What (if anything) have you learned from fishing TV ?

[Ken L]

I was fishing the other night with a couple of guys and they asked me how I rig a sardine as bait when sea fishing. I showed them how so the fish is held in place with a half hich on the tail and the hook perfectly exposed.

I was then told that they would normally have used elastic thread and only asked because they hadn't got any with them.

They admitted that the half hitch method was better and asked where I learned it.

I had to rather shame facedly admit that it was pure Rex Hunt.

 

I'm sure there are other things that I've picked up from shows but generally I tend to find that in a desperate effort to make a program that will appeal to a wider audience, technical stuff tends to hit the cutting room floor first.

 

Is anyone prepared to admit to doing stuff that's been copied from or inspired by a TV fishing show ?

[Anderoo]

Definitely! None of my family fished so I picked everything up from reading 'Coarse Fishing Today' magazine (which was great, I kept every edition and used to refer to it like a library) and watching Wilson. I'm sure that's where my seasonal 'all-rounder' approach came from, and my love of being mobile - stalking and moving about.

 

I know opinion is divided over old Wilson, but I certainly owe him an awful lot.

[tincatinca]

To be perfectly honest, I will take ideas from anywhere if I feel there is merit to them. On many occassions, it is that little bit of additional knowledge combined with a different approach that can turn failure into success.

[bingo]

Definitely! None of my family fished so I picked everything up from reading 'Coarse Fishing Today' magazine (which was great, I kept every edition and used to refer to it like a library) and watching Wilson. I'm sure that's where my seasonal 'all-rounder' approach came from, and my love of being mobile - stalking and moving about.

 

I know opinion is divided over old Wilson, but I certainly owe him an awful lot.

 

I'm with you on both of those. Although when pike fishing Wilson always does that thing with rubber bands and I've never worked out it's purpose!

 

I'm very good at watching TV but very bad at putting things into practice. I'll often re-watch a programme and go "oh yeah, I meant to try that out" but never get round to it.......

 

Probably the biggest thing I've learnt though is that when you're playing a fish in real life you don't get any musical accompaniment from an 80s-inspired eletric guitar solo. Sadly.

 

Passion for Angling got me interested in fishing in the first place. Very inspirational and still is to this day!

 

PS

 

What's a half hitch?

[bluerinse]

I can't remember which show it was but I leant and have put into practice using black flies for chub on small rivers, it really works. I had been trying for ages to catch chub on the fly on the river Arrow and had had very little success, I then watched this show and tried a blobby black fly (tied by me) and it was instant success.

[Steve Walker]

I've learnt the most irritating laugh EVER. Thanks, JW

 

Funny, when JW's first series hit the screens in '86, my friends and I were avid viewers, but being all of 12 or 13 years old we of course knew everything and were horrified at what heavy tackle he used. We rolled about laughing when he talked about a "tiny size 16 hook"; one or two pinkies on a #20 or #22 was normal for us, #24 was small, #18 was large and a #16 or #14 was something used to hang meat in a butcher's shop! On the waters we fished, you could have used Wilson's gear and not had a bite for weeks!

 

The irony is that most of my fishing now is much more similar to what Wilson was doing, using big baits on waters with decent fish in them. We'd have loved to have had access then to the kind of fishing I take for granted now.

[carphead100]

Yer I must admit that I have learnt quite a lot from watching fishing programmes!!! It is actually seeing it be done and proving that it does actually work and that it being physically shown to the viewer that does it for me.

 

Tight Lines.

[phil dean]

i learnt about chubbing with bread mash between TV and here..........but it's fair to say that I've picked more up on here than any other single place.

[chesters1]

i learnt its ok not to use a landing net by someone or other on horse and country

[Ken L]

The mention of Mr Wilson reminded me that it was probably his programs that inspired be to go and buy a fly rod. I now own several and although I use them regularly and have caught plenty of fish on them, I can count the number of trout I've had on one hand.

It was probably Rex Hunt that inspired me to go chasing tropical beasties.

 

I tend to agree about the internet in general and forums inparticular being a better source of information and inspiration and this is probably the biggest positive change in fishing to have occurred in the last 30 years.