Rip-Off Britain: it's official !

[mark barrett]

monkeyboy:

Ridiculous. Try getting a pint in dublin you will see how cheap we are............Actually any product from a country with the EURO.

Now you see why we need to join to bring prices into line. No more Exchange costs for producers in UK No more exchange costs for anyone dealing with the rest of europe.

monkeyboy i dont know where you drink in this country but i go to ireland regularly and a pint is far more expensive in eire and dublin is astronomical, nearly 5 euros a pint, which is over £3. in cork it was slightly cheaper but still around £2.50 to £2.80, which is more than round my way. talking to a girl i met in cork who comes to england a lot through work and she loves coming over here because it is sooo much cheaper.

 

but compared to the states we are ridiculous and france etc.

[Peter Waller]

Jesse 168, welcome to England! Good memories are hard to beat! Agreed, but so is modern tackle. I get out my old True-Temper baitcaster, pop on my Shapleigh's Master multi and pop off to the river, but I'm blinking glad to get back and get out a reel with a clutch on it for a kick-off! But I do know what you mean, we have lost something of value down the years. Angling was better forty years ago. In England we refer to such angling as B.C.! Not as in B.C and A.D. but Before Carp! It might be totally unrelated to carp as such but Angling B.C. tended to be less complicated, less commercial, and a whole lot more fun!!

[trent.barbeler]

Dear Peter,

 

Interesting post from you.

 

Do you know, it’s quite an exorcise trying to remember exactly when the commercial fog descended down over angling in the UK. Perhaps it’s been around longer than we thought Peter?

 

I have 1st edition "Trent Otter" books which are laced with advertisements many of which Martin himself was sponsored by!!

 

But I guess what you are referring to are mass produced tackle items and the commercial interests that accompanied them?

 

Tis true, that carp angling totally revolutionised any concept that the tackle trade held concerning the "hard sell" of their products. In truth also, pike angling came in a close second with its array of tackle aimed at the intrepid pike angler. BP? Perhaps its not a petro-chemical thing after all? Now, along side carp and pike, barbel tackle and associated products have joined the commercial throng. BB? Sounds familiar?? We have always had match fishing of course and in reality, its commercial aspect literally dwarfs anything else in the coarse angling world!!

 

I once chatted with a very well known and highly successful carp bait dealer who remarked, "If I could sell my wares to the match men then I would be a multi-millionaire in two years!!” Interestingly, he omitted to mention he "was" already a millionaire anyway but it serves to prove my point.

 

Are we getting ripped off in the UK? In comparison to the USA regarding outdoor pursuits I think we are, but then again, the USA is a different market place. Americans would cringe at what we are sometimes prepared to pay for our sporting items. I once took an American pal studying at the University of Evansville (just outside my village) to a big local tackle and gun shop in Nottingham. He was horrified at the prices and said that there would be rioting on the streets in the USA if they had to pay such prices in his homeland. But then again, if a foreign tackle dealer gets a foothold in the American market its one massive market place after all? Stack em up high and sell em cheap might well be a Wal-Mart slogan but if you reach the American market low mark up's can also mean massive profits long term?

 

Personally, I think Englishmen have become too laid back in regards to spending money. (Yorkshire men excluded) We have more available cash than ever before so think what the hell. Lets give the plastic another bump on its backside and buy those cast further than ever before rods!! And lets face it, we've become suckers for "what the hell" spending.

 

I harken back to the days of fingerless gloves, with bony fingers wrapped around a brass clasped leather purse hanging on for grim death incase a penny dared to roll out. Days when money meant something and bank's were never trusted over a lifted floorboard beneath a well worn carpet. Money was money back then. Something solid and meaningful, not those pieces of plastic that rule men’s minds and engulf women’s souls completely.

 

How much is that fishing rod and shiny centre pin reel please? Two shillings and sixpence, and I'll throw in me horse tethered outside for a thrupenny bit. Ah that was real money. Tuppence ha'penny purchased a pint of bitter, 20 tabs, a fish supper and a ride on'ta trolley bus home. (Yorkshire men skipped the fish supper and walked home. Mostly skipped the beer and fags as well!)

 

Regards,

 

Lee.

[Peter Waller]

Hi Lee, yours is a thought provoking reply.

 

B.C. for me was a time when it didn't matter what rods you were seen on the bank with. Bankside credibility wasn't measured by how much money you threw at it. A matchman's success depended on his ability rather than his wallet. You fished just one rod, but you fished it well. The river bank was where you fished rather than posed. Club anglers were just that, club anglers. And club anglers didn't take waters off other club anglers. One angler would make room for another rather than hog the water. Kids weren't a nuisance. You showed your friends your new tackle because you were proud of it, not to show off to them. You bought a rod, or reel, because it was good, not because it had the right label on it. Commercial mud puddles hadn't been heard of. If you prebaited others would respect it as your swim. If you were catching you felt safe in sharing it with others. Woolies sold Winfield tackle. English tackle was the best in the world, apart from the reels! ABU 505's and Mitchell 300's were the kings, but Intrepid and Strike-Right were pretty good too. The Japanese just made poor copies. People caught fish, fish didn't catch themselves! Bite alarms were just for the floppy hat brigade. Bolt rigs hadn't been thought of, and if they had they would have been seen as unsporting. Sportsmanship was not a dirty word. Bivvies were something that the army had. Fox was unheard of, unless it barked. You could fish with a garden cane and a bent pin without feeling ashamed. Boilies were something to be squeezed or popped. Polished stainless would frighten the fish. Fish finders were people with water-craft.

 

As yet politics hadn't entered angling. Greed hadn't entered angling. Self interest hadn't entered angling. Coarse Angling had just one representative body. We fished for enjoyment more than we did for success.

 

But all things considered, the pivotal change in angling came about with the coming of the fanatical, single species angler, the self hooking rig, the loss of the close season and the emergence of the selfishness and commercial greed behind that loss; and lets not forget the rise of the political, self interest groups that have forced themselves onto angling and fragmented unity.

 

Bivvy boy and RealTree man may still still be anglers in the wider sense, but I won't be joining them.

[Jesse168]

Peter you dind't go back far enough on the Mitchell reel. Should have gone back to the Model 304 or 308 which I believe are far better reels than the 300. I recently purchased on E-bay a Bache Brown Spinster reel. The first spinning reel I owned was one of these. It was made by the Lionel Corp. The same folks that made the trains.

 

We all have inprinted in us certain values and ideals. I remember when here in the USA when one went fishing or shooting it was to put a good meal on the table. It didn't matter if one used a Purdy shotgun for bird or a willow limb and cotton string for trout. One went to the outdoors with all respect due an outing. One didn't leave trash or if possable any hint that he had even been there.

 

Now it seems if one doesn't have the latest manufacturer's suggested products he or she would be better off not leaving home. Too many people put their priorities wrong as far as I am concerned. I enjoy the simple life. I enjoy bream fishing more than I do bass or trout fishing. My idea of a beautiful fishing trip would to lean back against a large shade tree and have a nicely filled pick-nick basket and a large jug of home made lemon-aid...and at my side my wife and sons. As the day goes by we would make offerings of worms, crickets, or minnows to the fishes. No lure chunking...just simple fishing.

[Peter Waller]

Lionel trains, now you are talking! Every school boy's dreams! Blow Hornby, Bassett Loke, Triang or Wren!!

 

One thing about US angling that I have always admired is that it is more likely to be a family event than it is here in the UK. More ladies go fishing in the US than they do in the UK. If UK anglers were to take their womenfolk and children fishing then angler numbers would double overnight!

 

Didn't realise that the US had bream. Are these Abramis Brama type bream that we have in the UK?

 

Trash, ummm, the bane of so many UK angling locations. We are not a tidy nation. Take nothing but memories and leave nothing but footprints would be a good motto for anglers.

 

I think I would enjoy your angling idyle Jesse 168. But I would swop the lemonade for a jug of proper English bitter, at room temperature!!

[Dick Dastardly]

Arnt Crappie some times refered to as Bream?

[Peter Waller]

Crappie are much bigger than bream ! And crappie anglers call bream nuisance fish!

[Nightwing]

The bream being refered to in the U.S. is a regional term for sunfish.

I must admit(being a northerner), that it was confusing to me as well! We in the north call the various sunfish by whatever name the species in question is(Bluegill, green, red ear, pumpkinseed), but down south, they are all called "Bream"...

[chesters1]

cant see where this

quote:

---

A matchman's success depended on his ability rather than his wallet

---

nostalgic nonsence comes from :confused:

the "better" (usually a "name", sometimes quality) has always been favoured over cheap and cheerfull ,i was given my first fixed spool by an uncle getting a "better" one ,the "better" one was the latest model ,its difference mechanically to the "old" one was nothing :confused: both held line untill you used it :confused: and both retrived the used line till required again ,it doesnt matter how much line it contains it all depends on how much of the line you used.

the Mitchells and ABU`s caught on because Intrepid was known as a cheap real ,the Elite was far superior to the mitchell of the time but its finish was inferior .Once something is labeled as cheap its pretty hard to shake it off ,Intrepid never did

Woolies gear was cheap therefore inferior in purists eyes ,maybe it was cheap but allowed as Intrepid did millions of anglers to get into the game it wasent long though before they got their Mitchells and ABU`s (as i did) just to stop the ones already owning them the smirks etc as you got your cheap reel out

if every reel was identicle then the appearence of "quality" would sell more ,even a small sticker on the side and good advertising would ensure "your" reel would sell more and at a higher price

 

[ 17. May 2004, 07:54 AM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]