In the midst of the Great Depression, one of the most prominent fly fishermen in history, Lee Wulff was the first of three advocates credited with breaking barriers and preserving a resource with the beginning of catch and release fishing. He continued promoting catch and release fishing in the 1930s and 1940s hoping it would gain in popularity because of widespread overfishing. In the early 1970s, Ray Scott continued breaking the barrier using a different platform to implement catch and release into bass fishing tournaments. Bill Dance broke barriers by introducing catch and release fishing to the casual angler. Even through controversy, over 45 million people go fishing today and catch and release techniques continue to improve.
"Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once." -Lee Wulff, 1936.