I’d  assumed “leave the dance with them as brung you” was an unspoken truism, yet it doesn’t hold for the  Madison Ave crowd who are abandoning us fishermen in favor of the prime 22-30 age group.

Despite the century old tie between beer drinking and fishing, the self-styled “King of Beers” figures youth will abandon sour energy drinks in favor of sour tapwater – a flavor common to most American beer.

…and to cement the deal they’re even offering free beer as a come hither – which may be an act of quiet desperation,  if you can’t sell it you might as well give it away.

Us recently deposed anglers apparently have moved into craft-beer, our maturity alerting them newly-refined taste buds that waving a sprig of hops and barley over laundry water doesn’t make a compelling beverage.

… doubly horrific is that Budweiser would abandon fishermen just as we were about to return to their bosom. Now that we’re aware of the ecological impacts of bottled water and how much we’ve missed the tinkle of broken glass.

To appeal to the under-30 set that has ignored the brand — but is a prime consumer group for beer — Budweiser will unleash its biggest-ever national free-sample effort in trendy bars and eateries. The campaign begins Monday, with the slogan “Grab some Buds.”

… which assumes the younger element still has enough disposable cash to do trendy, and hasn’t already been laid off.

The 9% decline in Budweiser inhalation mirrors an identical plunge in angling participation. Rather than acknowledge the Recession or rampant unemployment – Budweiser may be compounding their problem by alienating droves of their staunchest supporters, or at least those outside of NASCAR.

Little doubt the board room was giddy at the understated elegance of its latest slogan, however, chances are they overlooked that most of the blue states would reach for Zig-Zags instead of the aging and tawdry King of Beers.

Brand consultant Robert Passikoff has serious doubts about Budweiser’s effort. “They’re in trouble because they don’t know how to talk to consumers,” he says. “They no longer know how to create an emotional bond.”

It’s an emotional bond if you have to sweep up behind those Clydesdale’s surely enough, but an aging wagon with a Dalmatian isn’t going to pry the Monster energy drink out of Junior’s sweaty grip.  

“Grab some Buds” is pure lowbrow, but as the advertising types have chosen the vernacular, we might lure some youth into the sport with, “Grab some Buds and Rods” or “Tie-stik is Monster Bud” – perhaps bringing hordes of youngsters to expand the coffers of our  angling organizations, or at least those adventurous enough to print the tee shirts.