who,s the Best

[Vagabond]

I imagine an excellent UK angler if presented with a high speed, fully equiped bass boat, a good selection of lure rods & reels & lures, and told to fish for a single species (bass, crappie, or pike) anywhere on a 60,000 - 200,000 acre lake he'd never seen before would fare poorly just an a top US angler would if given a proper selection of bait & tackle (rods, reels, poles, groundbait, etc.) to fish a UK comp. In both cases, they would do very poorly due to not having a clue.

Ah, but how quickly would they learn ?

 

What sorts the men from the boys is the speed with which the really good angler will find fish in unfamiliar surroundings.

 

When fishing abroad, I use a guide - a short cut to local knowledge - if there is one available. Often, however, there is no guide, and then it is really down to basic ability. I usually find the fish eventually, but a better angler would find them sooner.

[Steve Burke]

Tigger, on 19 Jul 2013 - 17:36, said:

For me they do not incite hero worship. I have and do know lots of good anglers, many do not court the celebrity limelight while others who may wish for that haven't got a contact or relative already in the buisness and are not prepared to kiss arses to get on.

 

 

Angling isn't rocket science and there are many people who already have the ability to out fish the celeb's. I've also noticed many of these celeb anglers also have the gift of the gab and are imo no better anglers than millions of others across the country.

I do have my favourite celeb anglers but that isn't because of their fishng abilities but more their presenting skills and personality.

Up to a point I agree with you, Ian. I know several angling writers who are nothing special at catching fish. However what they can do far better than the average angler is communicate. They can therefore either entertain us, or teach us how to improve our catches.

 

I also agree that there are a lot (but not millions!) of very good anglers who don't write, either because they're not good at the written word or because they shun publicity. What I don't accept is that the average angler is anywhere near as good as most of the celebrities.

 

What sets many of the celebrities apart is their all round ability on a wide variety of venues. The local expert may well do well on his own patch, but will more often than not struggle in comparison on trips to unfamilar venues.

 

Angling is the only sport I know where some of the average participants think they're as good as the experts. No club golfer would expect to beat Tiger Woods; no club cyclist could keep up with Chris Froome; no Sunday league footballer is going to be in Wayne Rooney's class.

 

Of course they say, it's because the experts have an unfair advantage. They've been saying it at least as far back as Richard Walker's day and probably further! They reckon for instance that the celebs catch more because they fish private waters - they rarely do. They reckon that celebs have a secret bait - they never do.

 

We just have to accept that there's a gulf between most of us and the celebrities like Matt Hayes and Martin Bowler. These guys are consistently good even on waters they've never seen.

 

As I've posted in the past, it's this consistency that the TV companies (who work on low budgets and tight schedules) have no option but to go for.

[Tigger]

Up to a point I agree with you, Ian. I know several angling writers who are nothing special at catching fish. However what they can do far better than the average angler is communicate. They can therefore either entertain us, or teach us how to improve our catches.

 

I also agree that there are a lot (but not millions!) of very good anglers who don't write, either because they're not good at the written word or because they shun publicity. What I don't accept is that the average angler is anywhere near as good as most of the celebrities.

 

What sets many of the celebrities apart is their all round ability on a wide variety of venues. The local expert may well do well on his own patch, but will more often than not struggle in comparison on trips to unfamilar venues.

 

Angling is the only sport I know where some of the average participants think they're as good as the experts. No club golfer would expect to beat Tiger Woods; no club cyclist could keep up with Chris Froome; no Sunday league footballer is going to be in Wayne Rooney's class.

 

Of course they say, it's because the experts have an unfair advantage. They've been saying it at least as far back as Richard Walker's day and probably further! They reckon for instance that the celebs catch more because they fish private waters - they rarely do. They reckon that celebs have a secret bait - they never do.

 

We just have to accept that there's a gulf between most of us and the celebrities like Matt Hayes and Martin Bowler. These guys are consistently good even on waters they've never seen.

 

As I've posted in the past, it's this consistency that the TV companies (who work on low budgets and tight schedules) have no option but to go for.

 

I agree with a lot of your post Steve and as we know you are a very knowledgeable person.

 

I still think that many of the celeb's are there for their presenting skills and rather than their fishing skills. That does not make it any less interesting to watch.

Not too long ago I had a chat with the sound and camera men who had worked with various celeb's on TV fishing programmes including Matt Hayes and the rods race episodes. They told me there were lots of blank fishing sessions and in Ireland in particular they really struggled to catch but with clever editing no one sees this.

 

At the end of the day my opinion is that, the more time you spend on the bank and the more effort you put in the more knowledge you will pick up and therefore you increase your chances of catching in tougher fishing conditions.

Saying that I still think there is a very large chunk of luck to add to the equation .

[gozzer]

I think Tiggers the best.......because his line comes from the bottom of his 'pin.

 

John.

[Phone]

All,

 

I don't know how many of you have seen a "Bass Masters" torunament. These guys not only have excellent watercraft but they have to be pretty level headed. The waters are "open" (you can't shut down a 200,000 acre lake, they remain open to the public). There will be no fewer than a half dozen boats "watching" the better known anglers. Other competitors will "mooch" into the same structure, camera boats are nearby, etc.

 

I think all angling shows are edited. This is an era of viewer instant gratification who would sit and watch 30 minutes of blank?. I have no idea how that relates the the skill of the professional angler.

 

Tigger is right in this respect. The harder you work the luckier you can get. However, many many anglers work just as hard on bad habits and bad watercraft.

 

And, there are "celebs" that aren't good anglers - but good pitch men. Nothing wrong with that either. I'm thinking of some of the "trick" artists with a casting rod for example.

 

I would say, as time marches on, my illustration of 5% catch 80% is or will become less and less true. i suspect the "sport" of angling will continue to get more mollified as to who's the "best" single angler. "Best" is such a hard word.

 

Phone

 

Phone

[Tigger]

I think Tiggers the best.......because his line comes from the bottom of his 'pin.

 

John.

 

 

Well John i'm glad you've finally addmitted that the anglers who's line comes off the bottom of their centrepins are the superiour anglers

[codplaice]

Which of all of our tv fishing show celebrities

would be the best all round Angler

From Carp specialist to dry fly expert ?

One has got to be the Best !!!!!!!!

so who is it ???

 

Personally i like Matt Hayes

ive always watched fishing but never did it till this year,but out of all the shows ive watched and fishermen ive heard of Jeremy Wade gets my vote.

hes from good old blighty so he grew up carping and coarse fishing to bobs uncle ect.

hes a biologist and speaks several languages and hes the one to go to if you have heard of a river monster somewhere in the world.

and he will wait and wait for that fish till his clothes erodes off (which happend on one of TV episodes called river monsters)

http://www.tvrage.com/River_Monsters

and a nice little intro for series 1

[cannibalspinners]

I remember many years ago , Paul young was fishing the tweed for Salmon at boleside at Galashiels in the Scottish Borders

He fished there for 4 days & caught 1 Hen Salmon , It was edited in to a 15 minute section on his tv programme Hooked On Scotland

[Sportsman]

Please don't misunderstand me, I was not trying to denigrate the skill of the bass anglers in the States.

I have watched a few bassmasters comps on TV and they are very good at what they do.

[Phone]

Sportsman,

 

I wasn't very clear either. On TV it is heavily edited as you can imagine. That isn't "seeing" one If you saw one in person (from one of the many unwelcome boats) you would have an even greater appreciation. My point was supposed to be - the really really good ones still win and they have a huge handicap.

 

Phone