Best fisherman/woman

[Dales]

:bigemo_harabe_net-163: ...No chance...hehehe

 

Come on Rod, admit it. It's You

 

Man who has never blanked, my vote goes to Watatoad.

[Worms]

But if somebody asked you the best fisherman/woman who would you say?

The angler who enjoys his fishing, cares for the environment and the fish he catches, and always looks forward to the next time!

[Rusty]

It's one of the nice things about fishing, you don't have to compare yourself to other anglers.

 

Nail, head, hit etc etc.

[Anderoo]

I depends on how you define best really - most well known anglers are well known for a reason, which that they have tried to be well known! Some even try to make a living out of it. But it doesn't mean they are 'the best'! They can be good writers, good presenters, good all-rounders, good single-species anglers, it depends what you are looking for and what you want to relate to.

 

A defining characteristic of 'the best' angler to me is that they do not seek publicity - so therefore I have no idea who they are!

 

I have been lucky enough to meet one or two unbelievably good anglers over the years. It never ceases to amaze me how big the gap is between 'good' and 'very good' - it is staggering!

[Vagabond]

I have been lucky enough to meet one or two unbelievably good anglers over the years. It never ceases to amaze me how big the gap is between 'good' and 'very good' - it is staggering!

Very true, I struggle to achieve competence, but have fished often enough with "unbelievably good" anglers to recognise brilliance when I see it.

 

....and of the names mentioned on the thread so far, very few are/were expert in more than one specialised field.

 

To qualify (IMHO) as "very good", never mind "the best", an angler would have to show skill over a wide range of angling situations, being much better than merely competent with float, leger, lure, fly, pole, outrigger, downrigger, freelining, dapping and tightlining methods. That means good accurate casting with many different outfits, and the ability to land fish on them. That's just from the shore!

Plenty of boat fishing skills needed also, from controlling drifts using a drogue, to fishing deep water on the drift, to choosing spread pattern, trolling speed and depth and appropriate lures for big-game fishing.

 

That's just the technical stuff. Location and stalking skills for a wide variety of species, from chub in your local stream to permit on coral flats are also required - (difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10. Chub scores about 5, Permit somewhere between 9 and 10). To say nothing of the background knowledge necessary for each species.

 

Minnows, mullet, mulloway and marlin.

Trout, trahira, trevally and tarpon

Bass, barramundi, bonefish and beluga

(and any other fish you care to mention)

Show me the guy (or doll) that is much better than average at catching all these, and I might agree that we have a candidate.

Edited October 31, 2010 by Vagabond

[poledark]

Most of the names mentioned are only "good" at certain branches of our sport. To me, the best would have to be a good allrounder..coarse, fly and sea. Boat, beach, ressy. river, canal. Carp lake, carp puddle,farm pond. Long fly rod for salmon, delicate pole for roach, 6/8oz beachcaster, lures and spinners for pike and perch, and no doubt a few more skills I haven't thought of.

He would have to be able to turn up at any venue (with appropriate tackle of course) and know how to fish that venue.

 

I have been lucky enough to have met one or two who were very very good allrounders, Brian Harris (one time editor of Angling magazine) was probably the best; I can do all of the things I mentioned above quite well, but he did most of them VERY well.

 

And he did blank a few times as well

 

 

Edit, I see Vagabond beat me to it, but I think we should restrict our search to the UK

 

Den

Edited October 31, 2010 by poledark

[Vagabond]

Edit, I see Vagabond beat me to it,

 

Great minds, Den, Great minds

[poledark]

Great minds, Den, Great minds

 

 

And GOOD allrounders as well

 

 

Den

[jason.p]

"Best" could mean so many things. Is it the most successful matchman, a record holder or someone who has neve blanked?

To me it would apply to the best ambassadors for fishing, so Matt and Mick, John Wilson and Bob Nudd would be top of my list.

[AddictedToScopex]

For me it is not just the quality of the angler but also the personality that goes along with it. Danny fairbrass may be an excellent carp fisherman but damn is he an ass. I would be another vote for mick and matt and the like. They may not be the best anglers in the world (while still being very good) but they sure do make you enjoy watching them fish. They are a modest pair who dont sing and shout that they are the best from the rooftops. They just get on with it and show you what they are doing and why they are doing it.

 

In my view we as an angling community share a passion in what we do which is why generally fisherman on the bank will always take time to talk to you to share their passion for the sport. It is that that I believe adds something great to the act of going down to the river/canal/pond etc. The sense of camaradarie(somewhat lost on commercials these days). An angler in my view must have this quality as well as being good at the sports many disciplines to qualify for being a truly great angler IMO. Our sport is fuelled by word of mouth, teaching of skills and tall tales of monster fish and its that that holds a lot of the magic for me. Being able to take a walk down the canal and speak to someone to find out how they are getting on and ask for advice etc. It is amazing how quickly you make friends with people when you see them once or twice down the river. The next time you see them you can sit down for a chat and a brew and share advice for a particular stretch.

 

The willingness to teach and help is very important to me as it is what keeps the sport alive.

Edited November 1, 2010 by AddictedToScopex