Richard Formato

Richard Formato is an avid catch-and-release fly-fisherman from Wytheville, Va. When not on the water, he operates a small business there. Formato loves to fly-fish in his native Southwest Virginia because of the great water and wonderful people. He also loves to fish the flats and shallows of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic whenever work and weather permit. He is on the Department of Conservation and Recreation's board of directors and is a trustee of the Shenandoah National Forest and Skyline Drive.

Recent columns

• What about Bob?
• Notes from the Charlotte Fly Show
• A chance meeting
• A wish for Jack

• Column archive
• Talk fly-fishing

Just a few days left. Next Tuesday, we will have a new governor elect, a new lieutenant governor and a new attorney general.

Praise the lord; the day after next Tuesday, we will all be freed from those horrible TV campaign ads.

In what has to be the most mean-spirited, anti-human election in Commonwealth history, we will have a winner.

For “Sportsmen”, who have been used by both sides for votes, what will we have to show for it?

What does the term “Sportsmen” mean in this race anyway?

I think it is secret code the candidates use to wink at gun owners (like me) that they won’t mess with our Second Amendment rights.

It is a stupid tag because gun ownership is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

In 2001, Mark Warner successfully advantaged the “Sportsman” term to relate to rural Virginians, and let us know he was a real guy, who understood that “Virginia is not just northern Virginia.”

These days you see the “Sportsman” tag used everywhere.

I saw a bumper sticker this week that read “Sportsmen for Benny Keister.” Gimme a break.

Mark Warner was the only governor I can remember that personally advocated our state parks in a TV campaign, then used the budget surplus to infuse more funds into the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Until this boost, we were almost last in state park funding.

Who will be the best advocate for fly fishermen?

My bet is Tim Kaine, because he will continue Warner’s work, and because Kaine saw firsthand how a governor can build a coalition for Virginia’s greater good, despite the ideology of the political parties.

Like his mentor Jim Gilmore, I cannot see Jerry Kilgore wanting to strike a compromise with anybody about anything.

As far as Jerry Kilgore being a “Sportsman” … well …he wears a pink buttondown shirt. I have never met a “Sportsman” who wore a pink shirt and who knew about a double haul cast, when the striped bass run on the Roanoke River, and what kind of shotgun you use for ruffled grouse.

Coming from Scott County doesn’t make you a Sportsman.

Hunting and fishing in Virginia’s wilderness makes you a Sportsman.

And I am not talking about fake hunting and fishing. Almost every man in this state has held shotgun or fishing rod at least a few times. Those three times you fished with your grand pappy don’t make you a Sportsman.

Heading out to the tree stand on a 20-degree, pitch-black morning and killing a buck with your bow makes you “a Sportsman.”

Wearing smart socks under your breathable’s, wading by yourself on a December afternoon with your 5 weight cane pole on the Jackson make you “a Sportsman.”

But the best way to measure a man is by what you know firsthand. I live in what Kilgore has described as his country and he has never taken the time to talk to me, or anybody I know down here.

Unbelievably, Tim Kaine came to Wytheville to see me a few years ago, way before this campaign.

We sat on my front porch rocking chair talked about kids and schools (which are his passion). He was self-deprecating and completely authentic.

I was really impressed because he is a decent guy and he took the time to listen to my fish stories, and listen to the special issues of a true Sportsman.

Fly fishermen see things differently than most people.

We see life as swift water rushing under our feet from the middle of the stream. We don’t care about a lot of things in this race, but we do care about our land and water. We see the limitation of our resource …a world scarce of time. We measure hours and seasons by a divine calendar of hatches.

We document our day by the disappearing fin of a released trout, worried about his and our mutual survival. We tip our rods to the hunters heading into the woods when we are retreating off the water.

We need a person in Richmond who can relate to “our world.” I believe Kaine will be our advocate.

Not because he fly fishes, not because he hunts, but because he will audit the consensus and make the changes and protections we need as hunters and fishermen.

As I learned firsthand, Tim Kaine listens.

On that day in Wytheville, he didn’t have to pay attention to me. I am no big political operative. No big fish.

I am a man who is cares about the Commonwealth’s future. I want Lily and Jack to have great public schools to attend. I want a financially sound state with improving standards.

I want the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to be listeners instead of “commanders” of our hunting and fishing resources.

Kaine will reflect our needs, and that is why I am not a Sportsman for Kaine. I am a citizen for Kaine.