Secretive Techniques

[robert d]

I ask the locals who fish the waters I'm going too ,they normally tell me what's working then it's up to me to fish to the best of my abilities ,yes they do beat me regularly But that's down to them having better water skills and going in to the smallest detail more than me ? I do frame sometimes but that's more down to luck than judgement .

The main thing is enjoyment , I love to win but it's not just winning its days out relaxing enjoying and a bit of light humour.

 

[NoCarpPlease]

have to disagree there a bit, most top anglers have little edges as they are always looking for them to keep them ahead of the game, thats what makes certain anglers so bloody good as they can think like a fish, a lot of edges will be documented once they have been used for a few months or the rabbit is out of the hat so to speak, but at that point the guys are already working on the next thing.

for example i fished open matches for years alongside some really good anglers and one in particular he always did well on our winter league venue, and i had a few bashings off him but we always chatted on got on great, but i only learned some of his secrets once we were in the same team together. and i was told if i ever shared a secret he wouldnt tell me anything else ever again so certain people will try and keep their edges as long as they can and i can full appreciate that

Out of Interest - what level were these "secrets" at - were they groundbreaking new details or that a specific method was the most effective at that time on that venue?

The other thing is that you can spill the beans fully, but most anglers either won't listen properly or will be too stubborn and set in their ways to try things out (I know I am sometimes).

 

[gingert76]

bit of everything to be fair, this was 20 odd years ago, didnt have information shared like you do now and this was from rigs that were way ahead of their time to specific venues and even baits and in some cases additives which was well ahead of its time.

i can think of one rig and method for catching bonus fish on big rivers that everyone wanted to know, as a team we would always have bonus fish and in the opens it was the tactic to win, i would be happy to use it even today and be 100% confident i would catch bonus fish on it still

 

[gingert76]

thats the thing for me, i am ultra competitive when it comes to team match fishing, if i wasnt putting in 110% then i would be letting my team mates down and that was all that mattered and no matter what peg i drew my goal was to get as many points as i could for the team.

thats why i gave up in the end as work simply took over so i couldnt prepare my kit or practice enough to be giving my team my maximum effort so i had to call it quits

The main thing is enjoyment , I love to win but it's not just winning its days out relaxing enjoying and a bit of light humour.

 

[Dusty]

I ask the locals who fish the waters I'm going too ,they normally tell me what's working then it's up to me to fish to the best of my abilities ,yes they do beat me regularly But that's down to them having better water skills and going in to the smallest detail more than me ? I do frame sometimes but that's more down to luck than judgement .

I always tell my fellow club anglers how I’m fishing when I’ve done well, doesn’t necessarily mean it will work when they try it.
I think the sign of a good angler is finding what works on the day as opposed to just adopting the same approach as others.

 

[Lcn]

I would suggest that specimen carpers can be very secretive, but pikers even more (about venue, not rigs). Pike don't deal well with pressure, and also are often less 'known' fish. Given the amount of time and leg-work tracking down decent piking spots is, it isn't something that tends to get shouted about.

Back when I used to chase big pike i was murder for being evasive to the point where I’d sometimes say I’d never even fished a water or even heard of it and if I was seen I’d say I’d not had anything or just a jack . Only ever shared info about big pike with a few trusted people who shared back . Carpers are usually ok other than the odd one who thinks they’re Terry hearns love child and more carpy than everyone else but most of them will talk to you and help if you’re new on a water

 

[JayD]

I've always been grateful when anglers helped me out, especially when I was young, so always felt it was only right to do my bit when I got more experienced. As two 15 year olds, my mate and I used to fish the Calder around Cooper bridge. It was mainly roach and gudgeon back then. We did alright with catches of around 6/8lb of fish, but our weights were usually made up of around 60% gudgeon the rest roach and the very occasional small chub. We met a guy who showed us how to fish the stick, varying the shotting patterns, feed, speed, and depths to find, and keep catching the roach. The next time we went we both had our first 20lb+ bags of roach, with just a few gudgeon. His name, (if i remember correctly) was Horace Pywell, a Bradford 'All England' team member. After my Dad and uncles, he had probably the biggest influence on my river fishing.

John

 

[Sam Vimes]

Any kind of specialist angler is likely to be far more reticent than the average coarse or match angler. Most of the time it's perfectly justified, though some do take it too far. I actually don't care if people don't wish to talk. The only thing that leaves me a little miffed is deliberate misinformation. By all means, say nothing, or even deny things, but telling lies to throw people off is a bit much. I've seen people ruin their own venues by being a bit too loose lipped. If you are fishing nothing but commercials, or any well known venue without restricted access, this is hardly going to be a major concern.

You will generally find that most specialists are quite forthcoming within certain circles. That may amount to specialist groups, club/syndicate members or just angling friends. What most won't do is get especially chatty with complete strangers, or on open access internet platforms.

I find that pikers are generally the most guarded of the bigger groups. River catfish anglers are small in number but very, very secretive. Eel specialists are generally quiet secretive types, or perhaps it's just that few want to talk to them!
Carpers are nowhere near as "secret squirrel", most are actually quite informative, especially about other species if you've shown little interest in carp yourself.

 

[Fred Davis]

I remember years ago fishing some matches with a mate on a carp match lake, what we found out was that fishing shallow long with pellets was the method however red corn on the hook out fished all other hook baits, now why this should be I have no idea however it worked, well for quite a few matches we creamed it coming 1st and second to my dismay I found my mate chatting to another angler disclosing all our info on the method, he could see I was not best pleased however he said don't worry have faith in your ability it will take them months to fine tune the method as they will be playing catch up, needless to say he was right. Since that day I never keep secrets as I have always looked to improve technique and ability and that is what scores in the long run

 

[Zerkalo]

This has been a great read for me so far! Thanks for all replies!

 

[gingert76]

im happy to share basic info and help anyone but if i find a edge, especially match fishing you can be sure i will keep it to myself or my team for as long as i can, same as when i won match after match on a certain venue with my secret tactic of gathering 100ish lobworms in a bucket then taking a hand blender to them and mincing them to liquid before mixing in leam until i could form soft balls, it was a messy, gross and disgusting process (my twin bro would wretch just seeing me do it) but the fish went mad for it and even if you saw me fishing you would just see me potting in the odd ball of leam without a clue what it was mixed with as the blender turned the worms into liquid but if you put a ball in a tank you would see the ball clouding and thousands of particles coming off it, other people tried fishing chopped worm and bits of worm as you could see my worm hook baits clearly but they could never compete

 

[gingert76]

another reason i used to like using a bait dropper as no one could see what bait i was putting in it, how much i was putting in it or even if i was putting anything in it at all, was a few matches/venues where every 10 mins i would use the dropper to put bait in but only 1 time in every 4 to 6 would actually have any bait in it, others would copy but overfeed as they would put bait in every time, loads of little things you can do if people just copy you lol

 

[rudd]

Predator anglers do not like to share venues, marks etc in an effort to both protect fish and their own chances of catching them.
Big Eels only get caught once or twich then nave a habit of vanishing for example.
Close groups of speci anglers share info of sorts but heres the thing.
Alot of money spent getting onto water or into syndicate or alot of time finding a New venue.
Time spent at venue getting to know it ( not fishing but researching, binos, marker rod, climbing boots, polarised glasses).
Time spent travelling to venue.
Time preparing rig,tackle,bait.
Time spent fishing the venue and tweeking rigs/bait until things start turning in anglers favour.
It can take weeks or months to start catching, working through the fish stock until the dream/prize/target is caught.
Most are not going to give their hard earned secrets away for free.

There are venues, rigs and baits/receipe out there we will never know about.

Carp Fishing - The Nora Rig - Video - Gardner Tackle

This uber refined elasticised rig is considered by its inventor, Adam Whittington, to be a complete game changer. In fact, it is so effective, especially when adjusted to circumstances, that he simply wouldn’t use anything else – EVER!

gardnertackle.co.uk

 

[Me and my lad]

When I did well in on the club scene I told everybody everything. Two things happened, people either said as if and carried on their way or copied but without understanding. There was no need for secrets. Open matchez were different in that nobody asked...they felt they were better anglers anyway

 

[HawkerMan]

I've told people in our club how to fish certain venues, told them how to feed even given them a rig to use. I have been pegged next to them and watched, they will spend 10 minutes trying what I've told them and if they haven't caught just go back to what they normally do, even though you've told them to keep at it and it will work and when I frame they accuse me of giving bad information. I just tell them not to ask again.

 

[ATTICUS FINCH]

I have never witheld any so called secret from anyone if I had a winning method ,I would freely tell anyone that asked ,my view was if they do it and beat me then I want to know what little tweak they did [as we all have our different way of doing things] to improve my given info ,I would then try and incorporate something like it into my approach ,and hopefully learn a bit more about the original method that I had previously shared .
however regarding baits and paste especially , my paste recipe is my paste recipe .
groundbait wise I tell anyone what my mix is .the only thing I dont do is offer information ,but anyone that asks I will tell all ,paste recipe excluded.

 

[Yuccaman]

Back when I used to chase big pike i was murder for being evasive to the point where I’d sometimes say I’d never even fished a water or even heard of it and if I was seen I’d say I’d not had anything or just a jack . Only ever shared info about big pike with a few trusted people who shared back . Carpers are usually ok other than the odd one who thinks they’re Terry hearns love child and more carpy than everyone else but most of them will talk to you and help if you’re new on a water

Absolutely, there are a few people I 'network' pike with. Within minutes of beating my PB on a drain a couple of years ago, a dog walker, who was clearly a pike angler, happened to walk by. 'Any size mate?', gesturing to my wet unhooking mat. "Nahhhhhhhhhh.... about 7 maybe." <smirk>

 

[Zerkalo]

I’ve got a few bags of paste powder, just plain stuff, I got from the guy I get Coppens pellets from, so probably just milled pellets. When I finally get round to mixing it very tempted to try and incorporate into some kind of ultimate cheesepaste mix for Chub with all sorts in there, eggs, tuna, you name it! Ha. But it will probably just make it fall apart.

 

[Silver fan 82]

Predator anglers do not like to share venues, marks etc in an effort to both protect fish and their own chances of catching them.
Big Eels only get caught once or twich then nave a habit of vanishing for example.
Close groups of speci anglers share info of sorts but heres the thing.
Alot of money spent getting onto water or into syndicate or alot of time finding a New venue.
Time spent at venue getting to know it ( not fishing but researching, binos, marker rod, climbing boots, polarised glasses).
Time spent travelling to venue.
Time preparing rig,tackle,bait.
Time spent fishing the venue and tweeking rigs/bait until things start turning in anglers favour.
It can take weeks or months to start catching, working through the fish stock until the dream/prize/target is caught.
Most are not going to give their hard earned secrets away for free.

There are venues, rigs and baits/receipe out there we will never know about.

Carp Fishing - The Nora Rig - Video - Gardner Tackle

This uber refined elasticised rig is considered by its inventor, Adam Whittington, to be a complete game changer. In fact, it is so effective, especially when adjusted to circumstances, that he simply wouldn’t use anything else – EVER!

gardnertackle.co.uk

Perfect example of things being kept secret. Never heard of that rig before despite it being around for a decade! Love the mechanics of this rig.

 

[squimp]

I belonged to three clubs in the Colne Valley all of which had publicity bans, I fished for carp for nearly 40 years.I have many times fished alongside supposedly 'famous' carp anglers who had written carp books, magazine articles etc who were absolutely useless! Conversely I have known carpers who could catch carp out of a damp sponge who kept their catches quiet.

There are (to the best of my knowledge) both rigs and bait which have never been put in print.

Now I am more than content to just fish for roach!

you are completely right !

if you sit on the right water for long enough you WILL catch the biggest fish. We call anglers who fish that way ‘time bandits’. Ability doesn’t come into it.

the other way is to catch fish quickly and move on........But there aren’t many who can do that.