Wintle?s World ? Publicity, a Double-edged Sword?

Nice article Mark. Personally I do not like people being too specific about where they catch their fish as it attracts too many of the wrong kind of people. Nothing wrong with reporting fish if you want to, but try not to ruin the fishing of others by naming exact stretches. I do not think my big chub has a name as it wasn't one of the usual suspects from the usual stretches and I hope it stays peaceful where I caught it. I will certainly not fish for it again and Bill Neal won't either. He is the only other person who knows where it was caught. I wasn't going to report it but Bill talked me into it. I wish you luck with The Field Marshall. I know such a fish exists. I have seen it, as have others. Does it live near a certain green bridge? If so many, including myself,have tried and failed. I do look at river reports if I want to visit a different area and also talk to local contacts, but I would feel wrong about targetting specific fish others had found.

Another good one Mark.

"Does it live near a certain green bridge?"

No Dave, it is a long way upstreamfrom there. (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

A quality article as usual Mark, I honestly believe that FM often has better articles than the angling monthlies.

It may just make the rank and file (like me) stop for a moment and ask what would we do IF that biggie ever comes along?

Yourself, Sean and all the other guys who contribute to FM are top dollar.

Respects, Deanos.

My reference to 'The Field Marshall' was purely in jest based on having heard of (andpossibly seen)'The General'. Please don't read into it any knowledge I might have of a gigantic chub because I have no such knowledge. I'm glad of flukes like the 6-04 shown, caught when I was fishing for roach with very fine gear.

another good article thankyou Mark

A good and well balanced view of the situation.

Some kind of conclusion and/or advice would be of help to newcomers.

A thought provoking article Mark.

I don't have any problem with reports/features on venues such as Throop, or at least certain parts of the fishery! But there is no doubt a lot of visiting anglers turn up in the right areas but really haven't a clue how to really approach the challenge. And yet, most of the locals and regulars will, if approached correctly, happily advise and help in great detail. Some anglers don't feel the need to ask!

During my "Crucian Crusade" at Marsh Farm last year, I came across two guys clutching a copy of my article including photos (fame at last!) and searching for "The Swim". This was on a well publicised fishery open to all and all they had to do was ask Steve in the shop for a bit of info. They also couldn't understand why I was fishing at the opposite end of the lake to where the "featured photo" was!

More worringly, after I wrote about my 3.05 Grayling from the Itchen, I was accused of lying by a guy who insisted he recognised the swim from the photo - it came from the Frome according to him! Yet that "platform" is probably the most recognisable swim on that part of the Itchen!

Mark, fish chasers of any species sadden me.

Why can't they do the hard work for themselves?

The extremes some anglers go to is unbelievable!

I had aVERY funny chatthe other night, a big dead log (that shouldn't really be there!) placed in a photo can be a very useful tool /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

Nice article & I agree it’s well balanced.

Of course sharing of info is a good thing and anglers have been fish “chasing” since the black and white days. Besides how many genuinely “new” whoppers are left out there to find anyway ?...notable fish will always attract anglers, you cant expectpeople notto fish for them.

Having said that I don’t begrudge any angler who wants to keep it secret. I guess we have all seen what happens when you open your mouth. What I don’t condone however is giving intentionally misleading info, even worse when it’s a name that does it as people may be looking to that person as a role model. Just say "unnamed venue" and stop jerking people about. It can even happen with a recognizable fish & yes people can be that stupid ...”caught it from a lake in the midlands” ….it’s Bazil from Yately…. & that’s a real example by the way…

Sadly the flip side of secrecy is that catches of genuine merit were an angler has put in the hard slog to catch perhaps a new fish from a little known or unknown venue does not get the credit it deserves as either its not publicized at all or if it is, its without specifics so people may assume it came from a cirus venue and is a recapture of a known fish…but that of course is the captors choice.

My own outlook would be to give enough info to give the capture some sort of merit but don’t give enough to mess up your personal honey pot…but you choose this route with trepidation ! You will be walking a veritable knife edge because people can and will inspect every photo and blade of grass in it with a magnifying glass to find out where it was. I sometimes think if they put as much effort into tracking down some fish of their own they would be having a right field day !

Neil/Phillip,

I totally agree with you both. There is no harm in naming waters like Throop becauase everybody knows about them, but it is always better to be a little vague about less popular places. I can remember "Andy Little's Angling Adventures" totally pissing me off some years ago as he seemed to turn up everywhere I was fishing at the time and attracting crowds. I was fortunate to know other stretches that were not featured and it probably did me some good in the long run as I found new fish by avoiding the featured stretches.

The last paragraph in Phillip's post is spot on.

The point in Mark's article about the web is also valid. Sites like FM are invaluable, eapecially for rivers, but be careful not to give too much away about exact locations. The weeklies give venue reports. These are very useful for stillwaters but, as they are weekly publications, can soon be out of date for the rapidly changing conditions on rivers. The Stour at the end of last season is a prime example and seemed to change on a daily basis.

I don't catch many notable fish. But if I do a catch an alright one I'd be hesitent to plaster a specific location over the interenet. Unless the venue was already highly well known and the release would have little impact. On the other hand I wouldn't think twice about putting a friend onto a good venue or swim if I could trust them.

Nice article Mark.

I tell no one where I fish or what I have caught, I mostly fish on my own and have got used to my own company. My problem with publicity is we have two legged vermin with gill nets who are kown to hang out in local tackle shops and monitor certain web sites,and Ive seen certain anglers blab about what they caught only to see a net there the following night.

We've been here before and the logic still escapes me.

If publicity attracts lots of anglers and it also attracts the thieves, why aren't all the genuine anglers policing the water?

Sorry I should have said that I fish in the sea and some of gillnetters have a licence to fish , but why make it easy for them , at the moment the Mullet are arriving in vast shoals in my local rivers and estuarys and would make a very temting target.This time of year they shoal up in the shallows before dispersing them selves and making much harder for the netter's.

Up to your usual high standard Mark, it is sad though that the fish chasers have spread to all species, and aren't restricted to carp as they used to be. It always amazes me that people are so naive as to think that just because you caught a fish from a particular swim, that it has permanent residence there.

I too am reticent about publicising notable catches (few and far between as they are).

I know what I caught,the weight and where I caught it and that's enough for me. If it's publicity you seek as well as the fish then you must accept the consequences, poachers 'n' all I guess.

You are so right Gary, especially with river fish.I have caught the same fish a few miles apart on occasions but still do not like to say exactly where fish are caught as it can result in heavy pressure in nice quiet places, where it is a pleasure to fish even when no big fish are present, long after a particular big fish has moved.