I am led to wonder whether an email I sent to Graham on this very subject back in October 2008, might have prompted Graham's article in some way. ( Graham, I know you were busy retiring at the time but you never did reply as you promised ;=) )
Before sending the email, I had just returned to fishing after a break of about 32 years.
An extract from that email I sent is :
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"But hasn't fishing changed? I stopped (in the mid 70's) because I was finding it too easy, no challenge, and I was having no social life at all. And I had annoyed quite a few specimen hunters by publicly saying catching big fish was not really difficult. And ( 35 years on) so it has proved: these days everyone and his dog seems to fish for big fish, and to have success too. Baits of course being the main reason. Both more attractive to the fish, and being used to effectively "grow your own " big fish. It looks even easier now. In some respects it has devalued the old currency. In my day the tench record was 9-1. My old mate Alan Wilson upped it to 12 at Wilstone. And now with all the baits thrown in what is it? 17-ish? My own best fish, quite a few of which would have been assured of a front page Angling Times spot, had I reported them back then, would now barely make the print run.
But now almost everyone seems to fish in exactly the same way. Tackle, rigs, baits etc have "prescribed" exactly how you will fish. I walked around a carp water last weekend, and there were clones of anglers and their tackle all around the lake. Every one more or less identical. The average angler still does not seem to think about his fishing. Just spends the money and goes out, knowing that his prescription will catch him fish.
And if he fails: commercial waters: bird tables for fish. Take up your spot in the hide, thrown some crumbs on the table and catch fish. Astonishing.
But there is one other major fishing difference: and for me it is a sad difference. I was astounded to find that the carp in these hot waters are now caught so often that they are given names. People go out KNOWING what size the biggest fish in the water is. No sense of surprise, no "Oh my God: look at the size of that". In many ways that was part of the thrill: catching a fish no one else had, not knowing how big the fish in a water MIGHT be. Wondering if there was an even bigger one. There are obviously two ways to think about all this: is it a good thing, or not?"
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As you can see, I would probably go so far as to say angling has been "dumbed down". There are TV programs, DVD's, guiding, books by the hundred, the internet, forums, GOOD tackle that you don't have to make yourself, astonishingly effective baits, more information floating about than in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. People DO go into tackle shops and come out fully able to catch very big fish straight out of the box. You CAN buy success these days.
It is almost harder to find an angler these days who has NOT caught a double figure barbel, or a twenty plus carp. Everyone can catch big fish these days, and some of my statements, all those years ago, have become true to a degree that I would not have believed. At the extreme of modern angling it is all done for you: the hardest part is waking up, and getting out of bed in order to reel in the fish that has obligingly hooked itself.
It will always be possible to fish differently, to choose to use a greater degree of skill ( to make it harder for yourself?), and for most that will always be more enjoyable. But it would be silly to think that the clock can now be turned back. Many anglers will continue to fish with modern methods, to fish in fish farms..sorry commercials... and they will continue to enjoy doing so. Even the rivers do not really escape: they are fed daily with the trout pellets etc etc, and it is now the case that often the most fished swims produce the biggest fish. So the chances are that even your biggest barbel is a "farmed " fish. Given enough time ( and money) anyone can now generate an impressive big fish list. You do not need to be a Martin Bowler.
Since returning to fishing, I don't always seek out specimens, I vary how and where I fish, and can honestly say that I enjoy it far more, now that I have discarded all those big fish targets. I do still catch some very good fish, but it is no longer an essential end result.