I was sitting here just now thinking to myself, what a mixed bag of fishermen we have on FM. Spurred on by a recent thread perhaps on what do we get most from fishing.
‘Scruffy bugger with a broad accent’
Graham Marsden
I started thinking about the types of guys we are. And what we all want from this great sport. We have our editor Mr Graham Marsden – now here is a guy I have a lot of admiration for. A guy that cares about this sport so much that he puts not only time and effort into his fishing, but also into this website that gives so many of us so much pleasure. I recently had a DVD set bought me by my wife and in this set was a video of that great man teaching us all how to go about catching chub and may I say I enjoyed it very much. Why I enjoyed it so much was the fact that he was just himself, broad accent, (scruffy bugger) but right to the point, very informative and if anyone has seen it you should be catching chub right now. Thank you Graham.
‘On the ball’
Mark Wintle
Now here is a guy that is on the ball. He has written so many good articles; if you haven’t learned anything by them yet you never will. I know perhaps he has his own way of setting up and his own ideals on fishing. For my mind one of the best waggler anglers we have although being a former match angler pole fishing too seems to be his forte. After 37 years of fishing he must know something, so if you haven’t yet read any of his articles then go for it, or you’re really missing out. A thinking man to my mind that puts a great deal of effort into his fishing , and not only that he is willing to share it with us. Thank you Mark.
‘Deserves our respect’
Kevin Perkins
What do you say about this man? Only that he is a man after my own heart. Loves his fishing, thinks about fishing as it should be. And cares for others. He has written some lovely articles and deserves our respect. Again a man that is willing to share his passion for angling with us all. But in a way that we understand and with a certain humour. Thank you Kevin.
‘A genius who ties me in knots’
John Conway
Jesus, what a guy. Now here is a man that ties me up in knots. I can’t even pronounce some of the words he uses: is this a thinking man or what? The only guy I know that has a degree in weather forecasting, global warming, atmospheric pressure gauges and, most likely, combustible steam engines. But this is John and this is what he likes to do. He writes the most fantastic articles I have ever read – well what bits I can understand that is, but having said that he is a genius when it comes to working stuff out that will no doubt help us to understand how these things affect our fishing. And well they might do but I am not into these fine arts but still have a great respect for those who spend a great deal of time writing for us. Thank you John.
‘A wealth of knowledge’
Jeff Woodhouse
Many, many articles written by this man. Fishing over 50 years, a wealth of knowledge just in one man. Every kind of fishing you can think of has been covered in his articles. Either he loves fishing or writing, one of the two, or both. But the time given by this man to angling, angling clubs, and to our own FM will have a hard time being matched by anyone else. I think you’ll agree. Thank you Jeff.
‘What can you say about this guy?’
Ron (The Hat) Clay
What does one say about this guy? Been there, done it and bought a few tee shirts. Just this: we all love you mate and miss you dearly . Get well soon.
And the rest of the bunch on here are just the same, we all love our sport one way or another and share on here our thoughts with friends. Friends we’ve made through FM. And I hope it continues for a long time to come.
But getting back to the start of this article what a mixed bag we are, and isn’t it good that we are that way, all having a difference of opinion. People writing articles about fishing, who is right, who is wrong. Is there a right and wrong way to do things? Well, all these guys that write these articles are writing them from their own experiences, on their own evaluations, even me. So what do we do?
‘Bob ‘Chubber’ Lancaster’
Well, the answer is to read them all and take that to the bank and try it. Take bits of information from each, try the things that these guys write about; they can’t all be wrong. Even they are learning more each day, as we never stop learning. All I know is without the knowledge of all the guys I’ve mentioned above and more I would not be half as good as I am today. If we don’t take time to read theses article then it’s our fault if we don’t learn. You get out what you put in, so let’s get our reading glasses out and have a go.
And what’s more, if you have something to say then let’s hear it, because, believe it or not, it all helps at the end of the day. Let’s make fishing a better sport. Whether you get out for a whole day and carry boat loads of gear or just grab a rod, reel and some bait and have a walk around for the odd fish. Just enjoy it. And when you catch one, spare a thought for all the guys on here that have helped you catch it.
