Changing attitudes to angling and the convenience of doing nothing...

[fishing4luckies]

It seems to me that very few youngsters today are prepared to get involved in activities that require effort and application, let alone preparation and preplanning. What they will accept is anything presented on a plate. This is not entirely their own fault, but the result of "progress". When I left school in 1956 at 15. I was abruptly introduced to the principle of "working for a living" in engineering. I was pitched in with highly skilled, no nonsense, don't take no sh*t , unsympathetic tradesman. The learning curve was short and steep, it was called "growing up" and if you didn't, then you suffered. Nowadays kids don't leave school until 16, followed by two years at collage, then on to university, for 4 maybe 5 years . So on leaving Uni, they emerge into the reality of the real world as 23 year old children, with no experience of proper life. This exposure terrifies them so much they have to take a Gap Year to get over the trauma. I thank the Gods I was born in the Era I was, where you had to learn to look after and fend yourself, and not in the cotton wool cosseted age of today.

I think it's as much about parenting as it is about progress.

I've deliberately made choices about how I'm bringing up my kids. They know that life owes them nothing. They understand that anything they have has a cost attached, either monetary or otherwise. TV is not something that is a regular part of their lives (they NEVER watch TV without either myself or their Mum in the room to make sure that it's appropriate - I don't trust ratings or any other system of deciding what is OK for my kids to watch) and they don't have games consoles, iPads, iPhones or anything similar.

I know that makes it sound like we're crazy Plymouth Brethren type luddites, but nothing could be further from the truth. I want them to grow up slowly - so many kids start watching certain movies and programs WAY before they should. My son who is 12 tells me that all of his mates at school have Facebook and Instagram accounts. They all have a raft of digital toys that essentially prevent them form learning how to communicate properly, and they mostly get what they want when they want it.

For his 12th Birthday he wanted me to organise a day and night doing bushcraft in the woods with some of his friends (in February), lighting fires, cooking out, etc etc. They all complained that it would be too cold and they might get wet. Obviously he was upset until I told him that we'd be having a Father and Son trip in April to Exmoor in the rusty old Landrover for a 4 day weekend, wild camping, fishing if we can, and meeting up with his one like minded friend who lives down that way. Roll on April.

 

[laguna]

I know where your coming from Chris but I don’t think convenience is a bad thing, at least there is a choice now whereas in the past it was the hard way or no way. I also think its easy for more experienced anglers who have been there and done that to look down a little on the angling scene today and pick holes in it, maybe with good reason in some cases but there is also an aspect of rose tinted spectacles to it as well. There are many aspects of angling today that are far better …fish welfare being the obvious one, mats and so on. Plus amazing at it may seem to the older generation but some anglers actually enjoy sitting in a bivvy behind static rods using readymade rigs and bait. Lets face it, I see allot of bivvys and buzzers about so it has to have something going for it !

Having said that, I think for people to stay as long term anglers there is more chance they will do it if they go through some of the more basic aspects first rather than buy a rig and fish an over stocked pay puddle. I think roving is a great way to learn angling. One rod, minimum of kit go “hunting” rather than sitting behind 3 rods on buzzers “trapping”. If you can master roving and enjoy it then your probably going to enjoy angling in general. If you don’t then your going to get bored very quickly and it may not be for you.

The other thing which was the subject of another recent thread was about new people coming into the sport. I actually think targeting youngsters is not the best way forward. I think Angling should target the 40+ generation who are starting to get a bit old for physical sports and are looking for something else to fill their time. They also have a bit of spare cash in their pockets to spend on the sport as well. Plus if they look after themselves then even if they start at 40 you have a potential new angler for the next 30+ years.

Absolutely Philip, just ignore me mate I'm just turning more into a grumpy old sod by the day! Your right about the older end, I think loads would take up the sport and maybe they could take the kids? I know the walking football has become popular hasn't it? not that I can kick a ball any straighter mind

It seems to me that very few youngsters today are prepared to get involved in activities that require effort and application, let alone preparation and preplanning. What they will accept is anything presented on a plate. This is not entirely their own fault, but the result of "progress". When I left school in 1956 at 15. I was abruptly introduced to the principle (as were countless others) of "working for a living" in engineering. I was pitched in with highly skilled, no nonsense, don't take no sh*t , unsympathetic tradesman. The learning curve was short and steep, it was called "growing up" and if you didn't, then you suffered. Nowadays kids don't leave school until 16, followed by two years at collage, then on to university, for 4 maybe 5 years . So on leaving Uni, they emerge into the reality of the Real World, as 23 year old children, with no experience of proper life. This exposure terrifies them so much they have to take a Gap Year to get over the trauma. I thank the Gods I was born in the Era I was, where you had to learn to look after and fend yourself, and not in the cotton wool, cosseted age of today. Pete.

Well said Pete, its true that many now don't have the practical skills and have no experience of 'playing out' swinging around a lamp post or jumping off a midin' - , and all that bloody PC nonsense they teach em.... :wh
When I was at school we knew all about discipline and respect and we were thrust into work life from the age of 16, many without the choice of staying on or Uni.

 

[mikench]

At 61 I imagine you would struggle with all the new ideas and the way angling has progressed since you were a boy Mike? more so I think than my mate, who I introduced to the sport at 57 (I think) now 62 (I think) having never fished - he took to it like a duck to water.
And blanking... its good to blank every now and again as it focusses the mind! There's nothing so inspirational than a kick up ones own arse
Some of my best ideas have come to me while sat waiting for a bite... needless to say; I've got lots of ideas mg:

"pulling a live one for yourself" Apparently its no coincidence they don't make talking ones

Well yeah mate, except I'm not so bright or young
Actually your right to some extent Greenie, and I do recognise the fact that some anglers are looking for convenience a lot of the time (call it a busy life style) and will often shoot off fishing at a moments notice. But from experience of retail there's also those who plan to go fishing days in advance, where In our shop we used to offer all sorts of things like amino acid powders, spices, particles and a huge variety of different ingredients to make your own, yet they prefer to scratch their head and pick up something to go like a bag of pellets! mg:

I continue to struggle but in an enjoyable way. I started out on a commercial but it wasn't for me. I enjoy the solitude particularly when i am making a horlicks of everything I do I will try some red chicks next time out!

 

[thames mudlarker]

It seems to me that very few youngsters today are prepared to get involved in activities that require effort and application, let alone preparation and preplanning. What they will accept is anything presented on a plate. This is not entirely their own fault, but the result of "progress". When I left school in 1956 at 15. I was abruptly introduced to the principle (as were countless others) of "working for a living" in engineering. I was pitched in with highly skilled, no nonsense, don't take no sh*t , unsympathetic tradesman. The learning curve was short and steep, it was called "growing up" and if you didn't, then you suffered. Nowadays kids don't leave school until 16, followed by two years at collage, then on to university, for 4 maybe 5 years . So on leaving Uni, they emerge into the reality of the Real World, as 23 year old children, with no experience of proper life. This exposure terrifies them so much they have to take a Gap Year to get over the trauma. I thank the Gods I was born in the Era I was, where you had to learn to look after and fend yourself, and not in the cotton wool, cosseted age of today. Pete.

Oh how so very true, well said Pete :thumbs:

 

[mikench]

I agree with what you said Pete but some of us who did go to uni had experience of life and work before doing so. I delivered meat as a boy on a butchers bike, i worked on a market stall and in a shop on a saturday and worked every summer from 15 onwards in a variety of roles from labourer in a brewery to temporary forman in a dispatch dept. I was picked to do this as the forman had had a heart attack and i was supposed to have" brains". I learnt a lot in this role and was christened Perry Mason after the eponymous tv series of the 60's!

I always remember the words of my late grandfather passed down to me by my father, that when an adult offers to show or explain something never say " I know" even if you do. That advice has stood me in good stead over the years.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

I'll happily be lazy and buy ready made boilies (as well as making some specials) pellets, tins of hemp.

Rather watch a glow tip than have a coin on a tin.

Yet old fashioned enough not to want to use alarms.
Each to there own. More time to do the garden and earn brownie points. Painted fencing, removed lots of huge pots fushias begonias from cold frame, collected the bins.

Well brownie points sorted....out for 2 days fishing tomorrow.

But so many of the "want it NOW" comments ring true.
15 years old and a paper round and working in a bakery from 5am before school. Why?.

Council house kid. No money. People get it all now in many respects even if they don"t earn it.

 

[ken more]

I don't suppose it's younger anglers fault that they have access to pre-tied rigs or Commercial Lakes with big big fish in them, after all, they don't decide when they are born. Maybe, once they are involved, they may decide to try other things and tying there own rigs etc. I think any new anglers, young or old, are beneficial for angling and too many old anglers are akin to the Luddites

P.S. I will add that i don't think everything new is a good idea or beneficial.

 

[cassey]

Yep fair comment but as a Ludite I can compare the past with the present were youngsters can’t. What they see now is for them the ‘norm’ and I think something special has been lost in ‘modern convenience angling’. I can’t see many trying the old ways, commercial and peer pressure will restrict them.

 

[Mark Wintle]

When I started fishing in the late 60s I had a glimpse of a bygone age when a school friend showed me hooks to gut that had to be soaked before use; these had silk whippings and certainly less convenient than the hooks to nylon that were by then widely available (still with silk whippings). So even in our lifetimes there have been many changes for convenience. I must admit I love cooking up some hemp for fishing or liquidising bread or tying hooks in preparation for fishing.

 

[thecrow]

I can’t see many trying the old ways,

Why should they when modern ready made baits are so readily available and possibly prepared better than some anglers would prepare some baits?

I see no difference between a tin/jar of cooked hemp and a tin of corn or meat, both are ready to use no preparation and if an angler suddenly decides to have a couple of hours fishing no messing about, grab some and go.

I don't understand all this about "the old ways" do you really think that people like Walker or Taylor would not have been using modern baits and tackle were they available in their day? I have no doubt that they would have.

 

[cassey]

The ‘old ways’ aren’t just about the material things. I’m looking at the OP as a whole not just picking one item. Its just as much the modern expectations for little effort. The modern attitude of e.g. catch at any cost.
No I wouldn’t go back to bamboo rods, knotted keepnets etc.etc. But I do find satisfaction for example in knowing about bait, nutritional value and attractions,( which dates back to Wiltons HNV’s days), and not just buying a bag of wizzo boilies. I enjoy catching a couple of prime fish and don’t feel cheated because I didn’t do the ton on a commercial with a £2k pole. I’ll happily talk to anyone and not tell them to P off as they are disturbing my fishing. Which are but a few examples I see in todays world.
Walker and Taylor were innovative with bait and tackle, of course they would use today’s bait and tackle but only if they could see a benefit. BUT I bet they would still use worms and bread.
I just happen to agree with the sentiments of the OP.

 

[thecrow]

I just happen to agree with the sentiments of the OP

Its a strange subject to start a thread on when Chris makes a living from innovative but still convenient tackle and bait.

Without todays convenient bait/ tackle and waters where reasonable sized fish can be caught by fairly inexperienced anglers the number of anglers on the bank would be a lot less than it already is.

You may want to know the nutritional value of a bait many don't indeed many don't care what it is, if it works that's good enough for a lot of anglers, why do maggots catch fish? they are not natural same with hemp/tares wheat/tigers and so is the bait that the OP intends using on another thread about his tench lake, you can never know why any bait has worked because there are so many variables, is it because of the shape or the colour or the buoyancy of it? how about the fish detecting something in a bait that we know nothing about? is it because so many of the same shape and colour have been chucked into a water?

Years ago during the time when boilies cost a pound each a friend and I joined a syndicate, there were some very good and knowledgeable anglers on the water that were very clued up on bait and spent a lot of time both making it and trying to understand why it worked.

On the other hand there was me and my mate that went in on nothing more than semo/soya, we took the place apart to such an extent that some anglers refused to speak to us, simple easy convenient and at that time deadly, why? not a clue cared even less but it worked that's all we wanted to know. And even today lots and lots of fish are caught by anglers using convenient bait at waters that produce reasonable fish without trying to hard and if that's whats needed to keep others coming into angling imo its a good thing because some will stay and learn that there is more to angling while others wont and leave the game but in the long run there has to be something to compete with the x boxes and similar.

 

[laguna]

Angler first and foremost Crow! Someone who happens to despair at the culture of modern convenience. I guess its the way I was brought up, having nothing making do and mending whatever we had to hand. I recognise the fact some have busy lives these days (and a few more quid than I had back then) and will pick up something rather than spend time preparing and cooking something up in the kitchen, but the others? Surely not everyone is a happy dangler willing to get ripped off and buy success? I'm quite sure some have a natural curiosity to find out and learn what makes a fish tick and they enjoy the challenge of outwitting the little buggers. But it seems like its only ladies and gentlemen of a certain age that considers getting your stuff ready, tying up rigs, making stuff, planning, creating... that to me is what fishing is all about and is anything but a chore. Catching a fish or two is a bonus and there's no need to pay a fortune either.
What we do and sell bait wise, is not easy to do/make at home, quite a lot (most) of what we produce is specialist which is the type of market we tap into. Most, possibly 90% are perfectly happy to catch using traditional baits available elsewhere and have a simple approach to angling which is enjoyable to them and perfectly fine with me. My gripe is with the regular fishers like my mate, who has a box full of untidy junk, buys ready tied hooks, sits there for days with a single shop bought boilie (and I do mean single), waiting for a bite without considering why he fails to catch most of the time, or when he does why he does? He even reels in when he has a cup of tea in case he gets disturbed. He's a lazy sod.
You don't need to be a piscatorial wizard to understand why something works, but with NO EFFORT people could be losing out big time!
All the gear no idea... the complete opposite to me, crappy old gear but good bait which is all the fish care about at the end of the day.

 

[thecrow]

Surely not everyone is a happy dangler willing to get ripped off and buy success?

Obviously not every one Chris or this thread would have been a very short one lots of younger anglers know nothing else and if they stay in the sport rather than drifting off to become involved in something equally convenient I see no harm.

I have never understood the "they haven't served their time" argument, angling is one sport where the angler doesn't have to have served their time to catch lots of fish or a big individual fish, of course to keep doing it requires more than just luck and that's something that the "convenient angler" will learn or drift away from angling but probably would have done that anyway, but they will still continue to use convenient baits/tackle/methods.

Its a different ball game nowadays, when I was a kid to learn you had to either be lucky enough to have a competent angler take you under their wing or you learned as you went along reading whatever you could about angling, now jump forward quite a few years and things are much different, good bait that catches fish is available to everyone methods and rigs? hundreds of videos on you tube covering whatever rig/method/bait you could mention including ones on specific waters that just comes down to advertising, would we have ignored these things if they were around when we were younger? I certainly wouldn't and I doubt if any of the well known anglers of yesteryear would have either.

No the old "I struggled to learn what I know" days are mostly gone and good riddance because without the convenient things in angling that there are now there would be a lot less anglers out there and a hell of a lot more x boxers or just plain delinquents hanging about on street corners and whether you like it or not Chris you are part of it, keep doing what you enjoy within angling but allow others to do the same and if that includes not boiling hemp up or some such ball ache so be it.