A Truly Great Angler

Ron Troversial Clay · Dec 6, 2004

I remember **** Walker once saying That Ivan was the VERY best match angler. And coming from Walker that meant a great deal

I followed his column in AT in the 70s. It was always full of good advice and humour. I never met him however but I've never heard a bad word said
about him.

And I have no hesitation in pointing out that it was a great South African who was indstrumental in prolonging Ivan's life and gave him some great fishing in his final years.

That man was Prof. Christiaan Neethling Barnard.

RIP

Geoff Cowen · Dec 6, 2004

Ivan Marks was one of the great anglers of our generation. He changed the face of match fishing and as Ron has said we all read his column in the 70s and all learned. I did meet him briefly at a game fair in the 70's a very pleasant and helpful man he was.

Neneman Nick · Dec 6, 2004

a few years ago i used to fish matches with a club that was based near where i live and on the occasion of our yearly
presentation night,ivan was there as guest of honour and to present trophies .i was lucky enough to win an award for the biggest chub of the year and completely made up when ivan shook my hand gave me my trophy.i managed to speak with him at the bar for ten mins or so later that night and he even brought me a drink as well.
my dad was i suppose my hero in angling as a youngster because he taught me and my brother and encouraged us but that night ivan gave me sound common sense advice on my fishing be it match or pleasure that has stuck with me ever since .
i have the news paper clipping of ivan and us all from that night and i also own some ivan marks floats and an ivan marks match
fishing book,i will treasure them for the rest of my life.
ivan will always be one of my heroes....

david parker 2 · Dec 6, 2004

A brilliant angler. My idol as a kid. RIP.

Colin Brett 3 · Dec 6, 2004

I met Ivan many years ago at the CLA Gamefair. He came over to the Anglian Water stand [I was helping out] and gave the guys there a bit of a friendly ear bashing. I chatted to him for several minutes and throughly enjoyed our brief chat.
Later when the fair was in full swing and the stand he was on was heaving with people trying to talk him, I noticed a young lad in a wheelchair who was trying to get close. I had a word with him and he said he really wanted to meet Ivan. So I pushed my way through the crowd and told Ivan he had a young fan waiting to see him at the back of the crowd. Quick as flash he made his way through the crowd took the wheelchair bound lad to one side and spent half an hour chatting to him. I must say I was so pleased it brought, and still does, a tear to my eyes.
Ivan Marks, a real gentleman!
We will miss you.
Colin

The Monk · Dec 6, 2004

I dont rermember hearing of Ivan much before 1973, what year did he come into prominence?

Wolfman Woody · Dec 6, 2004

Well, I think it was 1972 when he won his silver for the World Angling Champs and he'd been going for quite a while before then.

Of course news took a lot longer to get through to the carping fraternity then.

Still no change now.

The Monk · Dec 6, 2004

haha guess not, thing was there wasnt quite as many of us in those days!

Alan Tyler · Dec 6, 2004

Just had a quick skim through his book - he won the Nene Champs in 1967, an an A.T. journalist coined the term "Likely Lads" for the Leicester team the same year.

Mark Wintle · Dec 7, 2004

As Alan says, it was in the mid to late sixties that people started to take notice that here was an angler that was very special indeed. The glory days continued through the early seventies. He took silver in the 1976 World Champs.
I read his articles during geography lessons in 72/73, something he found amusing when I spoke him back in February. Peter Collins used to ghost them in those days, and later Chris Dawn did the same.
There is a picture of him fishing the Hants Avon championships in the mid sixties in one of the AT year books from that era.

Ron Troversial Clay · Dec 7, 2004

One of the great tributes to Ivan Marks great skills was a piece in AT written by a guy called "Ivor Sparks"

It was a send-up of course and decribed how he prepared for a typical match on the Leicester Canal.

It was so funny.

Does anyone remember that piece?

From the way it was written I've always suspected that it was **** Walker who composed it.

Wolfman Woody · Dec 7, 2004

Well corrected, thank you Mark.

(I should have known you'd have been in your warehouse full of back issues of AT and AM to research that - hahah!)

I was probably confusing it with Ian Heaps who won the Individuals in 1972. Please tell me I'm right this time. I'm trying to get hold of Ian, but I guess he's upset too. They were really great friends.

I know I fished in an open in 1971 on Rudyard Lake and Ivan was a few pegs away from me. All I could see was a crowd.

One important thing about Ivan, everyone else who met him seems to think so as well, he was never pompous or full of his own self importance it seemed to me. He told me on the day he fished our match that it was the public that had given him the fame. It can't be taken, it has to be earned.

He fished with **** Walker on a couple of occasions and he learned things from ****. He also hoped the reverse was true.

Mark Wintle · Dec 7, 2004

Jeff, Heapsy won it in 75.

I'm sure that when Ivan started fishing big club matches as a young man he was barred from the pools because he was so good. I also recall tales that he was made to start later and finish earlier to give the others a chance. He still won. Perhaps one of his Leicester teammates can recall this?

I once saw the Welland pegs where they caught chub off a concrete ledge on the far bank - staggering distance across.

liamangler · Dec 7, 2004

I don't really know ivan marks as an angler.
But how my farther and grandfarther said he WAS a TRULY GREAT ANGLER. I wish i was a bit older.

Wolfman Woody · Dec 7, 2004

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle!

You must have everything indexed and logged on a computer, young Mark. Time flies and you forget when you're getting old. I'm sure they haven't fed me today in here. Nurse!

Ron Troversial Clay · Dec 7, 2004

A lovely tribute to Ivan today in AT.

Thanks Richard, you have done him proud.

Peter Jacobs · Dec 7, 2004

Didn't Ian Heaps win a bloody great Vase as his prize in '75?
I wonder if he had to move to a warehouse to accommodate the damn great thing.

Now, I am usually one of the first to take a crack at the AT but I am pleased to echo Ron's comment:
Richard, you did indeed do a terrific job with the Ivan Marks tribute.
Thank you.

Jim Gibbinson · Dec 9, 2004

Although Ivan Marks was a match angler, his writings (ghosted or in collaboration i.e. "Ivan Marks on Match Fishing", Ivan Marks and John Goodwin, Fontana/Collins 1975) had a massive influence on my approach to angling, particularly with regard to feed/groundbaiting. I owe him a considerable debt of gratitude. He was an angler who truly deserved the epithet "great".

Wolfman Woody · Dec 9, 2004

To be truthful Jim, if Ivan hadn't been interested in match fishing at all he would still have become one of the great names in angling for his specialist skills.

On the day of the match I organised Ivan drew what everyone thought was the toughest swim, right under the weir sill with white foamy water. Before the off he was casting a feeder in and letting it roll around, then recasting and the same again. He did this for 15 minutes or so when a friend of mine asked "Why's he doing that when he can see that feeder won't hold bottom?"

I said my guess (later proved right) was that he was mapping the bottom, finding the drops offs, judging the flow of water in different spots, seeing where the slacks were and possible feeding areas. This he then carried like a 3d relief map in his head.

Guess what? Ivan was the first to hook into a barbel!

Ron Troversial Clay · Dec 9, 2004

In his early AT columns, Ivan taught me how to use a waggler.

Even today this is one skill I'm fairly good at. I took my 3 biggest stillwater chub, all over 6 lbs on a long distance waggler.

What makes an angler great?

It is a combination of abilities and darned right enthusiasm if you ask me. Plus the humility to ask others if you are not succeeding.

On top of that it's practice.

Jeff will of course hate me for the following quote, but it came from the lips of a great South African - Gary Player.

"The more I practice, the luckier I become."

)

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