He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport in 1995 following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops. | |||
EXAGGERATIONS, FABRICATIONS, AND DOWNRIGHT LIES Certainly as anglers we are well known for our, to put it politely, imaginative qualities. The expression ‘The one that got away’, is as well known to non-fishermen as it is to those of us within the angling community. In this article I want to share some of my own thoughts and experiences. Unless one weighs fish regularly and accurately, it’s so easy to get carried away. And human nature being what it is we are inevitably bound to exaggerate upwards rather than the other way. As one who keeps detailed and meticulous records, to me the weight of any fish I should choose to weigh needs to be accurate. I have a set of Salter digital scales, which when tested by an angling journal were the only ones that were totally 100% accurate in the 10, 20, 30 and 40lb brackets. It was this absolute accuracy that convinced me these were the scales for me. Of course, technology of this sort comes at a price. Don’t expect too much change out of £ 100. Take it with a pinch of salt It’s well known that some anglers, when weighing their fish, then make the calculation that ‘the bag weighs about 1 lb’, when in fact it’s probably closer to 3. So hey presto, a 1 lb roach becomes a 3 lb specimen. In order to get a true and accurate weight of the fish the bag needs to be weighed separately and then deducted, or else, as is the case with my Salters, the scales need to be zeroed in first.
The above approach is why I, for one, certainly take some things that I hear with a big pinch of salt. Take for example, opening day on the River Teme a couple of years ago. Getting my gear out of the car on the car park late afternoon another angler was putting his away. “You want to fish down there,” he pointed, indicating the swim by the bridge. “Me and my mate have been catching double-figure barbel all day.” Now, of course, being the polite and mild mannered person I am, I didn’t have the inclination to call him a liar. But that’s what he was. Whether it was intentional or not, is another thing. The point is that he had been fishing from mid-morning to early afternoon on a very shallow stretch of the river that is not a renowned big fish venue, and in bright sunshine at that. Catching double-figure barbel all day would indeed be a feat from the Teme. If I could catch a double every season from there I would be an extremely happy man, never mind the quantity of fish he was talking about in just a few hours. As I smiled to my fellow angler, and made my way upstream, the look on his face said I must be mad to walk away from such a productive swim. You’ll come across some real whoppers Another time I was fishing with a friend. We were sharing a boat, trout fishing on a small lake that was controlled by the syndicate I was a member of at that time. When my companion caught a trout, he said to me ‘that’s about 3 lb’. Looking at it, I guessed it to be closer to 12 oz. So we decided to weigh it. It was 0-11-8. My friend was genuinely shocked. Knowing him very well I know he wouldn’t deliberately tell a lie or exaggerate on purpose. But, because he doesn’t weigh his fish, over the years all the guesstimates have thrown his sense of accuracy out of the window. Get talking to anglers on a regular basis, and you’ll come across some real whoppers. Whether deliberate or not, that’s for us to decide. Certainly, one thing we need is to keep our feet on the ground when listening to some of the tales we hear. Otherwise we’ll spend our whole lives chasing after monster fish that exist only in the minds of the story teller. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told to ‘go to this place’, or ‘you must fish that swim’, due to the fact that the biggest barbel, pike, chub or whatever, in the country resides in that particular peg. Recently, while fishing, an angler came and started talking to me. When we realised that we are both from the same area we naturally started to mention various waters. Into the conversation came one of our local small rivers. I’ve fished it regularly, mainly because it’s local and fishes well in the winter when other waters are unfishable. However, it doesn’t contain what I would call specimen fish. Specimen fish are relative, of course, but in this context, a specimen chub from this river would be 2lb. I spent a whole winter, putting in more than 20 sessions to land just two fish over that barrier. I didn’t share this information with the angler though because according to him, he catches 2’s, 3’s and 4’s every time he visits the stretch we discussed. Not to mention the enormous roach, perch and everything else. In fact, on his last visit he caught more than 40lb of fish in just a couple of hours, he told me. I must be doing something wrong because I probably didn’t catch that much in total in all the visits I made. This winter I’ve been fishing a very small tributary of the River Trent in Staffordshire. The club car park is indeed a place where tales of exaggerated angling exploits abound, and it was in one such spot that I got talking to another angler. As I was arriving, he was packing up. He proceeded to tell me of the netful of 4 and 5lb chub he had just caught.
Now, I consider myself fairly world-wise, as far as naivety and gullibility are concerned, so I don’t get taken in by all these stories of colossal fish. But what about beginners to angling? Meet enough of these fabricators and it would be easy to fall into the trap that one is actually doing something drastically wrong. In fact, discouragement and disillusionment could set in very quickly. Lies in reverse Sometimes, of course, the practice of telling lies is applied the other way. Some anglers, rather than exaggerate their achievements upwards, will actually try to deceive by giving deliberately misleading reports. For example, recently I was fishing a river in Leicestershire and as I walked across the meadow there was only one angler present. With a healthy bend in his rod, and landing net at the ready, he was playing a decent fish. Setting up about 20 metres downstream of him I saw him land the fish, weigh it and then walk some distance upstream with the fish in his hand, before releasing it into the next swim. Some time later he walked past me, as he was making his way downstream of me to fish the next peg. Asking me if I had caught anything I replied in the negative. I then asked him if he had caught at all, and he replied that he too had not had a fish yet! Now, I may be getting old (well, I certainly feel that way sometimes!) but I’m not going mad, and there’s definitely nothing wrong with my eyesight. It was a blatant lie on his part. Yet one that was silly, because I had actually witnessed him catch, land and release the previously mentioned fish. Then there are those anglers who will give out incorrect and inaccurate information relating to the water they are fishing, so that the venue is kept a secret. Let me say at this point I have absolutely no criticism of those who are secretive. In fact, most of us, to some extent or another, have learned the need to not publicise to all and sundry the waters we fish. Particularly if that water holds specimen fish. Sometimes our lack of openness is enforced, for example if we are fishing waters that have a publicity ban. Other times, we choose not to relate any information. If an angler wants to play his cards close to his chest, then that is his choice and one that I don’t feel can be criticised. However, there is a difference between a vagueness in reporting catches and downright misleading information. Whilst the former is acceptable, the latter is not, in my opinion. For example, this current season I’ve been doing well on the River Dove whilst barbel fishing. The highlight of my campaign has been the landing of a number of doubles. Of course, being a regular article writer in a number of mediums, I’ve written about my catches. But I have never named the area where I have fished, or even mentioned the nearest village or town. On most of my trips I never even see another angler, so it would be impossible for someone to know where I have been fishing anyway. But I’ve kept things ‘mum’ for a couple of reasons. For one, the controlling club has a very strict publicity ban, which is rigorously enforced. And secondly, I’ve chosen not to disclose some of the information anyway. But any information that I have used in articles I’ve written has been honest and accurate, however limited it may have been. Actually it was very limiting for some, who wanted me to let them know not just where I have been fishing, but the pegs as well!
Freebies from a fraud Something happened to me in the summer of 2001 that perfectly encapsulates the title of this article, ‘Exaggerations, fabrications and downright lies’. I was bream fishing an East Anglian gravel pit when I got into conversation with a guy who was walking past. He was surprised to discover that I had travelled a long way to fish there, and even more so when he realised I was bivvied up for the week. Anyway, he asked me a few questions about my angling, after which he revealed himself as working for one of the top angling companies. (I won’t reveal their name, for obvious reasons as the story develops) Impressed with my all round angling spectrum, that ranges from a week bream fishing in Suffolk, through an overnighter barbel fishing on the Dove to an evening winter chubbing on the Sow, he offered me a position testing tackle with the company. With a monthly payment on offer, not to mention £ 900 worth of tackle every two months, I didn’t exactly need my arm twisting behind my back! He returned later that evening with a bag of ‘goodies’. In fact a couple more visits to my swim that week resulted in me going back home with £ 300 worth of quality fishing tackle. But, as he said, they were freebies from the company, and they were glad to have me on board. Anyway, over the next couple of weeks I began to become suspicious. For example, the contract that I was supposed to sign from the company never arrived, not to mention the tackle that I had chosen from the catalogue he had given me to order from. I’m keeping the story short, as it’s a very long one, so I’m sticking to the bare bones of what happened. The full length, uncut version is even more bizarre! Anyway, as my suspicions grew I decided to contact the company direct. I wrote to the ‘main man’ himself. The very next day I had a telephone call from the company. The person I had met was unknown to them and when I related some of the stories he had told, it transpired that none of the things he had told me were true. Of course, by now, I was really intrigued, to say the least. That night I rang my ‘friend’ in East Anglia to find out what was going on. After some initial denial, he finally confessed and came clean. He didn’t work for the company concerned, in fact what had happened is that he made the whole story up and had bought the fishing tackle with his own money. As I look back, this is one of the most bizarre things that has happened to me. I have a reputation for attracting, shall we say, those who are a bit ‘off the wall’, but this guy beats them all hands down. | |||
| After my recent highs on theDove, next week sees me ‘Back down to earth on the Sow’. Joinme next Thursday on FISHINGmagic when I give you a run down on myrecent excursions into Staffordshire after chub. The Reverend Stewart R Bloor Pilgrim’s Progress – read it every Thursday! |
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