There’s an unattributed quote on the subject of fishing which says that an angler is a man who sits around all day doing nothing on the water because his wife won’t let him do nothing at home.
But within that predominantly male society of studied idleness there is – naturally – a hierarchy.
There’s sea fishing from the shore, up against the waves, which is free and which anyone can do, risking nothing but their own lives and the lives of mackerel.
There’s coarse fishing, in which you spend all day trying to catch a fish that you don’t want to eat, only to be derided as a mere drowner of worms.
And above all that is the elite – mostly gentlemen’s – club of fly-fishing, in which you spend all day trying to catch a fish that you’re probably not allowed to eat, and using the most obtuse and difficult methods, and then brag about it.
Ireland is internationally famous for its fly-fishing, but there are byzantine laws dictating who can fish, for what and from where…..
Irish Independent. 06/06/2014 Read the article ‘Gone Fishing: The cost of having a catch nearby‘
