Sample chapter from Traditional Angling
Reverend James Periwinkle sat in his rocking chair and gazed longingly through the leaded windows of his thatched cottage. He stared past roses blooming beneath the window, past the blossoming hawthorn hedge at the end of his garden, and into the meadow beyond. The scene was bathed in the hazy light of early summer and the air was alive with the flitting of swallows on the breeze. “Today is a fine day,” he thought, “a day for fine angling.”
One hundred miles away, Dan Flash stood in the kitchen of his designer apartment, grinding his morning coffee and staring through expansive glass windows to the bustle of cars and people below. To him, city life was exciting. He loved its social excesses, and the energy and adrenaline of existence. “Today will be a fine day,” he mused, “a day for fine angling.”
Reverend Periwinkle and Dan Flash packed their tackle and left their homes in search of angling pleasures. The sun was burning the ground by the time they arrived at their destination. Reverend Periwinkle leant his bicycle against a tree and breathed in the richly scented air; Dan Flash exited his taxi and paid its driver. Each man was glad to cease their journey and head towards the shade of the lakeside trees.
“Afternoon, Jim,” said Dan.
“My warmest greetings,” replied the Reverend. “It is a fine day.”
“That it is; I’m glad you could join me.”
“On a day like today, St. Peter will surely accompany us too. It is meant to be.”
A wicker creel was opened and a vintage reel removed from a leather case. A rod bag was slowly untied to reveal a bamboo rod.
“In such perfect conditions,” said Revered Periwinkle, “it seems only right to be fishing traditionally.”
“But Jim,” said Dan, “I always fish like this.”
Traditional sense takes many guises, in some more than others. It is a statement of one’s belief in old-fashioned values, sparked by an affinity with the past. In angling, it draws the angler towards fishing in a way that feels comfortable and right. His approach may be different to his peers, but he is compelled to stay true to his principles. He may look and fish differently to other anglers, but this is merely an outward communication of his soul, a unique and faithful interpretation of what he senses to be spiritually and aesthetically correct. It defines him. What happens then if the angler’s sense of identity contradicts the fashions of the age? What if his beliefs defy the norm? Is he a freak, ostracised for his beliefs, or is he a respected individual, praised for being different? Does he attempt, or want, to fit in? Is he on a different path entirely?
There has been a change in angling during the past fifty years. A change that relies upon technology to catch one’s fish. Skill and experience are still required, to a degree, but the advances in tackle and tactics make it possible to circumvent much of the learning curve. This greater utilisation of technology and science has resulted in fishing tackle becoming space age in its design and effectiveness. Angling tactics, especially in modern carp fishing, have become heavy-handed. Up to four rods may be used at any one time. The angling process is automated. It might be efficient fishing, but is it angling? Such lethal effectiveness is a declaration of desperation. It is war at the water’s edge. Sadly, this style of fishing is now the norm.
Some will say that in modern angling, the odds are stacked unfavourably towards the angler, that the fish are victims of an assault. So much technological gadgetry invented with the purpose of reducing the need for skill. The biggest change is that modern angling has become too serious. Catching fish has become the be-all and end-all of the act. Individuals seek ‘careers’ from angling. Wives and children are ignored. For these modern anglers, catching fish is an all-encompassing obsession.
When everything in life is secondary to fishing, when fish have become the greatest fantasy that a man can desire, it’s time to stop calling angling a recreation and time to start calling the doctor. While modern anglers have their target fish, top rods, catch rates and pop-up detached homes, a traditionalist’s values that are gleaned from all that is good from the past. Loyalties, family values, humility, love; such things are important to the traditionalist. It’s true that plenty of good exists in present times and ways, and this should be accommodated, but when the fundamental ‘logic’ of angling has become so alien to the natural sportsman’s ethic, what then should the traditional angler do? Those with a traditional sense will follow what their hearts tell them is right. They will fish and live in a manner that feels comfortable. They are just as likely to listen to vinyl records, drive a classic car or write with a fountain pen as use a bamboo rod. There is a sense of satisfaction in being individual, breaking free from the flock to avoid the predictable midsummer haircut. The learning? Listen to your heart, not your head.
Physics teaches us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction: a natural balance of energy that sustains the equilibrium of life. In modern angling, these forces are skewed so far in favour of technology that the balance between science and art has been lost. But there is a movement, an undercurrent that defies the flow of progress. There are those who choose not to follow the crowd. They seek not to fish in a predictable, scientific manner. They yearn for the opposite, to buck the trend, to be different. They are the Traditional Anglers.
The Traditional Angling movement began most noticeably during the 1980s. It was a deliberate reaction to the way that angling, especially carp angling, was evolving. There came a convergence of like-minded individuals who sought something different from their sport, something that was lost with the advent of modern ‘specimen hunting’. They sought to preserve the angling spirit of a ‘lost’ age, when time moved slower and fish were not ‘scaled down’ to weights and measures. They were all of a traditional sense, where their simple style of fishing merely reflected their broader outlook on life. It was the natural and only way for them to fish. It was not, as some have suggested, ‘an airy-fairy re-enactment society’. Nor was it an illusion or fantasy of a golden age of angling. These men and women were just going fishing.
At a time when it’s fashionable to appear butch when fishing, when anglers no longer smile when posing with a fish, it’s easy to see that a macho mentality disconnects the individual from the softer side of angling. “Aren’t I butch, aren’t I hard, aren’t I a real man (as I pose here with this 64lb 12oz carp-pig hybrid). Aren’t I the man you want to be?” It’s reassuring that traditional anglers, especially the purists, have the courage of their convictions to express their sensitive sides and be different. And they are different. They are eccentrically different. Something that an actor’s agent might call “a bit special”. Their recoil from modern angling is equivalent to a golfer playing with bamboo-shafted golf clubs, a darts player using feather flights, or a cricket team using a two-stumped wicket. Their behaviour is extreme; it is not for the masses.
The stereotypical traditional angler will use old tackle, such as a bamboo rod and a centrepin reel; they will carry a wicker creel full of artisan crafted floats and tackle; clothing will be traditional country tweeds or a wax jacket and moleskins; they will have a ‘defining hat’ in a traditional style and a well-honed look of being ‘at one’ with Nature. Camouflage gear, baseball caps and trainers are definitely out.
Anglers have traditionally strived to use the latest and most efficient tackle and tactics available. Angling, after all, is a form of hunting. If the act were inefficient, then the hunter’s family would starve. Traditional anglers are not traditional; they are retro. However, modern specimen angling has evolved into the equivalent of taking a machine gun to a duck pond, so where’s the tradition in that?
If an angler’s priority is to catch fish, then modern tackle and tactics are the most efficient means of achieving success. But traditional anglers, whatever their choice of tackle, are fishing for something else. If they do catch, it is an incidental pleasure. Therein is the soul of the traditional angler: a yearning for a slower, simpler life, where enjoyment is sought more in apparent lack of activity than activity. The traditionalist’s old-fashioned approach is often an act of escapism, moving further from the fast-paced, technology dependent, modern world. It’s also a journey, like realising that a digital watch (the one that plays The Birdie Song at six o’clock each morning) ruins the ambience of the dawn chorus. You buy a wind-up watch as a replacement then realise that you don’t need a watch, because you can tell the time by the height of the sun. Finally, you realise that time isn’t important at all…
Traditional anglers still catch fish, but it is on their terms, by their rules. Theirs is not, as you might think, a self-limiting crusade. What is sometimes sacrificed in weights of fish is gained in closeness to Nature. It is the goings-on between bites that excites the traditionalist as much as when the float goes under. Indeed, their best day’s sport can result in no fish caught at all.
Angling is a sport, so sporting ethics should apply. But if the laws of physics are to prevail, then a balance must exist. Currently, the scales are hopelessly imbalanced. There are six million anglers in the UK, most of whom fish in the modern style. It’s no wonder therefore that traditional anglers are so passionate about their sport. What they lack in numbers, they make up for with intensity of belief. To them, nature, angling and life are as one: a union of spirit, counteracting the ailing ethics of a modern world. It is a stone dam, an immovable foundation that supports a watery world and a life spent fishing.
Traditional and modern: can an angler be both at the same time? Is it ethically acceptable for an angler to sit within both schools? Would it be a compromise of personal values for a traditional angler to ‘sell out’ and fish competitively with modern tactics, or for modern anglers to hinder their catch rate with such antiquated methods?
Ask yourself whether angling is meant to be a genteel art, where catching fish is secondary to the enjoyment of the day, or if success is to be defined in numbers and weights of fish? How is your mind swayed? Are you traditional, modern, or a bit of both? Most of us, if we’re honest, are both. We enjoy catching fish, and enjoy all the pleasures of being by water.
The most valuable thing to remember, from beginning to end, is that traditional angling is a mindset. It’s not exclusively to do with tackle. It is a simple truth: intuition driven by emotion. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and aims, fundamentally, for relaxation by the waterside. As Bernard Venables wrote in his Illustrated Memoirs, “When all has been said, when all condemnation of modern ways has been declared, there should be a happy marriage of what is old and what is new and helpful. Such has been the case throughout angling’s history.”
Angling is fun, that’s the important thing. Smile, tip your – traditional – hat, and enjoy your time by the water. It is, after all, what we love. Actually, it’s more than that. It’s an act of faith.