Secretive Techniques

[Zerkalo]

Does anyone find anglers are secretive about methods/locations/catches? I’ve heard in Big Fish circles anglers can work for years on a rig and spend just as long hunting down their specimen and so guard what they do. It stops venues getting hounded after a catch is published. On the other hand, there are forums like this, youtube and the angling press full of anglers offering tips and being very open about what works for them.

 

[robert d]

Does anyone find anglers are secretive about methods/locations/catches? I’ve heard in Big Fish circles anglers can work for years on a rig and spend just as long hunting down their specimen and so guard what they do. It stops venues getting hounded after a catch is published. On the other hand, there are forums like this, youtube and the angling press full of anglers offering tips and being very open about what works for them.

Not telling you

 

[robert d]

 

[chefster]

Does anyone find anglers are secretive about methods/locations/catches? I’ve heard in Big Fish circles anglers can work for years on a rig and spend just as long hunting down their specimen and so guard what they do. It stops venues getting hounded after a catch is published. On the other hand, there are forums like this, youtube and the angling press full of anglers offering tips and being very open about what works for them.

A lot of magazine or YouTube articles, have usually “blown” or are out of the bag, by the time they’re published

 

[Zerkalo]

I'd imagine in matches it can go either way too depending on individual angler?

 

[Silverfisher]

I'm happy to share whatever really, don't see much point of being secretive except maybe in the big money match circuits.

 

[robert d]

Does anyone find anglers are secretive about methods/locations/catches? I’ve heard in Big Fish circles anglers can work for years on a rig and spend just as long hunting down their specimen and so guard what they do. It stops venues getting hounded after a catch is published. On the other hand, there are forums like this, youtube and the angling press full of anglers offering tips and being very open about what works for them.

When it comes to money matches they will keep it to them selves and secret venues until they catch that elusive record breaker .

 

[Zerkalo]

I’m sure I’ve read stories about team matches and having a ‘mole’ to spy on other teams in international matched? And have read about Barbel stretches being flooded with anglers after a record? Myself I don’t catch anything of note enough to bother keeping guarded

 

[robert d]

I'd imagine in matches it can go either way too depending on individual angler?

I had Tommy p and Nick Speed help me out with tactics openly at lindholme , two great blokes . Should have asked them for coaching as I did sheet?

 

[SeanB]

I had Tommy p and Nick Speed help me out with tactics openly at lindholme , two great blokes . Should have asked them for coaching as I did sheet?

Oh your such a name dropper lol ?

 

[robert d]

I’m sure I’ve read stories about team matches and having a ‘mole’ to spy on other teams in international matched? And have read about Barbel stretches being flooded with anglers after a record? Myself I don’t catch anything of note enough to bother keeping guarded

What you catch is enormous pleasure and enjoyment and you share that with us . I thoroughly enjoy most of your threads . You have had some fantastic days fishing .

 

[SerialBlanker]

Specimen hunters, normally carp guys, are notoriously secretive. I think due to the big carp only being caught once a year or less. They don't want the one capture going to someone else

 

[robert d]

Oh your such a name dropper lol ?

It was true though I didnt approach either . Nick speed came over as I had an octbox like his I think but he is a genuine nice guy and told me how to fish my peg. Tommy Pickering was last out ,i didnt know he was there ,i looked at him and said hi Tommy you wont know me but hi anyway . He asked where i was fishing and again gave me some good advice . I was chuffed to say the least ,its nice meeting people you watch on videos all the time .

 

[Zerkalo]

Yeah I’ve learnt a lot watching youtube videos and a lot more from MD too since my return to fishing.

 

[SeanB]

Fishing seems to be like that though. I've never met anyone famous in coarse fishing but have met some of the England shore fishing team and they were all very approachable.

 

[robert d]

Yeah I’ve learnt a lot watching youtube videos and a lot more from MD too since my return to fishing.

Yes great fishing advice on here from some top notch anglers . I love youtube to . I learn a lot from both sources .

 

[JayD]

Even back in my match fishing days I never felt the need to keep any methods secret, except maybe for team events, then everything was shared between your team mates. Venues on the other hand I can understand. I've seen too many places ruined by giving info about a place. Two spring to mind, one, free fishing on a small river in North Yorks. My mate and I didn't have transport at the time, and got another mate to take us in his van, on the promise that he wouldn't spread it about. He lied, and it became so popular that the farmer stopped anyone from fishing it. Free fishing on a stretch of the Nidd was lost because someone spread it around, and some berk left a gate open and the cattle got out, and wandered through the village. That one was particularly annoying because we got to know the family very well, and took their son under our wing, brought him bits of tackle, and showed him how to fish the place. We all felt a bit proud when he got his picture in the Yorks Post, with a 6lb chub he'd caught. The family were as upset as we were when they let us fish it one last time before they closed it, and leased it to a syndicate.

John.

 

[mickthechippy]

A couple of localish kent clubs-venues are very restrictive on what you can report on fish you have caught from thier waters

it has been known for trangressers from thier rule books to be ejected from the club or waters and thier memberships rescinded for any public postings that thier comitees have not approved

but thereagain, you have to read the rules before you join, so its quite clear

 

[squimp]

Yes, yes and yes.

its not as bad (secretive) in specialist circles now as it was 20 years ago. The main reason for that is the rise in the number of sponsored anglers And the requirement to publicise their catches.

there aren’t many really big fish of each species out there - so the locations Are/used to be a closely guarded secret. In the 90’s and early 2000’s me and 3 close mates were close to the top of the specialist ‘grapevine’ so we knew nearly all the best waters and how to get onto them. We were trusted with that information because we had proved over the preceding decade or so that we wouldnt tell other people. We did not publicise our catches and even to this day most other specialist anglers don’t know what we caught.

ive just got back into serious fishing after a 10 year break and I’m basically having to start again at the bottom to find the right waters - I have lost my place on the grapevine. I’m even considering going on Facebook - just for fishing info !!

 

[NoCarpPlease]

What chefster said - my experience in match fishing is that anglers hit upon particular methods or approaches that work really well for a while and give you an edge.
I wouldn't say people keep these edges secret, because they're not new news - just happen to be working at the moment.

Two that spring to mind for me
1. back in the eighties on the Great Ouse, it was an out and out chub river with light rigs and on the drop methods. One series of evening matches I clocked early on that the roach were having a go, whilst the chub weren't really feeding. I bunched all the shot right down, laced in casters and was catching them much more quickly than all others. I won 4 and was second in the other of 5 matches (all from different pegs). No-one else cottoned on, as they were well spaced pegs with lots of bankside greenery
2. a winter league match at 3 locks on the Grand Union. It was fishing dire, really clear and stale. One team (ABC) absolutely paralysed the match. We only found out the next year (when one of their team joined ours) that they'd fished rock hard balls of VDE secret, which one of their team had found in practice really worked. Very different to our usual punch and squatt methods.

But most of the time when we're all just doing the standard - most match anglers will tell you EVERYTHING.