I've been ranting a little too much lately. Tired of suffering old men chewing wasps and being bitter about the world changing, I've been somewhat frustrated and by turns disillusioned and angry with the fishing world. It's one thing to be raging at the dying of the light but do they have to do it on my watch? There's a thing that people of a certain age will get, and it tends to be blokes, it's helped me enormously. Imagine a musician called Zack De La Rocha, grit your teeth and shout 'bullet in your head' a few times. 'they say jump, you say how high. Your brain dead, you got a ...... bullet in your head' - I know, most of you won't have a bloody clue what I'm talking about but a few will know and that's enough :)

Anyway, anger is an energy and all that.

As a counterpoint to the frustration and anger at 'the man' the rivers have been fantastic, the weather has been more like early summer than early spring and the Nadder, normally a late season river has woken from her slumber a little earlier this year. I know, by saying this it's bound to snow next week but there is something about the neon greens of this time of year that encourages thoughts of the new, of birth (rebirth if you can see past chocolate eggs?), of optimism and of fishing to come. Autumn may be the part of the year where you watch the riverbanks and forests wither away, but April oh April, she brings daily growth, purpose and newness as stretching her arms, nature shakes her sleepy head and wakes up.

I may be frustrated with the establishment, but rod in hand I can drop fishing politics and escape once more to the joy that remains undiminished from those days as a boy trotting worms under bushes, illicitly searching for trout from the Axe.









~ malcolm

My last rant, and apologies for ranting quite so much, left me thinking a bit more about tradition and how it applies to us today.

Why do we stick with traditions? Sure there's allot to be said for learning from the past, knowing how things were done and why. Some of the most interesting bits I do at work are investigating historic infrastructure at properties; amazing that the victorians were so good at dual flush water systems, water turbines and innovation in general.

So tradition can be a helping hand, something that helps younger generations learn from mistakes made centuries gone. However, the world has changed more in the last few hundred years than many credit and the increasing rate of climate change is going to mean that the rate of change speeds up exponentially over the next century. Bizarre to think that my son, at the age of six, will live to see a world without mineral oil, a world where the quayside buildings of Brownsea Island where he was playing yesterday are well and truly swamped by rising sea levels. Who knows what other massive changes, for better and for worse he will see in the world around him.

On the flip side however, tradition can act as the ties that bind, stopping innovation and stifling creativity. I mean thinking about fishing alone, we are so tied to tradition, especially on the chalkstreams that it sometimes beggars belief. Dry fly, wet fly, upstream, split cane, tweed, manicured banks, stocked fish; the list goes on and on. I mean seriously do people fishing and shooting wear heavy barbour waxed jackets or tweed because they are superior to a good Goretex jacket? I don't believe so, and having worn both over the years I wouldn't consider going back from a performance fabric, albeit out of choice I'd be wearing a more sustainable choice than Goretex... Anyway, yes, the reason I argue that people wear that stuff is blind tradition, it's about looking the way you think an angler/hunter should look, regardless of the way they perform.

Even our fishing seasons are fixed in stone, bound by tradition. The Avon used to be famed for it's spring run of Salmon, now with water coming in heavy bursts in November/December the fish are apparently more prevalent in the system during Autumn/early winter; great news for the salmon, but bad news for the fishermen... The Salisbury trout season starts on April 1st and was made to do so in recognition of the changing nature of our seasons and the opportunity to fish the waters around the town at the same time as the massive Grannom hatches are taking place. We take allot of stick from other local clubs/syndicates/societies about opening that early as they don't open until May for the most part. Why? Well they'll claim more rest for the rivers but I'm not sure of the science behind that argument, if that was the case they'd ban fishing during the winter for Grayling; My bet is on the fact that a may opening is tradition. A date that older members of their exclusive cliques can comfortably raise their weary bones from their members club induced stupor and have their driver take them to the river in time to snooze in dappled sunlight on the river bank. Not such a bad thing but to give others a hard time because they break tradition and do something different is just barmy, go back to sleep grandad.

Fly fishing is dominated (apart from maybe on the salt flats?) by a generation of people who for a large part fail to see the changes, people who decry:

'We can't do that young man, we tried that 30 years ago and it didn't work'

'That's not in the rules, we cannot (will not) allow that'.

'Of course I knew Tarquin at school, ruddy good chap, what. Good at rugger, sound bat at the wicket. Buggered me senseless when he was head boy of course, but never killed me. Knew what was good for us in my day boy!'

I'm determined this year to break free of the shackles of fishing traditionalism. Whilst taking lessons from the past I want to move forwards, brave new world and all that! I want to see if it's possible to fish well, and not accepting inadequacies in performance, using rods that don't cost £400, simplifying setups as much as possible, surviving on two rods and one reel to cover 90% of your fishing needs. I'm going to be demanding on performace of my clothing and gear, but not beholden to a label or 'look'. Watch this space...

Toodlepip!













~ malcolm