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Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kevin Clark

Kevin Clark

Senior Member
Hi all!

Heres some thing i thought would happen!!!!!!!! I have lost my Angling motivation!!!!!!! After doing a feature for a well known weekly my bubble has burst big time! The idea i had about doing features was way off and the jernalists if im honest were shocking. Another reason is the amount of bichy key board commandos who like to stick their oar in. I have been out on the bank with my sons and enjoy watching them embrace our sport and enjoy spending time out side. As for me though I cant get that bit between my teeth and have lost all faith in the angling media in general. I guess its my own fault for wanting to persue a boy hood dream of doing features and eventualy gaining some form of backing. Is it my fault for being a bit wet behind the ears or have i been robed of my faith in the angling press(and my motivation to persue sponsorship and go fishing in general) by one rougue jernalist????????????????
 
I would say just try and forget all the C**p you've had with the feature and go fishing for the pleasure of it' even more so to do it with your sons.
Perhaps other jernalist are a bit protective of there possitions. Get a rod in your hand for a while and leave the pen at home.

Scaz
 
Maybe you did not see something spelling trouble......
 
Get yourself on a small river or rarely fished pond with the kids and catch a few small roach or dace with simple gear. Enjoy it for what it is, an adventure in an unknown place. Works for me anyway.
 
Icarus syndrome, sometimes it's better if our dreams remain just that, just as you should avoid meeting your heroes. They almost always disappoint.
 
Put the gear away and forget about fishing for a while.
If the spark is still there it will reignight and you'll remember why you go.

If not.... Try something different like golf... But keep your tackle as you never know when you'll want to go again.

As for angling journalists, no different to the national press journo's... Love em or hate em, they are here to stay...

Steve
 
Cheers for the comments lads well at least the constuctive ones!! Oh and by the way I could not use the spell check for some reason! I suffer with Dyslexia and have done for years if my spelling is not up t standards I do appoogise!! The benifit of being a bit thick though is being tough..... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol SKCOC GNIKCUF With you superior litteracy you should be able to work that out.

All the Best.

Kev
 
Kevin. A number of years ago I did a few magazine features.

One major publication asked me to do some work on their "barbel rivers" specifically on the Thames.

They expected me to be "honoured" to do it and offered a paltry sum that equated to a days guided fishing.

I told them to stick it!

They increased the offer 3 times.


Since then I have never sent a fish capture information to any of them and refused to do any articles etc.


What you are suffering with is the fame game scenario. Many anglers that catch a fish of a lifetime, quite often get offered incentives to fish. Bait , sponsorship etc. Along with this come expectations beyond reasonable. Burn out.

As suggested, have a break, re-evalute why you go fishing, and do what you enjoy without pressure or excessive expectation.

Most importantly. Go fishing when YOU want to.

Graham
 
Kevin Clark said:
Cheers for the comments lads well at least the constuctive ones!! Oh and by the way I could not use the spell check for some reason! I suffer with Dyslexia and have done for years if my spelling is not up t standards I do appoogise!! The benifit of being a bit thick though is being tough..... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol SKCOC GNIKCUF With you superior litteracy you should be able to work that out.

All the Best.

Kev
Click to expand...

Being Dyslexic isn't being thick mate,far from it, thats just the opinion of mis-informed people who don't understand it ;)

Re the fame game, why hanker after sponsorship,pressure to perform, supplying material for a pittance and generally getting everything you write edited to death (and i don't mean just spelling!) anyway? Fishing is a thoroughly personal and absorbing pastime, a great escape from all the **** of modern life so why go cluttering it up with more !
 
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Kevin, you are possibly unfortunate to be trying to compile features when (river) fishing is the toughest it's been for a few years. I think most of us suffer from lack of motivation at times and I don't think a bit of a break does anyone any harm. Fishing can become a bit obsessive even to the extent of feeling guilty if you don't feel like going when conditions are good. As Simon says, fishing is an entirely personal thing and it could be a mistake to force the issue when your enthusiasm is at a low ebb. Good luck anyway.
 
Kevin
Some really good advice given.I know exactly what you are going through happened to myself, 26 years fishing for carp working for a very well known Essex company. Thought I'd hit the jack pot & all my hard work over the years had been rewarded.
How WRONG was i articles constant pressure to be out all weathers has you had to be seen to be catching , took all the enjoyment out of it.
Now I tip my hat to the lads that do it but it wasn't for me.
In the end I lost my mojo burned out n didn't go fishing for nearly 18 months
Started back out going back to my roots fishing for roach dace etc
Then I suddenly remembered how I used to enjoy trotting on the rivers for chub n stalking barbel.
One trip to the wye later n my spark was back for barbel with a vengeance!!!
Never looked back n funny enough never picked up a carp rod again.
My advice is it will come back you just need to find the key to unlock it again mate,
Now that maybe on a small farmers pond a chalk stream or big river just do it on ur terms.
Just think back to what you really used to enjoy n go with it???

Mark
 
John Glover said:
Maybe you did not see something spelling trouble......
Click to expand...

I don't think this post was intended as a criticism of the op's spelling but more as an observation that sometimes what we think is going to be an exciting new opportunity or experience 'spells trouble' in reality.

If it had been written as,

"Maybe you did not see something; spelling trouble?"

then it could have been construed as a criticism of the op's spelling.
 
Like I said at the time Kev, forget about the fame, very few make a living out of fishing. Try fishing new rivers for a change, you've been fishing the same peg's for years catching the same old fish, you'll definitely not get fame that way. If you want to broaden your horizon's let me know and arrange a day else where.
 
Sponsorship - is it really worth it? I have wondered about this a few times and think that one might have keep on earning that pleasure (or pressure) to get results, be seen, to advocate and to write, etc. As soon as fishing and the subject of becomes (slightly or more so) a chore/job then its nature will always change. Good luck to those that do but its not all a bed of roses I am sure.

I've had a few experiences in the past which one the whole I am glad to have done but now quite a few years on, a few posts here an there on a forum is more than enough for me.

Advice to get your mojo back - for me when this happened have a bit of break. Try and identify a quiet water nearby & have a few walks at different times of the day/week slowly feeling its mood, letting nature show you the odd glimmer to spark the imagination and remind us of whats so special to be on the bank, slowly reminiscing the times gone by sparking considerations & probable approaches to try. There's nothing to hurry to nor prove. Then beyond this, maybe start back keeping things as light & simple as possible...

Take a few steps back and slowly move on...
 
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Take up a completely different type of fishing. I had the same trouble, bored with barbel and carp fishing, after a while it becomes all so predictable. Try something like fishing for pike on the fly. The motivation is learning a completely new technique and once again the unknown which I feel generates the excitement.
 
Mark Hooper said:
Kevin
Some really good advice given.I know exactly what you are going through happened to myself, 26 years fishing for carp working for a very well known Essex company. Thought I'd hit the jack pot & all my hard work over the years had been rewarded.
How WRONG was i articles constant pressure to be out all weathers has you had to be seen to be catching , took all the enjoyment out of it.
Now I tip my hat to the lads that do it but it wasn't for me.
In the end I lost my mojo burned out n didn't go fishing for nearly 18 months
Started back out going back to my roots fishing for roach dace etc
Then I suddenly remembered how I used to enjoy trotting on the rivers for chub n stalking barbel.
One trip to the wye later n my spark was back for barbel with a vengeance!!!
Never looked back n funny enough never picked up a carp rod again.
My advice is it will come back you just need to find the key to unlock it again mate,
Now that maybe on a small farmers pond a chalk stream or big river just do it on ur terms.
Just think back to what you really used to enjoy n go with it???

Mark
Click to expand...

some great advice :)
 
I think the day i have to go and catch a fish then it is the day i will hang up the rods................ It is not why i go fishing.

Being a selfish bugger i go fishing because i want to, i go when i can and not because i have too but, that is not to criticise anyone who does, it is just not for me. I have in the past gone into melt down over "perceived" pressures to catch fish. Who was putting the pressure on me? Me that is who, what a fool i felt when i finally figured that out.

Take a break mate, grab a trotting rod and a pint of maggots and go find some roach or do a little bit of perch fishing, you will soon have a smile back on your face.

Don't let the buggers get too you:D:D:D
 
Know where your coming from Kevin with the media, a long while ago i did a BBC radio talk at the old Pebble Mill studios and sitting around a round table just talking into a microphone in the middle was quite frightening. A little time later i did a short TV film for the BBC with the late Norman Worth and while trying to trot a float down had someone keep messing with a microphone clipped under my chin. That didn't turn out as good as expected. As for your lack of interest now, i had the same problem 4 years ago. After match fishing for 40 years and the carp puddles poping up i lost my interest,Turning to golf for 5 /6 years and not getting anywhere (it's a frustrating game ) i started this Barbel fishing and now enjoying my fishing better now than for the last 20 years.
Try a different part of the sport.
 
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