When anglers fail to listen or be heard, there are consequences, says Dani Morey
COMMUNICATION IS VITAL ON THE riverbank. Sometimes even before we get to the riverbank. How do you find your way to a new fishing beat, for instance? I’m a fan of a telephone call or an email sharing old-fashioned directions and a map. There are so many ways of finding our way these days, although many are far from foolproof, especially when you live in the wilds where poor satnav and mobile reception can make even the most accurate app useless. I’ve had guests ignore my directions and insist upon using tech to get them to pools, only for them to call me later and explain they’re completely lost. I’ve been guilty of this myself and, as my friends will delight in telling you, even ended up on the wrong side of a river when I had no phone signal. I guess this proves that it’s best to practise what you preach.
Communication between gillie and guest is paramount. Wading lines are an obvious point. Woe betide the foolhardy fisher who steps unknowingly into a pool without heeding the advice of the resident gillie. No fish is worth risking your life for, and listening to advice about entry and exit points, water rises and unseen dangers beneath the surface could just save it. Here on Speyside, some distilleries discharge into the river, and the sudden whoosh of water erupting beside you from an outlet pipe can be enough to knock you off your feet in surprise. No-one wants to be put in a position where they must put their life at risk to save yours, especially if you’ve been an idiot and not listened.
Last season, I witnessed a gillie trying to guide a new angler into landing a fish. The frenzied circus of camera phones beside him and on the other bank drowned out everything he was trying to say. It was no grilse on the end of the line and the angler was struggling to keep hold of it as much as the gillie was struggling to get the net in position between the excited videographers standing in the shallows. The wisecracks from the audience were entertaining, and their enthusiasm was undeniable, but they almost resulted in the fish being lost. It’s easy to get caught
