Jump to content

Improve your coarse fishing


mjbarnes12

Recommended Posts

:D Oh, I remember that sad day when it finally dawned on me that the fishing comics were only after my money.

I think what finally convinced me was when I recognised the local catch reports in the sea fishing part of the AT. The lazy buggers were just recycling them from year to year and (saddo that I am) I happened to have several years of them stashed at home. :rolleyes:

 

I'd much rather read an internet article about kayak fishing for sailfish in Hawaii than how to get my method mix just right.

 

The last good fishing comic was "Angling" and that's been gone thirty years :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 76
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Totally true Anderoo. The comitment of a weekly/monthy piece must be hard.The sign of a truly great angling writer though (IMO) is one that does recognise he has nothing "new" to say for that months article! Instead of rehashing an old one or making up some "new theory" he will instead just submit an entertaining,anecdotal piece. My sadly departed mate Vic Gillings fell into this catagory.

 

Off course I often wonder how much (if at all of course) a lot of semi proffesional writers who have a regular feature in monthlies are under pressure to do any product placement for the magazines major advertisers? "sponsered proffesional anglers are obviously obliged to plug their sposers gear at every oportunity!

 

Oddly Budgie, it actually has little to do with wanting to plug products, rather the fact that most of the magazines just do not want anecdotal articles.

 

Personally I find this rather sad, but ultimately instructional/ technical articles sell magazines and so that's what they prefer or ask for.

Mark Barrett

 

buy the PAC30 book at www.pacshop.co.uk

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oddly Budgie, it actually has little to do with wanting to plug products, rather the fact that most of the magazines just do not want anecdotal articles.

 

Personally I find this rather sad, but ultimately instructional/ technical articles sell magazines and so that's what they prefer or ask for.

 

Sorry Mark, but that is blatently not the case - if it was then the writer would describe their tackle and bait only if it was relevant to the piece, and even then naming companies or brands would be unneccesary. Some articles are nothing more than long adverts (usually writers sponsered by Pallatrax or Dynamite, in recent months). As soon as a specific piece of tackle or bait is mentioned I groan inwardly, and the article has then lost its charm for me.

 

There's nothing wrong with technical or instructional articles (and I can see why editors would favour them) but the product placement in photos and constant references to sponsers' gear leaves me cold.

 

There can't be many unsponsered regular magazine writers out there any more - you have to ask why that is...

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As i said before, my all time favourite was "Angling", which had great writers like Clive Gammon, Dick Walker, John Darling, Ian Gillespie etc. (Most now sadly no longer with us) Unfortunately what distinguishes that magazine most now is the fact that it ain't here no more!

The sad conclusion has to be that the average mag buying angler doesn't really want quality. The average commercial water fisher wants a commercial mag, that tells him how to maximise his chance of potting a few pellet pigs, not something that talks about far flung places he'll never see and species he'll never catch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes its strange that isnt it Mark and the bulk of book publishers I know want it the other way around!

 

spot on Budgie, its why I prefer writing books, but having just finished proof reading the next oone I am doing with Denis Moules, it will be the last for a while :lol:

Mark Barrett

 

buy the PAC30 book at www.pacshop.co.uk

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As i said before, my all time favourite was "Angling", which had great writers like Clive Gammon, Dick Walker, John Darling, Ian Gillespie etc. (Most now sadly no longer with us) Unfortunately what distinguishes that magazine most now is the fact that it ain't here no more!

The sad conclusion has to be that the average mag buying angler doesn't really want quality. The average commercial water fisher wants a commercial mag, that tells him how to maximise his chance of potting a few pellet pigs, not something that talks about far flung places he'll never see and species he'll never catch.

 

To damned true Colin. I was priveledged to have many articles published in Angling, over several years. Not once was there any product placement, you never had writers listing every tiny piece of tackle they used, but genuine info was freely passed on.

 

I stopped writing for Angling when I started to run out of anything new and interesting to offer.

 

But that didn't help the mag, what they wanted was good copy.

 

Like Andy, the moment I start to read that "this rod, this bait, this reel and this line etc etc etc " I switch off.

 

Den

"When through the woods and forest glades I wanderAnd hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,And hear the brook, and feel the breeze;and see the waves crash on the shore,Then sings my soul..................

for all you Spodders. https://youtu.be/XYxsY-FbSic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry Mark, but that is blatently not the case - if it was then the writer would describe their tackle and bait only if it was relevant to the piece, and even then naming companies or brands would be unneccesary. Some articles are nothing more than long adverts (usually writers sponsered by Pallatrax or Dynamite, in recent months). As soon as a specific piece of tackle or bait is mentioned I groan inwardly, and the article has then lost its charm for me.

 

There's nothing wrong with technical or instructional articles (and I can see why editors would favour them) but the product placement in photos and constant references to sponsers' gear leaves me cold.

 

There can't be many unsponsered regular magazine writers out there any more - you have to ask why that is...

 

 

I think that it bothers you a lot mate, and so you are more attuned to it than most. I can only speak from my own experience, and that is that I am not pressured into mentioning products within the text, and if i do, i try to do it only when neccessary. Photo wise is pretty similar, but then I will be certain of getting my sponsors logos into the pictures by the clothing that I wear.

 

i would add though that i wrote probably in the region of 100 articles from the age of 18 before i was sponsored at the age of 34, seven years of that being regularly within CAT and P and P. In those magazines at least there are a number of un-sponsored anglers writing.

Mark Barrett

 

buy the PAC30 book at www.pacshop.co.uk

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

spot on Budgie, its why I prefer writing books, but having just finished proof reading the next oone I am doing with Denis Moules, it will be the last for a while :lol:

 

 

It's all very well writing books, and this isn't directed at you at all, Mark, but the quality of the writing and the content are sometimes execrable.

 

Positively the worst fishing books I've had the misfortune to read were Terry Hearn's 'autobiographies'. He is certainly a truly phenomenal angler, but a decent writer his certainly isn't. His 'In search...' and 'Still searching' efforts were really awful reads. The 'guest' chapters padding the things out were in some cases the saving grace, but I was left wondering who ghost writes his magazine articles. The redeemng feature of the first book was that it didn't function as a product placement tool.

 

Many people wrote fulsomely praising the efforts, but I strongly suspect it is hagiographically driven - it's Terry Hearn and I'm interested, therefore it must be excellent. Sadly, the fact that the second book was marketed by telling us how many pages it had and how much it weighed - which suggests it was either trying to score points off the original publisher by alluding to the lousy production values of the original book, or hiding the fact that the content wasn't up to scratch.

 

Of course, other people would have loved the books. I didn't. I found the content weak and felt it proved that good anglers aren't always competent writers.

Edited by Alan Stubbs

This is a signature, there are many signatures like it but this one is mine

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The comitment of a weekly/monthy piece must be hard.The sign of a truly great angling writer though (IMO) is one that does recognise he has nothing "new" to say for that months article!

 

Yes it is hard, but Dick Walker always managed to write something worth reading EVERY WEEK in AT for many years. Not only that but he was also penning articles for the fortnightly "Fishing" and for monthlies such as "Angling" and "Anglers' World" at the same time.

 

...and Dick wasn't alone, Hugh Stoker always had something useful for sea anglers, and T.K.Wilson did the same for trout ("Trout by all means" - remember that? )

 

There is nobody in that class these days.

 

...and yes, there is a lot of rubbish talked on angler's forums, but if you have the "nous" to filter what you read, there is some pretty sound stuff also.

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We and our partners use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences, repeat visits and to show you personalised advertisements. By clicking “I Agree”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent.