Sense of history

[DAVE COOPER]

....Walker's advice is bang up to date, with the possible exception of designer baits.

I would add that the majority of designer baits are not as successful as traditional baits unless you have time and inclination to introduce them to a venue on a regular basis and get them accepted by the fish as a food source. For the occassional or opportunist angler traditional baits are far more effective.

 

[Carp Angler]

Some "designer" food source baits are instantly accepted by the fish as they mimic the most appealing part of the natural source.

 

[Ron Clay]

There is actually a lot of truth in what you say Carp Angler and with this in mind I think I will start a new thread.

 

[Carp Angler]

Careful Ron, that was almost a compliment.

I can read the headlines now....
"Carp angler speaks truth shock"

 

[DAVE COOPER]

I did say "most" designer baits Carpy. Some do indeed have an instant effect, it's knowing which ones that puzzle the average angler though.

 

[Carp Angler]

The biggest problem is finding a bait which is

1) instantly acceptable
2) long term
3) a good food source
4) cost effective

I don't think you can generally purchase a readymade bait which covers all the above.
It needs a bit of legwork to purchase the individual ingredients or as I do, let someone else go to all the trouble and sell it to me cheap.

 

[DAVE COOPER]

And when you find the one that works on our stretch of the Severn, let me know and I'll buy it from you!

 

[Carp Angler]

I shudder to even think how I'd go about a baiting campaign on the lower Severn.
Half a kilo in each of 5 different swims every other day, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday then fish over it on Friday/Saturday, keep doing it for a couple of weeks and you'd be in the rags every issue.
"Welsh Wizard strikes again, yet another double for Dai"

 

[Alan Cooper]

Thanks Alan for the reply on "BB." It was that Michael Traherne thing that threw me. I wonder why he did that? I think Rik is right when he says that BB can't teach respect for the Countryside -but I did read some of BB's books as a young teenager - and I can say they certainly helped me "see" the countryside as it should be seen - a really wonderful place.

 

[DAVE COOPER]

Carpy, if only you were a tad smaller I swear I would swing for you....

Seriously though, that's my original point. 'Designer' baits need that kind of pre-baiting routine to get the fish used to it.

For the likes of you and me who live miles away from the venue that kind of campaign is impossible unless you can fish like Alan Wilson, for weeks on end living in a bivvy.

Therefore we (or least I) have far more confidence in a lump of meat, with maybe a bit of flavour, than some mystical paste.

 

[Carp Angler]

Ah, I may have confused the issue between catching and consistently catching.
I have confidence in one or two boilie/paste recipes that I know will catch instantly, but these do not have the greatest nutitional profile.
Although I may have one soon that is a good food source aswell
These I would have total confidence in using on one off trips.
My point about a campaign is that you can bait with a nutritional food bait that is quite instant and expect a reasonable run of success, providing it is applied correctly.
Lets face it 3 prebaits is not a campaign.

 

[DAVE COOPER]

It is when it's a 150 mile round trip!

But I bow to your knowledge of instant baits. I havn't found one yet, but better anglers than me assure me they exist.

 

[GrahamM]

Going back to the beginning of this thread I see book authors like this:

If you want a good read about fishing and are not too bothered about being educated about how to catch fish, then you read people like BB, Sheringham, Yates and Bailey.

If you want to learn how to catch fish then you read people like Miles, Maddocks, Gibbinson and Wilson.

I can take only so much of the smelling the flowers type of writing, and only so much of the strictly tactical stuff, which is why my favourite author and the angler I had most respect for was Walker. He was good at writing in a very readable, interesting way, while being extremely instructive at the same time.

Like Dave Cooper said, much of what he wrote is still very relevant today, even taking into consideration the advances in tackle and bait technology since his death.