Thinking of treating myself to one of these

[Emma two]

Emma if they hadn't caught the pike on a second bait she would have been trailing that lot round and most certainly have got snagged up and died. Good footage but I was holding my breath hoping that was going to be a happy ending!!

Yes I can see that, but a pike (or any other fish) could be killed by being caught on conventional rigs, this does happen no matter how careful we are. We still keep on fishing, I could easily die if I fell overboard while fishing alone in winter, my heart and vascular system probably couldn't take being plunged into icy water...but I will still go out.

Sometimes, like this new equipment or ideas create something akin to a moral panic, then they just settle down as mainstream.

[Emma two]

Havnt been at this game long but I see it changing and I don't like it. Ive noticed its turning into a fashion statement.

It's something that we often hear in all areas of life, 'things were better back in the day', well it frequently wasn't anything of the sort.

I have been at 'this game' a long time (50 plus years), and many, but admittedly not all changes have been for the better.

For example there isnt a gibbet at the lake harbour where killed pike were hung on, knocked on the head suposedly to protect game fish stocks. Up here there were no limits on what one could do to coarse fish, they were all 'vermin'. I don't see people using onion sacks weighted with a rock as a keepnets anymore. Or boats going out with gallon containers to attach livebaits to, to be towed around by pike until rowed down. I have seen goslings used as livebaits on these set up too.

'Snigging' fish, that is to say deliberately foul hooking salmon with a huge treble weighted with lead, doesn't go on on our rivers, well not openly during the day like it was in the 60s.

 

Tackle has developed massively, and it is in real terms cheaper than it used to be. As young people with limited means, (a modern way of saying we had no money) the tackle we usede was rubbish, forget misty water colour images of hairy men in tweeds using exquisite cane and greehnheart rods, with whicker baskets and fish retrieving labradors, that was then and is now something the well off play at.

It can become a bit 'fashiony' if you let it, there may be a closet tackle tart in many of us. however we can seperate that from the practice of simply talking advantage of technology to enchace our fishing. Do you think such things as electronic alarms, baitrunner reels are somethin to be 'not liked' too?

 

Some social theories, like postmodernity, suggest that we create our identities upon what we consume rather than what we do. So buying all the gear and showing off that we have it just parallels wider society, in the westen world anyway.

 

It lovely to be lucky enough to not have to fish closely to other people, except of course those very few who I do go fishing with, being closer than a couple of hundred yards to another fisher makes me feel uncomfortable, so I don't do 'fashion' as there is no one to show it off to and therefore would be pointless.

[lutra]

I can see the fascination with seeing the fish up close in their own environment, I too enjoyed the videos that Sharkbyte shot at Wingham. As most of you will know, I'm an avid fish watcher, sometimes to the point where I get so engrossed, I forget to cast a baited hook! That's it though, I wouldn't like to see it as an extension of angling. These things have a habit of becoming the norm' once the ball starts rolling. I can see a time when some entrepreneur, will produce small cheap cameras that will be in the swim whilst fishing. Maybe a commie' where each platform has a docking point for your i pad/tablet/phone to plug into, and you can watch the progress of your swim from several strategically placed cameras. Or if that's a bit too far into the future, then an underwater guide through your swim can be played instead. Too far fetched? Maybe, maybe not, but where would the cut off line be? What would be the point where you would say, "hang on, I'd rather use my own judgement on that"?

For me, it's when using actual footage of my baits, so I could say, 'if I move this back a bit, and that forwards, then I'll hook more'. I like to leave some unknowns, that I have to work out for myself, without a 'step by step' guide to help me on my way to more fish.

While writing this, my mind went back to the thread where we discussed photographing fish. I was thinking it could be used for before and after shots, or an actual look at 'the one that got away', no more dreams, no more guess work, no more mystery, just solid evidence that it was a foul hooked 5lber, not a possible record. I for one would miss that.

 

John.

John, 30 odd years ago I bought my first pair of waders. They made my rucksack a bit heavier, but it was like a dream come true ridding my bike home with dry jeans and feet (space age stuff to me). Now in the next century I still never get through a season without at least one day with wet feet and thats with even better waders.

 

Angling is now full of places you can drive your car to the peg and spend all day fishing (some call it that) from a nice dry platform with loads of really fancy gear. I have all the gear to fish like that and could if I wanted to (a lot of my mates do fish like that a lot of the time), but I think I have once in the last 6 or 7 years. I don't think any new fancy tackle will ever change the fact that I most love trotting a maggot down some back of beyond place and I don't think it will ever stop me from doing it or change my way of doing it much.

[gozzer]

Emma,

 

 

It's something that we often hear in all areas of life, 'things were better back in the day', well it frequently wasn't anything of the sort.

I have been at 'this game' a long time (50 plus years), and many, but admittedly not all changes have been for the better.

 

I too have been around angling for well over 50yrs, and have seen many changes. Whenever I have a discussion about the 'old days', people always bring up how good it is that we no longer do the 'bad things', but rarely mention the 'good things' that have gone as well. I half expect a chorus of "Always look on the bright side of life", to sound in the background. I don't have any problem with 'improvements' in tackle, after all a rod is still a rod, whether it's made out of a willow branch, or £3,000 worth of space age material. The same with a reel, whether it's a wooden centre pin, or the latest, all singing all dancing gold plated piece of kit. They all do the same basic job, but new materials make them lighter, stiffer, faster etc. The problems I have, (and it's becoming more obvious to me, that it is my problem), is the approach to angling, and how it's changed.

You are lucky in where you live, or have chosen to live. You can achieve the degree of isolation that you're comfortable with, but I wonder if you would feel the same about your fishing if it was decided that to promote angling, they should stock with a few hundred thousand non native fish, and the resulting stampede of anglers spoiled your idyll. Well it's happened, (on a smaller scale) to the waters around me. Not for the benefit of the water, or the environment in general, but for the benefit of those who want to see angling as a commercial enterprise. I would imagine that you, who I see as a 'spiritual person', would appreciate that by over commercialising something as basic as angling, is to take away the very essence of it, leaving a, (I hesitate to say it) 'soulless' pursuit.

This has gone off topic as far as the camera thing goes, and my objection to that was purely personal, in that I felt it would be another thing that would detract from what I consider to be an important part of angling.

 

Having read through my post, I was tempted to delete, because I can imagine some thinking, "What the hell is he on about?". I decided to say 'sod it' and let it stay. As I've got older, I've become to realise that I'm more cynical, and more disillusioned with what I see around me, and with angling being the one constant throughout my life, I suppose I see it more in that, than anything else.

 

John.

[Emma two]

John,

 

It's just as well that you decided not to delete anything from your last post, it is a good post as it is, I understand what you are saying and respect your positioin.

[gozzer]

John, 30 odd years ago I bought my first pair of waders. They made my rucksack a bit heavier, but it was like a dream come true ridding my bike home with dry jeans and feet (space age stuff to me). Now in the next century I still never get through a season without at least one day with wet feet and thats with even better waders.

 

Angling is now full of places you can drive your car to the peg and spend all day fishing (some call it that) from a nice dry platform with loads of really fancy gear. I have all the gear to fish like that and could if I wanted to (a lot of my mates do fish like that a lot of the time), but I think I have once in the last 6 or 7 years. I don't think any new fancy tackle will ever change the fact that I most love trotting a maggot down some back of beyond place and I don't think it will ever stop me from doing it or change my way of doing it much.

 

Brian, I realise that to some extent whatever happens in angling, can only affect you as far as you let it. It's not always that simple however, my personal circumstances restrict my ability to go, in both when and where. My inbuilt stubbornness doesn't help I suppose, because I could go to one of the many overstocked ponds around me. Probably a different one each day for a fortnight. But I refuse to patronise the places. Like you I last fished one many years ago, and the place both bored, and disgusted me, so I vowed there and then never to go back. Despite attempts at 'bribery' from my brother and friends, with free ticket, transport, bait, and dinner thrown in, I've kept to that vow.

 

John.

[Anderoo]

Gozzer, swallow your pride and fish for the big perch that may well be lurking around and unfished for.

 

I used to have the same stubborn attitude, these days I'm much more open minded having fished one of these places for perch and, despite my expectations and cynicism, really enjoyed it. In fact I spent a whole winter doing it a couple of years ago. It was fantastic.

 

I remember saying on here a few years ago that if commercials were the only fisheries left, I would give up fishing. That sounds really silly now

 

Getting vaguely back on topic, I'm all for changes and developments in angling. I like things to change. I don't make use of a lot of the changes in approach or technology at the moment, but one day I may well find myself in a position where one of these things is suddenly a massive bonus, and maybe not in the way it was originally considered.

 

A couple of summers ago I spent absolutely ages mapping out a short section (approx 500 yards) of the Thames using basic, non-technological methods. It was well worth the effort, but I could have done it all in a fraction of the time and probably better with a smartcast (or even better, a boat with a proper fishfinder). Are the chub I've caught as a result of that work worth more to me because I slogged away with a float and lead and pen and paper, rather than modern tech? Nope.

Edited November 26, 2014 by Anderoo

[Rusty]

I used to have the same stubborn attitude, these days I'm much more open minded having fished one of these places for perch and, despite my expectations and cynicism, really enjoyed it. In fact I spent a whole winter doing it a couple of years ago. It was fantastic.

And that venue has recently produced a 5lb perch.

[Kappa]

And that venue has recently produced a 5lb perch.

Which died after capture....

[Steve Walker]

I'd be mortified if I accidentally killed a fish like that.