You never go fly fishing alone.

Even though angling is a pursuit that many gravitate toward because of the frequent solitude, true isolation isn’t a reality for the vast majority of people. It might mean another car in the parking lot. It could sound like the droning of a jet just out of sight. It may even be the nagging knowledge that eventually you’ll have to reel in your line, take off your boots, and drive back into the real world.

And although fly fishing is an escape, we’re incapable of detaching completely. Our thoughts rightly meander from fly presentation to work, family, whats next. Our present fishing is profoundly linked to how we have fished – and who has fished with us in the past. And chances are the trails we are walking, the flies we are using, and the rod we are casting were made by someone else.

There is something to be said for that connection. While the fishing is about so much more than tackle and gear, it is still inseparably about the tackle and the gear. In a pre-industrial time, this was a truth that unfolded in everyday life and angling. You knew the person who made your things. At the very least, you bought your things from someone who knew the person who made the things.

For all the cost benefits and technological advancements of modern manufacturing, some of this connection has been lost. Impersonal entities might seem like another way to further cut yourself off from the outside world. But that isn’t the kind of alone we want. Trends demonstrate that people have been lamenting this loss. If you are going to be carrying a few items into the woods and into the water, there is comfort in knowing they were crafted by a kindred spirit.

What you hold in your hands while a hatch is going on around you; What you have on your shoulders while wandering into the wilderness; What you cradle your hard-earned fish in, and then release it out of; What you pass on to your son or daughter for them to use the first time they go fly fishing alone: These things were once only in the mind of a man or a woman with a crazy idea. They were discussed over a beer or during a drive home from the river. Each went from “I might” to “I can,” and then into the exclusive group that can claim “I am.”

Anxious hands filled out loan applications, nervous eyes shed tears, and petitioning hearts offered up prayers. All for what would eventually end up as real and as yours: fly fishing gear.

Cultural trends within fly fishing demonstrate that people are responding to this opportunity to recapture a connection. People want to connect with people, even if through the things they use. And so small brands spring up every year from “I might” dreams. Large companies reflect on their history and the “I can” spirit of those who had crazy ideas years ago. Each do so because they represent anglers who know that you might find solitude, but you’re not by yourself.

You’ll be creating an experience as you wade, cast, and tie. And you’ll be doing all that with something that they made. In some small way, they come with you.

This is why you never go fly fishing alone.

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This post originally appeared on the   Vedavoo Workshop Journal, the official blog of Vedavoo – Better American Gear.