This winter

[AddictedToScopex]

You might look ok but we suffer with enough flooding with out me wading or wobbling out in to a stream and effectively damming the river. I can see the news headlines in my mind shuffling dales leads to extreme flooding in southern England

:bigemo_harabe_net-163: :bigemo_harabe_net-163:

[watatoad]

You might look ok but we suffer with enough flooding with out me wading or wobbling out in to a stream and effectively damming the river. I can see the news headlines in my mind shuffling dales leads to extreme flooding in southern England

 

That I'd even pay too see... :bigemo_harabe_net-163:

[Sportsman]

It's getting chilly here to.

When I go fishing this weekend I think I might have to take a jacket

[Tigger]

It's getting chilly here to.

When I go fishing this weekend I think I might have to take a jacket

 

 

What kind of temp's round them there parts Sporty ? Not too tropical round these parts I'm afraid. I think you made a very wise move m8. I can hear the boiler eatin money right now and me feet are still froze !

[Sportsman]

What kind of temp's round them there parts Sporty ? Not too tropical round these parts I'm afraid. I think you made a very wise move m8. I can hear the boiler eatin money right now and me feet are still froze !

 

Hi Tigger.

After watching the weather in Aberdeenshire atthe moment I am sure I made a wise move.

The weather here hasn't been too great, we have had quite a bit of rain over the past couple of weeks.

We are told the temps are going to drop over the next few days as well.

This morning first thing we had a white frost but we now have sunshine in a clear sky and the frost has cleared away. Expecting around 12-14 deg today which is around average although it has been 20 deg recently.

Much nicer than Aberdeen though

[Steve Burke]

I'm not bothered about a blank session, and I certainly wouldn't change tactics just to catch something easy to avoid one. To be fun fishing has got to be a challenge these days. If it isn't I lose interest. I'd certainly do so if the fishing were so easy I could almost guarantee to catch, however big the fish were.

 

Rather than looking at a single session, I look at a campaign. That's going to take much longer, possibly several months.

 

I'm always experimenting, much more so than the average specialist angler or specimen hunter. However I still, even after 50 years of fishing, have blank sessions. But a blank often teaches me something, even if it's just that a particular approach isn't likely to work.

 

And the more I blank the more I experiment. The more I think too, and it's the thinking angler who generally has the best results in the long run.

 

It isn't just about putting in the time. Fishing the circuit waters is how some fairly average anglers have made their reputations. This is because any half decent angler fishing on a water that contains enough fish of the target species/size he's after will almost certainly eventually succeed - it's just a case of the law of averages.

 

But however much time he puts in he won't learn much if he fishes the same way each time. Yes, he may have put the rod hours in, but how much experience will he have gained? All he'll have done is relived the same hours many times over!

[watatoad]

I'll go along with that. I just didn't accept a couple of bits the first time.

 

Your part about the wannabe speci-anglers is completely true, otherwise I wouldn't have referred to the worth their salt variety, of course. Too many instant types have appeared over the last decade or so. These types annoy me the most. I'd like to see them shuffling for grayling, for instance, if they even knew what it was.

 

So true...perhaps they could hire Dales to do his personal dark sky moonwalk and go after some big roach in the midday dusk...hehehe

 

Don't let weight worry you Dales I was on prescribed steroids for about 8 years and I went from 10 stone 4 pound to 15 stone 7 pound withing a month and my weight continued upwards until it reached 26 stone 10 pounds...I had no noticeable neck and liked like humpty dumpty...hehehe...Only 12 stone now and still dropping but its a struggle...I live on a maximum of 20 mg of saturated fat per day not allowed to eat anything over 5% saturated fat and mostly I keep it down to below 3%.

[Anderoo]

I'm not bothered about a blank session, and I certainly wouldn't change tactics just to catch something easy to avoid one. To be fun fishing has got to be a challenge these days. If it isn't I lose interest. I'd certainly do so if the fishing were so easy I could almost guarantee to catch, however big the fish were.

 

Rather than looking at a single session, I look at a campaign. That's going to take much longer, possibly several months.

 

I'm always experimenting, much more so than the average specialist angler or specimen hunter. However I still, even after 50 years of fishing, have blank sessions. But a blank often teaches me something, even if it's just that a particular approach isn't likely to work.

 

And the more I blank the more I experiment. The more I think too, and it's the thinking angler who generally has the best results in the long run.

 

It isn't just about putting in the time. Fishing the circuit waters is how some fairly average anglers have made their reputations. This is because any half decent angler fishing on a water that contains enough fish of the target species/size he's after will almost certainly eventually succeed - it's just a case of the law of averages.

 

But however much time he puts in he won't learn much if he fishes the same way each time. Yes, he may have put the rod hours in, but how much experience will he have gained? All he'll have done is relived the same hours many times over!

 

Good post Steve, but here's a question (to everyone) - when setting out on a campaign/new method/new species/new water/etc., do you find that on your very first session you get almost everything exactly right (but usually don't realise it at the time), and then spend ages trying lots of other things, eventually coming back to what you did (more or less) in that first session?

 

Looking back, I have definitely noticed this. The thing is, I don't know I was right to start with until I've tried everything else! It isn't true all the time but it does happen regularly.

[Rob Ward]

Good post Steve, but here's a question (to everyone) - when setting out on a campaign/new method/new species/new water/etc., do you find that on your very first session you get almost everything exactly right (but usually don't realise it at the time), and then spend ages trying lots of other things, eventually coming back to what you did (more or less) in that first session?

 

Looking back, I have definitely noticed this. The thing is, I don't know I was right to start with until I've tried everything else! It isn't true all the time but it does happen regularly.

 

That made me laugh, hell yes!

 

On blanking, early every summer I drive to the opposite end of the country on four or five (if I'm lucky) occassions. I can pretty much guarantee at least one of those sessions will result in a blank but it wouldn't stop me for the world. Like Andrew and Steve I'm forever tinkering and changing things or trying new swims in the hope of that red letter day. I could probably reduce the chances of blanking by sticking to what I know works and sticking to the banker swims. I know there's a very special specimen in that Lake somewhere and it will turn up where it's least expected and that's what keeps me motivated through the gruellers!

[watatoad]

Looking at our current weather I think I was right to believe it was going to be bad and I should get a 4 x 4...pity I could not find one I fancied...hehehe... petrol big engine and manual preferably a range rover or perhaps a land rover defender, gave up trying to find either a patrol or a land cruiser.