As the elements howled around and SWMBO watched some crepe on the box, I retired to bed with a good book and an equally good malt.
I managed to get to page 38 before sleep overtook me, the malt was finished though, but not before I marked this quote, the italics are mine.
"Incredible as it may seem I have known two expert fishermen to quarrel in print as to which of the two had caught the greater number and heavier weight of salmon over a given period. I lost sight of this unsavoury squabble after it had reached the point where the disputants were having at each other over the question of how light a salmon should be before it fell out of the argument and became a grilse. Neither of the experts had a grateful word to say about the phenomenal sport he had enjoyed, nor apparently had it occurred to either that the rest of the world was not interested. Nothing is more contrary to the spirit of angling than wrangling, nothing more detrimental to the enjoyment of fishing than competition."
"About Fishing" Robert Hartman, 1935
Quote from: Inchlaggan on November 25, 2011, 04:55:03 PM
Nothing is more contrary to the spirit of angling than wrangling, nothing more detrimental to the enjoyment of fishing than competition."
Indeed. As you say nothing is new. As Bob Wyatt wrote it can turn fly fishing into a kind of pissing competition.
Such wrangling can ruin an enjoyable pastime. Avoiding this behaviour is one of the reason I prefer to fish in secluded locations.
Don't catch that much anyway - I just enjoy trying to cast a fly in those secluded locations :roll: