Cheated by idiots

[Severn Wolf]

Finally the curtain has been drawn over the local Meres night fishing as their season draws to a close. The sesh last night was once again a complete blank.

 

It just so happens that the truth of the season came out last night. There have been a few successful anglers there this year, a good number of 20s have been caught. I was mystified by this and put it down to me being rubbish at carping and a slice of bad luck.

 

Not so, the real reason I didn`t get anything this year is because all the carp came out to.......boilies and tigers. They`re banned for gods sake but were heavily used right from the off in April.

 

I feel downright cheated by this, rules are rules and theres no excuse at all for breaking them. Ok, its a slow water but if I`m prepared to keep at it for 19 odd nights then why do others feel the need to use baits that are not allowed? In a way I can see their point, good food for the fish etc etc etc but instead of breaking rules why not try to change them the correct way at the AGM?

 

Theres a fair bit of ammo been collected against the carpers through Chinese whispers and rumours on the place this season and the night fishing is up for review by the committee soon. This is as good as saying that we`ll have a night fishing ban next year which will render trips there a total waste of time.

 

I couldn`t believe the number of people using boilies and am in two minds what to do. I could send a letter to the committee and explain the situation hoping they will take on board a few of my suggestions for necessary changes but by doing that it may just add more fuel to the fire for the anti carping committee. If I stay quiet and see what happens then we`ll all have to sit back and let them decide without resistance what to do.

 

I wouldn`t mind a reasoned decision by the committee but the problem is that NONE of them carp fish and its only very rarely that they even bother to fish the Mere so they haven`t a clue whats going on there anyway. They need a carper or spessie guy to give us a voice.

 

 

If any anglers on here reading this have an inclination as to the venue I`m on about and have been one of those who have blatantly broken rules I`d just like to say you have personally jeopardised the future fishing of long standing club members who have stayed within the constraints of the committee whether we agree or not. You`re just catch at all cost travellers moving from one water to another with total disregard and disrespect of the honest angler.

 

You are disgusting.

 

I have been duped and failed in the quest but I have stayed within the rules, come away with a blank score sheet but my head is held high and my integrity intact.

 

(Sorry, I needed a rant and a moan)

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

Hmm.... I have no idea about the venue but I can understand your point.

 

However, take a local lake near us that bans pellets, boilies, hemp, groundbait.

 

However, they do not object to pastes. The way to fish the water is to blend up a pack of boilies with an egg and a bit of water and you have perfectly sound bait to use all day. You can even make a ball of paste and fish it like a boilie!! Therefore, it seems, banning boilies is a bit of a waste of time.

 

I play within the rules, but the rules do not make sense.

[Severn Wolf]

Yeah, I know what you mean. For ages I`ve been saying that a boilie is only a boilie if its been boiled......

 

Pellets are just boilies in a different form but they`re a damn sight higher in oil and surely worse for the fish in the long run (early 90s fishmeals and over oiling). Pellets will never get banned though, tell the pleasure guy who fish the smaller lake they can`t use them and all of a sudden no-one is left in the club.

 

Another daft thing, hemp is banned but most commercially made stillwater groundbaits contain crushed hemp so the committee guys fishing the small lake are breaking their own rules......

[Dante]

Wolf i feel for you mate and know exactly how frustrating it is.

 

<rant mode on>

On my club water they dont allow night fishing, so i like a good boy drive the 45 minutes to get there just before first light to find 5 or 6 bivvys set up and anglers that have obviously been there all night (snoring thier lil heads off). The last 12 sessions i have been on this water, 7 times at least 2 people have been nighting it which i find frustrating in the very least especially when they crawl out of ther bivvys at 10am and proceed to haul out the carp sacks and take thier trophy shots(so much for not keeping carp in sacks for long either)and yet, if you or i were seen not using an unhooking mat we would be hung from the nearest branch.

 

Now i dont know about you guys but i feel that the carp angling fraternity are the biggest bunch of hypocrits around, when we are trying to teach the young carpers the right way of doing things and then you see in the mags "so an so has had the black mirror" from a no fishing venue, or read a book and read "i hopped over the fence and fished the nature reserve area where fishing is not allowed" or even see a photo of one of the "carp gods" holding a fish and right behind him is a no fishing sign. This to me reeks of fish at any cost and s*d the rules.

 

So what is this showing the new anglers? that you do what you like to catch the fish you are after and s*d everyone else, surely these so called "carping superstars" should be whiter than white as they are, by being in the public eye ambassadors for the sport.

 

<rant mode off>

 

Sorry lads but like wolf i needed to get this off my chest and i appreciate not all carp anglers are the same but its the ones in the public eye that do most damage.

[big al]

Severn have you thought about offering to bailiff the water ? with a carp angler you can pop round the lake at say 1 am ask them to reel in and check the baits anyone caught subject to discipline .that way the bait bans are policed get two or three of you and you share the load .

 

alternatively look at the science and see if you can get them to change the rules.feel for you people cheating and that,s was it is get no respect from me .cheers big AL

[Severn Wolf]

Andi

 

Totally agree mate. Fishing is as a whole is starting to reflect the `results without effort` society that we`re living in. Everyone wants somthing for nothing these days, young kids on another forum keep asking how to catch 20s and 30s when their PB is only 5. Others actually catch these huge carp. Its just too easy......

`Pulling strokes` is seen as being part of carping, the guys who do it are, as you rightly pointed out, `superstars`.

I love carping, been doing it for many years on and off. This is the first full summer I`ve spent in their pursuit for ten years but am getting disillusioned as to the new breed of angler coming through. Rules are rules, its as simple as that.

 

Al, my mate has been trying to get me to offer to baliff the water but I`m not going to. I know I would be well hacked off if some little Hitler woke me up in the early hours so they could see what bait I was using. It would cause waves and as I fish the water myself I would be as popular as a fresh turd in the sun.

This would probably lead to recriminations by disgruntled anglers. I want the rules either enforced or reviewed but if enforcing them affected my own enjoyment then I could probably see myself dropping out of the club to find another water I could disappear on and not get involved in the politics.

 

The real problem the club needs to address is the type of angler they have fishing their waters. It was the committee who threw the doors open to all-comers, they only saw the pound signs not the consequences.

 

I`m not sure exactly what my stance is regarding the boilie ban. Part of me is saying that it could do with being lifted as folks are going to use them regardless but from a personal point of view I quite like to have to use different baits as it presents new challenges. Enforcing the ban has proved impossible and will remain that way I`m afraid.

 

I`ve decided to write a letter to the committee giving the viewpoint from the side of the honest, rule abiding angler and put forward a few ideas for them to consider.

 

I know the club used to ruled with a rod of iron, openly disagree with a committee decision and you were out, no questions. I`m probably putting myself in the position to be booted out of the club but have thought it through and realised that if the night fishing is stopped and never reinstated then I will drop out anyway. I love the place but without the nights you`re really up against it.

 

Once more unto the breach dear friends.

 

Someones got to do it, might as well be me eh, I can waffle on like a good one when I get a flow.

[Andrew Burgess]

Severn Wolf, I fell sorry for you with this problem.

 

I did have a simialar problem with you but this was the silly bait bans, and I followed the rules as I always have done. This rules was set by the lake warden, but when the lake warden sees his so called mates using the bait bans he allowed them to contiue using them as he turn a blind eye to it. But when I see this and started using them again what to I get when get caught?

 

What happen? I get banned from the water! More like one set of rules to him and his so called mates a set of rules for me

 

I agree with you on the so called committee that "threw the doors open to all-comers, they only saw the pound signs not the consequences".

[Dante]

It Makes me laugh mate and cry a little too tbh, as a bailiff myself (10 yrs now) i have a lot of dealing with kids and when i tell them it took me 20 odd years to catch my first 20 they look at me like i am a total looser which tbh used to hurt a bit (for about 15 seconds lol) until i put it into perspective ie not many waters with 20's in back in the 80's and as for 30's, hell they were fish of dreams. I am afraid carp fishing has sadly become a victim of its own success and those that are new to the sport have it bombarded into thier heads about bigs fish being everything, how often do you see a mag with a 20 in it let alone on the front cover so its no wonder the new carpers think 30's are the norm and anything smaller is a trash fish.

 

As for the suggestion of bailiffing the venue mate its a good one but tbh unless you have total support of the committee you are doomed to failure and as you say "cause waves" which will possibly ruin the hobby for you, as for the boilie ban as you rightly said "impossible to enforce" and there will always be some joker who will try to get round it by pulling strokes.

 

The letter to the committee is a good idea and i hope they take some of it on board however i personally dont have much faith in committees as they seem to want the glory but not the hard work and anything that rocks the boat gets swept under the carpet.

 

"Once more unto the breach dear friends"

 

well mate if no-one says anything nothing will change and as for waffling on thats what forums are for so we can let off steam and have a chat and its nice to know there is a place to sound off and air ones views tbh i wish my own sites forum was as busy and fun

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

Agree entirely.

 

Fishing (and TV doesn't help) seems to be more about getting big double fig carp than about fishing itself.

 

I blanked after six hours this morning but still had a really good morning out!

[Dante]

UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk:

Agree entirely.  

 

Fishing (and TV doesn't help) seems to be more about getting big double fig carp than about fishing itself.  

 

I blanked after six hours this morning but still had a really good morning out!

Yup no argument there at all, the whole carping scene is just to competitive today, but i will say one thing in defence of certain TV presenters ie Matt Hayes and Mick Brown they do seem to tell it as it is, warts 'n all, i was watching one of their episodes (they were persuing big carp) and Matt made a point in telling the viewer that the lake held a large stock of very big fish and that was why they were fishing it, but then he was still obviously chuffed to bits with (after 48 hours of blanking) a upper double.

 

I did the big fish or bust thing back in the 80's and after making myself very ill (i still suffer the condition to this day) due to a marathon 8 week session (not looking after myself correctly food, drink etc) i realised after several weeks in hospital and a couple of years in burn out mode that fishing is just that "fishing", it should be a pleasure and not a test of endurance and that you dont need to prove anything to anyone other than yourself.

 

We only have one life and it slips past rapidly enjoy it...