As an old fart myself (if being on the downhill side of 60 qualifies), I suspect I'm not alone on this board in having been through the transition from bait fishing as a kid, to fishing steel lures on spinning gear, and ending up as a fly-fishing, C&R fisherman. I also used to fish for a broad range of species, but now it is almost exclusively for trout. I learned from guys in leaky rowboats and rubber hipwaders. I started fishing with my fathers telescoping steel rod (I wish I had salvaged that from their yard sale back in the 70's when my parents sold the family home) and a bait-casting reel.
This is an evolution that isn't necessarily for everyone, but as an old fart who has lived in a variety of places and seen the resources degrade over time in many of those places, I've realized that this is the only way I can justify continuing my passion for fishing for wild, naturally reproducing trout in the least harmful, and closest to sustainable way. My personal experience suggests that it is a relatively common personal history among trout fishermen, and that most of the old (and young) farts who are not fishing flies and practicing C&R are found in the salt, or following anadromous migrations of hatchery fish, or on stocker, C&K lakes.
I have a lot of admiration for my predecessors and peers who have been at it for a long time, and who may have a history like mine, or who still pursue fish by whatever legal means they choose. But, I, for one, am happy that there seems to be a substantial portion of a new generation of fishers who have started where I, and many of you, have ended up. The future of our sport fisheries depends on them. I think, with time, they will learn to appreciate those who came before them, too.
Dick