What's it take to be "good"

[Mark Crame]

What does it take to be good...

 

Time (the more time spent the more learnt)

 

Effort (Don't think, do)

 

Luck (choose the right hat)

 

 

.....

 

Then there are skill, knowledge and patience. These will lift you above those relying on the former three, most of the time, but these are more the specimen hunter's domain.

[Phone]

Mark,

 

A lucky hat !!!???? How pedestrain.

 

Formost - never take a banana. Second, always have an otolith in your left breast pocket .

 

Phone

[Guest bluedun]

On your luck averaging out:

That's true in the long run, but consider how many times you'd have to toss a coin to get equal numbers of heads and tails.

In any arbitrary group of anglers, some will be luckier than the rest, some will be unluckier. So it is possible to be unlucky for any given period of time, regardless of its length.

 

However, as far as I'm concerned, all my fish captures are down to exceptional skill. The days I don't catch fish are sheer bad luck.

[Vagabond]

 

Luck (choose the right hat)

 

 

 

How true.

 

Many years ago, influenced by the tale of Dick Walker's magic hat ("Be Quiet and Go a-Angling" by Michael Traherne aka BB) I sought a "lucky hat".

 

Eventually I found one, blowing along the beach at Dungeness on a foul windy and rainy mid-winter day. I knew instantly it was magic because despite the lashing rain the hat was bone dry ! Nobody else on the beach either - so it had been there some appreciable time.

 

In those days I never wore a hat (schooldays included several battles with prefects and masters over my refusal to wear a cap - the school rules said every boy must possess a cap - which I did, and kept it in my satchel - nothing in the rules about wearing it !)

 

However, next 16th June saw me at Dick's hut at Beachampton on the Gt Ouse, accoutred with my "magic" hat, to the approval of my already be-hatted fellow "specimen hunters" (how pretentious that description sounds, fifty years later).

 

Unfortunately, I suffered a couple of blank days under that hat, and would still be fishless now if I hadn't removed it and laid it aside to wipe perspiration from my brow, and had a good chub take my bait instantly. By the end of the week I had caught plenty of fish whilst hatless, but not a touch whilst wearing the hat. I swopped the hat for a handful of leger leads, and noticed that the recipient also began to suffer a series of blanks.

 

It was a lucky hat alright, but the luck was BAD all through. I then realised the original owner must have left it on Dungy beach on purpose.

 

The only good that came from the incident was that I wrote a padded-out version of the above and sold it to an angling magazine for a few squid, which helped finance a trip to Ireland.

 

These days I notice a lot of anglers wear baseball caps, but seem undecided as to whether the peak should face to front or rear.

 

I have solved that problem by wearing a deerstalker, which shades the eyes and keeps rain off the back of the neck simultaneously. It seems to be a "lucky" hat so I wear it most fishing days - and wear it whilst bird-watching also. Interestingly, when I'm wearing it, other bird-watchers come to ask my advice on bird recognition, whilst without it, my ornithological observations are ignored.

[Anderoo]

Some may have noticed that on every photo I've put on here over the years, I've been wearing the same orange and brown checked shirt.

 

It's a bit tattered now but I think I've worn it every time I've caught a significant fish. It's 20 years old, so no chance of getting another like it.

 

I guess when it does finally fall apart, I'll carry the rags abound in my bag

 

It really comes into its own in the autumn when the leaves turn, as it then becomes a very effective camo pattern

[Mark Crame]

God post vagabond.

 

Currently I'm wearing a Fladen baseball cap, it's got a larger peak than usual. I've been wearing it a few months exclusively; it's been there for 5 pb's and 2 new species...currently it is as luck as can be. Lucky really, I'm not sure which of my Humminbird hats is the lucky one now and kept using the wrong one...and my sensational one seems to have lost its mojo since washing last autumn. My cod headover thing really did the business this winter too, I had no cod without it.

 

My mate and his friend used to have a bad luck spoon which the worst angler on the day had to keep, hexing them, massively. He still has it and is a **** fisherman; he's not had a keeper fish in a year nor has he caught much and what a lot of blanks!

 

had another mate. Whoever was anchored closest to him would not catch anything; move and someone else got cursed. It wasn't because he was catching them all either, he was rubbish and quite unlucky back then. Then he got lucky and started winning competitions even though he's still rubbish..

[Mark Crame]

Oh yeah, no-one will admit it but pricey gear DOES make you a good angler. It's the confidence that does it although reliability plays a part too of course.

 

For over twenty years I've exclusively used Shimano and Rapala, Powerpro for ten, in the sea Mustad for about the same...metalwork is dexter for wedges, abu for tobies; both outfish the copies.

 

This year I changed. I decided to brazen things out with arrogance instead of confidence. By this I mean that I KNOW i'm good enough to do everything I do with anything, as well or maybe better. I've caught that many things on handlines and emergency tackle on holiday etc. Anyway, I really like the ethos behind Fladen in the UK (Anyone Can Fish is meant, not just a slogan) and went over to their stuff exclusively; rods, reels, lures, hooks, line, bits and pieces...as you can imagine kayaks are tackle-unfriendly, especially on the sea. Well, I said ab ove how well I've done on PB's etc since changing over. I've also not been let down by the gear either. Friends were aghast that I was swapping rom my old gear for THEM!!! Told me i'd get two trips from the reels, told me a lot of ****s actually, none of which has proven true and i'm very pleased with how it all has gone so far. Mostly I chose the top range maxximus stuff but I have a fair bit of the budget range too and it's all doing the job well. Hurts less when I lose a 32 lure than a £15 one too :-) (not that I pay for them, I am supplied gear and I blog my fishing reports on their site).

[gozzer]

This 'lucky' mascot/hat thing reminds me of a time when I was match fishing on the Yorks Ouse. I was fishing a mediocre peg, and struggling. I noticed a small pink thing floating towards me, and fished it out with my landing net. It was a toy pig, about 4" long. As I was looking at it, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, my float go under, and struck into a decent perch. Long story short, I caught until the end of the match, and easily won. "This is my lucky pig", I declared, and put it carefully in my tackle box. On the next match it was the first thing I took out, and placed it carefully by my side. I had a grueller. The next match was the same, and the next after that. On the fourth match, I carefully took it out of my box, and gave it pride of place, in the middle of the river! Strangely, I won that match!

I've never had a 'lucky' anything since.

 

John.

[Peter M]

I recently did a blog post about the nature of luck in fishing chubcatcher.blogspot.co.uk

[Dave H]

I see many anglers sitting on their backside and don’t move for days. They wait and wait and with that luck climbs dramatically. Roving it declines rapidly. I used to see pike anglers on the Fens just sit there and wait. I and my mate passed each other about 50ft apart with live baits. I remember between us catching 7 pike and 2 Zander over about a mile. On return they had caught nothing. That’s effort and a big part of being successful.
I believe this also that there is no embarrassment to asking advice from locals. Again cuts down the luck. You are then if all done down to a very small luck %. Weather for me is a key factor and wind direction is not always a giveaway.
Location. Fish to your strengths. Some are not that good on Stillwater preferring running for example. If you get scared of pike try not to get in that area (again asking)
That to me is the hardest aspect of fishing basically locating the fish. A good angler after that is a question that can’t be applied to me as there are just too many ways in which people can catch that fish as every situation would be different and there would in my view no wrong or a right.

 

I am not one for believing in mascots or superstitions . My fishing buddy was completely the opposite he fished with a different sock on each foot as he recovered a big catfish in the water with only the single sock left when he got out of the water. He had it 4 years until his new puppy ate it. He blanked straight afterwards and said 'There you are'?. I said to him that nobody had caught a cat all week....