the biggest fish I lost was on the Granger Ranch while in the company of
my Dad, Alex, brother Logan, and Jeff Laszlo, owner of the Granger. It
was along a bend in the creek that remains one of my favorites. It stretches
for about 30 feet and has a small pool but a large hang over.
MOJO: If you had to do it all over again, would you
play the fish differently?
DIEKMANN:
Yes, I most definitely would. I was using a large size 6 grasshopper pattern
and a monster of a fish smashed it, but I was young and did not have the
experience to know how to let the fish run and play with it. So the tension was
tight and the line snapped. If I could do it over again, I would be more
patient and respect the fish more, let it run as far as it wanted to go and kind
of tack him in.
MOJO: You’re going
to also be demoing and reviewing fishing gear for Mountain Journal. What are
some things at the top of the list you'd like to field test?
DIEKMANN:
I would love to try a cane/bamboo rod, mainly because I broke my last graphite
rod and can’t get it replaced. I’ve had discussions with a lot of friends about
bamboo rods and they’re interested in buying one themselves but they want to
wait for my review to come out first. I’ve also been considering a Hatch
reel, because everyone at Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures, where I had a summer internship, highly
suggested I try one out.
MOJO: What do you think is most important in getting
environmental issues to ripple with Millennial-aged young people?
DIEKMANN:
First it’s getting them outside the way
I did with my Dad. And then helping them understand why it’s important that
they get involved with trying to protect rivers so that future generations can
experience them the same as they are. And then they need to help spread the
word why having a healthy environment matters.
MOJO: Your Mom and Dad both worked in conservation—your
Dad at the Trust for Public Land and your Mom as the first executive director
of the Yellowstone Park Foundation, today Yellowstone Forever. What are
some of the lessons you've learned from them?
DIEKMANN:
To be honest I can’t begin to mention them all here. They’ll be with me the
rest of my life. Those lessons are things I hope to write about in future
columns.
