If fly fishing is a sport of the well-heeled (and out-of-staters), then a group of Maine working stiffs is out to change the narrative.
The International Order of Theodore Roosevelt, whose goal is to gain access to every fishing hole for every American, claims Maine is unfairly restricting some lakes to anyone other than fly fishermen.
The group’s argument is that most fly fishermen are wealthy, ergo, regular people are denied access to some of the best fishing spots in the state.
Teddy Roosevelt’s people want to open all of Maine’s public waters to everyone, not just fly fishermen.
They’ve filed a lawsuit in Kennebec County Superior Court to do just that.
“Maine has some of the best native brook trout fisheries in the country and those spots are almost all fly fishing only,” Jared Bornstein, spokesperson for the Roosevelt group, told WGME-TV.
The lawsuit against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife alleges fishermen have a right to harvest fish in the best spots in Maine, and that right is infringed on by the age-old fly-fishing restriction.
The suit claims that the state’s “Right to Food Law,” passed in 2021, grants unfettered fishing access.
They argue fly fishing is a sport typically dominated by wealthy people and the state policy discriminates against working-class people.
“They are paying for the license fees, they are paying their taxes, they support the state’s conservation efforts, but because they don’t have time to learn how to fly fish or the money to buy the equipment they are not able to go fish in these pristine spots,” Bornstein said.
The state legislature considered a bill, LD 820, proposing a constitutional amendment expanding fishing and hunting rights but it failed to receive the required two-thirds majority to be placed on the ballot next year.
State officials declined comment on the lawsuit.
