International Fly tying fun

Do you fancy doing this Mike? Could you handle the logistics? Have you
considered the book suggestions?


Cheers
J.

Sorry, I have too many commitments at the present time. I retired from a
couple of international swaps already as a result of this. Also, I have had
problems sending stuff internationally. It is expensive, and on a number of
occasions the packages have never arrived. I certainly would not trust the
present postal services for any number of packages, and paying a carrier is
far too expensive. I have done so in the past, and written costs off as
business expenses, but transport costs to America etc for a private
individual are prohibitively expensive.

Swap flies which never arrive are a major disappointment for all concerned,
and I would not like to take the risk. It is bad enough when mine don´t
arrive, but I would certainly not take the responsibility for others.

Quite apart from which, I am not really interested. The last swap I was in
was a disaster for all concerned. We had more than a few people who sent
plastic worms, chenille nymphs ( For Pike!!!!) and similar rubbish. This is
very disappointing indeed for those who made a considerable effort to
produce something reasonable. There is nothing much one can do about it,
except to avoid such idiots in future. Several of us contributed money to
the "Swapmeister" and helped him out as well, as he would otherwise have
looked pretty sick having to sort and send out nearly two thousand flies to
everybody. Such large swaps are a pain in the arse. In future I will only
join swaps with people I know and trust, and which are of a reasonable size.
I don´t really need to swap anyway, I can tie anything I want myself,
quicker and better than most, so it is a bit pointless anyway. I need more
flies like I need a hole in the head!

This type of "chain letter" thing is also not my cup of tea at all, it
sounds like a scam, and probably is. Irrespective of who is originally
responsible for it. There are other ways of "becoming known", if that is
what one wants. One merely has to subscribe to a few of the international
boards, it is very quickly clear to all concerned who is bull****ting, and
who has useful knowledge to communicate. This only works if you actually
want to help people. Doing it for various other, especially commercial,
reasons will just make you look stupid, and put most people off. People
realise this pretty quickly.

Some apparently try to take severe advantage of other people´s good nature
and generosity. This ****es me off more than somewhat. I don´t mind when a
"newbie" sends some awful concoction along, at least he tried, and the flies
he receives will help him along to being a better dresser, or he might even
catch a nice fish on them, but the arseholes who send plastic worms and
similar stuff should be fed on them.

The flies for the book are originals, in so far as the original materials,
hooks, gut etc were used. I went to considerable lengths with these flies,
and researched a great deal for absolutely original patterns, as far as I
did not already possess them. I am not worried about the opinion of
"sunray" and his fellow critics, as he would not know a Wren´s tail from
his own arse, and anybody who knows him is quite aware of this. He is merely
interested in "making a name for himself" by criticising others. Apart
from which, at least three of the other people concerned are also prime
bull****ters, and I seriously doubt that they have even tied many flies, or
indeed know much about them. Reading two fairly mediocre books on the
subject, and then quoting extensively from these, is not my idea of a good
qualification for negatively criticising others. As to "standards", this is
ludicrous, there are none, except in the minds of a few hidebound
individuals who would even standardise the lengths of turds if they could,
which would actually be an application ideally suited to their time and
talents.

The photographs I received were absolutely awful, done by a rank amateur,
but even so it is quite obvious that the flies are complete abortions, badly
dressed, and with the wrong materials. I have nothing against substituting
stuff, but this must be made clear to all concerned. I repeat, the flies I
sent are all dressed with original materials, in a couple of cases the very
last of my stock, which I have been ekeing out for years. I stipulated that
the flies be returned to me after the photography etc has been done. I
would have done the photography myself, but I am not certain that I could
have managed the desired quality without a lot of trouble and expense, which
I am simply not prepared to go to.

As ever, I neither asked for, nor was I offered payment. In the meantime I
have lost count of the number of articles, flies, etc etc I have contributed
to various places, without remuneration. I am not complaining, simply
stating a fact. If some dumb ******* imagines that I make money at it, and
bases his "criticism" on this "fact". then he is merely a pitiable specimen,
and no concern of mine. Should he however make the serious mistake of
publishing such nonsense, I will have his balls for breakfast.

In the meantime, I am a pensioner. My wife was a civil servant, and after
she died last year, I received a pension from the Government. I wound up my
small business quite a while prior to her death, as I simply could not run
it and look after her as well. I am reasonably well off as far as normal
living is concerned, but I can not afford any major investments, or
prolonged holidays etc. I don´t have to work, and so I spend the majority of
my time on fishing related things.

You are not the first to ask, and you wont be the last, but I don´t see much
point in writing any more books. As you know, the three I finished were
highly praised, from various quarters, but nobody wanted to publish them,
and I can not afford to do it myself. This is not a problem. It would be
nice to "see my name in lights", but I will not be disappointed if it never
happens. I write basically for my own enjoyment, not least to crystallise
my own thoughts and ideas, I don´t much care whether anybody reads it or
not. The money aspect is also of only minor interest. It is doubtful whether
one would make much money at it anyway. Far easier to publish some mediocre
crap and sell it at an inflated price. Which is of course precisely what
generally happens!

To date, the only articles of mine which have actually been published for
money were in German, on electronics, for professional magazines. None of my
fishing articles in English have ever been published on paper, only on the
web. I have written a few articles on fishing in German, and these have
indeed been published, but I did not get paid for them. My first book sold
about 600 copies, ( I still have a few), and I lost money on that as well,
although it is a long time ago now. Even though I could doubtless write a
much better one now, I see little reward in repeating such a hopeless
exercise. The book itself is not that important it seems, the advertising
and general marketing is the crux of the matter.

Telling people that I have been "Widely published", is a gross
misrepresentation, and I do not wish to see it done. The facts suffice, and
the work offered should stand on its own merits, and not be based on some
dubious bull**** which an over eager copy writer thinks up.

Furthermore, apart from the flies themselves, a few observations, tricks,
and tips, I have nothing much original, or of any real value to contribute.
There are already large numbers of absolutely lousy books extant, and I see
no good reason for adding to this number. Of course, I have extensive and
detailed knowledge of fishing generally, and fly-fishing in particular, but
practically none of it is original, anybody with the time and interest could
also obtain it, it is merely the result of considerable application, and
quite a lot of practice of course. I don´t want to publish anything
mediocre, or that I could not be proud of. I don´t care about the money, I
never did, which is why I have never made much, and now never will.

There is no call for the "truth" about many things. People believe what they
want to believe, quite irrespective of any worrying "facts" etc etc. It
does not really matter what one says or does, this is a constant, and one
must simply accept it. There is also very little demand for detailed
information on a large number of subjects, it would be quite pointless
providing such, there are too few people interested. The world runs on
mediocrity and misinformation. only the packaging counts.

Unfortunately, I can no longer dress several of the patterns concerned, as
the materials are unobtainable, at least by legal means. This is also a bit
pointless, as people generally want to try such patterns for themselves,
this of course is quite impossible if the materials are not available. Many
of these flies can be tied with substitutes, but these are rarely as good as
the originals, which were by no means haphazard concoctions or flights of
fancy, but were devised and then refined over many years for specific
purposes. Now and again there is a "renaissance" of old wet fly patterns,
especially spiders and the like, and untold amounts of bull**** are then
spewed forth by people with little or no knowledge of the matter, mostly
based on pure commercial interest.

The book you sent me is a fairly typical example of "publishing for money",
based on a "name", regardless of content. It has received "rave" reviews in
some quarters, and has already sold a great number of copies. It has not
one single original word in it, merely a large number of quotes from other
much better books. I would not pay ten cents for it. Indeed, in my
considered opinion, it is a scam of the worst kind. As are many others.The
market supports such stuff, and so it is produced and sold.

However all this may be, I thank you for the offers, but am obliged to
gracefully decline. I hope to be in England sometime in the middle of June,
and I will then be fishing in Wales. Should it prove convenient, I would
then drop in for a chat, and we could maybe go for a meal and a pint or two?
I would bring the books along so that you can value them. I don´t really
want to sell them actually, but I know them more or less off by heart now,
and I could do with the money. I don´t want to send them by post etc.

Best wishes, regards and tight lines!

Mike Connor

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...
(gigantic snip)
I hope to be in England sometime in the middle of June,
and I will then be fishing in Wales.

Hey, that's what my email to you was about! :-)

I had an offer to meet up with some relatives in Hungary that same week, but
I gave it thought and decided that I'd rather be fishing in Wales, so I
declined. I'm definately going to be there midJune. So we're still on? From
what I've researched, I'd want to spend a few days fishing the Towy, and
also fishing around the Brecon Beacons region. Other than that, I'm up for
anything. Whenever your plans are able to solidify, email me and we can
start working out details, like where to meet, and when.

TL
--riverman

"riverman" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
Whenever your plans are able to solidify, email me and we can
start working out details, like where to meet, and when.

TL
--riverman



No idea how I managed to post that here. It was a private e-mail to a friend
in England. Too tired I suppose.

Whatever, I am hoping that the trip will work out, and if so, I would pick
you up. I will probably have to drive to Holland anyway to get the ferry,
probabyl to Dover, so if you are in Holland, I would pick you up there. Or
at Bristol airport, whatever.

I am easy as far as the fishing goes. I will fish anywhere for anything!
I will know for sure whether I can manage it later in May.

TL
MC

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...

"riverman" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
Whenever your plans are able to solidify, email me and we can
start working out details, like where to meet, and when.

TL
--riverman



No idea how I managed to post that here. It was a private e-mail to a
friend
in England. Too tired I suppose.

Whatever, I am hoping that the trip will work out, and if so, I would pick
you up. I will probably have to drive to Holland anyway to get the ferry,
probabyl to Dover, so if you are in Holland, I would pick you up there. Or
at Bristol airport, whatever.

I am easy as far as the fishing goes. I will fish anywhere for anything!
I will know for sure whether I can manage it later in May.


Ahh, the makings of a flexible trip: I like it.

I had also thought of jumping on board in Amsterdam, but I figure that I
only have a week, and it would eat up a couple of days driving from there to
Wales. If you met me in Bristol instead, we'd get more time to fish. I'll
make some tenatative arrangements at a B&B and arrange a rental car, just in
case you can't make it, but I'll be ready to cancel at a hearbeat. Since
you're driving all the way and providing a tent for me, I'll be happy to
cover all the gas costs once we are in Wales. I know you get all resistant
about taking contributions, but you'll have to just live with this. :-)

TL
M

"riverman" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

SNIP
I had also thought of jumping on board in Amsterdam, but I figure that I
only have a week, and it would eat up a couple of days driving from there
to
Wales. If you met me in Bristol instead, we'd get more time to fish. I'll
make some tenatative arrangements at a B&B and arrange a rental car, just
in
case you can't make it, but I'll be ready to cancel at a hearbeat. Since
you're driving all the way and providing a tent for me, I'll be happy to
cover all the gas costs once we are in Wales. I know you get all resistant
about taking contributions, but you'll have to just live with this. :-)

TL
M


Looks alright at the moment. If nothing crops up, and my relatives in the
North of England don´t balls it up, then I will make it. Bristol it is
then. I might let you buy me a beer!

TL
MC