To block or not to block

By the mid point of the festival of greed being indoors had become stifling, the waterside was calling.  I was awake before daylight, which isn’t saying much as for the last several days we’ve had the ceaseless overcast, greyness that we always seem to get at this time of year.  I loaded the car by torchlight but by the time I arrived at the river it was light enough to do without.  I set up at the interesting spot I’d scouted last time with two float legered deadbaits, one upstream and one down.  The first cuppa of the day hadn’t even finished brewing when a bluey cast downstream near an overhanging tree was on the move.  I soon had a nice lean fish of six pounds or so in the net, with one hook just nicked into the scissors I was able to unhook it with my fingers and slip it back.  I’d liked the look of this area and my confidence had been justified, this was the perfect start.

I always tie my deadbaits on with bait elastic, always.  I do this because I want the only baits in my swim to have my hooks in them, this is especially so in hard waters where takes are few but also in more prolific places.  I’m lucky to know a couple of waters where it’s possible to catch half a dozen Pike in a short space of time which could lead to there being several discarded baits in the swim thus reducing the chances of my baits being picked up.  I’ve never felt that the tied on baits reduce my chances of hooking a Pike, I can’t think of any occasions when this has been an issue.

Forty five minutes passed before the same float was bobbing again, this time I’d used a smelt and something was moving downstream with it.  I wound down quickly but the expected bend in the rod didn’t happen and I found something had made off with my tied on smelt.  How did that happen?  Three quarters of an hour later it was the upstream float along the reeds that started bobbing before heading steadily towards the reeds.  I wound down, felt the weight then swept the rod back and somehow struck thin air, what’s more my tied on mackerel was gone.  I recast with half a bluey, tied on again!  I don’t think these Pike have clocks but another forty five minutes had passed and the upstream float was jabbing once more.  I picked up the rod, wound down then wound some more and eventually retrieved another bare trace.  Once was baffling enough but three times in a morning?

Next bait out of the bag was a Mackerel so this was tied on and under-armed across the river.  Only ten minutes had passed when I noticed a big lump of weed drifting down the river, it looked like it would miss the downstream rod but I had to wind in the other.  While I was retrieving something grabbed the mackerel and thankfully I managed to keep it on the hooks this time and lifted out a small fish of a couple of pounds or so.  Was this the bait robber?  It didn’t look noticeably fat…  This time I rebaited with my last chunk of bluey and it was only ten minutes before this was picked up.  I set the hooks and found myself attached to something with a bit of strength which powered upstream before quickly turning and running the other way.  This caught me unawares and the line was slack for a moment before I made contact again, thankfully the hooks stayed in!  This was clearly my best from the river so far so I left it in the net for a minute while I got the scales and mat ready.  I was able to unhook this one with my fingers but as I turned to get the scales the fish flipped itself off the mat and slid away back into the river.  I guessed it around eleven pounds but I’ll never know and would have liked a photo.

After that, things went quiet as you’d expect.  I was content to sit it out in the one swim but really should have made the effort to move.  There are other likely looking spots close by but none quite look the part as much as this one and didn’t inspire me to get on my heels, in future I’ll know better.  My last trip of the year ended in the early afternoon by which time the dark clouds still hadn’t shifted and I needed side lights on the way home.

The Grinch speaks

As the Pike season got into full swing my Facebook feed was full of inexperienced Pikers showing their recent successes to the internet world. I say inexperienced but I’m making an assumption because no Piker with a few years under his belt would do this!  Anyone with a bit of experience knows this is a quick way to ruin your own fishing so would go out of their way to avoid exposure, unless they’re trying to sell something of course…
But there is the trouble!  The angling trade was quick to use social media to boost sales and over the last twenty years the way fishing tackle is sold has changed completely.  All the major companies have their “Team members” flooding social media with their catch reports and words of wisdom. NB “Team member” usually means someone unpaid trying to boost their own persona by association with a brand.  Following this we see the ordinary angler trying to imitate the names and we see the same kind of report again and again and… until social media becomes saturated with the same old shit!!  This media has made the traditional angler’s trophy shot become a total fucking cliché and nine out of ten are bloody carp. Nowadays the sight of these mutant ratfish being held for the camera just leaves me cold, however big the fish is.  I find myself seeking the ‘block’ button more and more.

Lately there’s a new Pike fishing brand trying to convince me that their bait flavourings are the dogs danglies using all the marketing tricks of the carp trade.  The implication made by clever wording is these flavours will boost our catch rates but there is no attempt to demonstrate this in any measurable way. I’ve not yet hit the block button but only because at the moment they amuse me but I doubt it will be long.

When I say social media I mean Facebook as for several years it’s been the only one I use, life is too short and there’s not enough time in the day to keep up with all that other shit.  Even with just the single ‘media’ almost every day I find myself blocking several sites that try to sell me carp bait, tackle or fisheries.  I know there are still proper Carp anglers around who try to do their own thing amongst all the commercial madness but Carp angling today bears no resemblance to the sport many of us became interested in a lifetime ago.  Nowadays it’s all manufactured, it’s all fake.  Commercial fisheries full of genetically fiddled eating machines that already have names, to me there is no merit in catching these creatures.  If it lives inside a fence and was bought from a farm it’s just livestock.  Worse still, the explosion of exclusive fisheries with waterside lodges that can be booked for a holiday of sorts.  Someone with a lake and a bit of land can close their eyes and see pound signs, you could argue ‘why shouldn’t they?’ But how many anglers are now denied access to waters they previously fished unless they pay big money for a weekend?  Well I’m one for sure but does that mean I’m a hypocrite when I pay the Wye & Usk foundation?  I get annoyed with the seemingly endless lakes for hire Ads but I probably see these because I’ve already blocked most of the major tackle firms.

It’s not just carp though there are also loads of ‘groups’ where anglers with massive fingers exhibit suspect looking fish.  These pages are often started by people whose enthusiasm far out strips their experience and it shows.  Many of these sites are riddled with bad practice and poor advice but if anyone tries to offer constructive criticism let vitriol commence.  I became bored of arguing with strangers on the internet years ago, click on ‘block this page’. 

This has come to a head recently on Youtube with 3 minute heroes making videos showing bad Piking practice then not taking kindly to any criticism, constructive or otherwise.  The star then uses his or her ‘influence’ to belittle those who really do know better.  I’m told there are Youtubers putting out good advice and proper practice but the ‘stars’ I’ve seen on my infrequent visits are mostly frauds, I‘ve said it already, a truly experienced Piker wouldn’t be using that media anyway.

And another thing, anyone who pops up on the screen and has the word ‘angler’ as part of their name gets blocked too, (I think you’re spelling that wrong mate).  It’s like the ‘angler’ bit is tagged on because the person in question thinks it will add a bit of credibility and imply a degree of ‘fame’ but if they were in any way renowned they wouldn’t need it.

I suppose I shouldn’t be too harsh on the social media wannabees because if I’m honest, if my angling obsession had begun forty years later, I’m sure I’d have been doing all of the above and more and thinking about it at the time I was trying to do the nineteen nineties equivalent.  But it was a different time and angling ‘media’ was mostly far more honest back then.  I’m not certain that angling as it is sold to beginners today would appeal to me at all?  I’d probably be living in a wooden cabin with a secret cellar, stashing food and hiding weapons.  Happy new year, assuming we get that far 😊