The numbers game

steve2012 · Apr 15, 2010

Last night I was on one of our club lakes in Woking with my brother enjoying a few hours floatfishing in the evening, plenty of fat Roach with a couple of Perch and Rudd thrown in and even though the water was still very cold my brother caught a Crucian and I got taken into a sunken tree by what I think was a Tench before the hook opened out, all in all a nice session

During the evening a chap came up on the other side of the fence as the complex is locked and asked my brother

"alright mate wat you caught"

"Some Roach, my brother says"

"Wat else is in 'ere?"

"Perch, Tench, Bream and Carp"

"As it dahn a firty?"

"I'm not sure"

See ya mate

What is it with numbers especially when it comes to Carp angling?. Yes we all like to catch bigger fish of many different species but sometimes just being by the lake and not knowing what the next bite may bring is enough, or is it ?

Maybe I'm just missing the point but do some Carp anglers miss out on a lot more in the relentless pursuit of numbers for their log?. Don't get me wrong there are some great Carp anglers out there (Terry Hearn once made me a cup of tea when I was fishing for Bream) with the skill to extract some massive fish from rock hard waters, but are 90% of them cloned into thinking that numbers in their book = skill?

Mark Wintle · Apr 15, 2010

I hate that phrase 'Done a...' Waters don't do anything; they might produce fish of a certain size but it's the anglers that do the doing.

But back to the case in point. Firstly you need to rehearse some lies; 'Firty? Naw, free forties last week, should have bin ere yesterday, couple of firties an a forty.' Get your brother to know the story and you can have people chasing rainbows. Many years ago a local angler was always pumping for info on Friday nights in the tackle shop until a bunch of us, knowing that he'd be in soon after, concocted a tale of big roach on an obscure venue with a long walk. We had our story straight and he fell for it.

This doesn't just apply to carp but other fish as well but give me at least some aspect of the unknown any day even if my logical brain says it's sometimes unlikely to harbour any unknown monsters.

peter crabtree · Apr 15, 2010

What about match anglers who have "done a ton"

steve2012 · Apr 15, 2010

I cant really see the point in 200lb bags of pastie carp either, isnt that where fishing simply becomes "catching"?

Perhaps at 43 I'm now just considered old school where being outside enjoying the scenery and catching nice fish (sometimes big) using a number of methods for all species was the whole point of fishing

And on a variety of waters too.

nickpc44 · Apr 15, 2010

I think I have to agree, being relatively new to fishing and only being able to steal a few sessions in a month because of work commitments, I enjoy just being out on the bank and fishing (hopefully catching) on a variety of waters for anything that will take the bait.

Peter Jacobs · Apr 15, 2010

Believe it or not, this is an extract of a true conversation at a lake in Wiltshire last year:

Bystander: "as it dun a firty?"

Me: "Do you mean a thirty?"

Bystander: "yus mate, a firty"

Me: "No young man, its a thirty . . . . . "

Bystander: "yeah ,a firty"

Me: "If its a 'firty' then how do you spell it?"

Bystander: "ya dunt spell it does yer, its a bleedin number mate"

God help us for the future!

dezza · Apr 15, 2010

I couldn't agree with you more Peter.

People say that they can't speak English in the North of England. One thing I can tell you is that they don't go around asking if the water you are fishing has "Dan a Fir-hie".

Nor do they say such expressions as "dontcha fink?"

Yes, I shudder to think what this country will be like in ten years hence.

Alan Tyler · Apr 15, 2010

Ron really must be in a rage - a typo AND a grammatical howler in the last sentence!
But leaving aside my revolting pedant's hat...
Legend has it that a club near me bought a forty-one pounder and stuck it in one of their least lovely lakes.
As soon as word got round, every weevil on the grapevine was to be found bivvied up there - leaving all the nice lakes free for those less obsessed with numbers. Not to mention those allergic to bite-alarms going off in broad daylight, to long-stay campers trying to improvise toilet facilities (and failing), and to noisy oiks bellowing across the lake to their friends.
Masterly, I call, and if it ain't true, it jolly well oughta be!

flyfishing007 · Apr 20, 2010

People like keeping score. It is the same with a lot of things. Sports, fishing, money, etc.

904_cannon · Apr 21, 2010

Alan Tyler said:
Ron really must be in a rage - a typo AND a grammatical howler in the last sentence!

$ugger yer beet mi tooit, Alan.

Dave Burr · Apr 21, 2010

It's testament to the users of this forum that so many are moved to comment on such borish behaviour.

But it also reminds us that anglers are representative of every part of our culture and for every gentleman that 'goes a angling' there is some oaf that seeks only to impress others with his list of trophies. For everybody that is content just to see his float dither and sink, there is another who wants to fill his keepnet to bursting point with identical pasties. It is what makes fishing the sport for all and although I dislike much that takes place I respect their right to pursue it.

dezza · Apr 21, 2010

A well known American Angler once stated that anglers go through 3 stages in their angling career.

1: They want to catch the most fish.
2: They want to catch the biggest fish.
3: They want to catch the most difficult fish.

I would add a fourth stage and that is to wonder that one can still fish at all.

I am on the fourth stage.

stuart mitchell · Apr 22, 2010

OOOhhh dear....i have to say that i am in for my fair share of oiks and oafs this spring/summer....as some of you may know....i am spending6-7weeks on tring in pursuit of that elusive beast....the double figure.....tench....for those of you who do not know tring....it is open to the public...which means only one thing....oiks,oafs,big meatheads with even bigger dogs and twitchers by the coachload....as if the place isn't hard enough to fish anyway.....you have to endure a constant barrage of idiocy and ignorance from a whole cross section of society.....one minute it's "f**KIn hell mate..wot ya f**kin doin with four rods..oi! dad!..this geeza's got four f**kin rods...he must be the bollox"...the next minute....it's.."i say old chap...i am trying to observe a big titted,grey spotted,large tailed warbeller would you mind not casting over there for a few hours...thanks awfuly old chap...must dash....just spotted.a greatcrested grebe with no crest"....then there is the worst thing ever to be encounterd on a bankside....thhhhe O.A.P sunday coach trip from hell!

jcp01 · Apr 22, 2010

Is Fishing Magic Forum some kind of Cockney vilification society?

Are you telling me that all anglers interested in the cyprinid content of a given water are necessarily thick, and hail from Essex?

Don't you think that this thread requires the firm hand of a competent moderator? Some of the comments made so far are actually offensive; not that any Cockney is going to care overmuch as we are quite insensitive to slurs upon our collective character made by those poor unfortunates born in the wrong parts of the country...

Dave Burr · Apr 22, 2010

They'll only take offence if they can read it which rules out half of Essex

No, don't fret Rufus, we can be offensive about anybody given the chance, I come from Somerset and most people presume I drive a tractor to the shops. I find that a little irksome as I now have an 02 plate Combine Harvester with flared wheel arches which is quite nippy through the bends

Peter Jacobs · Apr 22, 2010

Dave Burr said:
They'll only take offence if they can read it which rules out half of Essex

Yes, but that leaves the men then . . . . . . . . so maybe a 'mod-word-to-the-wise' might be called for after all

[inserting smiley thing and ducking down behind the desk . . . . . . ]

Steve Spiller · Apr 22, 2010

Cockney's???

I fawt you was all avin a pop at us farmerz in Brizzol, we don't use 'th' in our words. 'Th' is replaced wiv 'f' or 'ff' or 'v'. Nuffink wrong wiv dat, oops and 'd'. 'yer but no but', so iz good enuf fer me

Anyway, does it make me a bad angler because I want to catch a 2lb roach, 20lb pike and a 12lb barbel all from the same river?

I love to be at one with nature when I'm on the river, the solitude and peacefulness is awesome. Most of the time I don't see another angler, but if I do I show him/her the respect that I would expect to recieve from them. I don't 'skyline' or shout or use a bl**dy radio on the bank (which drives me nuts!) But I have my own personal targets that I, for me, want to achieve. Is that so wrong?

jcp01 · Apr 22, 2010

Dave Burr said:
They'll only take offence if they can read it which rules out half of Essex

Nearly true.

Essex is much maligned and misunderstood. Culturally it is two distinct counties nowadays, the rural county north of a line from Chingford to Southend on Sea which is all thatched cottages, rolling fields, majestic oaks and a labyrinth of miniscule country lanes, and the dark satanic conurbations of the area south of that line where millions of relocated post-war Cockneys and their families have created a culture almost unintelligible to outsiders. But 'fick' they most certainly ain't.

However, it must be said that there are people living in my old home town of Romford, who have never been to Central London less than twenty minutes train ride distant. Now that is insularity on grand scale!

I'll agree on a quarter...!

Jim Crosskey 2 · Apr 22, 2010

"most people presume I drive a tractor to the shops."

Shops? SHOPS?? I still thought you bartered with couloured beads....

dezza · Apr 22, 2010

Dave Burr said:
They'll only take offence if they can read it which rules out half of Essex

No, don't fret Rufus, we can be offensive about anybody given the chance, I come from Somerset and most people presume I drive a tractor to the shops. I find that a little irksome as I now have an 02 plate Combine Harvester with flared wheel arches which is quite nippy through the bends

Ooooh Aaarr Ooooh Aaaarrrg Ooooh Aaarrgghh!!

Drink eee coyder booy!!

Rufus you are over sensitive. If you could see what I have to put up with on a daily basis because I was born in Yorkshire and spent most of the rest of my life in South Africa you might begin to understand what insults are all about.

Think yourself lucky that you are not a Scouser!

:j

The numbers game

steve2012

Guest

Well-known member

AKA Simon, 1953 - 2022 (RIP)

steve2012

Guest

Member

Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

New member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member