Blanked again brigade

Seems to me that nowadays we have a completely new type of angler the proud to declare they have blanked brigade, they often tell you of some amazing tackle and small fortunes they have spent yet are still failing to catch.

Is it just me or is pride in failure the new top of the heap in thing?

Maybe it is they don’t really want to catch fish and all the tackle is just an excuse to a day out beside the water, perhaps the only chance they get to with their mates?

Is it they just don’t want to be anglers? Well that’s fine by me.

To those who do actually want to catch fish listen if you are blanking and especially a lot maybe just maybe you are getting something wrong.

I am an angler in his 60’s and yes I may well be an old grumpy b*****d, in the later period of his life, old fashioned, traditional, I admit I only use one rod even when after Carp. Perhaps I am one of the very last people or idiots as some call us who are around who can still make a split cane rod from bits of solid cane, perhaps I do prefer to fish with an old fixed spool or a centrepin. True I prefer natural baits to pellets or boillies. True I prefer to fish with a float including float legering. Yes I have blanked once in the past two years because I was stupid enough to try to fish a flood gates pool in flood conditions on a float when I should have had a rolling leger in my bag.

Does that mean that I know nothing about angling. After 57 seasons of regular and steady catching on float, leger, livebait, lure and fly, no somehow I don’t think so. Yes its true my wife says I have too much tackle but that does not make me a tackle tart, no just a guy who like a lot of choice (well maybe I am a bit squirrel like … hehehe). Silly with my money maybe but I do not buy just by a company name I buy an article to do a job and with my figure I look damn stupid in real tree camo. Yes I do get wet because I cant be bothered to take a day shelter just because it might rain, or I cant be bothered to take an umbrella or waterproofs ... hehehe got soaked to the skin the other day as I only had a shirt and 'T' shirt on (above the waist) normal jeans and shoes below, so what I have not shrunk yet, I will dry off.

One thing it will never make me is content to sit and not catch, if I am not catching I know and accept that I must be doing something wrong or missing something,

What is it with this apparent pride in blanking?

Wata,

We must be of similar ages, but that is where the similarity ends ?

Although I have still got the JW Walker rods I made at school and still fish with them sometimes.

I don't mind sitting at the waters edge watching the world go by and soaking up the wild life for weeks at an end.

I do try to select a swim which has not got a Pylon in my veiwing space !!

Mind I do fish a pond that is 120 acres and only has around 30 carp in it, which makes things a little tricky.

Of course there are 4 clubs sharing different parts of the bank and a sailing club, so it's not easy.

Not every thing is about catching, some of it is about being there !!

It's not for everyone, but then again, I'm no Tackle Tackle Tart and people have long since stopped asking me if I have caught anything ?

Live and let live, everyone to their own ?

Bob

I don't think there is pride in blanking but there is honour in being honest.
I have caught nothing on two occasions this season, proud no, just being
there was enough. :w

That sounds like a serious Carp water Bob, one fish per 4 acres! I have told people when asked on the bank "anything mate"? And just said no nothing, funny how the net, mat a sling were dripping wet

No, no, no, its not about having a blank session that's understandable it happens,

its about bragging and almost seeming proud of having a blank or multiple blank sessions

watatoad said:

No, no, no, its not about having a blank session that's understandable it happens,

its about bragging and almost seeming proud of having a blank or multiple blank sessions

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I hate blanking with a passion and despite me probably being classed as a specialist, I'd rather catch the tiniest fish to avoid a blank.

I rather suspect that the scenario you are describing is probably folks that are doing a bit of willy waving in an attempt to prove just how "hardcore" they are. I suspect that's what's going on and in a similar vein it's the same as those that go for days on end in horrendous conditions or in the depths of winter. Some of it defies logic but it does prove to their peers just how dedicated they are.

[FONT=&quot]Having a bad day should never be considered failure – it’s a learning experience.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
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[FONT=&quot]If you have a lot of bad days on waters where others are catching you could do worse than learn to play golf.:w[/FONT]

I like Terry Lampards description of blanking in his book "first cast."

He states that back in the 60s specimen hunters wore blanks like a badge of honour .

As for being proud of blanking, personally i dont like to blank but understand that it is often a part of fishing for specimen fish. I dont get as miffed now like i used to.

For the pioneering type of angler blanking is part of there sport, but when they finally bank the fish they are after, few feelings in angling could be better :w

i blank sometimes but thats ok with me as there are other times that i catch what i have been after,i see nothing wrong with a blank but agree some are proud that they have blanked for 40 nights before catching the fish they were after, some however are not and carry on their campaign after a big fish quietly and if they do succeed they will tell only close freinds, i blanked on a new river after barbel last night,did i learn anything? yes and eventualy the barbel i am after will come........ i would sooner blank than have my photograph in Angling Times with a massive catch rammed into a net for god knows how long as in this weeks pages6/7,i only got the paper to have a look at the fish from holliwell, i wont be buying it again.

"He states that back in the 60s specimen hunters wore blanks like a badge of honour."

That is absolutely true.

I met a fanatical carp angler once fishing for carp in a pond near Sheffield where I knew at the time that there were no carp. When I told him that there were no carp there he said that he knew that yet he wanted a real challenge from his fishing and would carry on trying to catch the non-existant carp.

dannytaylor said:

As for being proud of blanking, personally i dont like to blank but understand that it is often a part of fishing for specimen fish. I dont get as miffed now like i used to.

For the pioneering type of angler blanking is part of there sport, but when they finally bank the fish they are after, few feelings in angling could be better :w

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Quite so.

And keeping it quiet by continuing to tell others that you're still blanking is part of the game.

Disinformation.



If you don't want to queue for your swim from then on, that is?

There are some waters where it's expected that 40 blanks may be endured before a chance of a bite. That's the challenge, observation, application and the wait...... not the weight.

I think one of the defining moments between being a pleasure angler starting out and becoming a specialist, is the moment you stop looking on each session individually as a success or a failure. You start looking on a blank as a natural progression towards catching as part of a campaign.

I like the comment about the angler fishing for non existant Carp. I recall one well known angler went to the Snake pit for a session to catch the Snake pit common even though he knew it was gone.

The following grave words were read over and over again by many of the early specimen hunters. In hindsight, I think these words caused more broken marriages and divorces than the normal third person.

"Besides condidence, there is another element in your approach to big fish catching which is not only there to begin with, but which I believe anyone can cultivate. It is a mixture of enthusiasm, determination and persistance. Maurice Ingham reminds me that once when we were discussing the catching of big carp, I summed this up by saying: 'You have got to be deadly.' Kipling, writing of things other than fishing, speaks of 'The calculated craftsmanship that camps alone before the angry rifle pit or shell hole and cleanly and methodically wipes out every soul in it.'
That must be you attitude, if you think that no fish must matter that much, you will fail."

Richard Walker

I often wondered how it was possible for a woman to win a man over when the third person was a fish!

---------- Post added at 11:56 ---------- Previous post was at 11:45 ----------

Simon K said:

There are some waters where it's expected that 40 blanks may be endured before a chance of a bite. That's the challenge, observation, application and the wait...... not the weight.

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Kipling wrote:

"We wait. I am old, but still I find that the most grievous work I know."

"Catching big fish fish involves a great deal of hard work, of which waiting is only a part.
Perhaps that is why you will feel so termendous a sense of satisfaction when you succeed."

RW

These are the words which inspired many thousands of young men to go out and catch big fish. They formed specimen groups which became a national association. They spawned an enormous industry which supplied specialist tackle which can be seen whenever you enter a modern tackle shop.

They were the specimen hunters.

Yes indeed, Ron.

And I am a committee member of a Specimen Group.

Simon K said:

Quite so.

And keeping it quiet by continuing to tell others that you're still blanking is part of the game.

Disinformation.

If you don't want to queue for your swim from then on, that is?

There are some waters where it's expected that 40 blanks may be endured before a chance of a bite. That's the challenge, observation, application and the wait...... not the weight.

Click to expand...

What's the difference then of chucking out 3 rods and hundreds of pounds of bait and not catching and just sitting next to a lake and watching the world go by ?? What do you learn ? I guess fish like different baits and maybe different conditions and times but surely over 40 days (note I say days and not weekends) it all drifts into the realms of a **** shoot doesn't it ?

I'm not knocking it if it's your bag I just dont get it. I noticed my sort of ethos on another thread (mr vines please step forward) I don't care what I catch as long as it's something. Then I can look at size etc but that first defines my day as an angler otherwise I'm sitting surrounded by expensive ornaments. Of course blanks happen but they don't half annoy me and that pressure can released with a tiny roach. If blanks get really common I could stick the lot on eBay and either birdwatch or golf. Fishing is a hobby it doesn't define me, but just turning up with the gear - not for me.

Jimmy,

I know exactly where Simon K is coming from and I doublt you will ever get it ?

It's as different from Pleasure fishing for bits as it, my Grandson playing his Vidio Games.

One is instant and requires immeadiate satisfaction, the other requires dedication and inner strength.

It's a bit like a Long marriage, to make it work you need inner strength and the ability to take on marathon, rather than a sprint !!

Bob

What a load of cobblers. Inner strength - it's fishing FFS !!!

Exactly-- I told you; you would not get IT !!

Some may say what’s the point of fishing a big water for 30 named fish when you could fish another smaller water for the unknown?

Jimmy,

When you're fishing a huge pit with very few fish in it, you have to take the time to learn their patrol routes and habits. This doesn't come in a day.

Time on the bank (with rods or without) means seeing fish and where they rest, where they patrol, where they spawn.
You can put 10 rods out with a skip's worth of bait on each, but if the fish are 800 yards away on the wind, you aint gonna catch much. As I'm finding at the moment.
So I'm having a break on the river, instead.

I don't particularly find much merit in fishing a heavily stocked water where there's a fish every 10 yards that's probably been caught 5 times a week and hardly has any mouth left.
Where's the challenge in that?

These 2 examples are extremes of course and there is every degree of difficulty in between. We each just decide (as you expressed) how much challenge we're prepared to cope with in order to feel maximum "reward" when it happens.

40 minutes for some, 40 days/nights for others.

One of the very dedicated carpers on "my" pit said each time you catch a fish you peel another layer off the onion. The joy is knowing that there are so many layers left that you can look forward to spending years on there without ever really knowing the place 100%. There's always something to keep you interested. In my case I go one further than him, as I fish it in different seasons for more than one species and the biggest of each are Very Big indeed.

If conditions are such that prospects are poor, I can always choose a different venue/species if I wish. Choice and not being a Single-Species devotee is a wonderful thing.

And, for Barbelboi: on this pit they're not named as they're caught so seldom by very few anglers plus some fish disappear over the weir (at one end) and others come in through a channel sluice (at the other). So the stock is always changing over the years.

You'd get to know a small pit pretty quickly if you put your mind (and time) to it.