Addiction vs Style

Specimen Style Description as per their Facebook page: This is a dedicated specimen carp angling group where we discuss all aspects of carp angling such as safe rigs, rig material as well as the mechanics of rigs. We would like to keep it as fun as possible, so please feel free to post photos of your catches so that we can admire and discuss them. Feel free to ask advice regarding specimen carp angling. No venues need to be made public. No photos, comments or posts of poor fish care will be tolerated. Carp ‘O’ Holics Description as per their Facebook page: The place where passionate Carp Anglers meet. Dedicated Carp Specimen angling where Carp Care and Safety take priority. Juan Joubert, founder of Carp ‘O’ Holics and Judine Combrink, founder of Specimen Style have created pages to get a community of passionate anglers together on a platform where politics are kept to a minimum and new friendships and friendly rivalry is the main aim. These two groups have been supported so well by the growing community of specimen anglers in southern Africa that there have already been a few well-organized competition fishing weekends between the two groups, which definitely reveals a great deal about the type of people involved in these groups. It is worth noting that there are not a lot of other social groups that can claim the same results. To date there have been three challenges between the two groups; the first was at a private lake that I had the privilege of making very good friends with the owner, Tjaard Kotzé, who always welcomes us with open arms and who enjoys the ethics of specimen carp anglers on his property because we live by the motto of only leaving behind foot prints. This challenge was proudly won by the Carp ‘O’ Holics team, who have all become very good friends. The second challenge was held at Carp Haven, and here the team from Carp ‘O’ Holics reigned as champions again. This 2-0 score must have been the motivator for the 3rd challenge, which was also held at Carp Haven, and everything was put into this event from both teams, as they all fished their hearts out on the weekend. But at the end of the day Carp ‘O’ Holics walked out as the undefeated champions yet again. Specimen Style also host a winter challenge event, where they involve their members in a competition amongst themselves to crown a champion. Their Winter Challenge is a comp that runs for about 3 months. From 14 June to 16 September there are two categories, namely “BIGGEST KARP” and “MOST CARP 8kg+”. You can head over to their page for all the information about the challenge. The problem with word-of-mouth and qualitative information is that it can be influenced by bias or by outright lies. Some anglers are quite paranoid about sharing information with everyone, for example. While some matters may need to be held in confidence, there are things you should share with everyone involved. For example, letting your team mates know how your peg performs in terms of fish landed and tactics and bait that delivered results. In this manner we learn from each other, and the information acquired will be invaluable in your approach to fishing for the rest of your life. Passionate anglers are invited to contribute their opinion, their own ideas or any other information on these two pages. The information collected enables the community access to different perspectives and to build on the motivation and engagement of individuals who are willing to freely support the goals of the two groups. The future involves the use of technology and the ever growing presence of social media in our daily lives, and these two groups have definitely shown that there is a positive side to social media, even though it has become something that most of us are trying to cut out of our lives, as it can become the thief of time that can never be returned to your life. The sheer volume of digital content and exposure that social media provides in a short period clearly gives the newbies of today a clear advantage over the previous era when it comes to having your face and results recognized and rewarded. This should not be a factor to the guys that have been the pioneers in the sport, as this is a sport where you should have your own personal goals, and if you are taking part just for glorification, I strongly suggest that you go back to the drawing board to ensure that you are actually enjoying the sport. So in closing, find your way to either one of these two pages where you can become part of a passionate group of people making a difference in the future of the sport; this is just an addition to the information that you can already find in this magazine, and like we all know, you are never too old to learn new things in life!