Two-Tone (again)

[Peter Waller]

trent.barbeler:

Dearest Peter,

 

As I said, the wider picture consisting of re-captures in a coarse angling sense is well, massive. And from a specialist angling point of view is well, simply put, remains the very existence of what specialist angling is all about?

 

 

Regards,

 

Lee.

If that is what it takes to be a 'specialist' then I had better resign from the SAA!

 

I specialise in species, not just chasing known records from the limited confines of an enclosed water! But then angling is all things to all folk.

 

I'm sorry Lee, I just can't see any glory in the present carp record!

[lyn]

You will always get 'specimen hunters/anglers' after 'specimen' fish.

 

You will always get someone trying to break a record, be it a race or the weight of a fish, human nature.

 

If a lake/river produces a record fish, is everyone to stop fishing there just in case they catch it again? Fish aren't caught to order as we all know, if they were none of us would blank!!

 

I saw 'Mary' when he was caught at 51lb 8oz even I who has never liked carp, had to admit he was an absolutly amazing speciman of a carp. I could not blame anyone for wanting to catch it or for trying.

 

With the size of Wraysbury and the chance of actually catching it took a lot of work and in some ways I admired his 'hunters' for their sheer determination, but then we all know what happened to him in the end!!

 

So what do the fishery owners do, close the water, remove the fish?? Most are out to make money, a must to keep the fishery running.

 

I wonder if when Richard Walker caught the record everyone ran it down? Where did that one end up?? Maybe all the record fish should go into a zoo for others to see rather to to be able to fish for them. I would rather they stayed in a lake/river where they swim free and if they pick up someones hook bait, so be it, it would be caught fair & square.

 

Me, I have my own personal records, be it a 14lb barbel or a 3oz Ruffe!

 

lyn

[chesters1]

quote:

---

I would rather they stayed in a lake/river where they swim free and if they pick up someones hook bait, so be it, it would be caught fair & square

---

wwwhhhhhaaaattt they dont eat them

[Tog]

Nope they don't eat them! but in the past I think you did need to kill the fish in order to claim the record!! (& have it mounted etc) ipsodewahtsit - end of 'big fishy in small pond chasing' and back to 'lucky b@stard for finding that whopper'!

No I'm not saying we should knock e'm on the head, I just think laying around for a week waiting for 'that run' is as exciting as 'Big Brother' & I'd rather have chilli sauce stuffed in every orifice than watch that C4 cr@p!

[fenboy]

I could so easily rant about the deliberate targetting of individual fish being bad for the image of angling. I've done that before. But as it was gently pointed out to me on a previous occasion, the general public don't care about recaptures. They would just consider it ridiculous.

 

And that's the truth of it. The people whose lives are so empty that they will devote months of their lives living on a bankside just for the chance of catching a fish at a weight slightly higher than last time are pretty sad. But they don't harm me, the fish, nor the wider image of angling. So they don't irritate me any more.

 

They're missing out, though. On what I would term real angling - attempting to catch big, unknown fish - and on life in general.

 

I suppose the disappointing thing for someone like me, an angler for nearly 40 years, is the realisation that record fish captures aren't the heroic, epic occasions I dreamed of as a kid.

 

As a kid, I could quote the record fish list. Still remember a lot of them now: Bill Penney's 3-14 roach from Lambeth Reservoir; Tommy Morgan's 47-11 pike from Lomond; The Rev EC Alston's 4-8 rudd from Ringmere; the three barbel that equalled the 14-6 record. Oh yes, and Neville Fickling's two record 12 lb-plus zander (can't forget them, I witnessed one of them at the age of 15).

 

I knew Neville wasn't a hero, of course. I went to school with him. But having record zander on our doorstep at the time made the heroic dream seem a distinct possibility.

 

Unfortunately, as the yeays accumulate, so does the cynicism. So, today, I'm cynical about the record fish chasers. But were the heroes of my youth any different?

 

Well, yes and no.

 

Yes, in as much as many of the record fish of that era were not caught by design. Specimen hunting (what for reasons that baffle me is today known as specialist angling) was in its infancy and most records were caught by accident.

 

No, in as much as the anglers who did catch them by design were no angels, even in those days. I won't give details - some of the people concerned aren't alive to defend themselves - but let's just say there were some stroke-pullers around...

 

At the end of the day, no matter how much you want to romance it, the record fish list is exactly what it says on the tin: a list of the heaviest fish landed fairly on rod and line. It is not a skill contest.

 

The comparison with a top athlete is spurious. There are tens of thousands of anglers in this country easily capable of catching Two-Tone, or any other big carp, if they given the opportunity. Are there that many runners who could compete against Christie?

 

The news that a lad had beaten the perch record, by accident, from a water where nobody knew it existed was simply brilliant. It put it all

into perspective.

 

That's what angling's all about. If I go fishing tomorrow and blank, but return the next day and fluke out a record fish, does that mean I had been transformed from a no-hoper into a superhero overnight?

 

Mind you, if I did fluke out that record, I'd feel a bit smug.......

[Peter Waller]

As a matter of interest Fenboy, did you used to hang around the engine sheds at Kings Lynn with Nev when you were both young?

[fenboy]

Nope. Trains didn't do it for me. There were no steam trains by then. Neville was into diesel locomotives - nasty, smelly things.

A little anectdote: Neville's fanaticism for engines echoed his piking. Not content with hanging around on platforms and taking note of the numbers of passing trains like other train spotters, he sneaked into the sidings and noted the umbers while they were parked up. Akin to shooting sitting ducks, I'd say.

 

Incidentally, Peter, it is King's Lynn with an apostrophe. A good Norfolk lad like yourself should know that!

[Peter Waller]

There is also an 'n' before 'umbers'!! !

Nev is quite famous for his hanging around sidings! You are not the first to relate his trainspotting to his piking.

Me, I'm Suffolk born & bred. Trouble is I went to school at Taverham in Norfolk, right alongside the Wensum, hence my support for City rather than Town.

Akin to shooting sitting ducks, you'd say. Ummm, bit like carp fishing then, maybe . But then I always missed sitting ducks too!!

[Guest allibee]

But these tens of thousands of capable anglers *aren't* given the opportunity, so there is probably as many fishing for Two Tone as there are people who could compete with LC who, to beat his fictional world record time, only really has to compete with himself anyway.

 

To me it makes no odds what the name is - nor the sport - either it is the fastest or the heaviest (or tallest/widest/deepest - whatever) or there is no point in having records at all.

 

Does this forum do polls?

 

Would be interesting to see the result of everyone who reads the thread....

[mpbdsnu]

The attitude of some regarding the targetting of 'specimens' is beyond me?

 

Mention has been made of people getting excited about the exact weight upon recapture of a specimen carp! Let me suggest it is some of the posters on here who are getting more excited about it than those who actually catch it! Live and let live, eh? If you don't want to target 'known' fish, then don't, but equally please don't keep knocking those that do!

 

Whilst on the subject of targetting known fish. Many of these anglers have an opportunity of buying a syndicate ticket for a year for a water, wherein resides a big 'known' carp. That may be the only chance of trying for the biggie! There surely are'nt many that can even afford to may such prices year in year out to constantly try to capture, in this instance 'Two-Tone'?

 

I have a syndicate ticket for 'Dovecote' and have done for the last two years (cheap by comparrison), and in this lake there is a carp of around 40lbs (a tiddler lol), but I don't go there specifically aiming to capture this fish! I go because I like the challenge the water gives me, in a syndicate you get to know fellow anglers, it is safe personally and for the car, and it is relatively close (35 miles). I think you will find that many others are of the same mind when it comes to syndicates! Not because they want a particular fish and want to get into the record books!

 

I now carp fish in France 2 or 3 times a year because there is a better chance of bigger carp for me to catch - but thats for personal reasons, not so that I can say - "look at me I've caught the biggest carp". I do it for me!

 

Last year I caught a sturgeon from Etang de Vaumigny that was the previous french record, but I did'nt make a big song and dance about it, but others did at the time because they were pleased for me! Do you see my point, its more often than not others who make a bigger deal of these things!

 

At some time or other Two-Tone is going to pass on to that Great Carp Lake in the sky (or whatever) and there will be other carp that come to the fore that anglers will have been catching previously for many years, then it will be their turn to get slated! It will never end.

 

[ 09. July 2004, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: mpbdsnu ]