Published Oct 13. 2011 - 12 years ago
Updated or edited Oct 8. 2020

The shoulder thing

Where to put your rod when handling fish? On your shoulders behind your neck, of course!

There was a time where you stuck the rod under an arm when showing a fish. Maybe even just laid it on the ground or on the bank. Then people started putting the rod in the mouth. The latest craze seems to be to put the rod on your neck and shoulders behind your head while posing for a photography with a fish.

It seems to be quite a balance act, and I fail to see what's really smart about this move - apart from having people like me write about it. But I can see that it's become quite a fad, and a lot of those who is somebody in fly fishing seems be adapting this way of posing.

To think that there can be fashion in where you put your rod while getting pictures taken! I have seen fashion in dress code: colorful jackets, berets, sixpences, trucker's caps and such and even fashion in rods with bright colors as blue, yellow and the latest in white and even pink.
But why this is smart apart from showing the reel maybe, is beyond me. Maybe it's like skiers finishing their runs, who have hardly stopped before they take off the skis and flash the undersides with large, clear sponsor's names on them.

Not trying to offend anyone or steal images, but just proving a point.

Comments

Just fashion victims...

Just fashion victims

I think the pure mot...

I think the pure motivation was to keep the fly rod in the picture, too. A very old and common thing for many fly fishers around the globe. I think it has to do with how much we often prefer to choose fly fishing over other forms of angling?!
I just understand this "new thing" as another form of saying: "This fish was taken on a fly rod."
Greets
Bernd

How do you make this...

How do you make this "set-up"? I guess you have to be to angler or maybe three? The angler, the photographer and a person to pick up the rod if it falls : ) Why???
Anyway, I personally think it looks unnatural and like an advertisement. But it must be fun to see all the work in making one picture like this.

Respect the fish...

It's really about the the fish! Anyone fishing partner who couples the "rod balance" with the "fish thrust" (pushing the fish much closer to the camera for size distortion) for the sake of self-enhancement or Instagram gets dunked at my hand :) .

It's simple; if you're not proud of, and appreciate the beauty of, your catch, don't take a picture.

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