I MUST MAKE IT CLEAR IT,S NOT ME SAYING IT.
I remember 2-3 years ago hugh falkus got a mention in trout and salmon.
the month after it there was a lot of people wrote in saying he was good at taking other peoples ideas and claiming them for his self. I think he laid claim to starting fly fishing at night for sea trout. he was also acused of taking his friends ideas. I can,t remember his name ? possibly bob someone. Like i say it,s not me quoting this but possibly some of the older genaration could shed some light on this subject ?
thanks Alan

The answer is neither. Great angler , anecdotally not a nice man.But so what- judge the art not the artist.Read his book and make your own mind up I suggest.

Interesting Thread here.

I never met HF nor do I have much first hand information , What I do know is that there are two very distinct camps who support or denigrate the man..

I wrote to Trout fisherman magazine a couple of years back after a book review about Dick Walker was attacked by Falkus supporters when Walker was compared to HF. Walker was my hero throughout my fishing childhood.
This prompted some discussion amongst my fly tying friends and speaking to others at the Fly Show following this letter I found out a lot more about the great divide.

As with all two sided arguments and discussions both sides had their views and they seemed pretty convinced the HF was either a "Great Man " or a bit of a fraud. There seemed to be little middle ground amongst those who had known him.

That he was a highly publicised figure and a strong character cannot be disputed. That some disliked him (with good reason or not) is not in dispute. Neither can the fact that his supporters and friends enjoyed their relationships with him be ignored.

My conclusion, He was probably the Marmite man of his day !

Cheers

__________________
Chris REEVES

www.flydressersguild.org

Another boring Falkus thread, almost as boring as 'Which rod?'

I have both HF seatroot and salmon books under the bed, where they've been for twenty years, every now and then I have a quick shuffty.

HF was a middelclass **** who was, as all middleclass arses are, dismissive of women and tight as a ducks pooper.

But he knew his biscuits when it came to fishing for seatrout.

Get both books and make your own mind up.

As there are probably none of us on this forum (or very few), whoever met the man, none of us are really in a position to comment, other than regurgitating the previous writings of others.

Personally, Salmon Fishing and Sea Trout fishing are absolute seminal works and a must read for any game fisher.

If his "friends" had such great ideas, why didn't they think of putting them into print?

A lot of creative characters have mulitple personas, whether good or bad and this just adds to their enigma as a person, particularly during the inevitable analysis following their death.

For christ sake, the man flew Spitfires during the war!!!

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www.paypalsucks.com

Surely the Medecine Fly is a Teal Blue and Silver for starters?

Sea Trout Fishing caught my attention

Salmon Fishing I thought very dull and dry.

My imagining is that he took what he wanted in life, and left behind the debris.

Indeed they are but it must be born in mind that Sea Trout Fishing was born, in the main, out of his experience of fishing his own, private section of the relatively small Border Esk in the days of large runs of sea trout. A completely different experience that faces today's sea trout fisher and from a personal perspective I find the work of Morgan and Harris more relevant.

Falkus' writing style is also a touch dogmatic for my taste but was probably a pretty accurate reflection of his character.

All said and done, a great angler who's contribution was immense but I'm a bit cautious of deifying such people.

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[I]"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel."[/I] Roderick L Haig-Brown

[url]www.wildfly.net[/url]

[url]http://www.gameanglinginstructors.co.uk/[/url]

Looks a bit like the 'Tall Poppy Syndrome ' at work again .

I met and chatted with him a few times - an interesting bloke and ok with me .

His methodology was developed on a very specific bit of river and worked there fine - wasn't all particularly transferrable - but seatrout is a very enigmatic beast at the best of times and you could well be fishing for an entirely different species river to river .

To develop any methodology for anywhere is a feat - and Falkus shold always be revered for that .

And yes he did take a drink and wasn't a whole lot of fun if he'd overcooked it - but he was a man ! A real proper one of those - purist and philistine - a one off - I wish he was here to have a snipe at the snipers !

Steve Parton

..........................................................

Found his books very interesting reading

Met the man a couple of times back in the 70's, once up at Eskdale and another time when I and he were both fishing the Leven as guests.

He could be either very rude, to the point of being ignorant, or very charming, I saw both sides on both occasions, he struck me as being a bit of an odd character.