the weekly angling articles and their adverts

i just wondered if there are any like minded anglers out there so thoroughly fed up with with articles in the weeklies which are basically giving the writers sponsers productsplenty of coverage whilst giving us less reading material,i for one have had enough and refuse to pay for such junk/forum/smilies/angry_smiley.gif

Not just the weeklies.

Coarse Fisherman manages to plug the big names too.

I would love to read an article where the author says "I attached it to a swivel that was a size 8 that I found in the bargain bucket" or "the float was a AAA wagglerthat I just fancied the look of" or even "the rod used was a 12' 1.5lb TC that I bought years ago."

It gives the info that the reader wants but leaves the marketting to the spread that the companies pay for.

Even the photographs are set up with enough logos on show to put American advertising to shame.

For many, many years I avidly bought the Angling Times, but back in the days of the Kingfisher Guild, using my pocket money and then later the money I earned pedalling a greengrocers bicycle all over South london.

These days I subscribe to Waterlog, which might not be every body's cup of tea, but for me it still sums up all that is good in angling today. No sign of an advertisers 'logo' and some fabulous line and colour drawings.

I would dearly love to subscribe to the Angling Times again, but it seems to cater for a market that I am just not interested in.

I do understand that market forces dictate what can go into a weekly, or monthlypublication, but I still think that some of 'yester-years' articles might boost their sales.

a few months ago tommo i remember picking up a copy of the a.mail and in it wasan illustration of a rig that ian welch used for barbel in low water conditions,all i can say is this,he had to be sponseredby fox because he would have been refused a mortgage in the present climate,i honestly have never seen so many individual items on a rig all manufactured by the same company how convenient.at that time i had bought the a.m. and the a.t. since 1972, every week(what a mug i hear you say),but ie.mailed the editor ofthe mail and told him what i thought and the length of time i had bought his publication and guess what they never even tried to ballshit me,not a sausage,its their loss

"It is really none of my business but I think that you are unwise to take any money from Chapman, or anyone else in the tackle trade. The reason is in your own letter. You can't say anything in print about your own leger rod.

I never take any money from anyone in the tackle trade, and can therefore say anything that I like about any tackle item.

If of course a rod or reel is given to meto test, the maker can hardly expect me to pay for the privilege of testing it; on the contrary, if he says that I can keep the item, I regard that as fair reward for my trouble! Even then, I would only accept it if I was able to give a favourable comment on it, which the maker could use in advertising.

I would strongly advise you to alter your terms with Chapman and instead of the money, have a rod now and then - which you can sell if you wish. That way you stay in the clear."

This is part of a letter from Richard Walker advising Peter Stone on what should be his relationship with the tackle trade regarding payment for design of,or the reviewing of their tackle.

He once told me that anglers who were sponsored by tackle companies had lost the plot!

It sounds like very good advice Ron and it's a shame that more magazines don't make their writers follow it.

I have found myself buying fewer and fewer magazines over the last few years.I look at the articles and as soon as the sponsorship crap comes up I glaze over.

Yes articles in the 2 comics are vielled adverts ,i buy a rag every week to keep track of my old mates that still fish matches,I found the where to fish sections very useful when i moved to Devon.

But does product placement work? That's a question not a statement! I've never even when I first started fishing bought anything because such a name plugs it. I use many products made by named manufacturers, but I only buy them if I think they'll suit my needs.

My criteria is thus

Good quality at a fair price.

Rods barring a mishap, I'd expect to be using them for the job I bought them for 8-12 yearshence, possibly longer. My first choice float rod is 17 years old, but it is an originalHarrison GTI.

Reels 5-8 years usage.

Landing nets 10+ years, might need a new net in between.

Chairs/bedchairs 8+ years.

Bivvy 5 years +

If you look after your tackle and maintain it well, it should stand in good stead for many years after the model has been replaced by the "new improved all singing all dancing model."

Name dropping by hacks has become boring and predictable, and, for many of us it has become meaningless, almost laughable. But I can read through it and ignore it. What really bugs me is the easy way out taken by AT of filling pages with pictures that would be just as relevant at a quarter of the size!

You'd be surprised at how many of our readers do actually want to know exactly what tackle is being used and exactly how a particular fish was caught.
I personally do have a problem when products are mentioned too much and think people switch off and don't take as much notice if every sentence has a mention of this or that company.
What i really do have a problem with is when people write about a product when they aren't even using it as in my eyes this is dishonest and conning the reader. If the information you're giving though is genuine then i can't see a problem with it.
I'm a consultant for a tackle company, but prefer not to go overboard with the plugs in a way that would ruin any article that I'm writing - obviously no one is going to get paid by a tackle company unless their products get some sort of mention.

Honest consulting is vital in the industry

Ok sometimes it can go too far but some people just get silly

gary, i agree that people may be interested in the tackle being used but the current situation is ludicrous why not say check out xxxs products because i use them or leave an e.mail address so that the writers earn there corn because you know as well as i do that several manufacturers are making virtually identical products all of which could swap with another,crazy./forum/smilies/sarcastic_smiley.gif

Imagine the scenario; you are sponsored by Jackal Tackle and you are advising on lure fishing.

"I have triedthe "Hukum"range of lures from Jackal and they are crap. The "Snaggle Tooth" range of "whopper crunchers" is much better."

Walker was aconsultant in his time for Hardys, Allcocks, KP Morrit, B James, JB Walker, R. Chapman andDrennan.He never took a penny from any of them, although he was sent a few test samples.

What I really enjoyed about my job as a free lance consultant was the ability to recommendwhat I felt to be the right filter for the job, without having to bugger around with a single range of products, many of which were not up to scratch.

And I think it is true to say that although Walker did not die a poor man, if he had accepted royalties from the Arlesey Bomb, the Mk IV rods and last but not least, the Richard Walker Superlight Reservoir Fly Rod, he would have died a millionaire.

The RW Superlight, was probably the biggest selling British designed fishing rod of any single model ever marketed. How many scores of thousands of this rod sold I have no idea, but hell it was plenty. I had two!

But Walker was a man of principle despite some of his weaknesses we will not go into now.

Was he pompous like you ??

Lee Swords said: 'Honest consulting is vital in the industry'.

Honest answer please, does anyone actually think that it can be trusted?

Got to say that I think that most reviews are, at least what I read in Anglers Mail are. Where I do think that there is room for doubt, and this applies to forums as well as magazines, is with the endorsements by various sponsored, and would be sponsored writers.

dont believe any tackle review peter ive done it too many times and been let down almost as many,go on personal knowledge and good advice and excuse me for saying but a consultant advises the manufacturer not writes adverts in disguise as articles(as i said earlier some tackle info is ok but others are taking the pee)

As the bad one has said, look after your gear it will last for years. yes we have tackle tarts, many of them don't need the tackle, but have to buy.

Then you have the Angler who thinks, (and wrongly) that if he has all the latest singing and dancing gear, he will catch all the fish.

I don't like the way any of the fishing weekly's or monthly's compare rods, reels etc, when it come to marks out of ten, you never see an item get 4 or 5. The other one is, great for the price, why don't they just say, pay an extra £5 or £10 and geta much better product.

Papers need the Adverts, no Adverts, No papers.

Here is a copy of the last tackle reviewI had printed

Field Testing The Avanti Azure 11 ft Barbel Rod



This was a difficult test for me to perform as I own what is probably the best Barbel rod on the market for what I do (which is for anyone that doesn’t know Big-River Barbel fishing) My Rod of choice is the Teme-Severn ‘Mark Tunley’ Hand made T7 ‘Big Water / Flood rod .This rod is a bespoke Harrison blank that incorporates the awesome Chimera technology.

The ‘Floods’ specifics are a 24 ¾'' Full cork handle with Fuji DPS-18-BK reel seat. Fuji hard rings (25, 20, 16, 12, 10, 8, 7, 7, 8 tip + keeper ring) for a grand total of £220.00…

Now there is the issue!

If like me you are a middle aged angler with a taste for the excellent things in life then you will simply have to sell the wife into white slavery or boil the mother-in-law down for potted meat or hoof glue to get your hands on one as it is perfect or as near as dammit!

But if funds are tight and money is an issue then the 11 foot Aventi Azure which has a RRP of £79.95 and a retail price of far less than that may be what you are looking for…

It isn’t a bad rod at all and would probably make quite a good Trent/Big river flood rod as it has a rather soft tippy feel to it. Unfortunately though it does have some silly flaws in its make up which could have so easily been avoided had they employed the services of a ‘consultant’ in its development stage (maybe they did…I don’t know but I doubt it)

The rings (12) are too many and too small…Rings on this type of rod want to be large enough to be able to ‘wind through’ a certain amount of debris, the last thing you need at 2 am when connected to a big lump is the rod locking up because its rings are jammed with rubbish.

The ¾ cork duplon handle is just a shade on the long side as well for an 11 foot rod in my opinion but that is a personal taste issue so please don’t judge it on what my tastes are.

The rod also employs something called Polymeric structured plasticizer or PSP technology which may account for its ‘strange’ feel when in contact with a fish (Not a fault…Just different)

All in all this would make a very acceptable ‘entrance’ level big river rod for a junior or maybe a rod for somebody that only occasionally ventures onto the wild waters of the Trent or Severn and does not want to break the bank.

I have a feeling it would also make a reasonably good ‘hook and hold’ rod for carp on commercial fisheries as it does have a very forgiving action which can be bent right through.


If however you wish to get a seriously good if not the best big river rod then I would say to anyone that has an interest in barbel fishing save up a wee-bit longer and go for a ‘Tunley’

I try to be honest cover the bases and give the reader a choice