Selfish swim snafflers and near bank-neglecters

[wayne baker]

It seems to be the thing with carp anglers to want to fish at range a lot. Neglecting margins and close features. like Peter said i think most carp anglers are incapable of being quite enough to fish at close range. If you are fishing somewhere and you decide to fish to the far bank you should be aware that someone might turn up and want to fish it, And if so you should have respect and reel in.

Bottom line is if there's a possibility of someone turning up then don't put a bait there in the first place, Fish within the confines of your own swim. Personally i would of just give him the finger and carried on fishing.

[Mat Hillman]

it make me laugh about this need to fish at distance. apart from a few waters that may have very shallow water that extends out into the lake, most fish hug the margins or marginal shelf and casting a long way is rarely needed. Also it means that you don't need extra strong carp roads to be able to cast a four ounce lead a hundred yards. Also if you cast in close you can feed much more accurately than if you cast long and you don't need to use expensive PVA bags as a underhand lob with a handful of pellets puts the free offerings round your hook bait. plus you are not tying up half the lake and it is a much more respectful way to fish with regards to fellow anglers.

 

i agree its the carp comics that encourage this long casting nonsense i believe.

 

 

Watch your average session carper setting up

 

1) 3 tons of gear in a large barrow with a squeaky wheel pushed halfway around the lake.

2) 3 tons of gear dumped in a heap in chosen swim

3) Out comes a bivvy big enough to house 17 eastern European families

4) Out comes a 6lb Mallet

5) 6lb mallet used very vigorously while erecting said Bivvy

6) Out comes rod pod

7) 6lb Mallet again employed vigorously to peg down rod pod, unhooking mat, and anything else that looks like it might move if not pegged down

8) all 4 Bite alarms with volume set to "stun" tested several times

 

And then they wonder why they need to cast 140yards to find the nearest carp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

 

Mat

[gozzer]

When it's happened to me, I've just ignored them, and carried on fishing.

It's always amused me that they make all this noise, cast to the horizon, but still think full camo gear is essential.

 

The consequences can be comical though.

Like the time on the Yorks Ouse when two guys opposite each other, struck almost simultaneously, and both found themselves playing a 'fish'. Only to eventually see two swimfeeders 'boil' on the surface mid river.

Another two, fishing the same bank on the Swale, with a couple of willows between them. The top guy cast his leger too far downstream, and the bottom guy cast his float tackle over it.

The top guys 'fish' tried to make it's way down stream, while the bottom guys 'fish' headed upstream into the willows. The couple of minutes before they realised was great to watch.

 

John.

[Andy Macfarlane]

In general I'd agree but then it all depends on who has just arrived. If it's some oik who has decided the best time to get out of bed to go fishing is 2pm and then do a detour past the bevvy shop then it's a different matter.

 

"Oi mate, I've got a bait in there!"

 

 

....Andy....

[Shanghai Lilly]

When lure fishing, I've had the problem of 'Oi! I've got a bait there!' shouted across the lake on numerous occasions.

 

And from the fan-casters one or two swims or more either side of me!

 

Early one morning I arrived at Johnson's Lake, checked the ajoining swims were empty and cast a lure a short distance into swim in front of me.

 

As I started to retrieve, the buzzers started to go off!

 

I melted away as the sounds of people waking and stumbling towards their rod-pods disturbed the quietness and peace of a breaking dawn.

 

Splendid!!

[Dick Dastardly]

Fishing the far margin is a great tactic,no two ways about it.

 

But surely its easy enough to show some commonsense?Plenty of far bank margins without any acsess from that side.Got to be better as they will be less disturbed and you wont be upsetting any one else!

[Vagabond]

Fishing the far margin is a great tactic,no two ways about it.

 

But surely its easy enough to show some commonsense? Plenty of far bank margins without any acsess from that side.Got to be better as they will be less disturbed and you wont be upsetting any one else!

 

 

Farnham Angling Club publish some advice about how to share a water with diagrams of areas that anglers might cast to in the event of being alone, or with one, two or more other anglers present. It could do with much wider publicity. Chesters - could you get permission to reproduce it here ?

 

As for the "I've got a bait in there!" that statement arrived at the same time as the bailiff as I was setting up. I asked the bailiff to come round with me to this bloke's swim, then suggested if I couldn't fish where I had chosen then I would wish to fish elsewhere - like another fishery altogether, and thus would not be buying a ticket at this one. I further suggested the guy who opted to sit in one swim and fish another should pay for both swims AND the three other swims he had blighted to cast to "my" swim.

 

That resolved the situation very quickly ! Never have I seen a bait wound in faster.....

[Anderoo]

I think it depends entirely on the type of water you're fishing. Fishing to the far margin can be superb (how many times do we do exactly that on rivers?), but only if it's not going to interfere with other anglers. Even if there's no-one fishing when you get there, you have to weigh up the odds of someone coming along later (likely at a busyish club or day ticket lake, unlikely at a quiet syndicate or on a river). If you do fish to a far margin and someone pops up opposite, take it on the chin and fish somewhere else.

 

I think the implication that fishing to the far bank is because someone doesn't know what they're doing is a bit unfair - there's no reason why you can't fish one rod to the far margin and another along the near margin. I've done this several times. But not on busy waters!

[Wag]

There's an old saying that you cast over more fish than you cast to.

 

I am always amazed that pole users insist on fishing at the maximum length of their pole, often while there are fish visibly feeding in the margins at their feet.

 

My previous club rules stated that your swim was only to the centre line of the lake unless the peg opposite was empty. Unfortunately some anglers (and indeed people in general) have absolutely no regard for anyone else's rights or feelings.

 

I often go fishing with a mate very appropriately nicknamed "Big" Dave - it's amazing how we never seem to encounter the same disputes when he's there.

[Neil G]

Experienced this before and not only from carp anglers. At Chew in the winter people seem to like putting baits everywhere and moaning at anyone that comes within half a mile of them!