Perch Record Broken

[Warren Gaunt]

Not sure if its a dig or what, never mind!

 

 

[ 10 April 2002, 05:41 PM: Message edited by: Warren Gaunt ]

[peter morton]

Oh Dear,

 

Just goes to show how differently a story can be reported in two different papers!!!!!!

 

Tuesday(9th) Angling Times with a front page photo and virtually the whole of pages 2-3, leads on the story of a young lad who has caught a potential new record perch.They had obviously put a bit of effort into it with Photo's and interviews with the captor & his father also comments from a couple of well respected perch anglers (Steve Burke & Martin Bowler)

 

They also did not name the water after being asked not to by the owner,for fear of the venue being inundated with people intent on catching a record.(Well done Richard Lee)

 

Contrast this with the Anglers Mail (Wed 9th)Tucked away at the bottom of pages 4-5 is a piece about the capture that appears to cast doubt on the weight of this fish.No photo,no interview and to top it all the name of the venue along with the phone number of the fishery.

 

This to my mind seems to have been done in a fit of jealousy as the Times obviously beat the Mail to the story.

This is Tabloid journalism at it's worst and does the Mail no credit at all.

[Elton]

peter morton:

 

This to my mind seems to have been done in a fit of jealousy as the Times obviously beat the Mail to the story.

This is Tabloid journalism at it's worst and does the Mail no credit at all.

Please allow me to add a possible scenario that could help balance this argument...

 

When a large fish is caught, it is often the case that the captor is ofered 'incentives' to offer exclusivity. This doesn't just happen in angling - think how much The Sun and The Mirror pay each year to go one up on each other.

 

If the captor of this fish was offered incentives to provide an exclusive, then it could be that journalists from other magazines had the door shut in their faces. Not surprising, therefore, that they don't have a lot to say on the subject.

 

I have no knowledge of this case, however, and may be well off the mark.

 

Tight lines,

 

Elton

[davidP]

Elton:

Please allow me to add a  possible  scenario that could help balance this argument...

 

When a large fish is caught, it is often the case that the captor is ofered 'incentives' to offer exclusivity. This doesn't just happen in angling - think how much The Sun and The Mirror pay each year to go one up on each other.

 

If  the captor of this fish was offered incentives to provide an exclusive, then it could be that journalists from other magazines had the door shut in their faces. Not surprising, therefore, that they don't have a lot to say on the subject.

 

I have no knowledge of this case, however, and may be well off the mark.

 

Tight lines,

 

Elton

Yes, I'd agree with this Elton BUT you have to remember that it's the Anglers Mail we're talking about here - petulence seems to be one of their specialities. Heck, they won't even mention Angling Times by name!

 

I read the article and felt exactly the same as Peter. Here's a 12 year old kid who's probably still on cloud 9 having just achieved what most anglers can only dream of and the tone of the article makes it sound like he's made it all up! Had AM been breaking the story I have little doubt that it would have read somewhat different.

 

I've got to say that if I broke or record or caught a big fish that I wanted published I'd go straight to Angling Times - I wouldn't let the Mail anywhere near it simply because I don't like their 'lowest common denominator' attitude.

[Spindle]

All I'd like to say is...

 

Bl**dy well done that boy. Whatever the outcome, record accepted, or not, that's a monster fish and one he'll always remember. I know when I caught my tiddler, a 2lb 6oz perch, last year I was overjoyed and couldn't believe how big it looked. A near 6lb would give me dizzy spells... !

 

Having read both weeklies last night I do think the Angler's Mail was a little harsh in the way they reported the story...

[Kitson]

can perch REALLY get that big!!??,

 

I havent seen the pic yet but hopefully will pick up a copy tomorrow.

 

what a fight that must have been!!.

[Guest Fred Guttfield]

Firstly what an amazing fish! The boy done good! A truly special and historic capture.

 

Secondly, its not often I reply to this kind of thread, but I think AM's article was about right. Its very difficult to construct an article without some of the major ingredients such as photos, quotes from the captor etc etc. Im sorry but what else could they have done? And I dont see much questioning the weight - a quote from Joe Taylor says it looks the weight, and even AM say "available sources confirm the fish is BIG". Without cooperation from the captor how could the Mail have made a bigger article to celebrate the capture? This was a special capture about the romance of childhood angling, exclusives and bickering have no place here. I can say that if I caught such a historically significant fish, and bearing in mind that I have some affiliation with AM, my photos would go to both papers. Records are special, what we all aim for, so we should all get to see them.

[Alan Fawcett]

Sorry fellas but i don't give a toss about who reported what.

 

What matters is a kid of 12 has broken a record that more experianced anglers would have loved to of done.

 

The thing now is showing more kids what they can do at that age & get them on the bank if he can do it why can't they??.

 

I'm glad it was a kid who broke the Perch record & not some jumped up , egotistical self centered tackle tart who hates to be out done. (but as the AM have named the water lets see how long it'll be before you get an explosion of wannabe's there)

 

[ 12 April 2002, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: ALAN FAWCETT ]

[Nightwing]

Come on someone, scan a pic from your magazine there and post a pic!!!!!!

I would love to see a pic of a perch that big, the largest I have seen personaly was a 2lb fish form Lake Michigan, which for us is a monster.

[mpbdsnu]

ALAN FAWCETT:

Sorry fellas but i don't give a toss about who reported what.

 

What matters is a kid of 12 has broken a record that more experianced anglers would have loved to of done.

 

The thing now is showing more kids what they can do at that age & get them on the bank if he can do it why can't they??.

Well said Alan