User Reviews

I remember watching the first episode of GF in 1988 with my late dad. John was fishing a large gravel pit next to a working coal mine for pike. I have to confess that we both found it entertaining. A shame then that most of the episodes were clearly filmed on private estates when the fish are rather easy to catch as they are not under constant angling pressure. There were several examples of this fantasy style fishing which did not reflect the real fishing world. One episode showed John cast a huge floating crust in which was instantly (and I do mean instantly) snatched by a thirty pound carp. No carp of that size would be so easily fooled in the real world. Another time he was pulling double figure bream one after the other from a secret lake. The sort of bream never caught in any angler's lifetime. We often see him pre-bait several choice swims, returning to them later to catch. In the real world these vacant swims would soon be occupied by other anglers. So, yes, entertaining but a totally false representation of angling. Anybody could catch the same monsters that JW does given exclusive access to these very private waters. JW the expert big fish angler? No. JW the lucky ******* with permission to fish Lord Snooty's estate? Yes.