Whats the mot skillful thing you have seen in angling ?

I have seen a few but one instance always springs to mind for me...

A good few years ago I bumped into a Dutch Carp angler on a remote bit of river. Anyway we hit it off and he decided to fish the night together in his swim. It was getting dusk and we started to get the rods out. He told me about a good spot for one of the rods on a sand bank on the far side of the river. Only thing was it was a very tricky cast right across to the far bank and into a gap under some trees. I did it the only way I knew how …I clipped up and cast out short, the unclipped took off a bit more line and clipped up again and sort of inched my way towards the spot.
Anyway my Dutch acquaintance was becoming increasingly agitated at my frequent casting. “Bite time” he said to me …”your killing the swim with all that casting”.
“What am I supposed to do?” I said .
He got up took my rod, wound the lead right up to the tip and then whacked it out …the lead landed absolutely spot on first cast. Literally on the proverbial dinner plate. It was amazing. There was no faking it and he did it with tackle he had never even touched before let alone practiced with. It really was an amazing bit of skill.

What has been the most skillful or impressive thing you have seen in angling?

Philip said:

I have seen a few but one instance always springs to mind for me...

A good few years ago I bumped into a Dutch Carp angler on a remote bit of river. Anyway we hit it off and he decided to fish the night together in his swim. It was getting dusk and we started to get the rods out.

Click to expand...

Blimey, that beginning sounds a bit iffy

As a lad I watched a rather smartly dressed bloke catching bleak at a phenomenal rate on the Thames at Kingston, it was mesmerising, like a metronome.

Only sometime later did I find out it was Ray Mumford.

It's not so specific in terms of a single experience but on the whole it was a local bloke named Vince Holt who took me under his wing as a young teenager, even paying my way for me as a junior.

No matter what or where the venue he always seemed to have an inexplicable ability to tune into it and catch fish no matter what, this often involved bagging on local free waters which were often passed on by the majority of anglers and was where I first met him back in the early 80's.

He also introduced me to the Trent on my first ever visit to Rolleston where I sat and watched him run the 'pin through for what must have been well over a 100lb of chub taken no further than four feet from the bank.

I don't know whether these kind of people just don't exist anymore or if I just don't encounter them but they certainly seem very thin on the ground nowadays.

tigger said:

Blimey, that beginning sounds a bit iffy

Click to expand...

Actually I know you joke but it really was very iffy at the start. I was literally in the middle of nowhere on a remote bit of river and this guy sort of walks out of the undergrowth (no tackle or anything with him) and just says to me “Carp”? …so I nodded yes and then he said “follow me” …so I started to follow him and he was taking me deeper and deeper into a sort of thicket of woods, I was getting vety worried and had my bait bucket ready to clout him if he tried something but then we came out into this clearing and it was the most amazing swim…he had his bivvy all setup and rods out.

Very nice guy in the end …and no…Tigger …sorry to disapoint but nothing else “iffy” happened for the rest of the night either

Ivan Marks launching balls of groundbait further than most could throw a brick and landing them in a very small area is one I recall, the accuracy was amazing.

Philip said:

Actually I know you joke but it really was very iffy at the start. I was literally in the middle of nowhere on a remote bit of river and this guy sort of walks out of the undergrowth (no tackle or anything with him) and just says to me “Carp”? …so I nodded yes and then he said “follow me” …so I started to follow him and he was taking me deeper and deeper into a sort of thicket of woods, I was getting vety worried and had my bait bucket ready to clout him if he tried something but then we came out into this clearing and it was the most amazing swim…he had his bivvy all setup and rods out.

Very nice guy in the end …and no…Tigger …sorry to disapoint but nothing else “iffy” happened for the rest of the night either

Click to expand...

Yeah Philip, I was jokin' bud. You where a little naive following someone under those circumstances though, I think if someone appeared like that and said carp i'd punch first and ask questions later!

Getting back to your topic I think one old memory that stuck in my mind from being a kid was on one mid summer evening, one of those hot long drawn out summer evenings that seemed to last for ages myself and a few pals watched an old'ish (well he seemed it at the time, as people over 20 do when your a sprog) gent float fishing for roach on a local water named the blue lagoon because of it's clear deep waters which had that ting of blue to them. The quality roach in this old quarry where very clued up and shy yet this fellow was catching one a chuck and they where all between a pound and a half and 2 1/2 lb ! At the end there was a small audience of us sat on the steep grassy banking behind him mesmerized by the spectacle.
He was using casters as his bait but I was to young and it was too long ago to remember what kind of breaking strain line or hook size etc he used, he obviously knew his stuff!

Just watching how some of the better anglers in my SW London club fished gave a pointer to a range of skills - casting, feeding, playing fish...and not least swim selection!. I eventually fished a few NFA club championships and witnessed the various skills of several well known match anglers, but two experiences earlier on stand out in my memory.

First was on the old River Mole near Esher - a part of that river that no longer exists in its original channel as it did then, unfortunately. This reach looked like the River Kennet and was full of streaming water crowfoot and clean gravels with a strong flow - infact lots of feature swims besides that screamed chub but i struggled for years to crack it or even witness a chub caught from it.

That changed when i saw a chap wading halfway across the river and free-lining bread with a short cast close under the far bank where there were narrow runs clear of weed. He probably inched the bread through the swim by letting the line catch on surface crowfoot or just letting it run through, i dont know the details as i was on the opposite side of the river about 50 yards downstream. But he must have landed 15-20 chub in the day. Skilful yes, but to me it was the approach that was a revelation - why hadnt i thought of doing something like that ?.

My other strong memory, again from when i was 16 or so at the end of the 1970s, was fishing Diana Pond in Bushy Park for tench in the 1-3Ib range. It was typical waggler fishing at 2-3 rod lengths out, with accurate feeding and light hook lengths (typically Bayer 1.7Ib) required. I had a run of sessions there where i cracked it and had nearly always caught from 8-12 tench in a session and felt pretty pleased with myself.

On this day i found myself fishing next to a man in his early 20s who i am sure was called Nigel (from memory). He put my conquests to shame - he had 37 tench to my 7 using virtually identical tactics. He just did everything that bit better than me - starting with losing very few fish and appearing to hit every bite at just the right time. That remains by far the most tench i have ever seen caught in a session, even though they averaged only 1Ib 8oz to 2Ib.

Any number of things from super accurate casting and feeding, incredible float control on flowing water to supreme speed and efficiency. Those at the top of their game, be they matchmen, carpers or just unknown blokes that are really well practiced in their chosen discipline, or on a certain venue, can be an absolute joy to behold.

My personal favourites tend to be the unknown old boys that have been fishing rivers for donkey's years. Such is the dearth of younger anglers fishing rivers, I suspect that many of the skills that they make look easy will all but disappear with them inside twenty to thirty years.

Putting the fly on a sixpence at 20 yards!

binka said:

It's not so specific in terms of a single experience but on the whole it was a local bloke named Vince Holt who took me under his wing as a young teenager, even paying my way for me as a junior.

No matter what or where the venue he always seemed to have an inexplicable ability to tune into it and catch fish no matter what, this often involved bagging on local free waters which were often passed on by the majority of anglers and was where I first met him back in the early 80's.

He also introduced me to the Trent on my first ever visit to Rolleston where I sat and watched him run the 'pin through for what must have been well over a 100lb of chub taken no further than four feet from the bank.

I don't know whether these kind of people just don't exist anymore or if I just don't encounter them but they certainly seem very thin on the ground nowadays.

Click to expand...

It's you now Steve! The mantle has passed

Dave Harrell stick float fishing on the Wye,

Steve Gardner waggler fishing on the semi tidal Thames at Richmond,

Two very fantastic float anglers that have both been at the very top of the game and at world level,

Incidentally it was how I personally learnt how to waggler fish the tidal Thames from Steve Gardner

Also another point was when I was invited back to Bob Buteox house in Clacton and spent the day with him in his study,

If I said that there was probably in excess of 1000 angling books on shelving from floor to ceiling on two walls of the his study this would of defiantly been no exaggeration.

Bob who is president of the Chub study group and also got me a position within the group is classified as probably one of the very best touch ledger anglers in the country, I learnt all of my touch ledgering skills for me big roach and chub fishing from Bob and have never look back :thumbs: a true Ledgend

There are some really superb anglers out there but one thing stands in my mind as a really unique skill in my experience.

A rather abrasive character (thats putting it nicely) that moved from his dorset roots and spent some time fishing the Kennet a few years ago.

Now I was used to fish spotting, especially on the Loddon.
However this chap could spot fish invisible to all other anglers.

The times he would try and point out fish to me and others that quite frankly to us didn"t exist. But he would estimate the weight and then catch them quite smartly.

Now, no doubt like many i've wished I could see with magic glasses whats in my swim. This chap could like magic.

Martin Hooper.

Graham Elliott 1 said:

There are some really superb anglers out there but one thing stands in my mind as a really unique skill in my experience.

A rather abrasive character (thats putting it nicely) that moved from his dorset roots and spent some time fishing the Kennet a few years ago.

Now I was used to fish spotting, especially on the Loddon.
However this chap could spot fish invisible to all other anglers.

The times he would try and point out fish to me and others that quite frankly to us didn"t exist. But he would estimate the weight and then catch them quite smartly.f

Now, no doubt like many i've wished I could see with magic glasses whats in my swim. This chap could like magic.

Martin Hooper.

Click to expand...

Yep have to agree there Graham,

Martin hooper brilliant angler :thumbs:

I can skillfully pick a Sycamore leaf floating down the river in Autumn with my float. Don't matter how hard I try not to it hits that flippin leaf, that sole leaf, the only one in the river! I then skillfully play said leaf as it spins in the wind whilst others have the cheek to point and laugh. After which I cunningly pretend I am chilling whilst I untangle the mess of my line.

The leaf is always returned unharmed to 'do' someone else downstream.

laguna said:

Putting the fly on a sixpence at 20 yards!

Click to expand...

Or in my case actually casting a fly 20 yards. One of natures natural fly fishers I am not.

As to others skills I reckon old Charlie Landells could extract a chub from a bucket of water on a slug.

Last weekend I was chatting to a young lad (about 17 or so) who was fishing for Carp on the local club lake. He pointed to a spot on the island about 40 yards away, an overhanging bush with a gap at the waterline of no more than a foot wide.

"Thats where I'll catch one" he said, and then proceeded to plonk his rig down bang on the spot. He made it look totally effortless - just hoisted the rod up and flicked it out and sploosh it in with barely a sound. He did indeed catch one after about 10 minutes, and once he had the carp resting in the net plonked his rig back in EXACTLY the same spot just as casually. I was awestruck.

theartist said:

I can skillfully pick a Sycamore leaf floating down the river in Autumn with my float. Don't matter how hard I try not to it hits that flippin leaf, that sole leaf, the only one in the river! I then skillfully play said leaf as it spins in the wind whilst others have the cheek to point and laugh. After which I cunningly pretend I am chilling whilst I untangle the mess of my line.

The leaf is always returned unharmed to 'do' someone else downstream.

Click to expand...

Like it...PMSL

A carp angler casting at the sun with a 4 oz lead. He missed of course, but said that will do its in the galaxy.

The bad one said:

A carp angler casting at the sun with a 4 oz lead. He missed of course, but said that will do its in the galaxy.

Click to expand...

Chris Yates was very good at " casting at the sun " says so on the front cover of his book....lols