John Aston
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2007
- Messages
- 938
- Reaction score
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Why sneer? French nymphing is a well recognised and effective technique and it's not called French for pompous reasons , but because the style originated in France. It's not for me - but neither is session carping or match fishing -and I don't look down on either , except to smile to myself about anglers of any stamp who take the sport and themselves all far too seriously ."I’m torn on the subject of approach. Fly might be more purist, but the history of trotting for grayling is a long and noble one."
I really don't go for this nostalgic upper class stuff. Why is fly "more purist"? There's a tv fishing programme called On the Bank, and a fly-favouring presenter is often featured walking into small rivers, unconcealed and sticking out like a sore thumb, and fishing for grayling with a bunch of fly-type lures on a short line dignified with some pompous name like "French Nymphing" and trotting it from a couple of metres above his waders to a couple below. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing to write home about, is it? Start stamping about in the canal or my local small river and see how many good roach you catch. And what does "noble" mean? And is catching grayling on the float more "noble" than catching chub and dace? Why? In my experience, grayling are relatively rare, but when they are present - I've caught them in the Dee, the Dove, the Derwent, the Don and the Trent - I've found they are onto your bait as fast as those daft trout they tend to live amongst. I like them as a species, and I'm sure lots of anglers have more experience than me of catching them, but I do find they get surrounded in some tosh. They're once, twice, three times a Lady........
Upper class stuff? You're tilting at long dead stereotypes there . Sure , some posh people fish - why on earth shouldn't they , in the same way as thee and me do ? We all have far more in common than we have apart and , having fly fished nearly as long as I have coarse fished, I love both but certainly don't elevate one above the other. I'd far rather trot for grayling but prefer to fly fish for trout , and I enjoy the challenge of catching dace and chub on fly every bit as much as I do trout. And I'm as happy lift method fishing for tench , wag 'n mag for roach or lure fishing for pike or perch .
I utterly loathe snobbery in angling - whether about species, method of choice or perceived class of angler. If anything ,inverted snobbery is even worse .