It's Fishing Wilf, But Not As We Know It!

[@Clive]

Just under a year ago I started taking an old friend fishing. He's about 83 and has fished since he was in his 20's yet has the skill level of an 8 year old who has never fished before in his life. Even after 10 months of patient instruction he still insists on holding the rod 6" below the handle, pointing the rod directly at the fish and winding in like a match angler would retrieve a float. When invariably the fish gets off he doesn't see the relevance of him not using the rod as a shock absorber and carries on regardless. He doesn't stop winding until the float or feeder reaches the tip guide which makes the netting of any larger fish that is still attached almost impossible, and the unhooking process of small fish has be done by him walking to the end of the rod where the fish is dangling from. His casting routine involves three changes of grip and can only be completed standing up with what tennis players would call a back hand shot. During the changing of the grip process the feeder is trailing in the water discharging its load.

I thought that I had seen it all, but yesterday he told me about his last solo fishing trip that he had towards the end of last year. He went to a place that I had shown him previously where he could park his van near to the water. He got snagged on the bottom first cast possibly because plumbing the depth is an alien concept to him. He lost his hook so carried on casting out and watching his float for two hours without any hook or bait being attached to the line. When I naturally asked why he hadn't replaced the hook he said that it would only have got snagged again!

I didn't ask him if he had caught anything.

 

[wetthrough]

I've watched some episodes of Mortimer and Wise gone fishing for second time and have to admit that while it was amusing first time I find Mortimers incompetence really annoying second time round.

 

[mikench]

Sounds a lot like me.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I've watched some episodes of Mortimer and Wise gone fishing for second time and have to admit that while it was amusing first time I find Mortimers incompetence really annoying second time round.

Likewise. I like his personality, but no adult could be that incompetent without it being deliberate. He said in his autobiography that he was a very good footballer when he was younger, which rules out dyspraxia. In fact I have taught children to have better skills in one trip than he seems to have after several series under the tuition of John Bailey. Same with falling over, I fell over a while back into a quagmire, but if I was to do so every other trip I would pack it in. Apart from that I find it really good, lol.

 

[nottskev]

I take the programme on its own terms, and I enjoy it. But those moments of panic (or pretend panic) from Bob grate. There's just no reason for a man to hold a rod with a fish on like it's an unexploded bomb or shriek "I'm not winding". He's witty man with an eccentric sense of humour and he can drop the clowning, for me.

 

[@Clive]

Likewise. I like his personality, but no adult could be that incompetent without it being deliberate. He said in his autobiography that he was a very good footballer when he was younger, which rules out dyspraxia. In fact I have taught children to have better skills in one trip than he seems to have after several series under the tuition of John Bailey. Same with falling over, I fell over a while back into a quagmire, but if I was to do so every other trip I would pack it in. Apart from that I find it really good, lol.

Ray, I thought exactly that too until I took Wilf fishing. He will not or cannot hold the rod properly and so his casting, striking & playing fish are all compromised simply because of his inability or reluctance to do that. Every session is like Groundghog day with a great part of my time spent sorting out his tangles and unnecessary breakages and no progress to report.

Wilf falls over a lot too.

 

[Philip]

He lost his hook so carried on casting out and watching his float for two hours without any hook or bait being attached to the line. When I naturally asked why he hadn't replaced the hook he said that it would only have got snagged again

He has my respect !

At least he is actually putting into practice the endlessly quoted (but rarely actually demonstrated) adages that fishing is "more than just catching" and "just being there" ...is enough !

I suspect Wilf will also be a subscriber to "weight is not important" as well

 

[@Clive]

Every time he catches a fish he asks me what it is. After over 60 years of fishing he would not be able to tell a roach from a bream let alone a chub. Last year he was driving back from a tractor rally and stopped off at a village, the name of which he couldn't remember, and saw some fish in a pool on a small river. I knew where it was from his loose description and direction of travel. He went back to the van, got his tackle and spent a wonderful three hours unsuccessfully fishing for what were trout in a river that is closed for fishing being a nature reserve and in any case it was outside of the trout season.

 

[nottskev]

Too good for just FM, this, Clive. You should be pitching it as a tv series, you in the Whitehouse role.

 

[@Clive]

Too good for just FM, this, Clive. You should be pitching it as a tv series, you in the Whitehouse role.

Nobody would believe that it isn't staged.

Anyway, you would be much better placed to do the teaching and I could go off alone to places where I cannot risk taking him for fear of him losing a rod or falling into a deep river swim. I'll send him over. I'm sure that his wife won't mind.

 

[nottskev]

Nobody would believe that it isn't staged.

Anyway, you would be much better placed to do the teaching and I could go off alone to places where I cannot risk taking him for fear of him losing a rod or falling into a deep river swim. I'll send him over. I'm sure that his wife won't mind.

Ok Can't remember meeting a Wilf. Name's due a revival. I saw a class act at the Colne Blues Festival in East Lancs years ago. He called himself Howling Wilf. You could buy copies of his CD, Cry Wilf.

 

[Mark Wintle]

I'm enjoy Gone fishing but Bob's incompetence irks me at times, and I'd have thought Paul would be a lot better at trotting.

 

[@Clive]

Ok Can't remember meeting a Wilf. Name's due a revival. I saw a class act at the Colne Blues Festival in East Lancs years ago. He called himself Howling Wilf. You could buy copies of his CD, Cry Wilf.

He is a character. He was co-joined to a twin brother with only one working lung between them. He survived, his brother didn't. After 8 years of failed medical treatment to inflate the redundant lung a quack took him on and had him good enough to run cross-country. His uncle was killed in the battle of Verdun in WW1 and he has the middle name of that place. This name saved him from speeding fines when he got stopped in his lorry travelling through France. His regular route took him around East Germany to the far east of Europe. When the Berlin Wall came down he was one of the first Brits to regularly travel into the heart of that country and to witness him the westernisation of the country.

Wilf can tell you the differences between a 1954 Renault tractor to one made two years later. But still doesn't recognise a roach when he sees one.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Mortimer's ability at slapstick is excellent, his falls are so obviously put on it's embarrassing ...

 

[steve2]

I watch Go Fishing for entertainment not for the fishing content. Just sit back and enjoy it for what it is two friends having a day out. I wish I could have days like it. Still the best fishing program I rate it up there Passion for Angling.

 

[Alan Whitty]

I agree Steve, but with Bob Mortimer it isn't necessary for him to fall over, he is funny enough anyway, watch clips of him on YouTube....

 

[nottskev]

I've criticised Bob's pantomime of playing and landing fish, but I should say it can be great to see his delight at the fish he catches. Takes you back to when you can't believe you've got one on the bank.

 

[John Aston]

On the Chesil Beach episode I said to Joanne(who, tellingly , enjoys the programme hugely , if not the sport it depicts ) 'I guarantee Bob is not going to lose his footing on the shingle and fall in here .' Helluva difference between falling on some mud at the side of a pond and falling in the sea ...

I take it for what it is ,and I know I am meant to be triggered by stuff like Bob's inability even to hold the bloody rod right . It's not important that I am , the show is essentially about friendship, loss and mortality.

 

[ian g]

Spot on John , funny , thoughtful and fishing , my wife has exactly the same view.

 

[Blue Fisher]

It’s great that the producers have found a way that a fishing program can be sufficiently generally popular that it actually gets to be shown on a main stream tv channel.
I think it portrays the joy of catching and just being there very well, although a bit over the top occasionally.
What really spoils tv programs for me is actors fishing. It’s often clear they are struggling to decide what end of the rod to hold. Its so refreshing when an actor who does fish portrays a fishing scene.