''Blanking''

[rayner]

You could be falling into a trap Rayner, many before you have.

You'll have to explain trap, you may well be right.
Not saying I'm not just don't know.

 

[thecrow]

As I fish less nowadays (a lot less) I try to get as much out of the day as I can, if I return home having blanked its not the end of the world there is always next time although one day that wont apply .

I think I am a lot more accepting of blanks now than when I was fishing on a regular basis, the reason for that I think is that I have stopped bothering about fish size and I have as I have got older become a more mellow angler rather than an intense one.

 

[snooozer]

One more blank is a session closer to a landing a Kipper.

 

[Keith M]

Blanks are part and parcel of fishing. In fact some of my best days fishing have been blanks. What is the saying " there is more to fishing than catching fish"
I go out hoping to catch, not expecting to.
I am expecting to blank today, I am trying out a new water.

I go out actually 'expecting to catch fish' and full of confidence; otherwise my mind would start to wander and I would start to think about other things and lose my concentration, and miss any bites that I did happen to have.

I don't always need to stare at a float or bobbin or rod tip as I can touch ledger if I need to, and then I can still look at everything happening around me; but if I didn't expect to catch fish then it's odds on that if I did get a bite I would probably miss it anyway LOL.

I do very occasionally wind my tackle in and just sit back enjoying the feeling of just being there. I have also been known to pack my gear away in the car after I've had a couple of fish and spend a couple of hours watching fish behaviour and looking for new underwater features; so I am not the sort of angler who needs to catch as many as he can.

Blanks for me are very rare anyway since I retired, as I can now go whenever I want at a moments notice and choose the best conditions to fish; but If I do have a blank I will try to learn from it; even if the lesson is 'don't bother to fish here when conditions are the same' or 'choose a completely different method the next time' LOL.

My philosophy is 'There's no such thing as a blank if you can learn something from it' LOL.

Keith

 

[thecrow]

Isnt one of the most enjoyable things about angling just "doing it" catching or not?

 

[Pete Shears]

I seem to be able to blank with absolutely minimal effort whatsoever.

 

[flightliner]

Blanks go with territory, it's just how it is. Sometimes we may have taken every factor prevailing into cosideration that will give us success but will then go out on a limb with say, a new water that we know precious little of and -alls it all up for a while until we get more familier with the venue , then we make hay.

 

[mike47]

I had my first blank in two years only last week. That said I had a lovely day on a rare sunny one lately. I didn't take maggots which are my go to bait when all else fails so have only myself to blame. As Steve says he goes out hoping to catch, whereas I go half expecting and hoping to catch. As the old chestnut says 'It's called fishing and not catching' for a very good reason.

 

[peytr]

Isnt one of the most enjoyable things about angling just "doing it" catching or not?

Yes, but to an extend. When I go fishing and go for an effective way, let's say feeder or bolt rig (ages ago anyway) and I blank I can feel a bit disappointed. I suppose I expected to catch something when I decided to take this specific tackle.

Whenever I try to do something weird or (to me) difficult and I feel I did the best I can, I don't have a problem with blanking. Fly fishing for bream on a wide river, pole fishing on a partly frozen canal, fishing small neglected and overgrown trenches which are forgotten by the average angler bring me in another state of mind I guess.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

I have 106 kids, so i know i don't Blank


If I blank, I just take it as another day. I don't worry about it. I don't start to question how i fished, tackle, bait etc etc.

It's simple, I got it wrong.

The next time out I will fish the way i think is best. Like all of us, I have had great days, and blank days.

Goodnight, of to make it 107 kids :whmg:

 

[chub_on_the_block]

When i blank i cant say that I look to learn from it. The first thing I do is usually to look for an excuse followed by a period of deep bewilderment if I cant think of one.

 

[Derek Gibson]

From my own perspective how one reacts to blanks is directly linked to experience. As young budding anglers the thought of failure doesn't enter the equation as each and every trip is fueled by unbridled enthusiasm. Plus we had the luxury of the eternal tomorrow, unfettered by the responsibility of adulthood.

But, as experience is gained, some of us find ourselves following a different path in our fishing. Catching bigger fish of a certain species, or testing our skills against others as in match fishing. In short we have reached a state of ''confidence'', and along with that comes the knowledge that despite what we would like to believe the truth is we do not ''know it all'', and there are no guarantee's.

So as has been said, either on the drive home or later that evening, reflect on the day and vouch to even the score, we hope.

 

[no-one in particular]

You'll have to explain trap, you may well be right.
Not saying I'm not just don't know.

Sorry Rayner-I was being a bit ingenious and mis-read your post..
It just reminded me of a mate who one day went a bit further up the river than usual and found a lily pad. He caught a load of tench on some method and bait. He fished it the same for months afterwards and never caught another fish there. After about three months I tried to persuade him that the swim was useless and it was just a one off. Would he have it, no. I think it was well into the next season before he agreed with me. He fell into the trap of thinking he had found the answer to all his dreams on one fluke day and that was how and where he was going to fish that river for evermore. And I am sure many have done that, come to think of it so have I on occasions.
Your post just reminded me of that and I was being a bit tongue in cheek.. But looking back I think I may have mis read what you were saying.

 

[wanderer]

Correct Mark, we call that peg 13 syndrome, some guys will fish the same spot on a given venue everytime time they visit, simply because they have had one good session on it.

---------- Post added at 09:58 ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 ----------

When i blank i cant say that I look to learn from it. The first thing I do is usually to look for an excuse followed by a period of deep bewilderment if I cant think of one.

You would make a cracking premiership manager.

 

[robtherake]

No good getting upset...It happens. Just a learning experience.

I had plenty of blanks in the winter club matches years ago "down south" when we had size limits. There was an 8 inch limit before you could put a roach in the keepnet. That was reduced to 7 inches on the Thames later, but that didn't help much when you were getting bites from 5 inch jobs.

AS for bream,chub......12 inches..... on a hard day.....

Never match-fished a great deal, but I used to stand in for the Winter league matches if they were short - some awful gruellers in grubby weather - and I was utterly desperate to see the tip move or the float slip under, knowing it was a team effort. It quite took all the fun out of it. After all, a match fishing blank's a failure isn't it, in real terms?

 

[soft plastic]

Never match-fished a great deal, but I used to stand in for the Winter league matches if they were short - some awful gruellers in grubby weather - and I was utterly desperate to see the tip move or the float slip under, knowing it was a team effort. It quite took all the fun out of it. After all, a match fishing blank's a failure isn't it, in real terms?

No more or no less a failure than blanking during a pleasure session...and vice versa.

 

[robtherake]

I had several blanks one after another early this year around June.
I know I could catch using bomb or feeder but had a mission to get some success using a slow sinking bomb.
From my last blank of the short run I was on it was like a switch had been flicked and I had seventeen carp to 12lb. that felt good until the next session I blanked again.
After those first efforts I think I have a better idea of how it should work and the minor adjustments that I think makes it work better.
I expected to fail to catch but stuck at it hoping to get to grips with it.
At the risk of failing it will be my main method next year from spring and through the summer.

Slightly off-topic, sorry. Did you see the buoyant leads on the "Pound Shop" website? It's on the "Bargains" thread if you missed it.

 

[peter crabtree]

I had several blanks one after another early this year around June.
I know I could catch using bomb or feeder but had a mission to get some success using a slow sinking bomb.
From my last blank of the short run I was on it was like a switch had been flicked and I had seventeen carp to 12lb. that felt good until the next session I blanked again.
After those first efforts I think I have a better idea of how it should work and the minor adjustments that I think makes it work better.

I'd say that when that switch had been flicked, you got the sinking rate spot on.
Them carps are clever at spotting anything unnatural about the fall of a bait..

 

[Philip]

I think part of the conundrum here is what exactly is a blank ?

Consider this…

If you go for a fishing trip for 1 day and you catch nothing then you go home at the end of the day and consider you have blanked.
You then return the next day and catch some fish…so at the end of that day when you go home you would consider you did not blank.

Now consider exactly the same thing but instead of 2 separate consecutive days you instead went for a 2 day “session” and slept in a tent. …you caught nothing the first day but caught something the second day.

….is the first day still considered a “blank” ? & does the fact you did not go home really change anything ?

The point I am making is that its really down to perspectives and the type of fishing you are doing. If you’re a general pleasure angler or a match man you probably think of things in terms of individual days at the end of which you either caught or you blanked.

However if you more of a specialist targeting bigger fish you probably think & worry less about individual blank days and focus more about sessions or even long campaigns towards catching a target fish.

 

[wanderer]

This is a really good point, people that know me , know my philophosy on long sessions, prebait two weeks every other day and stop 48 hours before fishing, if you intend fishing 3 night and days, blitz the bait nnight one and expect to catch night three, strategic blank for maybe 36 hours, catch the last 36 hours, so whats a long session blank, good post Phil, a real thinker.