"know your Enemy"

Mr Boote,
have you ever come across these Saboteurs in person? how well organised/determined are they?

The only thing i've ever known of round these parts(west Yorkshire), is a couple of scuba divers cutting anglers lines in a nearby sand quarry.

I can't quite take them seriously when one of their tips for sabotage was not to throw stones into an anglers swim, just incase you hit a fish??

by your response, you've obviously had hassle in these on-line forums. I hope I haven't cursed this one by mentioning the little screwed up oxygen thiefs!!

Gagging via prima donna threat?

Consider me "walked".

Paul, the site to which ZW originally posted a link is specifically anti-angling, and therefore has clear relevance here. I fail to see why you think it has anything to do with hunting; indeed the subject of hunting was only introduced by you.

I don’t accept your assertion that this board (or its predecessor) has ever, for one minute, been hijacked by the 'hunting crew'. There was a fair amount of debate in the run-up to last September’s CA march, but a number of members argued at the time, like you, that fishermen should keep away. And do those who argued in favour have any less right to call themselves fishermen, or to contribute to these boards, than you? For my part, I joined the CA march and argued here that fishermen should be involved, but I don’t think I have attended more than about five meets of hounds in my life (of which two were of beagles and one bassets), and none of these on a horse - I do not ride. Although I support hunting, it is with some significant reservations. So I don’t think I can really be accused of being a member of the ‘hunting crew’. I would not presume to speak for them, but I wonder how other stalwart board members like F Grouse, Andy Wren, RichardW and Theo P - dedicated fishermen all - who argued in favour of the march, would feel about this accusation of hijacking. Perhaps you would like to elaborate?

The main board of a fishing forum may not be the arena to discuss the rights and wrongs of hunting, but ‘anti-Anti’ stuff, when it concerns the Campaign for the Abolition of Angling, clearly does deserve a place here. I don’t think ZW even needed to apologise for using the main board rather than Viewpoint.

It would be sad (and surprising) if any member, and you in particular, didn’t think that this forum, like fishing itself, should be a broad church. Your contributions are valued, but that doesn’t mean that all of us, always, have to agree with you. There's plenty of stuff written here that I either don't agree with or find plain boring, but I don't threaten to flounce out if others wish to raise the subject.

They had to wheel you out, Gardener! Welcome back. CharlieH -- hey, that's almost cool.

Not nibbling, I'm afraid.

Elaborate? What fun I could have. What time and bandwith I could waste.

But no. Said all I have to say.

Interesting, though, to see that we are being visited by an EMAP angling-title editor at present. Summat must be up.

You disappoint me, Charles. I expected rather better from you than mere goads and taunts and expressed doubts as to my veracity. I don't need to tell the world and his dog of "what I know", you see, as the few people whom I believe to really count know what I know already and, like me, find it utterly hilarious. The women among them especially, but then they're used to boys behaving badly and huffing and puffing and looking all wide-eyed-innocent afterwards.

“Surprised at that from you, Stewart. Still...”<br>
Yes, I’m rather surprised and disappointed at myself, I rarely post in knee jerk anger, usually composing elsewhere, (as I’m doing now), and considering before committing, as it were.

A very bad choice of words posted in haste, (is that almost a pun?), for which I now unreservedly apologise, no matter what I might’ve been thinking at the time.

Have I got any excuse? Well only that I was, (am), roasting in a clients office rather than being where I planned to be, (on Filey Brigg doing some SWFF pioneering with Nigel Haywood).

Post in haste, repent after a full day of boring meetings, and regret causing the subsequent words posted by others on this thread…………..

But as well as apologising, I should also take this opportunity to refute your rather nasty, (but I guess re reading my own few words, nastiness is understandable), insinuation that I have some dark conspiracy or connection with ZW? Well I confess……………to not even understanding the inference of his name, never mind the origins of the quotes he uses.

I haven’t any connection with any other poster, (other than those few I’ve had the pleasure to meet and even fish with), and I despise the use of multiple identities, even in jest, (although I think it is most often used for humour, at least on these forums).

For the record Paul, if I wanted to contact you, I’d use one of your email addresses. If I wanted to send you something, I’d use the address to which I once sent a cheque in exchange for your book. If I wanted to post something about hunting I would post it under my own identity, (as I occasionally have in the past).

Whatever you may suspect, I’m not a mole of the “hunting crew”, Countryside Alliance or any other “fieldsports” group and I’ve never seen the need for me to be a member of any. Again, for the record, I have no interest in pack hunting or shooting or digging up inedible creatures or whatever. My only interest in this arena is in the use of dogs as useful working animals. I never saw my, (entirely solitary), kind of food gathering as a candidate for organisation, or even as legitimate in the eyes of the establishment, and I doubt “they”, (whoever “they” might be), ever would. And I’m independent minded enough not to give fcuk about that!

I also wouldn’t like to see this forum pulled down, and I have tried not to initiate irrelevant hunting discussion. But I can’t accept a situation where my sometimes quite “vigorous” responses to certain posts might see others invoke threats to take a walk, so I thought better that I walk now. I acknowledge that my own “drama queen flouncing” was less than dignified here! (“spite, face, cut and nose”, spring to mind).

For the (3rd) record: I’m Stewart Riley, I’m the wrong side of 40, (or is that the right side?), I live in South Yorkshire. I haven’t owned a dog since 1989, (so could scarcely be accused of being a “hunter” at this moment). Some of you have my email address and phone number, (Including yourself Paul). If anyone still has doubts about whom I am, then maybe writing style analysis or ISP? address checks as suggested on the DeMenza thread will sort it out.

As for my personal qualities:

Envious? Nope. Well OK, I AM envious of people who can fly fish for Bass & Bluegills when it’s too hot for trout. Therefore the only poster I know of on this forum that fits into my location envy category is Grouse. And I try to take John Gierachs’ advice on this, “just don’t go staring off into the trees like that, when there are fish to be caught 5 minutes down the road”.

Talentless? Very probably, but I somehow still manage to really enjoy my fishing all the same.

Wannabe? Not in the angling world, I try not to take it THAT seriously!

Foot, (or Boote), in mouth? Undoubtedly at the moment, but I’ll get over it.

Am I Zagaschin Wannabe? Definitely not, anyway a Google search just revealed the Z bit isn’t even spelt correctly, most unlike me.

Am I “doing a Highlander”? No, not really, though I was already very much in the right sort of mood, especially after the move to this PC Playland. However it’ll be difficult not to keep peeking.


Am I a True Angler? Always…………….