Expectation vs Realisation.

[Derek Gibson]

As anglers I think it's fair to say that we will all prepare to varying degrees for our next impending outing, hoping for that elusive ''Red letter day''.
But in reality how often does that prove to be the case. Many factors come into play, weather, knowledge of the chosen water and location of the chosen quarry all play an initial role in the final outcome.
There are those you will hear say ''I hope to catch'', whilst others will say if pressed ''I expect to catch' and often do. But in fairness these are usually veterans.
Many of us will have heard of anglers who can catch out of a puddle, but not all publish their catches, so what do you think?

 

[Jelster]

My last trip to a local commie, I had the largest fish in lake 2 (16-4). Made my day. The bigger fish are all in the main lake, but I had been told this fish was there, and where he liked to hold up, so decided to give it a go.

 

[wetthrough]

I always have a plan and always great expectations and generally expect to catch something but that's partly due to the way I fish, Roach are always on the menu. I've had some good days but not what I'd call red letter days. Had some blanks on a pool which I subsequently found out there were very few fish in there and a couple where I should have caught something although it was close to freezing. To me that's all part of the enjoyment. The hunting instinct I suppose. Trying to track down and outwit your quarry. It probably sounds bizzarre to non anglers but I still enjoy it even if I blank, it's just a little frustrating.

 

[103841]

Optimism more than expectation I’d say and it far outweighs realisation on most occasions, with learning and practice I hope to narrow that gap before I’m too old to expect anything at all.

 

[theartist]

Every time I hit a new river it's optimism sometimes even a bit of pessimism when viewing the state of it, a special day can be relative. Yet on the rivers I know well there is almost the case of red letter days being taken for granted, the more you fish and do well the more the day has to be vivid to be a red letter, sometimes you have to kick yourself and say this water is something special rather than go I'm the man. A reason I like winter so much is when it's frosting and everything is much harder earned and even the banker swims may not produce as much, it's like the challenge of a new water on your old favourite

 

[john step]

I have found that the older I get then there is less likelihood of a complete blank. However I am definitely not one of the gifted types that can catch from a bucket!

I find that I fish with optimism the first out on a new venue often with little result.
The second and subsequent visits to the venue start to produce better result.

All part of learning I guess.

PS. Derek, do you still have any of the lures you make which I saw mentioned in the Angling press some time ago.
I am sure if you could put some photos up and a short article on their production and some of your catches it would be interesting especially with the recent renewed interest on lure fishing.

Without giving out locations obviously.

 

[steve2]

All my trips are planned in my head. I can see the swim I will be fishing but when I arrive someone else will be fishing it So all the plans go out of the window not a bad thing because in the past it as put on to swims that I have previously walked past.
Red-letter days, I am lucky enough to have had a few of these out of the blue days.
Blanks no longer annoy me it’s all part of fishing but losing fish and causing myself a blank does.

 

[108831]

I have a plan and fish it through,whether it works or not,so blanks can occur,I enjoy try it to work out ways of catching my targets,certain venues though they might be hard I know I will catch,I accept the challenge(which gives me a buzz),so therefore I accept the failures and I was one who was talked about catching fish out of a puddle,but there are always harder tests if you want them...

 

[tigger]

Every time I hit a new river it's optimism sometimes even a bit of pessimism when viewing the state of it, a special day can be relative. Yet on the rivers I know well there is almost the case of red letter days being taken for granted, the more you fish and do well the more the day has to be vivid to be a red letter, sometimes you have to kick yourself and say this water is something special rather than go I'm the man. A reason I like winter so much is when it's frosting and everything is much harder earned and even the banker swims may not produce as much, it's like the challenge of a new water on your old favourite

I agree about saying this water is something special rather than thinking your the man.
If your honest with yourself you'll know that on those red letter days the majority of anglers would catch in that swim and on that day.
I know that extra bit of skill and knowledge is bound to help land an extra few but on the whole if place is fishing well and any half decent angler turns up they'll have a good day.
I know in difficult times of year or hard waters that extra bit of angling skill and knowledge can out fish the average angler but imo luck still has a massive part to play in having a good catch or catching at all.
The reason I think that is because there have been times when i've known there are lots of fish infront of me and no amount of bait swapping, hooklength swapping, tactic changing etc etc has inticed them to take my bait.....if they won't feed then that's it, your banjaxed lol.
Obviously knowing the water is gonn'a give you a huge advantage on someone who just turns up for the first time.

 

[Jelster]

When I was a kid, there was a pond in a place called Allhallows, in Kent. My mate & I fished it regularly, it was great for Rudd, Roach, Eels (being next to the Thames Estuary) and Tench.

One Sunday, my Dad dropped us off about 7.30 in the morning, and by the time he came back at 4pm, we had caught 276 Tench between us. An absolutely crazy day, none of them more than about 3lbs, we also had a few Crucians as well.

We ground baited the swim the evening before (long ride on our bikes that was!!) and used a mixture of baits, but from what I recall, worms & meat were what worked best. I had to go to the local shop to get some more meat as we used all that we bought with us.

Apart from a couple of PB's, that is probably my only real "Red Letter Day". It was totally unexpected, especially as we fished the place so often.

 

[barbelboi]

Luck willcatch anyone a big fish, maybe even a record fish, but to be consistently ‘lucky’you need a lot more than just luck.................

 

[108831]

There have been many red letter days in my angling life,big catches,catches of large fish,of all species,but some days with little success have given great pleasure to me,yesterday's one barbel was a win,win,even though I've caught many bigger ones,everything is relative,anyway I've done with my Plato moment....:wh

 

[Derek Gibson]

John S, you have me at a disadvantage mate. I've no recollection of any of my lures appearing in the press, that is unless my memory is worse than I think. Can you recall where you saw them.

 

[thecrow]

If ever I pack up and don't think about the "next time" I reckon I will pack it up.

 

[Keith M]

I’ve had quite a lot of good days when I have caught more than I expected over the years, but it’s not always big fish that have given me my red letter days.

The red letter day that stands out more than any of the others that I’ve had was way back in the late 70s when a mate and I were fishing a local pond known as ‘Squires’ which had smallish Carp in it up-to around 13lb-ish.

It was a steaming hot day and thunderstorms where forcast in the area and it was back in the days of fibreglass rods which didn’t tend to conduct electricity like carbon rods do today, so we weren’t that worried. I remember I was using a Jim Gibbinson Clooper Carp rod that I had made myself from a kit bought from Going’s Bros of Southend with a Mitchell 300 reel and an old white ‘Heron’ bite indicator.

As we started to hear thunder in the distance the Carp runs started quite suddenly, and they continued, one after the other, continually while the heavens opened above us and the lightening was right overhead, these runs continued untill about an hour after the storm clouds had passed and the runs then stopped as fast as they had started.

My mate and I had had around 15 to 20 Carp into double figures each during this storm and I still remember this day as if it was yesterday.

Nothing big but a quite memorable few hours fishing for us and what I would call a red letter day.

Keith

 

[barbelboi]

Keith, glad nothing went pear shaped but my understanding is that the fiberglass rod, because it offers more electrical resistance, could end up shattering. If it shatters, then the lightning has to go somewhere..................

 

[Keith M]

Keith, glad nothing went pear shaped but my understanding is that the fiberglass rod, because it offers more electrical resistance, could end up shattering. If it shatters, then the lightning has to go somewhere..................

Yes but we didn’t really know this in those days and we were more worried (but not overly) by the trees around us being struck by lightening.

Keith

 

[john step]

John S, you have me at a disadvantage mate. I've no recollection of any of my lures appearing in the press, that is unless my memory is worse than I think. Can you recall where you saw them.

Sorry Derek, I didn't mean I saw them just that they were mentioned in the Angling press. I cannot remember his name but a chap was showing some remarkable hand made lures in an article. Immaculate art work almost.
He paid you the compliment of saying he learned a lot from you about lure making.

At the time I PM'd you to ask if you were the same Derek Gibson and you said you knew him.

 

[Philip]

When I was younger and first started fishing my expectations always exceeded my results. However the older & more experienced I get the more my results start to match or even exceed my expectations.

I guess its because you start to know what’s realistic on a given venue at a given time and set your expectations accordingly. You also start to pick and choose your times and your targets better & as you gain experience you also have a better idea what to do in a given circumstance to try and catch the fish.
All this helps to stack the odds in your favour.

When your a keenie first starting out, every cast you hoped to catch a monster... I actually quite miss that !

 

[markcw]

Sometimes thinking outside the box can work, I was in a match on a commercial, for the first 3 hours or so I had around 2lb of bits in my net, It was raining and windy making presentation against the island around 10 metres away difficult using the pole. Instead of putting a heavier float on, I tied a length of line to the dacron connector on a spare topkit,threaded a float up it and finished off with a method feeder and short hooklength with quickstop on the hook. On went an 8mm pellet after mixing some 2mm pellets and groundbait together,The groundbait for cloud attraction and 2mm for "feed" attraction, The float was just for a marker set around a foot overdepth,After a couple of fish, it did not matter if I lowered the feeder in or "slapped" it in I ended up with over 50lb of F1's in the next 2 hours to win the match.