Realistic Flies

[Pearly Invicta]

I've seen some obnoxious behaviour at competitions and I've also attended club outings where the competition was friendly and it was all great fun.

I'm glad that Crombie Loch doesn't have enough boats to make it onto the competition circuit but I've nothing at all against competitions run by responsible clubs.

Some water to me just seem to attract competitive anglers- Rescobie springs to mind- and i find the atmosphere unpleasant at times.

[Wildfisher]

Rescobie is the kind of   place where people who have forgotten  what real fishing is  about go. They are not  quite dubs like Insch and Kingennie etc, more a legacy of the 1970s pre-dub-epoch.  There are loads of places like that. Butterstone, Fitty, Lintrathen and now Carron. A Scottish manifestation of the English reservoir scene I suppose.  They are welcome to it.

[Wildfisher]

Don't believe anyone has lambasted anyone Allan, just expressing opinions. You are right of course, if you don’t like it then don’t do it however that does not mean you automatically  escape  some of  its less desirable effects. Rainbows in Carron and Lintrathen for example are  without doubt  to a greater degree   attributable to competition fishing. Of course it’s not   all doom and gloom competitions can be run responsibly and the social side may be the cement that holds some associations together –  Orkney springs   to mind and most certainly the Loch Shin annual bash can be held up as a tasteful event. Even there though I got my ear  bent by a certain chap in the guest house who put his own lack of success down to his boat partner hogging all the best spots by  pointing the boat in such a way to keep him out of the productive water.    Human nature and very sad that after such great fishing and a lovely day that was what he focused on.  I had to bite my tongue not tell him to get a fucking life!    Introduce a competitive element and it  can bring out less desirable traits in any  of us, especially  if there are prizes or status involved. I think that thread about the SANA competitions on the  fly fishing forums a few weeks ago just about said it all. That kind of stuff does angling no favours.

[Traditionalist]

Hmmm............  I was not slagging off people, I was slagging off a principle.

May be of interest to discover that competitions are illegal here, and also that the word "sport" has been removed from official documents, such as the angling test and the angling licence.  I am not making any comment on that, either for or against, merely pointing it out.

You may thank the greens and various animal rights people for that.  Apparently, calling angling a "sport" implies the misuse of fish for personal gratification, which would incidentally also be illegal here anyway. It is actually illegal to target fish at all, unless you specifically wish to eat them.

There are a few anglers outside Britain you know, actually far more than there are inside!

I have also passed a few exams, there are quite a few which are mandatory here if you wish to engage in some things. Indeed, if you wish to angle at all you have to pass various tests.  If you wish to instruct, you also have to pass the relevant tests, and if you wish to hold certain posts in a club etc, then you must possess the relevant qualifications for that post.

All these posts are honorary. Nobody gets paid for instructing. These are organised by the two main angling bodies in conjunction with the state water authorities.

Anybody who wishes to fly-fish must prove a certain level of competence in order to pass the relevant test. This includes casting.

This is quite different from some places, where it seems everyone and his dog has some sort of qualification or other, no sensible standards are apparent, and the beginning angler is largely left to his own devices.

TL
MC

[The General]

Both of you coz he would feel himself to be a winner too if he caught most fish.


I thoroughly enjoyed match fishing during my time in Birmingham.  I thoroughly enjoyed
course fishing and learned an awful lot that has helped in my fly fishing phase.
As there was no wild trout fishing in the Midlands (well not available to me anyway), I
had to make do with Packington, Rutland etc.   Believe me there were some seriously
good fly fishermen down there that had never had the experience of fishing up here.
I can honestly say that especially during the winter months I really miss the course fishing.
Competition fishing for trout doesn't excite me personally as mostly it is subsurface and
not too far removed from spinning.   I have nothing against spinning, I love seeing the fly take etc.


Davie

[nant_fisher]

If they wanted to make it a true competition surely an angler testing his skills against truly wild trout would be the true way to determine a winner. If rainbows are stocked fresh the last thing they have known is pellets so its straight on with something flashy and pretty much anyone with a reasonable knowledge of casting can catch them. A wild brown trout however needs a careful choice of flys, much stealth and better tactics. Not as many wild trout would be caught and the venue could be moved from loch to loch to take pressure off of the wild stocks. I know i would rather catch brownies anyway.

Cheers

Robbie

[Traditionalist]

Hi Mike,
             "This is quite different from some places, where it seems everyone and his dog has some sort of qualification or other, no sensible standards are apparent, and the beginning angler is largely left to his own devices"

That may be the case in Germany or Holland , but not in France or Spain,  I understand , nor in the U.K, either.

Paul.

PS: please respond if you know different.

Not sure what you are asking me here? I don?t know much about the various mores in many other places, only what I read, and other anglers tell me.

TL
MC

[Traditionalist]

I live in Germany. You can?t fish at all here without passing a test. This ensures that every angler has certain basic knowledge before he even goes near the water.  This has a number of advantages.  Of course, like almost everything else, it has a number of disadvantages as well.

But one thing it does help with, is avoiding getting ripped off for tackle!  If you know how to cast, what you need to do it, and roughly what you wish to achieve in this regard, then you can?t be fobbed off with "hype", and you are less likely to believe glossy magazines.

There are other aspects as well.

TL
MC

[Wildfisher]

Sometimes qualifications do matter :

"two degrees in be-bop a PhD in swing, he's a master of rhythm he's a rock and roll king"

Lowell George RIP 

[rabbitangler]

I consider myself to be a fly tier not a dresser,

Splitting Hares (ears) surely Breac,I too have been tying flies for more years than I would like to admit, but my point is that if you want to be taught/instructed/coached or whatever you have to have confidence in your teachers ability. This may be due to their reputation, recommendation or because they have a certificate to say they have passed a test. In these cases the only proof anyone has, especially if they are teaching outwith a club is to be able to produce their 'bit of paper'.
Try teaching kids or vulnerable adults without you bit of disclosure paper today and you may end up in the pokey. Most of the instructing I do is with kids, so I've got disclosures coming out of my ears. I don't charge them a fee (mostly its for pupils at my school) and I probably wouldn't be allowed to take them fishing if I wasn't qualified in some way. If I want to continue doing this in the future I have to have a recognised qualification - so I'm qualified. It's not an ego trip, it's not a money making scheme (theres not enougfh to go round anyway), I love my sport, and I feel if there were more kids involved in angling there would be fewer roaming the streets doing all the usual tabloid headline things.