The most incompetent celebrity angler on tv....

tigger · Aug 27, 2018

I think my nominee for the award of the most incompetent celebrity angler would have to go to JBailey. I just can't get over the episode of crabtree where he was supposed to be teaching those girls how to touch leger for barbel. It was the sheer size of the bait he used combined with that massive twig as a bait stop.....

mg:.
There's no way that any barbel would have got that massive branch into it's gob, never mind the bait!
Then his expert use of a centrepin, it just beggers belief :witless:.

thecrow · Aug 27, 2018

If he is incompetent it shows how easy fishing can be as he has caught a lot of very big fish including some very big barbel and roach.

I didn't see the programme but if the bait was meat I know of plenty that use very big pieces as bait, they catch some good fish on it.

Celebrity angler I most dislike is Keith Arthur.

tigger · Aug 27, 2018

thecrow said:
If he is incompetent it shows how easy fishing can be as he has caught a lot of very big fish including some very big barbel and roach.

I didn't see the programme but if the bait was meat I know of plenty that use very big pieces as bait, they catch some good fish on it.

Celebrity angler I most dislike is Keith Arthur.

Lol Graham, if your in the right place at the right time fishing really is easy. I'm sure 99% of none anglers fishing for the first time could have caught those fish he caught in those select places where he is privileged to fish omg:.

Who's Keith Arthur lol.

Mark Wintle · Aug 27, 2018

Early Jack Hargreaves is funny to watch, one programme he's fishing on the Kent marshes and climbing the rod to unhook the fish as he's wound in too much line. Phil Coles got to fish with Hargreaves and Owen Wentworth for a programme in 1973, Phil was 19 but easily out-caught both with 67 fish to their combined 16 fish despite never having seen the Stour before, that said Phil was a truly brilliant angler.

nottskev · Aug 27, 2018

Gosh, well done young Phil! Still, I'm sure old Jack got over it, and fell back on his extraordinary career in writing, radio and tv broadcasting that included, amongst other things, making popular tv programmes that ran for 15 years and 20 years respectively.

Young protege match angler beats elderly generalist ... .doesn't quite fit under "incompetent celebrity angler" for me.

sam vimes · Aug 27, 2018

I've been a little underwhelmed by quite a few of the "name" anglers I've encountered. I've long suspected that quite a few get to be "names" because of the amount of time and/or money they can throw at fishing. The waters that they can access also plays a big part.

On the flip side, the most impressive "name" angler I've ever encountered was Harry Charrington. He may nominally be a carp angler, but, after seeing him fish, I suspect that he'd be pretty damned good at any kind of fishing he put his mind to. Like some of the best matchmen I've come across, he has the innate ability to catch fish, even from unfancied pegs.

binka · Aug 27, 2018

Paul Young!

I think he's mainly a fly angler who did a TV series across America and he's the fella who got his rod dragged over the side of a boat whilst filming for one of the shows, whipped clean out of his hands.

I watched another where he was Salmon fishing and the luckless chap was talking to the camera whilst stood in the river and one crashed out the water just yards behind him

mg:

Despite that I like him though, Robson Green on the other hand...

Alan Tyler · Aug 27, 2018

Not quite on TV, but on youtube; I was distressed to watch the Bernard Venables clips that Chavender put up. The scales fell from my eyes like a pair of breeze-blocks as I watched him wield the rod in his right hand and reach over it to wind the reel (right-hand wind) with his left.
To discover, fifty years late, that your boyhood inspiration was a gifted writer/illustrator who occasionally caught a few fish in spite, rather than because, of his skill with fishing tackle was a real jolt.

I could just about forgive those scenes in the "Footsteps of Crabtree" series where Bailey and the various "Peters" kept the rachets of their Hardy Conquests on, but only on production of an affidavit that the director insisted they did so.

Edit: I've slandered BV, he transferred the rod to the left hand, but brought it round,still under his right elbow, and reeled in with the right; still looked very awkward, though!

YouTube

john step · Aug 27, 2018

thecrow said:
If he is incompetent it shows how easy fishing can be as he has caught a lot of very big fish including some very big barbel and roach.

I didn't see the programme but if the bait was meat I know of plenty that use very big pieces as bait, they catch some good fish on it.

Celebrity angler I most dislike is Keith Arthur.

I have met Keith Arthur a few times. Sat next to him at a dinner/dance, fished alongside etc. I think his AT series of articles are meant to be abrasive. He didn't come over like that in person.
I wrote to him on one occasion pointing out he was wrong saying that there were no zander in the Thames when I had in fact caught a couple of small ones at Richmond.( late 1970s I think)

He took the time to write back with a very clever humorous poem which I wish I still had.

tigger · Aug 27, 2018

thecrow said:
If he is incompetent it shows how easy fishing can be as he has caught a lot of very big fish including some very big barbel and roach.

I didn't see the programme but if the bait was meat I know of plenty that use very big pieces as bait, they catch some good fish on it.

Celebrity angler I most dislike is Keith Arthur.

Graham, I forgot to mention.....I reckon Robson Green will have a far more impressive list of "big fish" to his name than Bailey and we all know how good an angler Green is :wh.

Peter Jacobs · Aug 27, 2018

While we are all free to have our choices, and favourites, I would have to say that (while you may disagree with some of his views) to name Keith Arthur on a thread for "incompetent celebrity anglers" is harsh in the extreme.

Keith is an excellent angler who can, and has, turned his hand extremely well to virtually all forms and methods of angling.

I'm not too sure if I could think of any "celebrity" angler who could be described as "incompetent" although some of Matt Hayes fly casting, when he started out, left a lot to be desired . . . . . so maybe more unedcated than incompetent . . . but then again, who are we to cast the first stone?

Mark Wintle · Aug 27, 2018

nottskev said:
Gosh, well done young Phil! Still, I'm sure old Jack got over it, and fell back on his extraordinary career in writing, radio and tv broadcasting that included, amongst other things, making popular tv programmes that ran for 15 years and 20 years respectively.

Young protege match angler beats elderly generalist ... .doesn't quite fit under "incompetent celebrity angler" for me.

Hargreaves realised his angling shortcomings and relied heavily on much better anglers including Ollie Kite, Owen Wentworth, Barrie Welham and Dave Swallow, all of whom could and did catch fish to order for the camera.

Peter Jacobs · Aug 27, 2018

As for Paul Young, I have met him on the Test a few times and had lunch with him.

He is the first to tell you that he is not an "expert" angler, and that he simply "fronts" his TV shows that are more aimed at the location and the species rather than his angling prowess.

Once his programme was taken up by Discovery it ran for a full 6 seasons, so it must have had some appeal to the viewers . . . .

nottskev · Aug 27, 2018

Mark Wintle said:
Hargreaves realised his angling shortcomings and relied heavily on much better anglers including Ollie Kite, Owen Wentworth, Barrie Welham and Dave Swallow, all of whom could and did catch fish to order for the camera.

Indeed. He was a broadcaster with a phenomenal career, rather than a celebrity angler. It just seemed a bit uncalled for to big up one of your favoured match anglers for catching more, whilst implying he deserves to be considered an "incompetent celebrity angler" - the theme of the thread.

Jelster · Aug 27, 2018

I met Keith Arthur once. He & Bruno Brookes were wandering around a day ticket fishery I was on. At the time I had hooked what probably would have been my PB Carp, a huge common which I had on for around 15 minutes. Just as I was getting it into the net it turned violently and the hook pulled :mad-new:

I let out a sting of 4 letter words, kicked my chair over and threw my rod onto the bank. He made a funny one liner comment which made me see the funny side of it. They both of them then spent 15 minutes or so chatting about the water, bait tactics etc. He was quite a nice guy actually.

I always loved the enthusiasm of both John Wilson and Rex Hunt when on TV. Rex Hunt used to make me laugh, and goes on to prove that we shouldn't take life too seriously....

Mark Wintle · Aug 27, 2018

nottskev said:
Indeed. He was a broadcaster with a phenomenal career, rather than a celebrity angler. It just seemed a bit uncalled for to big up one of your favoured match anglers for catching more, whilst implying he deserves to be considered an "incompetent celebrity angler" - the theme of the thread.

Locally to me (Dorset) he was very much regarded as a celebrity angler rather than a broadcaster. Phil Coles was set up for a prat fall in that Wentworth and Hargreaves fished from a boat on the best swim on the stretch leaving Phil to fend for himself on the bank. Wentworth was keen to show what he regarded as a young whippersnapper who was boss. It was certainly the day that my eyes were opened to Hargreaves' true level of expertise and Wentworth's dogmatism. Years later when I fished with Dave Swallow a lot I found out much more about Jack Hargreaves, the side of him that the viewers didn't see, nor did the biography of him cover. I also watched and fished with Wentworth and found out much about him. Maybe Jack Hargreaves is your hero?

thecrow · Aug 27, 2018

Peter Jacobs said:
While we are all free to have our choices, and favourites, I would have to say that (while you may disagree with some of his views) to name Keith Arthur on a thread for "incompetent celebrity anglers" is harsh in the extreme.

Peter I never said he was incompetent I actually said "Celebrity angler I most dislike is Keith Arthur."

nottskev · Aug 27, 2018

Mark Wintle said:
Locally to me (Dorset) he was very much regarded as a celebrity angler rather than a broadcaster. Phil Coles was set up for a prat fall in that Wentworth and Hargreaves fished from a boat on the best swim on the stretch leaving Phil to fend for himself on the bank. Wentworth was keen to show what he regarded as a young whippersnapper who was boss. It was certainly the day that my eyes were opened to Hargreaves' true level of expertise and Wentworth's dogmatism. Years later when I fished with Dave Swallow a lot I found out much more about Jack Hargreaves, the side of him that the viewers didn't see, nor did the biography of him cover. I also watched and fished with Wentworth and found out much about him. Maybe Jack Hargreaves is your hero?

Not at all. Heroes are for schoolboys and writers :wh

S-Kippy · Aug 27, 2018

Big difference between incompetent and irritating and angler as opposed to someone with a rod in his hand making a TV programme. I find Robson Greene and Dean Macey incredibly irritating but whether they are incompetent or in Green'es case even an angler is a moot point.

peter crabtree · Aug 27, 2018

I'm sure the producers of TV angling programmes wouldn't know, or indeed care, if an angler was competent or not.
What they need is an angler who is fun and can string a coherent sentence together. These shows are more for entertainment than anything else, the majority of the viewing public wouldn't spot the incompetence, they just want to be entertained.

The most incompetent celebrity angler on tv....

Banned

Well-known member

Banned

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

binka

Guest

Well-known member

Well-known member

Banned

Moderator

Well-known member

Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

AKA Simon, 1953 - 2022 (RIP)