The Compleat Angler

I have an SS4 Wideboy with the sleep system, I really do love it mainly for the comfort alone, plus I don’t like sleeping bags, the down side is, it’s a heavy son of a gun. I have heard nothing but praise for the Trakker ELS, which I’d consider if I were looking for a new bed.

I once got on my high horse saying that the use of rowing boats and bait boats is cheating, and it took away a lot of the skill, which I still think today. I then had a lot of angry bait boat and rowing boat user/owners waving fists and stamping their feet lol, who pointed out that I was cheating by using electronic bite alarms, whilst tucked up asleep, leaving my rods automatically fishing haha! So, now I accept that fishing means different things to different people etc, and as long as nobody is doing any harm, live and let live. I can see a lot of advantage with the Deeper, maybe too much? 😀

I have still have a lot of my old rods, right back to the glass fibre stuff but, for most of my fishing I use 12’ 2.50lb Ballistas. I love a players rod and will use the softest rod I can get away with, for the distance and type of fishing I’m doing. My 2.75lb Amorphous are long over due a rebuild, and for distance I use 12’ 6” Torrix TE’s.

Depends what rig and presentation I’m using, I still favour Amnesia and The original Cortland Micron for the majority of my fishing. My supply of the Micron is now running out though, and the new stuff is rubbish so, I have been trying other types of supple braid. I have also tried and been very happy with the ESP Tungsten Loaded.

Indeed the majority of the time, damage caused to weeded fish is by inexperienced anglers, and it can often be extensive damage. Experienced anglers can also inflict damage to a fish when fishing weedy waters though, it happens unfortunately, sometimes when second guessing what a fish will do in the fight. If a fish is lightly weeded, firm constant pressure, changing the angle and care etc, etc will normally free them up, as you well know. It’s when they’re well anchored that issue can arise, some pull just that bit too hard, and sometimes the fish is landed with damage, or the hook is ripped from the mouth causing damage for the next captor to deal with. I think the best scenario, apart from freeing and landing a fish with only the usual minor hook wound, is when the fish is slowly pulled towards the bank or boat, along with the weed that it’s engulfed in. Not an enjoyable or sporting fight at all but, this seems to be the way that the least damage is caused from what I’ve seen. When you say you’ve never seen a fish tethered in weed, does that also mean you’ve never heard of it either? I have sadly, and on more than one occasion, once there was even one of those safety beads still attached along with the lead. Luckily the tethered fish was on a long line, and was actually rolling on the surface for a few days which is what alerted a few anglers that something wasn’t right. Luckily apart from a torn bottom lip and a lifted scale, it was in pretty good shape and went on to become a big target fish. Regarding the jetties, yeah I know and understand their purposes but, the ones in the video are quite new, so I think it might of made more sense to make the business end bigger? It’s obviously not an aesthetics thing, as there are a few dotted around on there. There is certainly enough room on there for his landing net though, or as somebody else mentioned, he could of placed it in the boat that is moored up? He could of put his bivvy quite a bit closer to the actual start of the jetty too but, he chose not too, and it doesn’t look waterlogged, so I can’t understand why? I have noticed one or two other things that I found a bit odd when watching the video the second time, which could be down to how it was edited, I don’t know. Anyway, I don’t want to be picking fault in anything else, I just find the net thing a bit odd, and for me, fishing such a weedy water, and it is very weedy there, I think he should of been closer to the rod. He says that fish that are unaware that they’re being fished for, are easy to catch, that’s a very true but, very obvious statement. You can achieve that by being mere feet from the fish though, certainly a lot closer to what Martin was anyway. As said, just observation and opinion, he is after all a professional. They don’t alway get it right though. 🤭

I guess it’s down to what people are comfortable with, and obviously the venue rules. I have seen anglers pulled because they are too far from their rods, which was nowhere near as far as Martin was, and also fished waters where you are allowed to be a “sensible” distance from your rods, even a couple of swims away? If fishing completely open water, no snags or weed, apart from the fish possibly going through another angler’s lines, probably no need for panic. Obviously snag fishing, an angler should be on the rods instantly, weed fishing, or fishing close to weed also needs a bit of thought. As we all know there are lots of types of weed, some aren’t too bad for coaxing out a fish that’s got it’s head and body into it, where as other types can be a blooming nightmare, and there is definitely the potential for mouth or fin and body damage. Fish can get tethered in weed too. When we lose a fish through any situation, we like to think that the hook became dislodged and the fish got it’s freedom, often though, the reality is the fish has sustained quite bad mouth damage as a result of attempts to get it clear of the weed. So, the type of weed and situation, needs to be taken into account when setting up. Martin obviously felt that what he was doing was safe, especially as it ended up on film. Personally, I’m still not convinced it was right? I honestly can’t understand why he didn’t leave the net by the rod either, there was more than enough room on parts of the jetty to leave the net, so unless it was a snide rod, why didn’t he? Regarding the jetty/stage, building these properly is a lot of work, so why not make them big enough for a bivvy or brolley, many waters have the bigger ones, and cover can still be achieved by surrounding reeds etc? Usually the longer narrow stages are built for matches or day only fishing. Also, at what length should we say the jetty/stage is too long for fishing bivvy’d up? What I mean is, what if the jetty in the video was twice as long, would it still be ok to have a bivvy one end and a lone rod the other? Personally, after watching the vid again, I think it’s odd that the net was not left close to the rod, and I do think he was too far from the rod. Just an observation and opinion though. 😉

There’s possibly another explanation why he was so far from the rod, and running with a landing net. Perhaps he did have other rods out, and the single was a snide! Lol!

If you look at the aerial view of his jetty and the one next to it early into the video, you can see just how far away his bivvy is from his rods, and it is by anybody’s standards a long trot. I know many fisheries that wouldn’t even tolerate somebody fishing that far from their rods. If in open water, and no weed etc, then it’s nearly always not a problem but, knowing how weedy the place is, I was a bit surprised at seeing him fishing this way. All anglers, even great ones get it wrong sometimes, it could be argued that he was making the best of what was on offer, which was a long narrow jetty, protruding a fair way into the lake, with a small platform at the end for playing a fish. Those sort of swims are marked as “Day only” on many waters, and rightly so some might say. Imagine taking him as a guest on your syndicate, and he set up in the same scenario as the video, would you feel comfortable with it? I wouldn’t. He and a few others are privileged to be able to fish the lake, often alone apart from the film crew, why not fish from a better vantage point, as there are other swims on there more suitable for nights? He’s a great angler but, not above criticism surely?

If he’d been closer to his rods, he would have had a better chance against the weed for sure, so, is it school boy error or, the way the jetty was built? If he’d been sitting in the next swim when the take occured, he would have been slated, yet the distance was about the same? I personally think, if you are going to build these platforms projecting into the water, why not make them big enough for a brolley or bivvy? Why didn’t he leave the landing net with the rods, instead of running onto the jetty with it each time he had a take? Knowing the lake, it’s not the best bit of angling I’ve seen, entertainment seems to take priority nowadays though?

I have a set of Reuben Heaton dials, 60lb x 1oz, I bought them nearly 30 years ago, and they never missed a beat, I treated them to a service a couple of years ago, and they are like brand new again now. When I sent them for the service, I bought a set of RH 7000 digitals (132lb) they are superb, and I recently bought the smaller RH 9000 digitals (55lb) for when going light or stalking, also superb. As much as I love the dials, I now find myself mainly using the digitals. Where scales are concerned, I personally would only buy RH or Salter but, I hear good things about the Fox digitals, especially the latest version.

Do any flavours actually make a difference, let alone sprays? I used a bait a few years back, along with four other anglers on a couple of waters. The bait had no added flavour or colouring, other than it’s ingredients. It caught a lot of fish for all of us that were using it. I know in the depths of winter, a single hook bait doesn’t suffer from an added attractor or booster etc but, are they really needed? Unflavoured plastic or foam, single hook baits catch plenty of fish, so why add anything? Personally, I think it’s all part of the things we do to boost our confidence. You can have anglers using a nice fresh bait, with the best of ingredients and attractors, and putting that bait to good use, and often reaping the rewards. On the other hand, you have certain anglers using much cheaper, and often inferior bait, and not putting it to good use as such, yet they still catch. I’ve seen anglers turn up late for a session, pushed for time trying to beat darkness, and they’ve pulled the rods out of the holdall, along with the baited rigs from their last session, mouldy boilie etc, cast out, and often they will catch lol! Do we put too much emphasis on bait? I like to offer the fish the best I possibly can in regards to bait, and use the skills and watercraft that I’ve learned to try and up my chances, and I would imagine the majority of anglers do too. However, many don’t yet they don’t do too badly as a consequence. It makes you wonder doesn’t it? Well it certainly makes me think.

Apparently, as they’ve been friends a while, and both had heart issues, Bob’s ordeal affected him quite badly mentally, so Paul being a friend, was concerned. So he got Bob out of the house encouraging him to do things including fishing. As Paul is very passionate about fishing, I’d imagine he spent a lot of time trying to teach Bob, and also cheer things up, and as the fishing seemed to have done the trick, the idea of a series was hatched. It does have certain Mr Crabtree elements about it, Paul being Mr Crabtree, and Bob like a learning Peter, albeit not quite as enthusiastic! Lol! Anyway, I thought it was pretty good but, each to their iwn.

I loved it, Bob was irritating in some scenes but, lovable in others. I have met Paul Whitehouse years ago, when a fishing documentary was being filmed. I was expecting him to be clowning around etc but, all he wanted to talk about was fishing, very funny when the mood takes him though. Generally I thought it was very good, much better than Hamidi and co.

For overnighters, especially summer, I use a JRC Oval Contact brolley with sides, it reminds me of of my Water Lot back in the day. For any sessions, especially winter, I use my trusty M3. It’s very versatile, and after owning it for many years, I haven’t had my head turned by another bivvy. Ocasionally, I just sleep on a bed chair under the stars, which is great apart from early morning dew.

Depends where the fish is hooked and what type of hook. If in the lip, I firt try to remove the hook with my fingers, if it won’t come out easily, I use forceps, if that doesn’t work, I just cut the hook with side cutters. If hooked in the scissors, it’s nearly always forceps, when they get hook in the scissors, although the hold in the cartilage can be very firm, it’s seldom deep. So the hook should come out with forceps. I’ve only rarely caught the odd carp that has been deep hooked, extreme care is needed when unhooking these type of hook holds.