Lea Dweller wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 12:11 am
Am I misinterpreting your point, or are you implying that Dick Walker hung around for too long?
That’s not quite what I meant Ted, or what the lady who offered me the advice meant.
I’ve never read any of Dick Walkers writings as carp angling isn’t my thing and I don’t fly fish. Anything I know about the man I have learned as a member of this forum and he is clearly well respected. So, I can only judge him at that moment by those words that Dave presented. He comes across just as that speaker did at the conference I attended all those years ago. I think the words of the lady sat next to me at the time apply - if you have been in the public eye, had the public ear, on any subject for a long time and end up feeling like that, then you hung around too long. She was one of the wisest people I have ever had the privilege to meet and since then I’ve read and heard far too many people who didn’t feel they got the credit they deserved and hung around long enough to start moaning about it. I find that sad as you don’t decide, history does.
Phil
I think that this is a classic case of different people forming different opinions on the same subject Phil, which is perfectly normal. I was a young boy when Dick caught 'The Biggun' The passage 'Long time' seems to be his prelude to setting out exactly what he had achieved during his angling life up to that point! I did not meet him, so any opinion I have formed is from reading about his achievements, which speak for themselves. As I said before, like most successful people he attracted criticism, that seems to be the norm. He may have been getting old and less tolerant of his critics, but I really don't think that he was jealous of a 'new breed' of Carp angler. For me and many others of my generation, he will always be 'The Man'
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall!
Confucius
Lea Dweller wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 12:11 am
Am I misinterpreting your point, or are you implying that Dick Walker hung around for too long?
That’s not quite what I meant Ted, or what the lady who offered me the advice meant.
I’ve never read any of Dick Walkers writings as carp angling isn’t my thing and I don’t fly fish. Anything I know about the man I have learned as a member of this forum and he is clearly well respected. So, I can only judge him at that moment by those words that Dave presented. He comes across just as that speaker did at the conference I attended all those years ago. I think the words of the lady sat next to me at the time apply - if you have been in the public eye, had the public ear, on any subject for a long time and end up feeling like that, then you hung around too long. She was one of the wisest people I have ever had the privilege to meet and since then I’ve read and heard far too many people who didn’t feel they got the credit they deserved and hung around long enough to start moaning about it. I find that sad as you don’t decide, history does.
Phil
I think that this is a classic case of different people forming different opinions on the same subject Phil, which is perfectly normal. I was a young boy when Dick caught 'The Biggun' The passage 'Long time' seems to be his prelude to setting out exactly what he had achieved during his angling life up to that point! I did not meet him, so any opinion I have formed is from reading about his achievements, which speak for themselves. As I said before, like most successful people he attracted criticism, that seems to be the norm. He may have been getting old and less tolerant of his critics, but I really don't think that he was jealous of a 'new breed' of Carp angler. For me and many others of my generation, he will always be 'The Man'
You are correct Ted. I typed the initial response because I was genuinely surprised at the tone of the piece and the old memory it brought back so clearly to me!
I think history has decided. You and others here are a part of forming that historical reputation and it is a lofty one. Walker clearly needed to have no fear of how he would be remembered.
Phil
From "... the wilds of the Wirral, whose wayward people both God and good men have quite given up on ...".
When he wrote the piece in question he was an old man. It reads as though he was looking back at his achievements, but not in a good way. To be blunt, he's clearly being bombastic! To understand why so, we need to know much more than what has been said in this thread or in this contentious piece. For example, who was he writing to? His critics? Why the bombastic tone? Why did he feel the need to write in such a manner? Why's did he feel the need to brag in one last flurry? No more false modesty! Why was he frustrated, which he clearly indicates?
To me, he writes as someone whose over opinionated. Was this deliberate to wind up his critics to have his last word? Or was he really like this? Where's his modesty that one reads in the vast majority of his books etc.?
Nah, all these questions! He's just an old man blowing off steam for whatever reason who knows. And I like to think out of character!
"....he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy"
One cannot gauge a mans merits or not on a list - for me (out of any context) its an impressive list - whoever it was meant for or not - the man Walker may be not be to all people’s liking, but the angler stands head and shoulders above all comers in his time when he was at the pinnacle of fishing and it’s development.
Ultimately I find the premise ‘friend or foe’ hypothetical whether he was good or bad - its a non starter - it only musters personal inclinations towards an individual and in this case Walker - outside of his humanity or lack of it he was a genius when a fisherman and nobody can deny this. If Walker had not reached the heady heights he attained then we would be saying the same things about someone else - it’s the order of things, and there is always going to be those that take a huge chunk out of this order an amplify, and exaggerate it, to the point where the beginnings and the virtues behind them are unrecognisable.
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
When I want to chill out on the Yare its cane and pin in a nice little spot for a mixed bag. When I want to catch lots of roach to well over a pound its a 7m Bolo rod with pin or fixed spool and 8gm floats shotted down on a big ebb tide often in a raging wind. Its all about choice but the older I get the more I'm inclined towards the former.
Aquaerial But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have
Thanks for all the replies fellow members, I'm glad it's provoked a response.
Ducket, as said by Luga00, Walker was far from a carp and fly man and the book in question is definitely not a carp tome. It is a collection of articles from Angling Times and covers many aspects of numerous species and how to catch them. Even Walker's best (arguably) book, 'No Need to Lie', was multi-species and a damned good read.
To suggest the the Man could be our foe was, of course, tongue in cheek. As has been suggested and from those that knew him, Dick Walker did not suffer fools gladly and was not backward in pointing out their foibles, even if it was done with a condemning silence. I am certain that when he had been criticised in this way, it just got stuck under his skin. "Damned upstart, who does he think he is?" he may have grumbled as he wrote his repost. His CV is impressive, I'm sure you will agree, it's how you take it that counts. Personally, I feel he was 100% justified in writing it. Name one other angler that can hold a candle to that list? Look today at the breed of wannabe's who tie a hook slightly different to the rest and dine out on it for years. Make a bait with a new flavour? Instant 'legend' status in our celebrity adoring society. Walker was the real deal - a one and only.
The concept is flawed too. What if he was fishing? I meant, were he fishing with all that history but with a younger and active body - but it doesn't scan so well. Also, if walker gets to renew his body, add my name to the queue at the place where you get that done.
My personal opinion is that Walker would spend less and less time sitting about, rod in hand and enduring the English weather. He demonstrated this by fly fishing a lot but, was that choice or age driven?
I do believe that Walker would have been driven apoplectic as he tried to advise and educate the new breed of instant fishermen. He would have been shouted down and belittled for sure, doubtless an updated list would be proffered before he threw his type writer out of the window. It would be a disgrace but, as we all know, the modern world has little time for history.
In my mind, Walker has arrived at a quiet pool, has looked all about and see's he is indeed alone. Out would come a home build cane rod, a suitable reel and some very modern line and hooks. Bait for the day would be bread or lobs and his float will sit high in the water or maybe flat on the surface as he awaits it to sail away. At the end of the day he would return to his fishing room and lovingly place his gear back into their storage places that sit amongst a multitude of brand new gear that he uses and, in many cases, has helped to design. He would have little interest in forums or those that identify with specific species or methods, he would still be the ultimate angler.
Your words ring true in so many ways Dave... the number of "so called carp experts" tickle me as the majority of their knowledge is on the back of his findings
Just one more cast love, and I'll be on me way home
Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures and memories
I've passed them on now, but used to have a lot of angling magazines from the time Dick wrote articles for them. As a result I can't quote anything now, but there was no doubt Dick liked an argument.
Even going to far as to write a 'letter to the editor' of the magazine he was already a contributor for! And that letter was having a pop at another letter writer. And they printed it!
At a time when we generally feel people were more circumspect and 'gentlemanly', Dick was pretty brusque, bordering on the downright rude. He doesn't appear to have mellowed as he aged....
It's recorded several times how on obtaining a new material for rods he gave all his examples of the older technology away, so I think he would not be a traditionist now as he wasn't then...but who knows, we all hanker for the good old days and he must have felt something for the Mk.IV must he not?
I'm not sure he can claim to have invented freelining...early man surely did this with his first bone hook? It's this sudden ability to obtain a lot of protein that is thought by some scientists to explain man growing a larger brain and developing btw.
And I'm sure I read another account of the invention of the grinner knot? Some chap invented it for his son who was nicknamed Grinner??
Dick seems to have coped well blowing his own trumpet, I feel.
Maybe not 'foe', but I don't see him thinking of us lot too kindly....
