HERE’S WHY I LOATHE SNOBBERY IN ANGLING
Is there anything more needless or divisive in fishing than good old-fashioned snobbery? In spite of today’s more open, digital landscape, it hasn’t gone anywhere, says Dom Garnett...
AS MUCH as we might like to imagine that all anglers are friends and allies, it rarely takes much digging to find a more insular truth these days.
Whether it’s passed off as ‘banter’ or stems from divisions as old as the hills, we not only maintain certain stereotypes in angling, but gleefully reinforce them at every opportunity.
Whether that means looking down our noses at others or openly dismissing one type of fishing as lacking skill or sophistication, we love to judge.
We use crude labels and sweeping half-truths as we do so. Carp anglers are lazy drunks; salmon fishers are prim and posh. Lure anglers are fashion victims, while traditionalists would rather re-enact history than actually catch anything.
Most hurtfully of all, perhaps, every stereotype has a grain of truth somewhere! However, if you looked at their origins then most of these ideas would have less to do with skill or merit, and a great deal more to do with class, education and social status.
Once upon a time, the game fisher from the village considered himself king of anglers; an illusion that is perhaps natural when you and your friends own half the bloody river. The fly angler would automatically look down on the bloke spinning (why, it’s easy isn’t it? You just throw the thing out and reel in).
In turn, they would both look down on those drowning worms for coarse fish. Fancy that? Fishing for vermin like pike and roach. No skill there!
Over time, you’d hope these divisions might shrink, but unfortunately the same human desire to consider yourself innately better than the next man is as timeless as it is stupid. This is why you get clubs with silly exclusive rules, or specimen anglers who feel entitled to hog three swims. It’s also why there’s always one local snob who will proclaim that they only ever fish one method or for one species, as if anything else was tantamount to supporting child labour. Of course, each of us has our favourite methods. In my case, pleasure is the top priority and anything goes.
This seldom prevents others from making snide comments like “what, you caught it on bait?” or “you were on a commercial fishery?” when, to their horror, they discover that my tastes are less fussy than their own.
Does it worry me? Personally, no. Most of the time, it’s simple one-upmanship based on lack of experience.
But such cliquish tribalism and tunnel vision, along with the slating of others, isn’t healthy for a sport that already lacks unity. Provided it brings you pleasure, there’s no such thing as bad fishing as far as I’m concerned.