The In and out group phenomenon
I am struck by how anglers are not immune to the phenomenon
that human beings have in deciding who is in the IN group and who is out of it
in the OUT group. I expect it of football supporters. If you support a
particular team, you’re part of a tribe that other supporters are not in, they
are in a different tribe. What I am often surprised about is exactly how deep
this stratification goes in fishing. Match Anglers v Carp/Specimen Anglers is
an old chestnut that goes back to the 1950’s. Fly anglers v coarse anglers goes
back to 19th Century.
Recently I have become more frustrated about this as
different groups seem to claim they have the “soul” of fishing. For me the “in group” are Anglers and the
“out group” are non anglers, yet we seem to stratify ourselves and downplay
other branches of the sport. Recently I read the first chapter of a Diary on
traditional angling. The whole first chapter seemed to me a tirade against
modern Carp fishing, outlining that with all the mod cons and obsession with
size, Carp angling as now practiced has, in some way lost its soul. Only cane
rods centerpin’s and floppy hats should be considered. It’s almost like these
anglers are part of a historical re-enactment society. If everyone fished like
them the tackle industry would have gone belly up years ago. And if there are
no tackle shops anymore because you are still using your 1962 Grice and Young
centerpin where the hell are you going to buy your gentles from.
On the other hand I abhor the attitude of some Modern Carp
anglers that every other angler who fishes for ‘lesser species are not ‘proper anglers’
and I have heard the term Noddy used to describe anyone who does not chase big
carp with silly names. In my experience while there are some very expert Carp
anglers there are plenty who have all the gear and no idea. It’s not rushing
out to buy matching Delkim alarms to go with your 3.5lb test curve Infinity
rods that makes you a carp angler, its old fashioned things like time patience
and watercraft.
The term fluff chucker is often used to describe fly anglers
and so it goes on. For me, as an all-round pleasure angler I cannot understand
this attitude. As long as you are a
considerate angler and competent enough to not cause damage to the environment,
it does not matter what you fish for or how you do it. It must be remembered
that Izaak Walton no less did make these arbitrary distinctions and with his friend and co-author
Charles Cotton, describe the beauty of fishing with bait and fly for many
species of fish that they found in the rivers of old England. Do what feels
right for you but please don’t slag off those who, find their own path to
piscatorial heaven.
