Long time between posts!
I would love to be making entries here more often and, maybe I will make an effort to do that from now on. We all need an expressive outlet from time to time, and mine has always been writing.
Perhaps some of the reason I don't post here much is because I'm not sure if people actually read blogs anymore? With the advent of Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, etc. everyone can express themselves incredibly easily and kind of have their own mini blogs, without going to a lot of effort, like sitting down in front of a computer and actually typing an article. I notice from a lot of the blogs I used to follow that they seem to have ground to a halt and yet, the authors can be found still posting on social media. This includes yours truly.
Why is that? Well as I said, it takes a lot less effort to put up regular posts on social media or even put short video's on Youtube, than it does to sit in front of a computer typing an update. In my own case, I have been incredibly distracted over the last year or so due to events in my life, that my fishing has been quite erratic and finding the time to put together any meaningful articles has been impossible. It is far easier to just stick a quick post up on the said, social media platforms. Besides, is it worth the effort, will anyone actually read my articles anymore?
I started blogging over a decade ago, and used to write regular articles about the different types of fishing I do. (I have several blogs running). I know from the stats that blogger provides, that a lot of people used to visit the blog and read the articles. This was hugely encouraging seeing the stats rising monthly. But then I discovered Facebook and the other social media platforms and realised that there was a much more 'instant hit' to be had from posting there and no doubt, many other fellow bloggers did too. Not to mention the fact that it is much more gratifying seeing the 'likes' and receiving comments from followers. That makes me sound like an attention seeker. I'm not, but we all like to be encouraged and appreciated, no matter who we are. It's human nature. Besides, positive reactions build confidence and encourage you to do more and try harder. I see posting about my own fishing not as being a way to boast and say 'look how good I am' but as a creative outlet to accompany my fishing. I also hoped it would inspire others when they were struggling, which we all do from time to time. I am sure we all struggle to find the motivation to fish sometimes, for whatever reasons. I battle with my own motivation more than I would care to admit, and it is at times like that when I seek inspiration from others. It's a two way street. I inspire others, they inspire me, it makes us one big community, learning, helping and encouraging each other.
Fishing is the only thing I have really ever felt in my 'element' with. As if I was made to be an angler above all else. Maybe I have just never grown up, life's responsibilities have always seemed too much like hard work to me. My whole life I have always felt like a 'fish out of water', except when fishing. It is also my leveller. When life gets tough, and the unavoidable responsibilities face off with me, the escape that fishing offers has always been there for me. A constant companion, that soothes and appeases whatever is troubling me at the time. Taking my mind off my problems and providing me with a pleasant distraction. No doubt it is the same for many of you reading this, (if anyone does!). Like any relationship though, it has had it's ups and downs. For instance I have always had a love / hate relationship with Carp fishing. The nature of the beast that it has evolved, into means it has become unrecognisable from the solitary pursuit that once attracted me to it several decades ago. You know what I am talking about and whilst many of you may have accepted the 'combat carping' ethos. I simply can't, and won't. To me, it is just not cricket, or in this case, fishing. There is no escape, no relaxation, no-you against nature which is what I crave. The challenges now are those against your fellow anglers, not the fish. These days I seek lighter fished waters. They may not contain the monster, force-fed fish of some waters, but as long as they offer me a reasonable stamp of hard fighting, challenging-to-catch head of fish, then I am more than happy.
A twenty pound plus Common from a local water during the winter
Enough of that, because I don't want negativity creeping into this article, at least not too much, because each and every one of us has, over the last few months experienced a huge amount of negativity due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, and we still are in many ways. I would like to focus on some positives right now.
I said that fishing has always been the one constant in my life, apart from my family, that I felt comfortable with. It has always been my ambition, my dream, to be able to immerse myself so deeply into it, that I could call it my lifestyle. I am now close to being able to say that. Over the last few years I have been working on making that dream a reality. It has been a roller coaster ride getting to where I am today, and whilst it may seem a minor achievement to some, I can assure you that with some of the seemingly insurmountable difficulties I and my family have faced over the years, it is for me, an Everest conquered. Almost. Not quite there yet, but I will keep doing what I do and keep my nose to the grindstone and attack it in my own unique way until I have fulfilled my ambition. At times I almost walked away, At times I thought it was going to kill me. Yes literally. But I kept on. You see I had nothing to lose, only my sanity. Five years ago, with the support of my family we left a safety net so I could fulfil my selfish needs. Foolhardy perhaps, self-centred, definitely. The problem is, I have never been good with people. There I said it. I am socially awkward. Not confident around others. I even used to have a problem talking to people I didn't know on the telephone. I started an online business, and it suited me, because I did not have to have face to face contact with my customers. I had little confidence at the time. Correction, I had zero confidence at the time. My anxiety, which has always been a problem for me, was through the roof. My confidence was scraping along the bottom of the pit. What was I going to do? How was I ever going to cope? As I said, it was a roller coaster ride and it almost finished me. For good.
Somehow I hung on, and eventually with the support of a good friend and my family and my fishing, I began to turn it around. Slowly, very slowly. Oddly, Social media also came to my rescue. People were kind and encouraging and I will be forever grateful to them for that. The positivity that surrounded my posts was, and still is, absolutely wonderful. The encouragement and inspiration I received from my peers was and still is a great source of support. There will always be the odd negative element, of course, but with my new found confidence, and lower anxiety levels I was able to ignore the critics and sleep at night. But not for a very long time. When I say my 'Peers' I hope those people will know who they are, but basically I will include the whole of the online fly fishing and fly tying community.
So here I am today. More confident, less anxious, able to talk to people, especially on the telephone.
There is still a long road ahead, but I am getting there. Slowly.
My Online business has progressed, empowered by the incredible support of my customers over the last few years, to the point where I have now opened my doors via a small, local shop. In the beginning, there wasn't much call for my fly tying and lure fishing products locally. Hence the online only ethos, where I would be able to reach others via the power of Social media that shared my passion. However, occasionally, out of the blue, I would receive a query from someone, sometimes local, asking if I had a physical shop they could visit. This obviously got me thinking. Saltwater fly and lure fishing in this country has grown exponentially over the last few years. There is a huge amount of interest in both branches of the sport and their sub branches such as lrf and ultralight lure fishing, Pike fly fishing and Saltwater fly fishing. These were my niche. And I would like to think that I have played my own, however small, part in encouraging people to take up both sports, with my posts on Social media, my blogs and recently my Youtube video's. (Yes I am now confident enough to talk to the camera!).
Naturally, I want to grow my business. I could just continue online as I am, and of course I will, but I am at the point now where I would love to be able to share all that I have learned during my angling career which spans some three and a half, almost four decades and many different and varied disciplines of fishing. I am, and always have been, an allrounder. I love any kind of fishing, some more than others, but as long as I have a rod in my hand and a fish on the end of the line, regardless of size, I am extremely happy and contented. I like to learn, and have always invested myself in learning each and every type of fishing I have taken part in, to the best of my ability. I have pushed myself to be the best I possibly can, and through a lot of hard work and many hours, days and nights invested in maximising my success, I like to think I am, and have been, quite successful. But what do you do with something like that? I am talking about all the accrued knowledge. Do I keep it to myself? I could I suppose, but one of the fundamental inbuilt instincts we have as human beings is to to pass on and share acquired knowledge. This is how we progress as a species. How we improve the world around us, for better or worse.
Locating Bass, especially on fly and lure isn't always easy, it takes time to learn their habits, the tides and a whole host of variables.
Take my fly tying business for instance. I started tying flies well over a decade ago now. It was a progression of becoming interested in Saltwater fly fishing. I won't go into too much detail now, but the sport had caught my interest and I was determined, as I always am, to learn and improve and become the best I could at it. Part of that was to teach myself to tie flies with which to catch the Bass that were my target. At first I only had rudimentary equipment and tools for the job, and looking back now, my Skills and results were mediocre and not that tidy. However despite their scruffy appearance, they caught fish. The whole sport was a steep learning curve, and I immersed myself deeply into it and all that it encompassed for a couple of seasons. I caught hundreds of fish of all sizes, and a Saltwater fly angler was born. I continued to tie flies pretty much every year after that. Of course, I posted them on social media. The response was extremely encouraging and clearly many novice tiers were inspired by my own patterns and requested tying details, materials etc. I started doing a few step by steps and, (very nervous!), video's in response to these requests, and the more I tied and posted the more positive the responses and encouragement. The more I tied, the more I improved, and cutting a longer story short, I began getting regular requests to purchase my flies which in turn led to me starting my business. It wasn't quite as simple as that, as I have said, it took a huge leap of faith to move away from our safety net of the last few years, and I was never going to make enough to support my family, but I had a plan. Of sorts. But it was what's known as 'pie in the sky'. A leap of faith so big it seemed almost to far to reach the solid ground on the other side of a giant crevasse. It was only the fly tying community that gave me that support I mentioned and helped me to grow the wings I needed to traverse that vast open expanse.
So things 'progressed', (it's much more complicated than that), to where I am now, five years later. Supplying high quality fly tying materials to that community that helped me so much in the early stages. In a way it is my way of saying thankyou. I only source and supply the very best quality products that I am happy to use myself. I am always happy to chat to new tiers and offer encouragement and advice. I still make (less nervous),video's to help and inspire others. I will never forget the help and support I received in my humble beginnings.
Now here I am today, with a small tackle shop, having just opened my doors to the local fishing community. Admittedly it is yet to be stocked comprehensively with all the tackle I want to cover the various angling disciplines I wish to cater for, but stock is coming in dribs and drabs. It is especially difficult to obtain products at this time due to the effects of the Pandemic on the business and manufacturing world, but in time we will recover, and I will be able to welcome my fellow anglers into my world. Because that is what it is. It is my world, my nirvana. It is a reflection of me, as a person and as an angler. It is far beyond being a business for me. In fact I honestly couldn't care less if I make much money from it. I'm too old to be bothered about that and It isn't about getting rich, (have you ever seen a rich tackle shop owner?, I very much doubt it!). It might sound cliché, but it is very much a passion, a way of life, a personal insight into almost forty years of angling and all the accumulated experience and knowledge that comes from a life as an angler all brought into one small place for all to enjoy and learn and benefit from.
I will of course, continue to fish when time allows. Locally, and away, and in the Salt. Hopefully for many more years to come, and I will continue to learn and try and improve. No one ever truly knows it all and if I ever do, well, perhaps it will be time to stop fishing, and I promise you, that is never going to happen! But in the meantime, I am always happy to pass on any knowledge wherever I can to help my fellow angler should they be struggling in any way.
If you are local and reading this (!), please pop along and visit me. I don't expect you to buy anything, but let's at least have a chat about fishing, life, and whatever else, now that I am able to talk to people, it would be a shame to waste that.
If you took the time to read this, then thankyou, it is appreciated more than I can say. Long live the Blog!
See you next time, (hopefully).
Chris
