Secretive Sullen and Selfish

[The Monk]

I can remember in the early days of my own group, we were fishing on a well known Northern pit and doing quite well, one particular weekend I looked out from the bivvy door to find no less than 3 guys all camoed up in the trees opposite with binos trained on us, you think its secretive now, the secret seventies really was something else

 

[Frothey]

bit like the barbel lads are now LOL!


reading about all the bitching, backstabbing and secretiveness takes me back to the good old days....

 

[BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester]

Northern carpers are great blokes, it must be a southern trait.

 

[Jeff Woodhouse (AKA Cheeky Monkey, Spud, Jay Dubya]

I've read some, not all, of the postings here. I don't know if some are missing the target in that, is the problem Bill's facing just the carpers or are the carpers he's come across just a visual example of soemthing he hates. He hates it so that's at the forefront of his complaints.


I'm not sure whether Bill is suffering from fatigue. He's a busy man, running a club, running a family, and trying to get a bit of fishing in. Added to this, it's been a miserable start to this year anyway, everybody has been slow to get into things. The weather, cold as it has been, has also put the fish down so no-one is out even now.


Running a club is not a simple task and nearly always falls to the secretary. So having put in the hard work, Bill is wondering if his efforts are being appreciated. What is he confornted with? A few secretive and not very appreciative carpers.

It's a great pity this thread is in the general section. It's also a great pity that Graham Marsden isn't here because I believe in this case he would use his oft chosen words "**** em!" Bill, just go out there, keep yourself to yourself and your best mates and sod the rest. Enjoy yourself, it will come back.

 

[BLAM]

I agree with Frothey on this one. Most carp anglers I've met have been friendly and happy to talk compared to many barbel anglers who have more often than not deliberately spread disinformation.

The odd carp angler is aloof but that goes with the territory.

 

[Jeff Woodhouse (AKA Cheeky Monkey, Spud, Jay Dubya]

Oh and BTW, I'm not having a go at carpers in my posting. It's just they were the point of Bill's article.

I have had the same from matchmen before now. On one weekend I had a work party planned and advertised. Only two poeple turned up, myself and Kelvin, the only black angler in the club. We cleared out about 15 of the 30 or so swims to the best of our capabilities, but the week after when everyone was walking off to their pegs all I heard past peg 15 was -

"When's the bl***y club going to do soemthing about the s*** swims. How can we fish here?"

Nuff said!

 

[Peter Bishop]

I'm with Mark Hodson. Its not just carp anglers. You get much the same reaction from some so called specialist and match anglers, though rarely the more well known ones. If you aren't part of their particular clique you aren't worth conversing with. Wo betide you should you disturb a matchmans concentration with a leading question like'are you doing much?' Unfortunatly, there are secretive, surly and objectionable people in all walks of life. I'll bet Mark meets plenty in his line of work. As far as I am concerned it is question of respect. I dont expect other anglers to give me chapter and verse on how to fish a venue, merely be civil and respect my right to cast into the water directly in front me without being told by the camo clad charmer on the opposite side of the lake "hey mate I've got two lines out there!" Also I dont want to hear everybody elses choice of rap music , nor loud one sided conversations with a mobile, or have to pick up their litter/empty beer cans when they've left.
But lets keep it in context. Of course there is percentage out there who are not worth bothering with anyway, but the vast majority are good solid people, only too happy to talk about their, and your, favourite subject-even if they do tell the occasional porkie!

 

[Gray( Bushy )Lucas]

Bill, please take a minute to read my thread in the carp section titled 'I thrashed the big boys'.I am very new to carp fishing and this experience very nearly put me off. My entire two rod setup cost me less than half of what some people would spend on a bait boat. I do my own thing which is usually plopping a couple of grains of sweetcorn in the margins and have so far had numerous fish upto 8lb three fish to 12lb,one at 14lb, two at 15lb+ and my best this year at17lb 10oz.
But my best catch ever was when one of these cammo clad ultra carpers came to ask me what bait I was using. Keep fishing Bill do your own thing and enjoy it.

 

[Bill Cox]

"And by the way, I don't think any of our carp lads like Cakey, Big Rik, Frothey or even The Monk are sullen, secretive or selfish"

Ron by and large the people on this site are the salt of the earth type, always willing to help with advice and information. Gray i read your thread and its exactly that type of attitude i am talking about, my main point i think was aimed at the large percentage of people who have come into our sport in the last 10 years who fall into this catagory. This percentage is i believe so large that it threatens the future of our sport. It is in effect yobbish behaviour that is spilling over into fishing and may well stop other newcomers from staying or carrying on in the sport. As for me well i have been out on the bank four times in the last three weeks and i will be out again this weekend, my sons have discovered girls and don't want to come out with me so often these days but i'm sure they will dip in and out of the sport as they get older, my 11yr old daughter fishes with me and is becoming a pretty good angler, so at least i know of three youngsters coming into the sport with the right grounding. Lol

 

[BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester]

I have just read your story Bill.
The carpers you refer to are liveing in the past, they are so far behind the true carp angler, they will be going nowhere.

I think a lot of clubs are struggling for one reason or another, the two main reasons IMHO are the instant carper and the pole/match angler.
Both these disciplines are focussed on one small part of our sport and are quite expencive and specialised to set up in. I think this is where the main problem lies, togeter with no apprenticeship being served as you, me, and others of our generation did. It has got far too specialized.
Just for a suggestion would it be of any use to round a few rod and line pleasure anglers up, and go back to basics so to speak. How <u>unique</u> would that be? And that is what is missing in our sport.

Ideally if you know of any, (or press gang them), do anything to get it off the ground, get some really good blokes involved for a few weeks and give it some good press coverage.
I think if I saw somebody advertiseing, or heard of somebody wanting to get the pleasure angling side of things going, my ears would prick up. Print a few lies if you have to. Not big ones though(o

 

[BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester]

Correction for the last sentence in the above post.
A hint of something.

 

[levelspiker]

steve,you should have named mr mustachio:the mexican transvestite mate!!!
i get plenty of people asking me for the best spots etc when i`m pike fishing.rather than be rude,i tell them that the best spots are the ones that get fished least and if they find a good pot,keep it to themselves rather than advertise it to all and sundry,otherwise the good spot will soon become a not so good spot!
i then give them advice on tackle,fish handling etc etc.
you can protect your own fishing without being rude or ignorant.
i remember,the first tie that i nght fished for carp,i had an old 50 inch brolly,dough bobbins,cheap alarms and a bedchair from argos.another anglerwho was walking the banks informed me that if i turned up at combwich lake(somerset)with that kit, no one would talk to me,as i didn`t have a named brand bivvy o bed chair!
my reply? "your mistaking me for someone who actually gives a **** about what tackle tarts think mate"!

 

[Les Clark]

The Monk has got it spot on ,the 70`s was all secretive squirrel stuff ,even amongest mate`s ,it had got so bad ,I pulled out of our group and went my own way ,you do get a little bit of it now but most of it come`s from merchant banker`s ,so not worth worrying about .

 

[Bill Cox]

Baz some good points. we do have some youth events planned for the coming year and hope to have more in the future.
I agree with you regards certain pole specialists being as bad as regards attitude and tunnel vision. Monk was right Les but only to a point, the seventies was the era of secrecy but a lot of those guys were "pioneers" of modern carping as we now know it, some might say the ends justified the means but this lot today are just following the doctrine as read and cannot think for themselves what to wear let alone be inovative and as Baz said they are going nowhere.

 

[Paul Deans]

For sure all is not lost, since my return to angling in the latter part of 2005, I have met some brilliant and helpful characters on the banks, young, old, carpers and pleasure fishers?and even a friendly bailiff!!!, he is also a carper and tied me a couple of rigs, gave advice on bait and where to fish. One of the characters would only give me information equal to the amount of scones I would give him. After each nugget of advice on stillwater feeder fishing for bream, he sat back with folded arms, sucked in a bit of air, and stared very hard at the rest of my bleedin dinner!?it was a good trade even if I did end up a bit hungry. I was a little intimidated by the carp anglers I must admit, but water craft and sweet corn have seen some good catches so far without having to spend a fortune on kit n camo, still plenty of good guys out there, and on here! .

 

[The Monk]

Yes thats right Bill the early carpers were poineers, as soon as they realised they could make money out of these secrets they began to cash in, 1981 and the dawn of the carp society significantly moved things forwards with the development of a specialist market and significant growth within the discipline

 

[BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester]

A couple of the worse attitude carp anglers I have known, have now turned the corner.
They have taken the up and coming bad lads (young teenagers) under their wings.
The deal is that if the teenagers do the chippy run on a regular basis for them, they will teach them about baits, where to put it, and why, when, and where, the carp move to under different weather conditions, and how to play a carp, also rig making etc.

Along with a request from me that the (idols) carp anglers make them tow the line as regards litter, and faffing about in general.
It has always been the case that a lot of youngsters will more readilly listen to somebody that had a bad reputation, than they will of somebody in an official position.

But first you have to get the bad reputation carp angler on your side, let "him" know there will be only one winner.
Cruel to be kind I say, cruel to be kind.

 

[Paul Klinkenborg]

Interesting comments all round - I agree with The Monk (Hi, how's it going?) that the 70s were indeed "secret squirrel" days. I started carping at the end of the 70s, just before the hair-rig...but at least people had something to be secret about then! Baits were individual then, and if you'd worked hard at developing a bait, baiting up, etc., then you'd got a right to keep quiet about it. As for rigs - well, those who had the hair first cleaned up.
Now, when any Herbert can walk into a tackle shop and come out with cutting-edge tackle plus bait and rigs in packets, all designed by anglers with more intelligence and imagination than them, there can hardly be any real secrets left - so you get these tackle-tart camo-clad "Action Man" clones who sit around, pose and look moody - they feel they HAVE to pretend to have secrets since they actually have NOTHING to be secretive about!
All they have is the latest tackle and clothing trends, but when it comes down to real angling ability and skill, the majority are "Instant Carp Anglers" who have not come up the hard way, through the various species and waters, learning watercraft and observation. They watch the videos, read the numerous carp comics, buy the right gear, rigs and bait, spod the required 10kg of pellets out - and then just sit there, 'cos they don't have a clue how to FISH!

 

[Paul Klinkenborg]

There, I feel better now. Just call me the Victor Meldrew of ex-carp anglers....

 

[Peter Bishop]

Paul. I dont believe it! watch out in case someone puts a garden gnome in your WC.