The Secret Angler

The recent Secret Angler post on racism in angling knocked the Chris Yates piece off the top spot for page hits, for a while at any rate. Readership of this blog took off, partly thanks to links through the Pikers Pit forum which publishes many examples of rather nasty opinions. Some of the dimmer members of that pit of despair believe that the Secret Angler is a contributor there. Some news for them — there is more than one person in this world who holds the view that racism and general bigotry are bad things. This blog even received representation (ie aggressive comments) from a Pitter claiming there is no racism in angling. Needless to say, the denial was unconvincing, but readers can make up their own minds from this extract attributable to K Berry, a tackle dealer from Nottingham with a penchant for abuse:

I hate fish thieves…the FACT is most of them are foreigners come to our country.
I hate illegal immigrants of ANY colour
I hate people who use any religion as a weapon (atheist)

Three hates and two words in capitals. Hatred is the driving motivation behind all these unpleasant characters on angling forums. A look through the ‘political’ posts on Pikers Pit, Flyfishing.co.uk, and others shows a common theme — hatred of foreigners, ethnic minorities, women (‘bitch’ is a frequent word), Europe, education; even readers of certain newspapers, especially the Guardian for some reason, draw their bilious fury. They loathe the Labour Party with more vehemence than Alf Garnet. Enoch Powell is a hero to those old enough to remember his infamous speech on race, the dark predictions of which never happened; they are also fans of Trump, predicting he would win the US election(!), and unsavoury white supremacists like Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson). They condemn all travellers as criminals, chuck abuse at assorted BAME personalities, yet still claim they are not racist. One claims he is not racist but merely refuses to live in a multicultural society, apparently unaware he’s been living in one for decades.

Alongside the enmity goes profound ignorance. They repeat all the absurd claims which they read in the tabloids, their only source of information other than social media. Everything is somebody else’s fault: the current impasse over a trade deal with Europe is blamed on the foreigner; even Trump’s ravings over the election are taken seriously by the really half-baked (see above quote). They probably still believe he’s won. Conspiracy theories are swallowed as a pike swallows a deadbait, they pounce with pikeish aggression on anyone who argues with them.

Why does the owner of the site allow such offensive postings, in contradiction to the very limited forum rules? Probably because he agrees with them. There is a fine line between offensive and illegal; some of the comments tread very close to that line. They certainly foment hatred. Another explanation is that these sites are run as commercial or semi-commercial enterprises which get income from the advertisements. The postings described above generate traffic and this in turn generates more income. This is why Facebook is so slow to remove even the nastiest material — the anger and hatred that ensues generates ‘engagement’, which keeps the money rolling in.

I’ve written before about the Flyfishing forum. The owner, Kirsty Hewitt, denies any sympathy with the far-right political views often expressed on her site. I believe her, but the main moderator, myriad, plainly does sympathise. As with Facebook, there is a tension between income and decency. At the last time of looking, political posts are still allowed. The number of abusive individuals is lower than at Vipers Pit, though can be just as vicious. Some offensive posts on FF are eventually taken down, but the originators are rarely suspended. In fact the site is just as likely to ban the challengers of these posts, or vindictively nobble their accounts in some way. Same goes for P-P.

There are several angling forums I have never visited but I have seen enough to suspect many more suffer from the same problem. The Traditionalfisherman, another Yates fan club, does not allow political discussion, yet still tolerates the odd bigoted comment. The owners who allow such posts on their sites are doing their bit to chip away at the reputation of anglers. Since the rise in populist politics, many people who harbour racist views have gained the confidence to express them freely. Racist abuse is on the increase; all the denials of racism do not change that fact.

It’s often said that an angler cannot be all bad; the fact they go fishing is a redeeming feature. But on the evidence of the bullies on these forums, that no longer carries much weight. Those who post this kind of material are relatively few, so perhaps we can be reassured that such anglers are a minority. Perhaps.

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Angling has a long history, dating back well before Walton’s time, yet few books have been written about it. There have been a small number of dryish tomes mostly relating to fly fishing or pike but nothing that I’ve felt I really wanted to read. Actually I rarely buy any new fishing books because they usually turn out to be ineffably dull. Exceptionally I bought a copy of Tom Fort’s new book, Casting Shadows, soon after it was published, not entirely sure what to expect but knowing he is one of the few angling authors I always like to read.

The book looks back to Restoration England, Walton’s day, on through the 19^th century and the Scottish netting industry that started the long decline of the salmon, to commercial eel fishing now vanishing quickly; it gives a picture of the origins of coarse fishing in Sheffield, a time when everyone fished weekly in large competitions. We get a portrait of significant figures in angling such as Walker and BB, with a visit to Wood Pool, or what remains of it; there is an interesting chapter on Skues and the nymphing controversy in the Flyfishers Club, a society that seems a bit snooty even now. The contents of Casting Shadows are not just the product of library research: Fort travels widely to the places in the book, cycles alongside rivers and meets some old-time commercial fishermen, and occasionally goes fishing. I very much enjoyed the fishing passages, although the whole book is a fine read. There is even an autobiographical chapter, the bête noire of fishing book publishers, but fitting well with the general tenor, which is the author’s sense of where fishing has come from and where it is going.

The final chapter notes the decline in the popularity of angling, particularly amongst the young, the continuing environmental damage to our rivers and the rise in anglers’ exaggerated hostility to anything they perceive as destroying fish, otters the current focus for most attention. A pleasing glossary of fishes closes the book; it reminds me of all the old books I read and re-read in childhood.

Tom Fort has stated that this is the last book on fishing he will write. I hope he might change his mind. I cannot imagine him ever boring his reader with plodding lengthy descriptions of how he caught this fish or that with such and such a make of tackle like nearly all other angling authors. He may, as he has claimed, have said all he has to say, but like Chris Yates, he can profitably say it again in a different way. Regarding Yates, who Fort regards as a ‘brilliant writer’, I sometimes idly wonder who is the best British angling writer, a topic that is frequently debated online with the same conclusion — Chris Yates. I would plump for Tom Fort. Perhaps his prose does not quite possess the fluidity of Yates but his writings have greater depth and breadth, which more than compensates for any stylistic shortcoming.

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