Angling Times

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john ledger

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After five decades of taking the AT apart from when living abroad i find the paper no longer holds any interest anymore and have cancelled my subscription. Speaking to other anglers I have found quite a few share my views and no longer subscribe.
I know Bob Nudd is a great angler but the proverbial diagram set up of his shotting pattern for his pole floats on the proverbial commercial fisheries does nothing for me.I also think its bias and overpriced .
AT used to be a great paper and memories of MR Walker,the Taylor brothers fishing the Upper Great Ouse in flood are memories long gone as is Tag Barnes fishing my local River Idle. I do not think its me thats living in the past but things aint wot they used to be
 
Neneman Nick

Neneman Nick

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On the road to rack & ruin !!!
i buy both the times and the mail every week.i must admit i very rarely sit down and read them thoroughly anymore.they generaly get a thumbing nowadays when i`m on the toilet having a read and contemplating life.
to be honest,i think i`ve picked up/learned more from this website and the monthly angling mags i buy.
 
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Chris Hammond

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John,

I've defended it for yonx against the Knockers, but I'm afraid it's finally a lost cause! Your right it's become complete and utter tripe. A sad day indeed.

Regards Chris
 
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Ric Elwin

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I still buy it but mainly out of habit. I think the recent change; in that reports are '50 best Chub locations' or something similar. To me this is a backward step from the reports being by region, covering all species. There again, over the last few years more and more of the reports were of commercial fisheries. I have no interest in these.
 
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Ergo

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AFAIAC they are both a waste of rainforest.
 
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EC

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AT does seem to have far more bias towards commercials than rivers/canals/natural stillwaters now, but isnt this due to the fact that these are the types of fisheries that most(?) anglers now frequent, as such are not AT just playing to the majority?

I am sure Richard Lee will put an appearance on this thread, as he has done before, and justify the content of the paper!
 
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Frank "Chubber" Curtis

Guest
I quit reading the AT and AM more than a year ago. I got sick of reading, week after week, of various carp angler's favourite rigs and baits in articles which are nothing more than thinly disguised advertising.
I can remember the days when AT was angling's weekly equivalent of the daily broadsheets with regular contributors such as Richard Walker, Fred Taylor, Peter Stone, Tom Williams and many others each of whom would cover a wide range of angling subjects from the political to the humorous. Each week it was like diving into a treasure chest of angling literature.

Over the past week there's been a thread running about otters and it might be of interest to our younger members to know that the campaign to save this delightful animal from extinction was started by Tom Williams (Head Baillif of the Trafalgar Estate near Salisbury) in his AT weekly column "My River".
 
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TonyStone

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I buy and read Angling Times, I enjoy reading it, I stopped buying Anglers Mail as it was full of rubbish.
 
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Baz

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The last two coppies if A.T. I bought didn't get barely looked at. It has become boreing. What it needs is an injection of the kind of writers we have on here. Then there might be something for everybody.
 
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TonyStone

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Thats why I enjoy reading coarse fisherman so much, good articles by good writers. I still buy AT tho, I like the weekly news and reports.
 
K

Keith Orange

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I think the AT has improved in recent years, even though there's too many articles on how to fish small commercials - surely there's a limit to what you can write about using pellets on a pole.

AT are just moving with the times and satisfying their readers - many anglers prefer commercials to rivers.

There used to be good descriptive articles by anglers such as **** Walkerthat and Fred Taylor, but those days have gone. Yet I think Terry Hearn, Andy Bowler write well, and Matt Hayes on a good day is OK (but have you noticed on the weeks when he writes about fishing with one of his angling chums, his writing seems to be a succession of crude jokes.)
 
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Hutch

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I have finally given up buying the AT, it now seems to be a constant merry go round of the same tired re hashed articles by the same contributors, promoting their own or sponsors products. They should have kept a sea and game section in, some of us are interested in all forms of Angling (sorry Matt Hayes did write an article about big game fishing (or was it an advert for a holiday promotion?), as for the "Free" Carp magazine - Straight in the bin, no interset and again same articles every week(Could be same faces showing off the same named pet Carp). Anglers Mail - I usually read that in Morrisons, takes about 3 minutes to read anything of interest in it, even more of a waste of paper than AT and Southern biased to boot.
 
S

swordsy

Guest
Richard...........Gizzajob!

Des taylor is good (but lacks staying power, but hey life "IS" too short)
Keith Arthur is good (but like myself is prone to outbursts)
Letters page is good
Drennan cup is good but needs work( North south Divide and repeated apearances of known fish)

The rest is tired it needs an injection of freelance non-biased writers, writing with passion about what they "do" and what goals and acheivments "they" may have.

Yes freelance articles will make putting an issue to bed more difficult but I think the struggle would be worth it, with a BIG jump in sales

Bob Nudd is fantastic but there is only so much you can glean from one source before it becomes sterile.

When I was a lad it was my dream to appear on the front cover of AT, that is now very, very unlikely as it is almost the sole domain of mesters Wilson, Hayes, Bowler, Lampard and co.

give the front page back to the reader

give the reader more chance of seeing themselves in print

give the readers realistic goals, we cannot all do a Hearn and Thrash a water until it bleeds, we have jobs and careers and therefore cannot hope to achieve their targets unless the Gods of angling took it upon themselves look down on their lesser children with a benevolent smile.

All the best

Lee
 
J

john ledger

Guest
It seems that Sir Matt Hayes as good an angler he obvously is has become the person Richard Lee panders to and obvously Matt Hayes will exploit the situation to the full. The Drennan Cup is a complete waste of space unless you live in Hampshire and how many more features must we have with Bob Nudd and his pole set up.
Frank you are correct regarding the old editions being a treasure trove of info. B Venables might not have been the best angler but he sure could write a good article.
 
E

EC

Guest
I used to love the AT articles by Kevin Ashurst in the 80's!

I didnt match fish save for the odd club match, but the matches he fished then were on a much wider variety of venues, as such you would pick up tips about several different methods and venues every week!

Now it just seems that 95% of matches are on carp puddles or commercials, as such the methods, baits needed are reflected in the content of many magazines, not just the AT!
 
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The Monk

Guest
I think the Angling Times is now an institute in its own right and I sincerely hope it stays with us, it will however have lost a lot of its clout since the 1950s, in relative terms there is far more greater competion and probably less anglers around now.
 
J

john ledger

Guest
Its obviously jobs for the boys as Martin Bowler is related to John Wilson and no doubt Matt Hayes must be distantly related poss Richard Lee The only articles i have read lately where by Keith Arthur and Des Taylor who are both good at what they do especially Keith who has more knowledge on angling than the rest put together.
The trouble is any comment like mine is deemed as jealousy which i can assure you is not. The At is an institution Monk just like the BBC and thats the problem.
I like the stuff Matt Hayes has done for SKY ie TF RB,he is a good looking fellow who the camera likes and comes over very well. What i dont like is the fact every angler who turns up he has known for years so he must be at least 75, plus when Trefor West turns up he describes him as the best barbel angler in the country.Well forgive me for speaking but thats an insult to Mick Woods Jon Wolf Duncan Mellors Dave Mason Dave Stonehouse and Lee Swords all of whom fish much more difficult waters than any of Matts mates.
I am glad that around 99% of us think the AT is a dead donkey because i will be emailing Richard Lee on the matter. I reckon there are more intelligent anglers on this website than readers of the AT no matter what part of the country you live in(all jocks excluded)
 
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Peter Waller

Guest
The 'Free' carp mag was practicaklly the final straw for me. Paying for a supplement that I don't want, the AT pike championships (grrrrrrrr), plus a tired Des Taylor, even despite Keith Arthur, was almost the final straw. Dear old John Wilson's centre page spread inviting all and sundry onto my local water was the final nail in the coffin. AT is certainly not the pikers's, nor the pikes' best friend.
 
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