Last week I listened to some of the recent Adam Penning videos and found them thought provoking.
He made a lot of references to subtle traps yet most anglers try and develop spots especially on lengthy sessions.
Obviously, if you see fish then you fish those spots, but let's say you are fishing a hardish French lake for a week with few features and little weed (ie no obvious spots).
Would you still fish the same spots and look to develop them over the week or have a more random approach with more subtle traps being set across multiple locations?
He made a lot of references to subtle traps yet most anglers try and develop spots especially on lengthy sessions.
Obviously, if you see fish then you fish those spots, but let's say you are fishing a hardish French lake for a week with few features and little weed (ie no obvious spots).
Would you still fish the same spots and look to develop them over the week or have a more random approach with more subtle traps being set across multiple locations?
In reply to Post #1
I don't think you can summarise fishing in such brief sentences and my experiences tell me it's down to the angler to work out what works and what does not, and that's the difference between a successful angler and an unsuccessful one
If you look around your lakes or know the anglers in your areas you will know who catches the fish and who does not, some may have cracked the code for said water and found a successful tactic, others just catch from everywhere. Understating what people are doing and where they are fishing too can save you a lot of time.
My observations are there are a lot of anglers who do not know what they are doing. Quality baits are available to all and anybody can catch carp nowadays, the difference is consistency and how often it is between catches, and luck!
A lot of anglers are preprogrammed to Spod the granny art of it or fill it in because it's cool. If it's a regular water and they are fishing the same spots and fishing them regular it can work, a lot depends on the fish stocks and the need for food, as well as angling pressure, changes carp habits. And the results should dictate if it's a success or not instead of mindlessly going through the motions. What's the saying, insanity, doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results!
There's spot fishing and spot fishing, and again, it ALL depends on the water and the carp habits. I have created successful spots in the past and some if have baited regular for months and not took a fish off it, they looked right and felt right to ME but did not produce.
In a basic summary there is spot fishing and spot fishing and I have fished some waters and it's spot fishing of the highest level, get on a natural feeding spots and it's like clubbing seals, off it, expect nothing. That's why you REALLY need to mark those spots. The biggest help is the fish, think about it. Otherwise your fishing YOUR spot
Angling pressure. A lot of lakes especially nowadays are extremely pressured, mountains of bait after bait after bait and the ratio of fish on the bank don't seem to match? It seems standard tactics where said angler goes on a 3 day session, puts 5kg in or a bucket full of particle and sits on it, now and again they catch the odd fish. The reverse of this is what I would call your little traps, a TOP quality food bait or an attention picker with the intention of catching ONE fish at a time. Would you be happy if you caught on fish every time you went fishing, maybe two or three?
Imagine if everybody stopped baiting and fished single traps, everybody would start catching because the fish wanted some food. Then imagine if a pioneering angler came along and filled it in the 10kg of quality bait and had a big hit of fish! Everybody would do the same because, like sheep it worked for them so it must for me. And that's exactly where we are today
You need to be working out what works on the water your fishing whether that be an inland see or a small highly pressure hole.
Whatever you do though, the biggest asset for any carp angler is time, Make sure you have plenty...
I don't think you can summarise fishing in such brief sentences and my experiences tell me it's down to the angler to work out what works and what does not, and that's the difference between a successful angler and an unsuccessful one
If you look around your lakes or know the anglers in your areas you will know who catches the fish and who does not, some may have cracked the code for said water and found a successful tactic, others just catch from everywhere. Understating what people are doing and where they are fishing too can save you a lot of time.
My observations are there are a lot of anglers who do not know what they are doing. Quality baits are available to all and anybody can catch carp nowadays, the difference is consistency and how often it is between catches, and luck!
A lot of anglers are preprogrammed to Spod the granny art of it or fill it in because it's cool. If it's a regular water and they are fishing the same spots and fishing them regular it can work, a lot depends on the fish stocks and the need for food, as well as angling pressure, changes carp habits. And the results should dictate if it's a success or not instead of mindlessly going through the motions. What's the saying, insanity, doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results!
There's spot fishing and spot fishing, and again, it ALL depends on the water and the carp habits. I have created successful spots in the past and some if have baited regular for months and not took a fish off it, they looked right and felt right to ME but did not produce.
In a basic summary there is spot fishing and spot fishing and I have fished some waters and it's spot fishing of the highest level, get on a natural feeding spots and it's like clubbing seals, off it, expect nothing. That's why you REALLY need to mark those spots. The biggest help is the fish, think about it. Otherwise your fishing YOUR spot
Angling pressure. A lot of lakes especially nowadays are extremely pressured, mountains of bait after bait after bait and the ratio of fish on the bank don't seem to match? It seems standard tactics where said angler goes on a 3 day session, puts 5kg in or a bucket full of particle and sits on it, now and again they catch the odd fish. The reverse of this is what I would call your little traps, a TOP quality food bait or an attention picker with the intention of catching ONE fish at a time. Would you be happy if you caught on fish every time you went fishing, maybe two or three?
Imagine if everybody stopped baiting and fished single traps, everybody would start catching because the fish wanted some food. Then imagine if a pioneering angler came along and filled it in the 10kg of quality bait and had a big hit of fish! Everybody would do the same because, like sheep it worked for them so it must for me. And that's exactly where we are today
You need to be working out what works on the water your fishing whether that be an inland see or a small highly pressure hole.
Whatever you do though, the biggest asset for any carp angler is time, Make sure you have plenty...
In reply to Post #2
. . .nice post!
. . .nice post!
In reply to Post #2
Hi Chris
One word........Wow
Only thing I'd add to that (if I may) is seasonal baits on the trapping bit
Best
Jon
Hi Chris
One word........Wow
Only thing I'd add to that (if I may) is seasonal baits on the trapping bit
Best
Jon
In reply to Post #2
Thanks for the detailed response, more food for thought
Thanks for the detailed response, more food for thought
In reply to Post #2
Interesting - baited spots never seem to produce for me. I have tried it throughout my angling career and little seems to materialise at least relative to the bait and effort expended.
I just love the flexibility of fishing singles, or small bags. Can roam a lake or fish the known spots sans freebies and move around without suffering the sunk cost fallacy of a heavily baited swim.
All my fish last season came from singles, that's not to say I didn't go down the pre-bating route first - it just didn't work, didn't take one fish.
Interesting - baited spots never seem to produce for me. I have tried it throughout my angling career and little seems to materialise at least relative to the bait and effort expended.
I just love the flexibility of fishing singles, or small bags. Can roam a lake or fish the known spots sans freebies and move around without suffering the sunk cost fallacy of a heavily baited swim.
All my fish last season came from singles, that's not to say I didn't go down the pre-bating route first - it just didn't work, didn't take one fish.