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Is "realtree" Really Necessary?


Gaz51

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So far we've been discussing camo as we would use it to make ourselves less obvious to humans or other large land-dwelling animals. The article link Tony U posted got my brain working to some extent and I have to wonder if we've been on the wrong track with our thinking about camo & angling. The following is speculation in that I don't have evidence and haven't even tried to see if there is supporting documentation available but it seems logical.

 

Fish have a fairly small brain with not a lot of processing capacity based on it's size. Most of it will be used for processing sensory input and the most relevant in terms of survival will get the lions share. For non-preds, this will be the fishy analogs of smell and taste to help them find food that isn't moving around. For preds, it will be more focused on sight and vibration sensing to aid in locating moving prey.

 

Much of the remaining brain power will be used for detecting potential danger; primarily water dwelling preds and to a lesser extent, strange creatures living up in the air or on the shore but larger creatures that move about.

 

It would seem to me that they key to benefits from camo would come from the way it breaks up your outline rather than any of the more classic concealment so that a marsh grass pattern in weed or mossy oak in tree cover would be less important than simply having a busy pattern that would not fool a deer but that probably would help prevent a carp or pike as seeing you as a danger. They might not know (or care) if you were a flock of small birds or a mass of large insects but they should not see you as a bear or otter or mink or other threat.

 

There was an earlier mention that the heron is a successful fishing machine in a solid color and this indicates we don't need camo. Couple of thoughts on that.

- the heron is not a solid color. The feathers are varying shades which helps to mask the body shape.

- the heron is able to remain very, very still for long periods. Humans simply are not wired this way and we can't do it. Lizards can. Frogs can. We cannot.

 

Camo certainly is not the be-all and end-all of angling garb. Not any sort of magic. However, I can see enough potential benefit to it that for shore anglers who intend to stalk or just to fish close in for fish other than tiddlers that seem to only be able to 'think' of food, that wearing it seems more reasonable than not wearing it.

 

Certainly you need watercraft. Certainly you need to be quiet. But since you have to wear something, why not make it a 'something' that might add to your advantage even if only ever so slightly?

" My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!" - Harry Truman, 33rd US President

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Let me guess your a part time comedian? I say part time cause your cr*p ;)
hit a nerve have i sarg! plum

:rolleyes:

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'course its nescessary :rolleyes: how can you show you have money to waste ,infact some wear it when not fishing and around town to show they have money ,the strange thing is though you can spot them a mile off :huh:

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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Pte Gaffer,you orrible little man! You obviously havnt being paying attention,the "5 S's" are Size,Shape,Shine,Shadow and Silhouette. Now down and give me twenty!

 

Den are you at last comming round to my way of thinking about modern carp angler attitudes?

 

Nothing new with camo gear.Ex Army gear has always been a cheap source of outdoor sports gear.Lets remember that most "Real tree" type camo gear has come over from the states where it is aimed at the hunting fraternity.

 

It will never catch you more fish than good angling and water craft as will no piece of tackle/equipment.

 

It is as pointed out just a "uniform" of the modern carp angler.Quite unecasary but equally quite harmless! But just cause you choose not to wear it doesnt mean you are an inferior person!

 

I have a nice bomber jacket and bib and brace set in camo and I often wear them in the cold.Would have prefered them in plain green but as long as Im comfortable,dry and warm I dont realy care.

 

The guys who have everything in Realtree ie buzzers,buckets,bivvys etc etc remind me very much of some of the guys I was in the forces with.They would spend much of their free time "camoflageing" pieces of their kit like pens,mess tins,note book covers etc etc.........these guys were inevitabley rear echelon types ie clerks,cooks,storeman and the nearest they ever came to fighting was in the NAAFI break que!

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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When I fish the Trent I fasten dirty polythene bags and beer cans to all my clothing and become virtually invisible.

English as tuppence, changing yet changeless as canal water, nestling in green nowhere, armoured and effete, bold flag-bearer, lotus-fed Miss Havishambling, opsimath and eremite, feudal, still reactionary, Rawlinson End.

 

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When I fish the Trent I fasten dirty polythene bags and beer cans to all my clothing and become virtually invisible.

BANG on mate! thats about right on the waters down heer! to a few used johnys and tampons would finish the job!

is ther a shopping trolley O,D,M? Instead of leafs and spider web we could have puke, beer cans and broken glass! :)

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Any way of not letting the fish know you are there must be to your advantage.

I can see the point of camo clothing but Bivvies, brolleys, pods, alarms, storm poles, luggage etc dont move on their own. Green or black are fine by me but not stainless steel because I find it to shiney.

I dont have any realtree products because I cannot afford them as I feel most items are overpriced just because of the realtree paterns.

I do wear an British army combat jacket and some old next (they were in fashion once!!!!)

camo trousers. In warmer weather I wear old drab coloured T shirts or Poloshirts.

I could go in nice white trainers, designer jeans, a branded t shirt, bright orange overalls or even my best suit but these cloths are not practical.

The reason I wear the camo gear is that the stuff I use is cheap and practical.

There are plenty of pockets to keep things in if a stalking chance arises and I can get them as dirty as I like whilst crawling about through undergrowth etc.

If I rip or tear them I can sew them up as many times as I need and I dont even have to wash the cloths when dirty because who can tell or who cares?

These are my fishing cloths only used for fishing - nothing else.

 

At close range I belive fish will find it harder to spot me in camo but only if I keep movements to a minimum whilst using stealth.

 

I even wear my camo gear whilst general or match fishing, its just what I wear apart from cold conditions when the sundridge suit comes out!

 

There are plenty who like realtree and plenty who dont but let me ask a question :

 

You walk into an outdoor shop or tackle shop having a closing down sale.

Theres a nice realtree jacket and trousers set in your size going for a tenner.

WOULD YOU BUY THE SET?

I bet most if not all of the posters on here would regardless of their views on realtree as I feel its the price of the stuff that puts most people off.

RUDD

 

Different floats for different folks!

 

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Chaps, there are a few major points being missed, here.

 

I was fishing last week-end and my Realtree gear was an essential part of my equipment. Nothing whatsoever to do with its camouflage properties this time, it earned its keep by being warm, unrestrictive, comfortable and waterproof. Wearing my Pro-Logic boots, bib-and-brace and snuggly coat made it possible to sit out in sub-zero temperatures discussing the utter madness of sitting out in sub-zero temperatures having discussions. There's more to fishing clothing than its pattern, see?

 

On the cammo front, I'm the type to wind in my rods and go mooching after wildlife encounters, or stalking carp, or hiding myself up a tree or in a fat bush and just 'watching'. It's what I like to do, and good camouflage helps me do it better, that's all.

 

By the way, there's no such thing as 'Realtree clothing'. Realtree don't make clothes, it's a pattern-licensing deal. Just saying, like. ;)

And on the eighth day God created carp fishing...and he saw that it was pukka.

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Your absence was noticed Mr 'bender!

 

As the proud owner of a Realtree patterend bivvy and now as a result of Christmas come early, similar patterned shirts, I must start reviewing my viewpoint.

 

It's ironic.... last time I was in Kent I took my kids out for lunch at a pub on Faversham Creek where we drove past a lake with two guys bivvied up. The guy in the olive green bivvy was actually less conspicuous than the Realtree'd guy - but I saw the Realtree'd guy catch (and he was wearing the full blown Realtree pattern) - but not the plain clothed guy.

 

Sod's Law states that.......

 

Actually, it doesn't mean a whole lot in the scheme of things, but it did make me smile - and God knows that's rare.

This is a signature, there are many signatures like it but this one is mine

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