Are angling standards dropping?

[john step]

Right then.... tomorrow my angling standard will DROP. I have just finished the decorating at home and I am knackered

I am going to take my comfortable chair to my (moody hard) club lake, put out a couple of rods on buzzers and VEGETATE. If a tench bothers me I will be grateful but otherwise I will enjoy just being there.

Sometimes it is nice just to do that

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

Right then.... tomorrow my angling standard will DROP. I have just finished the decorating at home and I am knackered

I am going to take my comfortable chair to my (moody hard) club lake, put out a couple of rods on buzzers and VEGETATE. If a tench bothers me I will be grateful but otherwise I will enjoy just being there.

Sometimes it is nice just to do that

I couldn't agree more with you John. There are times I like to do the same.

 

[lambert1]

Right then.... tomorrow my angling standard will DROP. I have just finished the decorating at home and I am knackered

I am going to take my comfortable chair to my (moody hard) club lake, put out a couple of rods on buzzers and VEGETATE. If a tench bothers me I will be grateful but otherwise I will enjoy just being there.

Sometimes it is nice just to do that

I wonder how true that is for others John, I know that it is often the case for me and catching fish is a bonus I have been doing some work recently for a lady who had a complete nervous breakdown. Her therapy was taking up fly fishing among other things and she now ties her own flies. She found fishing to be a great way of coping with what life throws at her and I have to say she has an impressive list of captures.

 

[tonybull]

Are angling standards dropping

No

 

[robtherake]

Right then.... tomorrow my angling standard will DROP. I have just finished the decorating at home and I am knackered

I am going to take my comfortable chair to my (moody hard) club lake, put out a couple of rods on buzzers and VEGETATE. If a tench bothers me I will be grateful but otherwise I will enjoy just being there.

Sometimes it is nice just to do that

There's no denying the value of that, John, but it's a pretty safe bet that there are several more gears that you can go through to make things happen when you're on song. When I was growing up, a couple of dozen (or more) regulars around the same age used the "free" perch pond. There were three categories of angler: a couple were way ahead of everyone else, as if they had ESP; most were reasonably proficient, but had to work much harder than the Jedi masters (my category) and there were a small number of lads who were either happy putting in no effort or who genuinely didn't get it.

If we compare that to the present time, the natural anglers are still in the same minority, but the middle group is now smaller than the underachievers because they aren't pushed to learn much in order to make a catch, having only fished relatively easy waters. It's just the way it is.

 

[laguna]

Agree.
Modern gear and relatively 'easy' modern venues stuffed with fish, encourages some to do less if they are so inclined... it suits the lazy angler perfectly. Some believe that buying the best gear and looking the part, means more fish without having to work and learn proper angling skills... but there's a hell of a lot who also call themselves anglers and use fishing as an excuse just to get away for the weekend too.

There really is no substitute for a proper apprentice, it takes skill and it can only be achieved by time and the willingness/ability to learn.

Its the same for the so called modern tradesmen, a wet weekend's training and they call themselves whatever it says on the piece of paper, but it doesn't mean they can do the job.

 

[soft plastic]

I don't think standards are actually dropping. Since the advent of the Internet there is tons of advice and help available. Most people I see are pretty clued up. What I do believe is that there seems to be a fall in numbers of "all round" anglers. Those people who are competent at fishing rivers and still waters with the ability to fish different methods. Several reasons for this. Commercials and the growing influence of pole fishing. People who spend a lot of money for a decent pole are far less likely to to splash out on other tackle more suited to rivers etc. I also think that the lack of young anglers is a major concern.

 

[bracket]

I am not really sure how I stand on this. Reading most posts so far, everbody seems so keen to say they are only average anglers. I don't believe that for one moment. For me, I can say without question I am bloody good at what I do, but having said that, I come from a match fishing background have not encompassed the full range of the angling spectrum. I don't think angling standards have dropped markedly, but with the advent of commercials, they have certainly narrowed. In my fromative match fishing years, I fished widely varying venues every week: Rivers, canals, gravel pits and lakes, Today that tends not the case, but it seems to be the way forward for most. What must always be born in mind is that there will ever be a core of occasional anglers who just want to be beside the water and are not too concerned about improving their ability, and why should they be? Pete.

 

[thecrow]

Are anglers opinions on whether standards have dropped formed according to their own abilities/experience ?

 

[flightliner]

We sometimes take on face value the way we see some anglers performing at the waterside, often the perception is misleading.
Years ago I was on the upper Witham float fishing for roach.
A little further upstream an e lderly angler was perched on a very rickety wicker basket holding an old bent cane rod--- carbon was used by most in those days ---- with a very crude float set up.
There was something about the guy that seemed familier but it was hard to decide just what.
He was fishless thro out the day while I had a small but not unreasonable net of fish.
Having packed up a litle earlier I was passing him by when it dawned on me that he was an angler who was well known on the fenland match scene when I was in my late teens, a guy who could hold his own against most amongst his peer group who in the day were as good as they got, guys who filled the match pages in the AT year after year.
Yet here he was, making the impression of a near beggnner, a sight I will always remember.
John Step I think touched on it in his earlier post, sometimes it really doesnt matter wether we catch or not, we just go to go, its what we like to do.
I like to think my meeting the old matchman all those years ago was seeing a guy reflecting on all the happy and successful times he had enjoyed as an angler while "his" sun was sinking below the horizon.
These days many anglers tend to ledger or feeder fish to the exclusion of any other method, its a blunt instrument that cancels out a lot of the finnesse needed when float fishing, effective certainly but as Jan Porter used to say "when learning to fish far better to learn to float fish and feed correctly before moving on to other methods"--- how right he was-- just as all the guys of decades ago were when teaching youngsters the joys off fishing--- where those youngsters are these days is, I reckon down to so many other distractions.

 

[robtherake]

That last sentence sums up what's happened to the youthful element, Mick. Plus, most of the free places we fished are all private now and the parents - made paranoid by sensationalist reporting methods - will hardly let their kids out of sight. I feel sorry for them all, I really do.

 

[mightyboosh]

I hope standards aren't dropping. I wouldn't describe myself as deeply patriotic and I've travelled around a bit, bit would regard British coarse anglers as some of the best best fisherman in the world, at least for non-game freshwater species.

 

[no-one in particular]

Going back to the old dad theme, the world was a bit more structured in my dads day, he was always chilled out at the weekend not burnt out. Plenty of energy left to take the kids out for the day and spend the time with them and show them how to fish. I know dads still do but you dont see it so much, dad out with the kids fishing on a Sunday; I hardly ever see that much these days..

 

[binka]

I'm undecided on the whole.

In respect of the specialist scene I think standards have improved in respect of results that are being produced although it seems to be very much peer led via the amount of readily available advice and tackle available, not to mention the vast amounts of money thrown at it in terms of bait etc that would have been unthinkable in the past.

As opposed to the improvising and pioneering speci-anglers of decades ago and I think all this has a negative impact on independent thinking and tunnels the vision a little.

Not always, but on the whole.


On an all-round angler basis I think standards have dropped though, there seems to be a lot of one species or one method anglers out there and that's fine if it's their thing but I would feel that I was missing out on too much by being so polarised, and certainly be less equipped with a wider understanding of how things work under the surface.

 

[laguna]

Are anglers opinions on whether standards have dropped formed according to their own abilities/experience ?

Right or wrong, you can only gauge according to one's own way of doing things? Abilities differ but I don't see much evidence of 'trying' for a better word and not much in the way of 'effort' by others, though it could also be said; many are happy to just dangle and catch a 'few' and there's nothing wrong with that if that's what they aspire to.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

Who are we to judge how others fish, or how good they are, or not
??

You may not think they are as good as yourself, but then they may well think the same about you, or that your worse than them.

It doesn't matter if you match fish, fish for specimen,fish commies, or what ever you do. We each have a way in which we fish, set ups will be a little different, rods, reels, and the like. How you feed a swim, shot your float.

If someone is fishing and catching the way they like to fish, then there is nothing wrong with that. That has always been the case in angling.

Specimen standards are better today, as the fish are bigger today. Some will say rods, reels are better today. Tell that to those who still fish with cane rods, and how many here on FM use old centre pins ??

Angling is no different to other hobbies or sports. You have those that are very good, those that are average, and those that enjoy doing what they do, knowing they are not that good.

 

[itsfishingnotcatching]

I'll settle for being distinctly average, enjoying my good, bad and useless moments, safe in the knowledge that there's rarely anyone else on the river to judge my ability. Fish-ins are a different ball game, in spite of member's modesty, there are some very good anglers on this forum who I can only hope to emulate on my "better" days

 

[peter crabtree]

Fish-ins are a different ball game, in spite of member's modesty, there are some very good anglers on this forum who I can only hope to emulate on my "better" days

Lol....

 

[robtherake]

Lol....

Are we lolling at the fella with the skewed Aldi cap, or is it the gentleman watering the bushes...

---------- Post added at 22:09 ---------- Previous post was at 21:53 ----------

I fully agree with Ray's comment - "...who are we to pass judgement?" Leaving that aside, though, the original question asked if overall standards have dropped, and I'd have to say yes: I see far more chuck it and chance it anglers than I used to.

Something that's increasingly obvious, though, is the increase in...ahem...seniority of the blokes on the bank. There are a hell of a lot of retirees; roll back 40 years and it was mostly younger blokes at the places I used to fish. There's a longer-lived, generally healthier older generation and from talking to people it seems that a fair proportion of those blokes took up fishing late in life and are perfectly happy to plop a float in front of them and while away some pleasant hours. Let them get on with it, I say.

In short, maybe it's the demographic that's changed, as much as a general reduction in skill level.

 

[sam vimes]

From my angle, it's really not a question of judging anyone. If they are content with what they're doing and catching, or not, there's no issue. From the harassed dad kicking back and having a break from the family to the retiree that's content to while a few hours away. Angling is a broad enough church for them all. I have no problem with those that are content just to be there, regardless of their reasons. Those I struggle with are those that expect to catch wherever they go, whatever they do, and complain bitterly about the waters concerned when it doesn't happen.

I'm still not entirely sure whether angling standards have dropped or whether I'm just better than I was giving a change in perception. Despite the cries of false modesty, I genuinely don't believe I'm that I'm particularly good. If I did, I might just be entering the odd match, as I did years ago. However, I'm under no illusion that I'd do anything other than get my backside handed to me. All I can say for sure is that I seem to encounter an awful lot fewer anglers that I would aspire to emulate or learn from. That perception is undoubtedly coloured by the types of fishing I indulge in, that I spend much of my time on rivers and have no involvement in the match scene.