Changing attitudes.

[Guest Peter Waller]

I am a great fan of Bernard Venables, who isn't! Re-reading his illustrated memoirs has implanted a nagging question.

 

BV makes the point that progress in angling was clearly to be seen from the 'Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth An Angle' of 1496, right up to, as BV calls it, the zenith of fishing in the period just after the second world war.

 

At that stage technology started to gain momentum. BV suggests that the movement of emphasis from the dominance of angling skill, instinct and sensivity to a subservience to technological gadgetary had begun.

 

Bernard is then particuarly scathing in his comments re electrical bite alarms! His comment ending with 'Anyway, who, properly attendant on his rod, should need such a thing?' Who indeed?

 

In the past, I have just smiled at his comments, quietly agreeing but unquestioning as to the views of others on this matter. So why ask now?

 

My work means that I meet scores of people, many of them anglers, and, ofcourse, business soon takes back seat to angling. Of late a number have been 'carp' anglers.

 

A common theme of discussion has emerged, the time spent in pursuit of carp. Typical comment being, and these fellows consider themselves very successful carpers, that 15 hours per fish is about the norm! Wow, they deserve a medal!

 

No problem so far. Angling is all things to all folk and I can appreciate their dedication. At this point I will stress that this is not a knock at carp anglers!

 

But what happens between one fish & the next? Bit of a culture shock here! One admits to watching T.V., effectively ceasing to fish until the alarm interupts his viewing.

 

Another one told me how he was able to catch up with his office work on his lap-top. Whilst the inevitable comment / admission cropped up and that was that of sleeping whilst fishing.

 

I'll quote directly from Bernards book:-

Fishing to me then, and still today, is the moment-to-moment suspense-strung contest between the fish and me; I want to loose no moment of that. If I go fishing, I fish: if I need to sleep, bed is the place for that - or, if on the bank, then I do not want to leave a merely artificial device to do the fishing for me, so leaving out a greater part of what angling is, or should be. If a device calls me harshly to tell me it has done my fishing for me, I am the looser. I have robbed myself. Let it be said again - it can not be said to often - fishing is worth just the pleasure it gives, the true full angling pleasure. To fish by any means - especially if utterly unnatural, inorganic forces do the fishing for me - is not fishing as all the generations of anglers have known it'.

 

Well, has Mr Crabtree, Mr Cherry, Bernard Venables got a point? Has angling stopped and started afresh? Bernard made it clear that he felt that the angling of his latter years was not the angling of very many a yesteryear.

 

But is that such a bad thing? Are we in danger of loosing that essential something that makes 'angling' just that bit special?

 

Are we just, using BV's term, 'tackle minders?' Bernard ends the chapter by saying: 'I cannot see that electrical devices will ever be really for the good of angling.' By that he refered to fish finders, bite alarms and echo sounders. I wonder what he would make of 'bait boats'?

 

Ponder awhile, as the new millenium gathers momentum, does he have a point?

[Guest chesters1]

i remember the days of penny on the spool and silver paper on the line,all bite alarms do is cut out the need for the old candle in a jamjar,they dont catch fish themselves they just allow you to "see" a run in the dark .i used to prebait a swim using a plank of wood a length of rope and a favourable wind, bait boats are a slight improvement.fish are much wiser than they were (especially carp)so its really the hook end thats changed rather than the rod end.

[Guest Ken L]

Sorry guys, doing something else whilst waiting for a run to be indicated by a beeper isn't fishing, it's set lining, and if a bolt rig is being used, what's the diference between reeling in the fish right away and harvesting it in the morning ?

What next, a bite alarm that text messages your mobile so that you can drive back to the venue to land the fish ?

 

As Peter has said, this is not a stab at carp anglers, it's a stab at the entire methodology that has become accepted as the norm in specimen angling, whether the target be carp, pike, bream or whatever.

 

Call me a traditionalist but give me one rod, active angling and wild fish over a three rod setup with alarms, days between bites and a fishery thats about as natural as a goldfish pond anyday.

[Guest Scott]

The carp that started this obbsession with this way of fishing was caught at night using an electric alarm, and took the bait while the rods owner was in (or sat outside) a tent on his 3rd or 4th day at the water.

Richard Walker at Redmire pool.

This was the turning point for fishing.

In my opinion the use of hi-tec gear has not spoilt fishing what has is the fact that there is very little of the unknown about it now.

When was the last time you turned up at a water having no idea whatsoever of what fish it contained, plus nowadays people fish for exactly what they want to catch, there is a rig and a bait and a groundbait for every species. How many times are you told to try that peg for Roach, the bream are 40yds out patrolling the drop-off, that the tench swim is over there.

I know plenty of people are happy to fish for what comes along and end the day with a mixed bag, but I bet about 99.9% of them know before hand what they are going to catch and what size it is likely to be.

The vast amount of information is to blame (or not to blame depending on your view)for any decline in how special angling is, not electric gizzmos.

Scott.

[Guest Newt]

Peter, KenL - I have to side with chesters1 on this one.

 

My personal preference (usually) is to actively pursue fish. 1 rod and on the move. However, that is my (usual) preference and I do it because I like it that way and it gives me pleasure. Otherwise, why fish?

 

However, I would not dream of saying that everyone who wants to fish has to do it my way. They should IMO do it in whatever fashion gives them pleasure - with the only caveat being that the fish are well treated.

 

This discussion brings to mind similar ones a few years ago about automobiles. Such as - "those automatic transmission things take all the fun out of driving" or "Man, I want to choke the car when I want to - those automatic chokes are nothing I'd ever want to use". And I suspect that there was the same discussion when automatic starters came into use as the "crank to start" folks had problems with anyone who didn't want to turn a crank.

 

I target two fish that don't respond well to lures. Carp - daytime only as they bite fine then and I stay with, and watch, my rods. Hard to walk away when I'm in a boat. Flathead catfish, OTOH, are night prowlers and bigguns like only large lives - from the bottom usually. Long time between takes too and I expect to blank 2 trips in 3. I do stay awake but I also put little bells on my rod tips so I can tell if I have a take. And I will drink coffee, look at stars, and do other things besides focus totally on the rods (2). Different tactics/gear for different fish. And I really do feel as if I am fishing when doing a night session for flatties.

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by Newt (edited 05 December 2001).]

[Guest Adam S]

Hello all

 

i personally like to partake in a lot of different types of angling, i love trotting a stick down a river , pole fishing for tench , lure fishing for perch and also sometimes using my bite alarms to fish for pike and carp. different species require different tactics.

 

i find the bite alarms particualrly useful as they mean i can take my attention away from the rods when times are slow ( for example when fishing for big pike in the middle of winter when a run might come along only every 6 hours or so).

 

when i then go fishing on a river for roach the experience is in no way diminished by having used my alarms.i understand that some people dont like/use alarms alarms (or any other electronics), but i dont find my fishing any less special because of them.i still get the same thrill in catching a fish then i did when i was six.

 

i try to enjoy my own angling rather then worrying about how others enjoy theirs,each to his/her own. im not saying that i think the shift in emphasis in angling that is discussed above is a good thing, but i try not to worry about it.

 

------------------

Adam Shannon

 

http://communities.msn.com/ADAMSALBUM79

[Guest Mike Connor]

If people wish to use technological advantages, like electronic bite indicators, then why shouldn´t they?.

 

Some common methods now in use are indeed more akin to baiting traps than actually angling, but if people enjoy doing this, and it is legal, why not?

 

Successful angling has always been about having the right information and using the correct technique at the right time. Due to the massive amounts of information available through various media, many more people are in a position to inform themselves on a whole host of matters, and of course they do.

 

The best anglers still invariably have an advantage, as they simply tend to think about things more, and they are also responsible for most innovations.

 

Often, there is much criticism of any "new" methods which come along, and it is also often the case that some people praise traditional methods, on the grounds that they are more "ethical", etc etc.

 

My own opinion is that people should be left to their own devices, to enjoy themselves in any way they see fit, as long as they do not damage anybody else, or impinge on other people´s enjoyment.

 

Mr. Venables was rightly quite famous for his excellent writings, and there is no doubt that he introduced many to the sport. This is not sufficient grounds for elevating some of his more radical opinions to the status of holy writ.

 

Many, if not most, problems in angling, ( and in many other fields), arise primarily, because somebody wishes to control what other people do. Expressing radical opinions, ridicule, or intense dislike, especially when done by a well known figure, is a form of such attempted control.

 

Angling is one of those things that can still give many a sense of freedom. Restrictive opinions are invariably the forerunners to actual restrictions, and are best avoided.

 

 

TL

MC

[Guest TheDacer]

I can't imagine ever using a bite-alarm. (And certainly not on a river!)

 

If the bites aren't coming - I change tactics, or move on, or stop fishing and have a cup of tea - I can't imagine just sitting back and leaving the rods to do the work for me.

 

It is fishing - but not as I know it!

[Guest Geoff Palmer]

Personally I cannot see the point of using bite alarms. But if people want to use them, that is up to them.

I think we should let each other fish as they wish, as long they have the welfare of the fish in mind.

We cause more arguments amongst our fraternity by sniping about the different methods in use.

Let's all be one, go out - catch some fish and enjoy it.

 

------------------

Geoff

Size doesn't matter its just catching.

[Guest Gaffer]

Originally posted by Geoff Palmer:

Personally I cannot see the point of using bite alarms. But if people want to use them, that is up to them.

I think we should let each other fish as they wish, as long they have the welfare of the fish in mind.

We cause more arguments amongst our fraternity by sniping about the different methods in use.

Let's all be one, go out - catch some fish and enjoy it.

 

 

Hi all,

 

Geoff, unlike you I use bite alarms for most of my fishing, but that's me, appart from that I totally agree with everything you've put.