S
Simon Webster
Guest
I agree, I've been fishing now for 40 years- I'm 46 (first fish - an eel- tragic). Almost every time, when a big bag of fish, or (preferably) a lunker comes your way, there's been a certain "electricity" in the air- 'm sure you've all experienced this. OK, its probably confidence, or knowing that you are in the right swim, with the right bait, presentation etc. at the right time of year, but there's more.... I seem to remember that the late **** Walker and also Peter Stone could "smell" the correct swim, and the fish they would expect to catch. This has happened lots of times to me. Don't laugh. We can all recognise individual species smells on the bank,whether pike, bream, carp,tench or (dare I say it- Eels!)- at least these are the most evocotive aromas in my experience. I'm certain my swim choice has been often based on these, quite a number of times. Has anyone else "smelled" a good swim? Sometimes I wander around a lake and base my expectations around the smell (of course it could be from the previous anglers net and sling). But I think there is definitely something here, to partially explain the 6th sense. We may not be microsmatic animals (I'm a biologist), but there may be certain smells we associate with fish, albeit on a subconcious level. On this note, its well established that oceanic seabirds locate patches of food (zooplankton and fish), by the emission of dimetyl sulphoxide (DMS) by phytoplankton. So don't ignore one of our existing senses. If it smells fishy (how did this get into the English language), don't ignore it. Simon