After the success of the first one, we bring a new English edit of the magazine for all our UK / EU / worldwide followers. Here's the foreword we wrote for it:
We still believe!
‘Nobody cares anymore,’ sighs Belgian icon @alijndanau during a conversation we had at the VBK meeting. The trigger is the translation of his late ‘90s capture of The Real Thing; which is also set to appear here in a future English edit. In that same convo, we naturally bridge to his legendary interview with Terry Hearn from that very period. ‘That feature left such a deep impression on me when I was seventeen,’ I try to reassure him. But to no avail. Alijn again: ‘It feels like today’s social media generation has completely lost any sense of connection with or awareness of the strong past of our hobby. There’s even a total disinterest! Somebody became nobody, historic captures long forgotten.’ From our magazine popularity, we try to counter that argument as well, but Alijn remains pessimistic: ‘Be honest mate - how many readers are younger than your generation and mine?’ Veteran angler Chris De Clercq chimes in, just after we congratulate him on his dazzling capture of a so-called SICK (modern terminology) linear. ‘That a fish like this caused a genuine social media tsunami wasn’t surprising. But that it was actually largely - if not completely - unknown? Incomprehensible! Across the water, in England, a target like that would have been documented down to the smallest detail, to the point of exhaustion even. I miss that part over here.’ In my eyes, he’s absolutely right. That’s precisely why, in this issue, we present two never before published Best Kept Secrets: one from Belgium and one from the Netherlands. By Presenting an in-depth interview about the book Zeitreise, we open the door to Germany’s ultra-rich carp-fishing history - and the question of who may really have invented the hair rig. We have real proof, but that's for later. Enjoy!
What it meant. Where it went.
Gio M.C. - also with a mega Lin that deserves its own story
Shout out to our contributors: Carpy Podcast (for the whole German Zeitreise input), @frederikboterberg, @ronaldterwielen, @berryterwielen, Vistje (RIP) & friends, Phil Braun, SBG, SignalWood, Stannart, @thomasroose, Janik Wolf & everyone we might have forgotten. Special thx to Abbey Rogers, Rob Smith, Graham Barrett, Philipp Braun and the MC Crew for proofing.
Thx to the following brands helping keeping print alive: CC Moore & Co Ltd, Shimano-Tribal, NASH Team Benelux, Forge Tackle, Fortis Eyewear, Solar Tackle, @davedogpublications, ESP Carpgear, Angling Direct, Subsurface Journal