Simon/ Graham you are both right of course in different ways, although the creel mag was a little before my time, I grew up and was influenced, by Coarse Fisherman, Coarse Angler, Fishing Magazine, The Anglers Mail and The Angling Times, I think those days will never return to be honest, the older you get the more nostalgic you become.
My views are not based on nostalgia, though my personal history is and my development as an Angler is my reference point, its with me and always will be. My thoughts are much deeper than that, we are faced with angling being in decline, especially certain types of Angling, we have the Angling Times circulation plummeting to all time lows, so why is this, is it a cyclical event, and at some time in the distant future will we see its resurgence? I doubt it, part of Angling's gratification process is the sense of success in the midst of failure, commercial fisheries have taken this away.
I have always said (forgive me for repeating this) fishing was never meant to be easy, most sports and pastimes relish the challenge, even other factions of our past time make things difficult for them selves and relish the challenge, up stream dry fly, fishing for large Carp in low population waters, Terry Hearne is a great exponent of this and not only writes about his success, but also conveys his discomfort, the blanks and his disappointments in his writings, this creates empathy, understanding and inspiration with the reader, and more importantly, the way he over comes his failures, unfortunately the current handful of weekly writers seem to fill the papers with pictures and pap ( my opinion).
I accept that we need prominent anglers rather than the celebrity culture at the forefront to entertain us, to inspire us and to be inventive, but also, more importantly for them to maintain the moral high ground of Angling, to contain the positive messages (subliminally or overt) on the value of fishing, its benefits and its rewards, rather than the..... as long as you buy this, and use that message.
I think the whole celeb thing is a lot deeper and rather sinister, its psychological and manipulative, instead of being philosophical and thought provoking. But at the end of the day, these are just the thoughts and ramblings of an old Barbel fisherman......lol!
