Great video sums it up for me.........

[The Compleat Angler]

12 hours ago, yonny said:

Imo mouth damage through weed fishing is caused by inexperienced anglers trying to drag them through it, particularly with braid. I have never seen a fish tethered in weed. Imo they just use it to their advantage. Hence when you lose a fish (in the weed) it's always easy to retrieve the rig. In my book as long as the rod is locked up in weed, the fish is still on, otherwise it just pulls through. It can be a very long and arduous task extracting them without a boat and without damaging the mouth.

That's just my observations of course.

Most jetties were built for either boats or for match anglers as a peg and in many cases they were built before carp angling was mainstream. I'm sure most waters that are built as carp lakes nowadays would consider building them big enough for shelters.

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.  🤭

Edited August 16, 2018 by The Compleat Angler

[Carpbell_ll]

ESP are putting out some good videos lately, the only problem i have with martins videos is the comparison i always make to his uncle JW's old tv programs, he used to show his lost fish and mishaps too, all part and parcel of fishing.

[The_Viking_Angler]

Is not having the new on the jetty/boat really a big issue? It's not going to add any time onto getting to his rods at all. 

I can see the argument that he was too far away and yes maybe in some circumstances he would be but after watching the video a couple times, the time it took him is no difference to someone to waking up, getting out the sleeping bag, unzipping the bivvy(if its winter/cold/raining ect) then grabbing the rod. 

He wasn't snag fishing, he wasn't fishing in weed, So clearly he had no immediate concerns for the fish. Unfortunately you'll always have that risk of a fish weeding you up ect when there is weed in the lake, If it happens, you just have to take every step to help ensure the fish's welfare. 

Remember, whatever form of fishing we do, it is never risk free for the fish, there is always small amount of risk to the fish health/welfare, it's just our duty as anglers to ensure that risk is kept to a minimal as possible.