Sam, what age are you? The only reason I ask is because that pretty much encapsulates my own thoughts...(I'm 41)... I started fishing as a kid of 9 or 10 years old, mostly because my older brother and mates did and there was pretty good access to the rivers ock and thames where I grew up (a 10 minute walk).... by the time I was 12 I was going a great deal on my own. When "Go Fishing" first started being broadcast, like you I used to get really annoyed at the quality of fish that JW seemed to produce at will - massive carp and pike, huge roach, big chub etc etc... I'll always remember the first session I ever caught a fish, I had two gudgeon out of the thames and I walked home on air!!! To then see someone catching like that was actually a little discouraging to me and I left the sport alone when I was about 14 or so (various other things suddenly took up my attention!) However, throughout my time of not going, I'd still always try to watch Go Fishing and I must confess to becoming a life long fan. JW's manner is superb, I'm not sure you could wish for a better ambassador for fishing and we're lucky to have him.
(Incidentally, fishing re-commenced when I was about 19 or 20 and has become my main pastime, a situation I can't really see changing!)
As for Matt Hayes... I've enjoyed pretty much all of his output, through the Discovery channel -Total Fishing was a pretty good way of finding out about going methods and tactics... however, I'm sure like many the output I like best of MH's is that which features his fishing with Mick Brown. The rod race programs (Great and Greater), lake escapes, record breaking fish... all of these feature much better production and a genuine on-screen chemistry between the pair of them that you end up genuinely wanting to be along with them, catching some decent fish but also enjoying a bit of banter and craic, something I'm sure all but the most solitary of anglers can relate to. It's also worth poiniting out that Matt is a really good TV presenter, which is a real skill in itself. I recently purchased a dvd called "Teme Tigers" presented by Chris Ponsford. In terms of a video production, it's a little bit amateurish - and in terms of talent in front of the camera, it just goes to show what Matt Hayes has by the bucketload
(And incidentally, this is meant as no offence to Chris Ponsford who I'm pretty sure looks in on here! The catching of fish in "Teme Tigers" is quite phenomenal in some really tough conditions!! And after all, that's what the thing is about.... it's just that a commissioning editor at a TV station is never going to look at it and think "Here's our Man!!" However, if I was looking for a guide for a session on the Teme, Chris is definitely the man I'd choose)
As for whether either of them is comparable to **** Walker... personally I think "no".... The point about DW is he innovated so many of the ideas within angling that we now take completely for granted. It always makes me laugh that he sometimes gets mentioned in contexts pertaining towards a traditionalist approach, whereas I'm pretty sure if he was around today then his name would be synonmous with everything at the very cutting edge of angling. Bite alarms, bolt and hair rigs, carbon fibre rods etc etc... it's this aspect of innovation that for me puts him in a different league.
As for Peter Stone, surely just a lucky old boy from Oxford? With an instinct and knoweldge "from within"..... It's a shame no one ever gave him a TV program, cos judging by the few TV appearances I've seen of him, he has two fascintating qualities... he understood his quarry in a way that's frankly a bit sppoky (maybe all that taxidermy gave him some knowledge the rest of us just can't access)... and he could tell and absolutely brilliant story! I think his charisma would have made him a potentially great TV star - but unfortunately at the time I think his accent would have been a bit much for a mainstream TV company to take a chance on.
