''Hindsight and adages''.

I was reminded recently of some of the beliefs many of us young anglers were subjected to in the early to mid fifties by the old school. For example we were told that when Pike fishing with live bait one ''must'' wait for the second run before setting the hooks. Today we know that to be ''totally'' wrong, but back then such a belief was carved in stone. Today's serious Pike angler will go to great lengths to ensure that any run/take will be dealt with promptly.

Conversely we were also told that every successful Roach angler had his own ''secret'' oil or additive for bait which ensured his success, and set him apart from most other Roach anglers.

Today, speaking personally I'm not so sure if I would dismiss the additive aspect of baits, given what I have read with regard to ''Carp'' baits.

There are many examples of the above, many of you will be aware of more as I am, perhaps you would like to share them with us. I've contented myself with just the two. One blatently wrong, whilst the other may have an element of truth to it. What do you think?

On the subject of additives we, as kids, were always told that aniseed oil drove fish crazy and was strictly banned because it made the fishing too easy

I wonder if that's the oil you refer to with roach anglers Derek?

Hemp held another myth in that it was said to drug the fish.

Yes aniseed oil Steve amongst others, it's also true that hempseed was believed to drug fish to such an extent it was banned on some waters.

One was never put your keep net in the water until you caught your first fish, considered bad luck. Making bread paste was considered an art form, brilliatine was all the rage in the 50,s, my old man always wiped the ferrules of his rod through his hair to grease them not that he had much hair but it worked for sticking ferrules. Bring back Brilliatine anyone?

I'm going back a very long time, maybe thirty years but I remember reading a great story.

It was the night of the 15th of June on a lake somewhere where night fishing was prohibited but as usual there were a handful of secretive eccentrics tucked into bushes all around the lake awaiting midnight and the accolade of catching the first carp of the season but it was strictly a no tell tale lights affair.

There was also a superstition that whatever bait caught the first carp would be THE bait for the remainder of that season, on that water.

Inevitably, someone caught a carp within a couple of hours and it was the guy telling the story.

He continued on to the effect of...

Having returned the fish in the complete darkness I became aware of a heavy rustling sound and the snapping of branches approaching from along the bank.

Feeling quite unnerved I settled down on full alert and heard a pssst... pssst... coming form behind me.

I looked around and could vaguely make out a hand holding a piece of paper and a pencil along with a ten quid pressed to it with this persons thumb and he was wanting to buy the secret bait recipe from me.

It was an offer not to be refused and I quickly jotted down the secret ingredients and took the money as the mysterious person melted away back into the darkness.

I'm thinking he wouldn't have been best pleased when he realised I had caught the fish on a piece of crust and he'd just paid a tenner for the ingredients for a loaf of bread!

There was the idea that tench were doctor fish and other fish rubbed up against them to get the tench slime to cure diseases

Carp and Tench hibernate buried in the mud. The colouring of two tone Bream is because they spend the winter half buried in mud. Biggest fish are always in the middle of the pond. Perch spines are poisonous. There is such a thing as an irresistible bait !!

Zander were a Pike and Perch cross mg:

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:

There was the idea that tench were doctor fish and other fish rubbed up against them to get the tench slime to cure diseases

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Also that Pike didn't pick on Tench for eating because they knew they were the 'doctor fish' so left them unmolested 'for the common good' - or maybe their anti-septic slime tasted yeugh This was also the reason you never used tench as livebait!
Any of you pikers disproved this one?

Catfish were bottom feeder scavengers.

Barbel didn't feed at night - from **** Walker that one !!

In one film, **** Walker said his Granddad reckoned you had to wait 10 minutes when fishing for pike when your bait was taken ?

Crazy old stuff !!

Bob

geoffmaynard said:

Barbel didn't feed at night - from **** Walker that one !!

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You have to take a huge bucketful of salt with anything that **** Walker said, he was always going on and on about how he used to fish with Ron Clay...........

It was believed at one time that the closed season was in place to allow fish to spawn


Zander cannot be caught on sea dead baits.

That carp were/are difficult to catch. it as been proved since that they are not. it is just that in the past there weren't that many to catch, now they are easy.
If using perch for pike bait cut the spines off or pike wont eat them, nobody told the pike

When Carp fishing, minimum resistance to a taking fish was paramount.

Spinners ''must'' have red wool adorning the treble hook.