Richard Hamlyn
No Longer a Member
I have been fishing for well over 50 years and where I come from the expression “10% of anglers catch 90% of the fish†is a common one that I have heard all my angling life so I naturally thought that it was commonplace throughout the country. Judging by some of the negative comments I have received since posting I suppose I had better explain to assist the hard of thought. It is not supposed to be mathematically accurate and down here we use it as a throwaway comment that is designed to inspire anglers to learn their craft and become one of the hypothetical 10%. However some people seem to interpret it as me saying I belong to some sort of angling elite which is ridiculous. For me the purpose of this forum is to share ideas and to help each other.
It is obvious from reading some posts that the person posting has absolutely no experience of what they are writing about and often they are only recycling some untruth posted by someone else that they perceive to be a “good†angler. The conversation goes something along the lines of “I have noticed that since the introduction of decimal currency the catches of Burbot have declined steadily on the stretch I fishâ€. To which poster #2 usually responds with “That is very interesting as I also have caught no Burbot since the introduction of decimal currency but I had not made the possible link beforeâ€. There then follows an in depth conversation between several posters who have only one thing in common; namely that none of them have caught a Burbot, in fact I sometimes wonder if they actually go fishing at all.
Anyway back to the 10% thing. I do not come from an angling family, but the desire (more like a need really) to go fishing was with me the first day I drew breath. It did not surface until I was about 8 years old when, while walking on Dartmoor, I saw an angler catch a small trout. I was spellbound and had to be dragged away kicking and screaming by my parents. Rudimentary tackle was immediately blagged wherever I could get it. “What to buy young Richard for his birthday†was a no brainer when I was a kid. Armed with said tackle and a copy of “Teach Yourself Fly-Fishing†I finally got myself attached to a brownie that probably went 3oz wringing wet. The moment I lifted the rod (a Milbro Truefly) and for the first time felt something tugging away at the other end hard wired my brain for life. In short order I also learnt that there was also a thing called coarse fishing and I discovered the joy of watching a float glide away and the magic of that simple act has never diminished for me. An endless stream of small fish followed before another pivotal point was reached in the form of a Tench that probably weighed no more than 2lbs. I may consider it a small Tench now but at the time this was a monster of the deep that pulled harder than a steam tug and started a love affair with the species that has endured all my life. I then became like an angling sponge trying to soak up everything I could by reading (I was far too nervous to actually talk to other anglers) and what I read confused more than it helped, because I took everything as pertinent to my situation, and this was definitely not the case. However I managed to lurch into adulthood and now I had the means to go fishing as often as possible and I was as happy as a pig in the proverbial. And then it happened, out of the blue, another life changing moment. I met a guy called Tom who suggested we go fishing together sometime. He was quiet, knowledgeable and caught fish the like of which I could only dream about with what seemed like consummate ease. There was no fancy tackle or anything like that; everything he did was so simple. Simple it may have been but he knew instinctively what to do, when, and where and opened my eyes to a world that I have been trying to join ever since.
The point I am trying (badly) to make is that there are a few chosen people who have a natural angling ability that I will never have. They exist in the worlds of Match, Pleasure and Specimen fishing and whichever road they follow is immaterial as they always excel. Anyone who ever had the pleasure of watching Ivan Marks fish will know what I mean, this man may as well have come from a different planet as me as far as angling ability was concerned. I have been lucky enough to meet others that are similarly gifted (numbering less than 5) and these wonderful people have taught me one important lesson, and that is that I will never be like them. Has this diminished my enjoyment of fishing? No, just the opposite, they have shown me what can be achieved if I work at it, and just occasionally I am allowed to experience their world for short periods of time when by a combination of luck and judgement I “get it right for once†and drag out a nice fish.
So there you have it. I don’t know if these guys are 10% or 1%, but I do know they exist and my angling life would be all the poorer without them.
It is obvious from reading some posts that the person posting has absolutely no experience of what they are writing about and often they are only recycling some untruth posted by someone else that they perceive to be a “good†angler. The conversation goes something along the lines of “I have noticed that since the introduction of decimal currency the catches of Burbot have declined steadily on the stretch I fishâ€. To which poster #2 usually responds with “That is very interesting as I also have caught no Burbot since the introduction of decimal currency but I had not made the possible link beforeâ€. There then follows an in depth conversation between several posters who have only one thing in common; namely that none of them have caught a Burbot, in fact I sometimes wonder if they actually go fishing at all.
Anyway back to the 10% thing. I do not come from an angling family, but the desire (more like a need really) to go fishing was with me the first day I drew breath. It did not surface until I was about 8 years old when, while walking on Dartmoor, I saw an angler catch a small trout. I was spellbound and had to be dragged away kicking and screaming by my parents. Rudimentary tackle was immediately blagged wherever I could get it. “What to buy young Richard for his birthday†was a no brainer when I was a kid. Armed with said tackle and a copy of “Teach Yourself Fly-Fishing†I finally got myself attached to a brownie that probably went 3oz wringing wet. The moment I lifted the rod (a Milbro Truefly) and for the first time felt something tugging away at the other end hard wired my brain for life. In short order I also learnt that there was also a thing called coarse fishing and I discovered the joy of watching a float glide away and the magic of that simple act has never diminished for me. An endless stream of small fish followed before another pivotal point was reached in the form of a Tench that probably weighed no more than 2lbs. I may consider it a small Tench now but at the time this was a monster of the deep that pulled harder than a steam tug and started a love affair with the species that has endured all my life. I then became like an angling sponge trying to soak up everything I could by reading (I was far too nervous to actually talk to other anglers) and what I read confused more than it helped, because I took everything as pertinent to my situation, and this was definitely not the case. However I managed to lurch into adulthood and now I had the means to go fishing as often as possible and I was as happy as a pig in the proverbial. And then it happened, out of the blue, another life changing moment. I met a guy called Tom who suggested we go fishing together sometime. He was quiet, knowledgeable and caught fish the like of which I could only dream about with what seemed like consummate ease. There was no fancy tackle or anything like that; everything he did was so simple. Simple it may have been but he knew instinctively what to do, when, and where and opened my eyes to a world that I have been trying to join ever since.
The point I am trying (badly) to make is that there are a few chosen people who have a natural angling ability that I will never have. They exist in the worlds of Match, Pleasure and Specimen fishing and whichever road they follow is immaterial as they always excel. Anyone who ever had the pleasure of watching Ivan Marks fish will know what I mean, this man may as well have come from a different planet as me as far as angling ability was concerned. I have been lucky enough to meet others that are similarly gifted (numbering less than 5) and these wonderful people have taught me one important lesson, and that is that I will never be like them. Has this diminished my enjoyment of fishing? No, just the opposite, they have shown me what can be achieved if I work at it, and just occasionally I am allowed to experience their world for short periods of time when by a combination of luck and judgement I “get it right for once†and drag out a nice fish.
So there you have it. I don’t know if these guys are 10% or 1%, but I do know they exist and my angling life would be all the poorer without them.
