I remember fishing a day ticket and a guy turned up around 12 in the afternoon. Set up his bivvy and left all his gear inside. Walked over to my swim and asked me to keep an eye on his stuff, as he was a train driver and was due to start a shift.

Didn't turn up until about 8/9 o'clock in the evening. I remember thinking that was possibly one of the riskiest manoeuvres I've ever seen.

In reply to Post #17
I used to frequent the River Wye once a year (Lower Canon Bridge) and had so much fun with the fight the Barbel used to put up!

You're all quite right in that I shouldn't generalise and having a pop at DF isn't fair. I'm a great fan of what he's done for carp fishing as a whole and his branding and what he's done for the image of the sport is certainly a feat.

It's difficult to do without naming, but my reason for pointing the finger in that general direction, was on several fishing trips with the same group of people, who regularly fish with the Korda crew, were very keen to point out that (I won't name names) "such and such loves a pill" or "such and such always comes prepared with a couple of grams when we go to bank".

This isn't confirmed and is little more than hearsay. But the people I went on these trips with were sponsored anglers, who moved in those particular circles.

As for themselves? Lets just say being on a coach for 10 hours with packets and snorting for it's entirety, there's no doubt in my mind that I know they were "blatant cocaine users". Aside from this group, I've witnessed it on the banks, in peoples bivvies when walking past and even in a tackle shop.

In reply to Post #4
This is what I miss. Just fishing, for fishing sake.

No boasting, bragging. Just plain and simple fishing.

I'm hoping Redfin Angling Club (Linton in Kent, if anyone knows it!?) has any spaces. This is where I first remember cutting my teeth on angling. Was extremely quiet and hopefully hasn't attracted those types!

Long time follower of this forum and this is my first post.

Given recent developments and seeing that anglers can finally go back to the bank, it got me thinking about the desire to take up carp fishing again.

I haven't been fishing for around two years now. This was coupled with a bad break up with the ex and having all my stuff nicked from my garden shed. I was absolutely gutted. Years of equipment gone. But I remember at the time, I didn't want to replace it, as I had enough of angling.

I had enough of the Danny Fairbrass-esque crew, turning up to fisheries with their wide-boy attitude, being loud, abrasive and general condescending attitude. I couldn't have a 48 hour fishing trip, without experiencing some form of "Sonik rods mate?" or "You know you should probably invest in big pit reels mate.." whilst fishing a standard sized lake.

Loud, boozy and blatant cocaine users.

Fishermen are private creatures by nature, it's why we take up the sport, but I'm not adverse to having a chat with a fellow angler by any means. Hell, I'll talk about anything, doesn't even have to be fishing. I also get it can be quite social and we want to go with friends, as do I. But I wouldn't dream of behaving the way some of these guys do.

What I couldn't ever get my head around was the influx of this type of angler. They'd be in the tackle shop, being unnecessarily loud about how much they'd spent and that "the missus won't be 'appy!". I went to Cherpont in France a few times and I'm sure I shared the entire lake with them on each trip.

My reason for the unnecessary rant, is I wonder if anyone else has the same views I guess? I've sat around today wondering do I make a sincere investment in getting some equipment back and hitting the banks again, but I'm having some morale dilemmas as to whether I'm likely to experience this environment again.