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A great angler

Someone who has a passion for catching big fish of all species, does this consistently from a variety of waters in varying conditions and who can articulate the pleasure he/she has experienced whilst fishing, whether it be a good or a bad day in terms of fish on the bank, to those who are lesser mortals like myself.
 
Anthony Pearson said:
Someone who has a passion for catching big fish of all species, does this consistently from a variety of waters in varying conditions and who can articulate the pleasure he/she has experienced whilst fishing, whether it be a good or a bad day in terms of fish on the bank, to those who are lesser mortals like myself.
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You,ve just described " A Passion For Angling " :) And the reasons why i never get tired of watching it. :)
 
I would define a truly great angler as someone that;

- Enjoys every minute that they spend on the bank.
- Leaves no trace behind them.
- Finds the time to help and impart knowledge to other anglers, especially younger ones or beginners.
- Doesn't feel the need to bull2hit about what they catch.
 
Being good at it. The snag is that unless they are match fishing, or are prepared to publicise everything they do, great anglers will never be known as such. There are plenty of great anglers out there that only a handfull of other anglers will know about.
 
Being good at it. The snag is that unless they are match fishing, or are prepared to publicise everything they do, great anglers will never be known as such. There are plenty of great anglers out there that only a handfull of other anglers will know about.

The above is very true. Having match fished for years you tend to know where you are on the scale and how good others are from reputation and past results! I always thought great anglers were the ones that make the best of what's infront of them. With barbel fishing I'd say it's someone who understands the river in all it's conditions and how the fish react in those situations. I'd also say that a great angler is someone who is at ease fishing all methods, usually why they are great because they can adapt and fish the right method for the conditions!
 
Graham Elliott said:
How do you know they are great then Nick?
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Because if your in a position of trust and get let into the circle of trust you get to know who the consistent anglers. Any fool can catch a good fish once. When you keep catching good fish and very few know about it you've cracked it imho.

Media whores need not apply.
 
Mr Crabtree.
J.R.Hartley.
Quint.
The old man of the sea....


All mythical, like so many so called Great Anglers...... for myself, as stated earlier, great anglers are all around us, its just that imo, they dont advertise,or feel the need for recognition by peers, they just go out and do it !

Oh, and I would NEVER describe any match angler as being great. I think that when money becomes the reason for being on the bank, the passion for prize money outweighs any other reason for being here.

Ashamed to say been there, done it, so speak from experience... but I managed to get out before it took over.


I can add puddle pig anglers in the above as well, I dont think there is anything great about sitting in a tent for hours ,waiting for something that has grown abnormally large on freebies to attack one of perhaps 3 of your baits , then having landed it, say that it was skill that caught it.

Dave
 
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Nick. So someone heard about it :p

So as you publicised your severn fish does that class you as a media whore?
 
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Graham Elliott said:
Nick. So someone heard about it :p

So as publicised your severn fish does that class you as a media whore?
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Your only going on information I have given you Graham. Smoke and mirrors is the game. Young Sam me and another person who is on the syndicate are the only people who know what the fish weighed. I gave a figure as an angler opposite me was very interested. Had I no witnesses you wouldn't have heard about it.


Nice 7lb tench by the way.
 
Nick Anderson said:
Because if your in a position of trust and get let into the circle of trust you get to know who the consistent anglers. Any fool can catch a good fish once. When you keep catching good fish and very few know about it you've cracked it imho.

Media whores need not apply.
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I don't understand why it should matter whether or not people "know about it" in order to determine if someone is or isn't a great angler. I think it would be highly disingenuous to suggest that so called "named" anglers are, by definition, not great anglers simply because they have profile.

It's a difficult question to answer because much of it is about personal perspective and personal values. For me, Karl has pretty much captured it in his post, particularly in relation to reading a river, understanding it and having an instinct for what's happening beneath the surface and how fish are likely to respond to changing conditions.

And lastly, one thing I know for certain. I am not one of them.
 
Howard, there are "named" anglers out there who weekly publish tripe photos of catches. There is a certain midland angler who takes pictures with other peoples catches. Why? Because it sells papers/magazines.

That is not a great angler in my eyes.
 
Oh, and I would NEVER describe any match angler as being great. I think that when money becomes the reason for being on the bank, the passion for prize money outweighs any other reason for being here.

I have to disagree with you there, just because you might get a few quid for winning doesn't mean you fish specifically for money. Personally money doesn't mean anything in match fishing, yes it pays for itself but I'd think anyone that fished for money a bit sad. I know some great match anglers and if they turned there hands to another style of fishing they'd be great at that too!
I know this is a barbel forum but credit where credits due.
 
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