Next generation legends?

[Aknib]

Yep, another thread from a thought I had in another thread.

Recent angling history has been kind to us and given us a seemingly endless list of legends... Walker, Yates, Buller, Fickling, Turner, Lane, Ashurst(s), Marks, Thomas, Dean, Barlow etc.

Who, from todays offerings, will enjoy the same esteem when reflected upon in an equal manner?

Are they still out there and will our generation be as kind to the next in offering as many and across such a wide diversity of fishing?

 

[108831]

A very poignant question,probably not,the angling media is not read as widely as it was,plus being a tackle advert when you do read them,I find angling books today dont have the magic of those before,Peter Stone,Fred J Taylor,Tony Miles made enthralling reading imo...

 

[sam vimes]

Everything is generational. Younger generations will have their own heroes, but it's largely pointless asking the older generation who they might be. They are generally too busy clinging onto the heroes of their younger days.

 

[nottskev]

Absolutely pointless. Ask Mike or John who are the current Liverpool heroes, and they will pause in their misty-eyed daydreams of Roger Hunt and Ian Rush, and say no idea, ask someone younger.

 

[steve2]

I don't believe there will be any legends just TV celebrity anglers who think they are legends.

 

[xenon]

the future (if not already present) big names will simply be the full time professionals prepared to put in the time and effort to catch a bunch of (mostly) big carp. Sure, the best of them will be talented anglers but the entire approach is a million miles away from the likes of Walker, Yates, Marks, etc and I cannot say the new style impresses me much (beyond the dedication to the craft, which deserves respect)

 

[flightliner]

A good question Steve. I look at angling and anglers today and see the way it's going , seemingly down a more focused single or few species route that makes adherents more likely to know more and more about less and less unlike many of the older well known anglers who knew less and less about more and more but overall could find success in abundance, maybe thro the effect of having transferable skills developed thro a more variable angling experience .
Fast forward into the future when our/my generation have gone anglers will be cherry picking guys that appeal to their particular angling preference , the ones that have the biggest following "species" wise will be viewed as legends?.
A far cry in my mind to the forward thinkers and pioneers of those that went before them , but that's how I see it!

 

[mikench]

I know a few and have fished with them.

 

[flightliner]

"I know a few and have fished with them."
The Northwest has produced some of the best Mike!
I've fished beside numerous big name anglers- call them "legends"if you will , that said the finest angler I ever knew was a totally publicity shy, never heard of guy.

 

[108831]

Ive chatted to Ian Heaps,Ivan Marks several times each and listened to their evey word,just the stories they came up with were very interesting and you couldnt not learn something from them,I would have loved to have conversations with Walker,Stone,Fred J etc,im not sure Tony Miles would have been so open as those already mentioned,I know a local angler who was a close friend of his and though very interesting,he is very,very secretive,about everything. To my shame ive forgotten the guys name,but whilst I was staying at Ray and Betty Whales 'Avonmead' guesthouse at Ringwood,this fella specialized in roach fishing on rivers,his tally of two's was incredible,I can remember chatting till after 2am,just trying to milk his brain,sadly it didnt rub off as my tally of two's has not progressed alarmingly....the name that comes to mind is Dave Howes,but im probably mistaken...

 

[dicky123]

My opinion is that the tackle revolution has made every Tom **** and Harry the next generation of legends. You can now buy your way to the top with gear, especially with carp fishing. Drones and cameras to find them, tackle/rigs/bait to trick them, and more time on the bank for many, plus big fish availability. Remember in those old legend days, carp waters were few, now you can fish some places and guarantee 20/30 doubles in a day with a few 20s thrown in. No, no more legends for me, just fisherman with all the right gear.

 

[dicky123]

Another thought about who was a legend?

I don't put Yates with say John Wilson, Hutchinson, or Walker, because the latter were efficient deadly anglers. While Yates was not, but his writing will put him in my top 10 of all time. Marks, and Lane too in the match scene, but they did not catch big fish in that era. Hearn will be with the modern anglers, just because of his ability to think like a carp, and his catches of so many big English carp, not foreign fish like many. He can also catch other species too.

We must also miss all those that never publish catches, I know a few that have had years of big fish, but rarely publish. There are also a lot of very good fishermen, from all the fishing spheres, but few become legends in my humble opinion. Richard.

 

[mikench]

Many legends are myths developed over time

 

[steve2]

When I was at the Carp Show there were autograph hunters getting names of some of the anglers and having pictures taken with them. Who these anglers were I have no idea but they must have been 'legends' to these autograph hunters.

 

[sam vimes]

This thread is demonstrating nicely what I said in my initial post. Most posters are a generation older than me. some of the names being cited are unfamiliar to me. Many of those that are familiar to me are only familiar because I have more interest in angling than lots of anglers do.

I'm not much for heroes, but I'd expect my own generation to be more familiar with Chris Yates, John Wilson, Matt Hayes, Jan Porter and Bob Roberts than the likes of Marks and Walker. I've no doubt that younger generations will look to names I'm not familiar with, or may even dismiss out of hand. That's just the way things go.

It's not even just an angling thing. The same kind of effect can be seen in massively in music. You can see it in the threads on here about music. Most of us on here are a bit older, we are largely uninterested in, and dismissive of, the stuff that's revered by younger generations. It's just the way of the world.

Go back to the sixties and seventies and I'll bet that there were grumpy old men dismissing the "upstarts" like Walker and Marks whilst proclaiming some blokes from the fifties as being the greatest ever.

 

[nottskev]

Whatever happened to all the heroes/ All the Shakespeare-o's ?

We're unlikely to have "legends" in the same way. Everything is different now: the world of fishing, the waters we fish, publication and media, participation in fishing....

Remember the phrase "household name"? From the days of 2 or 3 tv channels and massive audiences for the same thing. Everyone knew Morecambe and Wise and what was Top of the Pops. Well, not everyone of course, but in the days of social media and reality tv, everybody is a star and nobody is a star.

Fishing is diversified into lots of niches. Instead of a few widely read weeklies and monthlies, there are countless websites, videos, bloggers and vloggers. Huge matches have given way to loads of little local affairs. Fewer people go fishing.

The legends in the list became legends when there was massive interest in their doings and writings. And in many ways, they were pioneering things - pursuit of bigger fish, in-depth knowledge of a species, unbeatable match fishing skills, tackle development. We're in much more of a been there/done it world now, and the things that are new aren't very interesting. We can all name a couple of anglers who caught a record carp. But name the angler who caught 997lb of carp in a 6hr match? Thought not.

There will continue to be great anglers, great angling feats, and people who advance angling knowledge etc. But they won't be household names in the same way.

 

[trotter2]

What I think has happened is anglers tend to specialise in one type of fishing say Stillwater carp fishing.
When in the days of Ivan marks they fished one week end Stillwater pole. Next week bream on a tidal river flowing week it could be trotting for roach they were within reason all round anglers. The last great one for me was John Wilson an all-round angler.

 

[trotter2]

I learned a long time ago never meet your heroes

 

[103841]

Aren’t many of the legends mentioned in this thread great river match anglers of the past? River matches that just don’t happen any more.

 

[steve2]

I learned a long time ago never meet your heroes

I was fortunate to meet many of mine, they all fought in the 2nd World War true heroes one and all.
Unlike todays celebrity worship.