What's your high point?

[Graham Marsden]

This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: What's your high point?

 

[dezza]

Recently?

Today - a lovely roach of 1lbs 9oz from my little Notts lake, which also has carp up to 35lbs.

 

[Poshpaul (Angling Trust and PaSC)]

Still a fish seen but not caught. A tench leaping from the depths of Witches Wood near Teston. It leapt into a shaft of sunlight through the trees and was pure gold in that light. It's 40 years ago...but that moment still is the highpoint - because it showed me why I fish.

 

[Cliff Hatton]

Methinks my meaning here unclear... perhaps the nub of the matter is obscured?

 

[Steve Spiller]

Perhaps you were a bit unclear Cliff?

Was it all about carpers and self-hooking rigs?

 

[Cliff Hatton]

Indeed, Steve. I'm asking: "If your methods obviate the need to use your skill and judgement and to have those attributes come together in the near-orgasmic moment of a successful strike, why bother going 'fishing'? If carp-trappers are, in fact, happy with today's hooking-ploys, should they not acknowledge the fact that their pastime requires a different description? I suppose it is fishing (see John West, Youngs, Princes)...but it's not angling.

 

[Steve Spiller]

Interesting Cliff, but I'm not sure I agree with the 'high' point. I'm an all-rounder, I'm done with carping for now, but I've nothing against carpers.

For me the 'high' is when I first catch a glimpse of what I'm connected to, hitting the bite fills me with accomplishment or achievement. Nothing gets the ticker going more than seeing a huge chub, roach, pike etc hit the surface or flash, that's when I get the 'high'.

I'm sure I'll be corrected, but I thought the bolt rig was designed for wary carp which have the ability the eject a bait. The bolt rig is now a common tactic on many waters due to its success, for many species.

 

[Cliff Hatton]

Well, of course, you're right, Steve, about the 'reason' for the bolt-rig; and yes, you're right, that the method is 'successful' in putting a fish on the bank - but whose 'success' is it? It is the METHOD'S 'success' - not that of the bloke whose transmitter told him to rouse himself and pick up his rod before another 50 yards of line came screaming off the spool. The captor would have every right to look proudly and lovingly at the 'winning' rig laying across his palms and at the box that told him to wake up...and at the 'supermarket' bait in which he had no hand and at the reel which allowed the release of line - but where is HIS success? What does HE have to be proud of? (This isn't personal, Steve!) Martin Gay explained this far better than I can: he made the point that it is not of Earth-shattering importance that one is successful EVERY TIME; that it is GOOD to have success AND disappointment because BOTH are consequences of the angler's performance, and for that, one can be justly proud or dismayed. An angler so imbued will - in EITHER case - be eager to try again...to keep on fishing and honing his skills; you won't see HIS tackle going as a job-lot in the local freebie 3 years down the line.

 

[Michael Loveridge 2]

Well said Cliff , you took the words from my keypad !

 

[captain carrott]

i find it a shame that people so frequently feel the need to make disparraging comments looking down on other not so worthy anglers and their inferior techniques.

as for high points, the glint morning sun shining on a still lake, the flight of a barn owl quartereing a watermeadow, the flash of a 2lb roach as it slips over the rim of the net.

the bang of the rod tip as a pike thrashes her head, the ripples on the surface where the tip of the float used to be.
a screaming bite alarm accompanied by a frantically bouncing bobbin, herons standing statue like in the edge of the reeds, they're all high points.

 

[Cliff Hatton]

Oh, come on, Cap'n! What's 'cane' got to do with anything? 'Cane' is totally irrelevant to my point here, and you'll see this if you read the article more thoroughly. All those 'high points' you mention I would eagerly endorse, but the article questions what constitutes the high point, the zenith, the climax inherent in successful angling. I would argue that without your attention, your judgement, and your subsequent action, the capture cannot truly be adjudged the result of 'angling'.

 

[captain carrott]

i'm sorry cliff but i don't disparage anyones fish nor class any as less worthy because it hasn't been caught on a worthy method.

it's an equal tragedy to a carp or barbel angler dismissing other fish as rubbish.


coincidentally it's a good article in the main, just spoiled a little by looking down a little on other peoples methods of getting their enjoyment.

a bolt rig is a tool which performs a job, as is a running ledger or a float rig.

to me hearing an alarm go off doesn't detract from a catch.
it actually makes no difference at all, a bait has still been placed in a situation where it has been taken by a fish whether subsequently a float goes under, a tip goes round or an alarm sounds is irrelevant to the worth of the capture.

 

[Steve Spiller]

Not taken personally at all Cliff, I can see where you're coming from. And I can understand what you mean by 'laying a trap', but as CC says, does that detract from the capture? I don't know?

Surely it all depends on the angler/fisherman on how they view themselves? What if a succesfull carp angler had never trotted a float or watched a 3/4oz tip or free-lined a lump of cheesepaste? But that angler has caught many large devious carp and is happy. Am I a carp angler? No way! I've fished for carp and had a few, but am I a carp angler? Not compared to them I aint...

When I fish the tip, float or free-line, then yes, I am an angler.

That's how I see it Cliff and that's my choice, just like carp anglers have made a choice.

 

[Cliff Hatton]

Now we're gettin' somewhere, Cap'n! The bolt-rig is, indeed, 'a tool that does a job' - and that's the point: it does it FOR you, whereas a running leger requires that YOU make a judgement - often in a flash - as to when the hook is struck home. This way, you can scan the length and depth of that specimen laying on the grass and be proud of your capture...you'll recall and re-tell and perhaps write of how and when you decided to make the strike...you'll take great pleasure remembering how, on this occasion, everything came together perfectly...how your heart leapt when the rod jarred against the running fish. Don't forget, I'm only describing here what used to be the norm, the standard method of leger-fishing that was not only demanding of the angler's attention but one that ensured the angler's involvement with the magic of his surroundings.

 

[geoffmaynard]

It's hunting and trapping. Both have their place.

I had a high point today. I took a 13 year old lad and his non-fishing Dad to a lightly fished Cemex venue and we floater-fished for carp. It was hard enough for them to make it challenging and easy enough not to daunt them. We had two fish each, smallest about 5lb and largest about 11lb. Great fun.

The look on their faces was the high point of the day for me.

 

[captain carrott]

maybe it's a bit of that reasoning in why i don't fish for barbel. no matter what method you use they always hook them selves:wh

 

[jcp01]

My 'high point' is whenever a strike connects with a fish...

It's always an astonishing thing...!

 

[Steve Spiller]

I can understand that Rufus, but what if you've never struck at a fish and don't know any different? And what if the strike results in a bleak?

I don't write as good as you lot and I'm not getting my point across.

What if the angler knows nothing else than bolt rigs and bite alarms?
That's not his/her fault, is it?

That's a sad fact of angling, but who are we to judge?

 

[captain carrott]

I can understand that Rufus, but what if you've never struck at a fish and don't know any different? And what if the strike results in a bleak?

I don't write as good as you lot and I'm not getting my point across.

What if the angler knows nothing else than bolt rigs and bite alarms?
That's not his/her fault, is it?

That's a sad fact of angling, but who are we to judge?

yes it would be their fault if they couldn't be bothered to learn anything else and it would be a shame also.
something akin to having the whole quisine of the world to chose from and living on only chips.

 

[tigger]

I think connecting with my target fish is a highlight for me, especially if it's a difficult wild water where the fish are very few... a very satisfiying feeling