So... there I am in the tackle shop (it's part of a well known Cornish garden centre and shopping type complex). The conversation goes like this:


Have you got any suitable childrens clothing, you know drab / camouflage etc, its just I want something for my little lad to wear fishing this week.

No sir, they dont do kids stuff.

Why?

They dont want to be seen to entice children toward the water you see.

Why?

Because of the dangers, sir, they might get sued, sir. You know what with children drowning in water and everything.

Why?

On account of enticing them, sir. If they entice them then they may be seen as having a part in the death of the child if they have made something for a child to go near the water with sir.

What about rubber rings with duck heads, and boogie boards, wouldn't you see that as enticement?

No sir, they are floatation aids.

I dont want waders or anything, just a jacket.

No sir, manufacturers dont do stuff for kids to go near the water with.

Are you sure?

Yes




So I walked around the corner in the SAME SHOP to find a whole array of 'Deer Hunter' cammo stuff for children. I bought my son a nice jacket and a cap (bloody expensive, I must say!)


If the salesman uses this forum, then I make no appologies; you are a complete tool!




I wouldn't mind, but sales staff in tackle shops can be experts or examples of the above. Over the years I have been told there is no need to ever have a double handed rod on a spate river, that a particular hatch is occurring on my local river which doesnt even host such a fly (and all this from a bloke who doesnt fish that river) and that 'tube flies will never catch a sea trout'!!!

Over the years I have learned to have faith in my own knowledge and to ingnore anyone who doesn't agree with me, unless there is a fairly decent rationale following a particular course of discussion



I am looking forward to this bank holiday weekend, tight lines to all

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Time is a stream I go fishing in.

Thats daft, if there were no camo cloths for kids you could get round it by buying camo gear intended for dwarfs

So after that salesperson bullshit you still spent some of your hard earned cash in it

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Robbie
Amnesia, i forget what that means
Harbour lights flyfishers

I know, but the lad needed a jacket. I shall not return there again.


In the absence opf facts, it would seem, some folk just make it up on the spot!

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Time is a stream I go fishing in.

I was once told 'you won't catch pike on those big mepps, the are designed for trout and will only catch trout!'

Oh and by far my favourite of all time
Do you sell mud?
I don't know what that is?
You know, line sinkant for taking the grease off your tippet/leader.
No we don't stock that, but I have got some cheap lines here.

The chap then proceeded to show me a selection of sinking and intermediate lines. I politely left the shop :-)

See, see!!! That's what I'm talking about.... The bloody world is full of them. What really makes me stop in my tracks, is when I think of folk with no fly fishing knowledge at all walking into a shop and being handed this guff on a plate

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Time is a stream I go fishing in.

A great one from today's visit to an angling store somewhere in the UK:

Set the seen - fly fishing section of store - man behind counter loading fly line on to a reel for someone... Then I ask:

'Have you any entomolgy books at all?'

'Whadt, whossat?'

'Entomology?'

'What? eh?'

'Insects, mate. You know flies'

'Oh yes, second shelf down there is a little one there'

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Time is a stream I go fishing in.