Carp Mags

[Bill Cox]

I don,t buy any of them ,I read a couple of pages of carpworld in my dentists waiting room once ,that was enough for me.I do still get Anglers mail and IYCF delivered to my door but really only because i cant be bothered to cancel them.I rarely more then glance through them.Its just same same same.

 

[Dave Rothery]

i once spent 3 days with rod hutch, mally, albert romp and bob baker - even though none of us caught, i probably learnt more in those 3 days than the previous 10 years!

 

[Les Clark 1]

I will read carpworld and enjoy a lot of the articals and yes,maybe learn something and Ive been carping since early 70`s and still learning ,I will give you an example,last year in carpworld, the Frank Warick tapes he talked about long hooklenghts and why it was worth trying them of 20inch or more, well I read what he had to say and it sounded sense so I tried it going up to about 26inch and it worked a treat,now im no great fan of Frank warick or anybodyelse but it was worth a go and the fact that i got it out of a mag dosent bother me,I fish on my own and lible to get stale,also I don`t take everything I read as the word,think about what your reading,agree with it or dismiss it or adapt it to your style.

eat,giveing me a slight edge on pressured

 

[Dave Rothery]

how many do you have to buy for the odd nugget though les? i dont think that me or rik are saying you wont learn anything, but then didnt you use long hooklengths in the 70's? isnt it just a case of an article making you remember methods?

 

[Les Clark 1]

Yes dave,spot on,sometime`s you need a nudge,a reminder,with your mind on work,kid`s normal life,some times it`s hard to switch on,if your fishing in a group it help`s but on your own,it help`s to revise if you like,if that give`s me the odd nugget,then yes it`s worth ?4.50.

 

[jason fisher]

les sell the kids to a billionaire then you can give up work and spend more time fishing or thinking about it.
I tried but my wife won't let me.

as for the mags, after about a year to 18 months you get to the read it all before stage, where the odd article will have something in it once or twice a year.it's then a case of browbeating your mates into giving up their hard won secrets.

The people who benefit most from the first stage are the people that pick up the methods and the message which is often behind the article in a how to feature.

 

[Stuart Dennis 2]

Loads to add and will do soon - excellent thread and discussion!

 

[Dave Silvers]

OK - in here with both feet.

Firtly lets establish why any magazine exists. It's to make money, not to teach people anything.

Secondly, the people who do actually get anything from any of the magazines mentioned are the least experienced, and so it follows that the the more experienced you become (and I deliberately say more experienced, and not better)the less you will get from any from any type of publication.

Thirdly, many people who contribute to this site are towards the top of the tree when it comes to angling knowledge (I don't include myself here) and therefore will find it harder to come by new stuff.

Who teaches the teacher, it's an old expression but valid.
I'm afraid when you get to the top you often have to find out by trial and errorand inovation and may often be the first to try a different method or bit of tackle, whether you then decide to share that knowledge is a personal choice.

Yes magazines are useful and I buy some occasionally, but when you get to the stage where you are not learning from mags/web sites etc. pat yourself on the back and then start thinking.

 

[jason fisher]

alright then dave
i'll put it this way.
i've got more ides from this site in the last 3 months than i have from mags in the last 3 years.

 

[Frothey]

"Firtly lets establish why any magazine exists. It's to make money, not to teach people anything."

i dont think thats necessarily true of carpworld in the beginning. of course it had to make money, but i have the utmost respect for tim paisley - he's probably done more than most for carp fishing, and i'vw always found his writing excellent thought provoking stuff. at least he's not afraid to say what he thinks. its the crafty carper/acf/total crap/etc that just end up so samey. if you read one of them, a similar articles in another within an issue or two - probably because they have the same contributors!
i much prefer it when they talk about their experiences rather than do this/use this, as you find out the thinking behind it. one of the most respected surfing mags is "surfers path" - no technical articles, no competition reports, purely articles about peoples travels and experiences. when you think of the talent out there, they must be able to come up with a fantastic fishing mag like that

 

[sash]

The difference is though Jason is that on the forum in order to get the best out of a question that you yourself want answered you must be prepared to ask it correctly, think about the answers and respond correctly to keep the information flowing.

You obviously have no problem doing that yet there are plenty that do. In fact I wonder sometimes if some individuals have ever read anything regarding their sport before posting on here and even after asking a daft question, the answers are usually ignored and the same question asked again at a later stage in a slightly different format.

 

[sash]

Plus I've got to admit, as a multi-species angler, I do occasionally see an article on a particular branch of the sport which suddenly fires up the old memory banks and off I go on a new crusade to an old water that might respond to the new tactics or produce that big fish that has grown on since I last visited.

Everyone needs a push sometimes, and mine does occasionally come from the mags.

But then, thats more from the story type articles, not the supposed technical pieces.

 

[Stuart Bullard 3]

Well, to answer you original question Rik, I would say no, not now.

While its always interesting to read "new" stuff, for 90% of anglers there isn't anything that new. In fact I would say (me included) just concentrating on sticking to some basics would improve results.

I have noticed that after a few years of reading mags I am just really getting the same of stuff regurgitated, perhaps with the odd new bait etc.

Frankly, I pick up more off this site than anywhere else.

However, I do buy mags just because I enjoy a read and seeing picis of magnificant breasts......I mean fish!

 

[Dave Silvers]

Jason - one of the points I was trying to make is that at some stage the learning curve starts to level off.
It's at that stage when just picking up a mag etc is no longer benificial, that all of us have to start to work harder to learn new skills or improve existing ones.
Your point about learning more on this web site, and it was well picked out by Sascha (I mean Sash now that we are getting informal and using nicknames)is that the learning process is becoming interactive and a two way exchange of information.
We all probably know more than we realise or will admit.

Dave - probably a bit of a sweeping statement I made, but I will stand by it in the majority of cases, although I accept that a statement such as that cannot be 100% correct. I have not read that particular magazine but now on your recommendation will at least get hold of a copy and reserve judgement.
As I said I do sometimes buy magazines and sometimes learn from them, also I found this web site through reading Coarse Fisherman of which I believe I recognise one or two of the article authors.

 

[jason fisher]

dave sascha
i think were all saying the same thing in different ways.

when i was younger i got a lot of useful information from magazines, much of which i took as gospel.
now afetr 28 years of fishing the vast majority of the stuff i find i already know it and some of the stuff i totally disagree with the losing leads for example.

many of the threads that i start on here i already know a bit about, but i start them in an attempt to get people talking.
so far i havent failed to find a new idea or a bit of inspiration in the replies, the result was my 5 chub for close to 25lb.
don't think i'd have had em if it was not for that thread, i didn't use anything directly that anyone said, but the combination of replies helped me form the ideas on the method i used.

the one thing that i do get from mags is the desire to go out and catch a species.

 

[jason fisher]

i also found this site through CF and if i'm going to read one it usually is coarse fisherman.

 

[Les Clark]

jason,that`s about right,buy a mag, have a butcher`s but you dont take it as law,I just like to keep in touch with what`s going on,I have F/M but they could be a pack of lying gits for all I know,(joke Ron,honest).

 

[Stuart Dennis 2]

IMHO - Definitely worth the money for me, just bought this months craft carper, one article really stood out, even thought it was just confirming my own thoughts which has helped me no-end.

 

[Malcolm Bason]

I don't buy the carp mags these days, for one reason only.

That, in my opinion, too much emphasis is placed on the size of the carp caught!

Yes we all want to catch the big-uns, but I would find it far more interesting to read of more meritorious capture - not necessarily the biggest!

Some of the articles I have read have been informative, but often appear to be a re-hash of what has been written previously by someone else!!

 

[Dave Silvers]

Malc you really are going to have to stop going to France, it's playing havoc with your appearance.

I can remember when you you were a clean cut looking guy in a collar and tie.