Study broke hallowed tradition among fly fishers

EDITOR—The authors of the CRACKPOT study in evidence based trout fishing are to be congratulated on a study protocol that broke the hallowed tradition of competitiveness and individualism among fly fishers.1 However, the study's design omitted two major considerations: the time scale used and the character of the respondents.

Firstly, within what random periods did the 125 angling hours take place within the 3696 (5 months × 24) available to them in the season? The relative values of a Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear and a Cinnamon Sedge, if transposed between a May morning and a September dusk, could give very different results. Secondly, the artificially reared Kennet trout in what is mainly a “put and take” fishery will have had little exposure in their nursery to natural examples of ephemeroptera on which replicas are based. Selection from CRACKPOT's limited trial range will have had relatively little significance to trout conducting their …