Over the last few months as I have fought this condition , I have taken stock of a lot of things and come to some decisions .
After fishing for 48 years through all disciplines and after a divorce 13 years ago I relocated to sunny Sleaford and married Lou and its the best thing I have ever done . 9 years ago I decided to so down the route of targeting different species based on time of year and conditions . The only species I refused to target was carp but more of that later .
Now for the chest clearing , firstly lazy and lying anglers , as most who know me will know I despise the weeklies for posting and giving awards to over inflated weights , The lazy anglers are a different breed that come in various forms but these are the ones that I have encountered over the last couple of years , Guys moaning that they have turned up to fish a river and the swims have over grown and they expect them to be cut daily in case they decide they want to fish them , even to the point of wanting most of the vegetation that provides cover on the near margin removing so they can get their rods through and lines not catching , this week I encountered something that melted in to both categories , one lake that I havent actually fished yet on my club ticket gets weeded up bad for 6 weeks or so at this time of year with only 3 fishable swims , now I always carry a weed rake and sometimes use it just to colour the water but yet again the guys who fish it want swims raking , this week 2 of them turned up on the lake I am on , seems they saw a pic of a fish I had caught and even asked the bailiff where I had caught it , when I spoke to them they moaned about the weeded up lake and when I asked if they could rake a swim they said " we aint got time to do that " yet they spent an hour and a half walking round the lake , pure laziness and then we comes on to the lies ,This lake has seen off some good carp anglers yet this guy claimed to have caught 3 during the day when no one else was even seeing them, sounds like jealousy right ? no not from me anybody who catches a carp of this lake earns it , here comes a couple of slam dunks , one of the bailiffs went to see him and he claimed to have just had another fish not 5 minutes previous yet his landing net and unhooking mat was bone dry , add to this he hadnt bothered with pictures of any of the fish , later in the evening another bailiff approached him and again he claimed to have just put a 14lb plus carp back , no pictures and dry landing gear , now this bailiff is always in the case and asked him why his landing net was still dry , the reply was priceless his mate in the next swim had brought his round to net it for him , yeah ok mate and then the slam dunk then why is your unhooking mat dry did you carry the fish to your mates swim to unhook it ? , no answer , nailed you lying cunt !!!!!
The next chest clearer is sponsorship , bait testers and so called bait companies . Over the last 2 or 3 years or maybe more bait companies have been springing up all over and most have seen infighting and splits which created even more companies and of course they needed testers or in most cases customers , now how do you get testers , well to my mind a company does its homework on anglers and invites the ones who can bring something to help the company but no these companies just stick a post on Facebook and ask folk if they wanna be a tester , now comes the sting most of the bait makers charge ridiculous prices for what amount to unproven baits with no track record and give the testers a bit of a discount one little bunny bait guru was charging £11 a kilo for his so called super bait and gave testers a 10% discount , now if they are happy to pay that just so they can wear a little hoodie with theirs and the companies name on it then you are really sad add to this that said test bait is been sold to any fool who wants to buy it again before its even been tested . Some bait companies still run themsleves right and while I have always refused to be involved with anything along these lines I did relent a few months ago but for me it wasnt working out so I left , I recently considered selling my soul to be involved with a terminal tackle company but had a change of heart earlier this week due to something that I read .
Right now for the guides , Now dont get me wrong I can probably name half dozen quality guides off the top of my head who not only offer value for money and will guarantee you will learn loads . Sadly we now have some who think that knowing one swim and have caught in some cases very average fish taking people out and in lot of cases charging well over the odds and doubt passing much info on , now I would never use a guide and its not through any superiority its just that if I want to catch pb or any big fish I want to do it with my own work so it really is my fish , Like I said not for me but there you go if again if people wanna pay these guys then good luck to them ..
If I was to guide I would pick a largest stretch of river and fish as many swims as I could in all conditions and levels and then come the day I would have the knowledge to not only help my client catch a few or the big fish they want in any given situation and explain to them exactly whats we were doing and why .
Finally where am I and where am I going . Well as I said earlier I have never really targeted carp , my reasons were that I didnt like the way the carp scene was going , I am not a runs or easy venue angler , never have been and never will be but the club lake I am on is far from any of those . The carp while not massive are very elusive and seem to break all the rules that normal carp follow but when you catch one they are immaculate and thats all thanks to the bailiffs who police the venue and ensure all fishing have the correct landing , unhooking and weighing equipment and that they use it . I fished it a few times last season as you will have read about in my other blogs , I didnt intend to do it again this year but with my health issues and antics of other river anglers I decided to chill on the lake but now have decided to go all out for these carp and keep updating my targets as I achieve one , I will of course come winter or floods enjoy the odd barbel and chub session but you will read about that in the blogs that will follow .
The final piece of this is only been added with the news that has come out this week and thats the British Record Carp , now if any of you have followed this story will know the captor has received death threats , now that is well out of order , The owner of the fishery has reportedly admitted to a national newspaper that the fish was farmed to its present weight abroad and shipped to the fishery only 2 weeks ago , this morning its been reported that it may now not be accepted as the record and in my mind rightly so , its a shame that angling has come to this where the size of the fish is most important and that alleged well known carp fishery owners now think its acceptable to go to these lengths to get anglers in to fish the lakes , this is by no means limited to carp , as the same has happened to trout and catfish and I suspect it wont be long til the barbel record goes to a stillwater fish . Sad but true . I will from now on refrain from getting involved in posts that in the past I have waded into . One particular angler has taken exception to 2 of my posts this year which were not that bad while posting and liking things far more wrong but I will get away from that .
Finally ( thank god I hear you all sign ) is what was accepted by most for what it was but for 2 anglers , cant call them friends , who took a almost vicious attitude to my posts regarding my new angling mate Trevor , now am sure that some found it wrong but said nothing but its one thing to think its wrong its something else to give me abuse , call me a liar and generally give me grief . Trevor has been out with me on nearly every session since I got him , yes if you call him by what people were then it seems wrong but also we since found a website run by a black lady from the Congo who is now trying to bring them back as she and other people from the Congo and other black nations see them as nothing more that toys , which they and she also commented that the people who were causing the problem were white people who were been over sensitive and finding offence where there shouldnt be any .
Well thats it other than this pic of me and Trevor trying to decide what to try next to fool a carp . In a couple of days when everyone has had time to read this and scream at me I will put a proper fishing blog up
That was spot on Bob and I for one think all the points you have raised are very well made. I'd just like to add that it's great news your getting back on your feet and back on the banks! Keep the good work up mate and tight lines pal.Stu Frew
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