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Secret Angler

@SecretAngler

Commentator on angling, its periodicals, politics and matters on which others are reluctant to speak

secretangler.home.blog
Joined November 2018
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Introducing the Secret Angler Blog, offering commentary and criticism on angling matters. Read the first post here secretangler.home.blog
The Secret Angler

The Secret Angler

Commentary on angling - saying the things no one else dares to say

secretangler.home.blog
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The pit of fishing videos. secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
The petty and the pitiful

The petty and the pitiful

Search ‘fishing’ on YouTube and you’ll get something like 75 million results, last time I checked. How many wasted lives would it take to watch that lot? The swivel-chair fisherman may find enough …

secretangler.home.blog
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Replying to @gis_michelle
@gis_michelle The Rivers Trust annual report secretangler.home.blog/2026/…

Dirty money in The Rivers Trust

The Rivers Trust has just released its State of Our Rivers Report 2026. One longs to read something concrete in these reports, something new, the sense that progress is happening. We don’t usually …

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Funded by dirty money?
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Marine fish stocks collapsing secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
No more fish in the sea

No more fish in the sea

The ocean is a big place, yet not big enough for the fish to escape the great industrial fishing net. Most people barely notice: you can still get a piece of battered cod at the local fish and chip…

secretangler.home.blog
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Beware corporate fishing tackle vultures. secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
Careful who you buy from

Careful who you buy from

If the environment is destroyed, fish disappear from rivers and oceans, the human race becomes extinct it will be in large measure down to big corporations. Everyone knows the years of denials from…

secretangler.home.blog
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Are fishermen's tall tales growing taller? secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
Tall tales growing taller

Tall tales growing taller

It’s a kind of cultural joke that fishermen are less than completely truthful about the fish they catch. Arms outstretched: “it was this big”; “you should have seen the one that got away, it was hu…

secretangler.home.blog
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More on the plight of salmon and the fingernail-examining of those who think they know best. #atlanticsalmon secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
Still missing

Still missing

Out with the old investment banker, in with another. The Missing Salmon Alliance (who?) has a new chair, Matthew Fleming of the Fleming banking dynasty who replaces David Mayhew, retired Cazenove b…

secretangler.home.blog
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Hot summers, fishery closures and Spanish football. secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
Dies caniculares

Dies caniculares

The dog days of summer are here, characterised by lethargic afternoons, low rivers, torpid fish; but not as you might think named after vacant dog owners plunging their pooches into rivers, disrupt…

secretangler.home.blog
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Fishing in a hot climate secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
Spanish weather

Spanish weather

Heatwaves are not good for fishing. Mid-30s or higher are not much good for anything but resting in the shade and listlessly checking the weather forecast for any change. Some seem to like it. On t…

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Loss of wild birds since 1976. The dawn chorus is dying. theguardian.com/environment/… #nature #birds
Listen to Britain’s dawn chorus of 1976: the dramatic loss of birdsong in 50 years

Listen to Britain’s dawn chorus of 1976: the dramatic loss of birdsong in 50 years

Guardian recreates audio landscape of past filled by loud morning symphony before 73m wild birds were lost

theguardian.com
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Looking for peace on a bank holiday secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
Fishwatching amidst the bedlam

Fishwatching amidst the bedlam

Another spring bank holiday, this time with amber heat warnings and a threat of record temperatures at levels once rarely seen in this country even in August. The kind of weather in which you want …

secretangler.home.blog
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Had a few problems with comments and like button on wordpress.com/home/secretang… lately. Apologies for that. Comments should be fixed now. The Like button may take longer.
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Fishing videos at Sportfish Spring Spectacular secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
More target practice

More target practice

’Tis spring again, when a not so young Sportfish marketing manager’s thoughts turn to Spring Spectaculars. I presume the substitution of fishing videos for the real life event at Theale was his whe…

secretangler.home.blog
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Don't buy UK-caught cod, now at a dangerous point in decline of population theguardian.com/environment/…
Consumers urged to ‘completely avoid’ UK-caught cod as population plunges

Consumers urged to ‘completely avoid’ UK-caught cod as population plunges

Marine Conservation Society warns that fish numbers have reached dangerous point of decline

theguardian.com
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Changes to the way we fish. secretangler.home.blog/2026/…

The way we fish now

Numbers of anglers and the kind of fishing they do have undoubtedly changed over the years. There are few robust statistics to demonstrate this but anyone who has been fishing for some time will ha…

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When is a designer not a designer? secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
Designer designers

Designer designers

Some years ago I knew an engineer who designed power tools; that is, he sat at a drawing board where he conceived and drew the parts of machines, eventually to be manufactured into working products…

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Review of Marina Gibson's book, Cast Catch Release. secretangler.home.blog/2026/…
Cast, Catch, Consume

Cast, Catch, Consume

What first struck me when I heard about Marina Gibson’s book, Cast Catch Release (published 2024) is that its publisher is Hodder Press, part of Hatchette; and in the US, Simon & Schuster, whic…

secretangler.home.blog
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Misconceptions about trout stocking secretangler.home.blog/2025/… #troutstocking
Bailey’s bees

Bailey’s bees

John Bailey gets about. He’s ‘fishing consultant’ to the TV programme Gone Fishing, in which a maladroit Bob Mortimer receives guidance from an occasionally frustrated Paul Whitehouse (DON’T WIND, …

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The desire to catch too many fish. secretangler.home.blog/2025/… #fishing #environment
How many fish are enough?

How many fish are enough?

There is no shortage of information and instruction on how to catch fish, even if there is now a shortage of fish in the seas and some of our rivers. Maybe the two go together: with fewer fish out …

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Not only sewage and agriculture polluting our rivers. theguardian.com/environment/…
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All about nylon fishing lines and confused anglers. secretangler.home.blog/2025/…
Online brains and breaking strains

Online brains and breaking strains

I’ve lately had a bit of trouble with fishing line snapping unexpectedly. This particular line, Rio Powerflex, is one of the latest examples of the manufacturers’ quest to innovate, sell more stuff…

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