| KEVIN PERKINS | |
Never mind smelling the flowers, don’t forget to take time out to see the satirical side of fishing life and grab a laugh along the way as well. So here’s a regular column from Kevin Perkins to remind us that life is for laughing at, or taking the p*** out of, whenever we can. |
SINGLE MINDED = SIMPLE MINDED? Single species anglers, what is that all about? It is no longer sufficient to tell someone you go fishing, you have to qualify that by referring to the exact species you seek above all others – why? Does it make you feel better, the fact that you have ‘chosen’ one particular fish, or is there kudos and respect to be gained from your fellow anglers because you are a ‘specialist’. Or are you, perhaps, a blinkered under-achiever, who likes nothing more than the comfort blanket safety of ‘following the crowd’ down a very well trodden path? I will admit from the start that I am no virgin in this area. At the beginning of the 1980’s, spurred on by Fred Buller’s stirring tales of battles with leviathan, Doomsday pike, (also, step forward Neville Fickling, guilty as charged of telling us all how easy it was to catch big pike!) the quest was on to find a 30 pounder, to the total exclusion of everything else. Obsessive, yes, successful, well, errr….. No! In truth, the pike is probably not the best target fish to go single species on. In a quest that lasted over five years, I think the most accurate statement I can make is the more you learn, the less you seem to know when it comes to pike. Following are just some examples of the pearls of wisdom gleaned over this time: 1. When night fishing in January, with a single skin ‘BrollyCamp’ as your only means of protection against the elements, it can and does, get f*****g cold around 2am. (None of these namby-pamby ‘five seasons’ sleeping bags for us in those days, just the best, or rather cheapest, that Millets had to offer). Fortunately, during this time ‘Boom 80’ boots became available, and slightly lessened the need to wear three pairs of socks and cut out cardboard insoles to stuff in your wellies. One piece thermal suits were still some way off, so two pairs of jeans, tights, (not fishnet, and you had to buy your own, as we weren’t allowed to use the wife’s) vests, thick long-sleeved shirts, and at least two jumpers was the obligatory get-up. Topped off with a Snorkel or Parka jacket you could now do everything except move! There were, of course, Damart combinations available. Two problems with these. First, just looking through a catalogue showing ‘models’ in underwear always seemed a little bit furtive (and those blokes must have slipped a cricket box in to achieve that smooth ‘bulge’. Nothing like what I saw when I climbed into a pair and looked in the mirror). And secondly, these one-piece combinations had a huge, buttoned access flap at the rear, which let the draft in something chronic whenever you sat down. Which, let’s face it is most of the time when you are pike fishing! 2. If you ever went on a camping or caravanning holiday, did you put the kettle on for tea on Friday, and by Tuesday it might have boiled? Such was the heat given off by the camping stoves we used at the time that this was often the case. Breakfast was a culinary treat; bacon was usually served medium rare and curiously, eggs were often dished up medium rare on top, but with a delightfully crunchy black carbon base. 3. When you sling your baits out over 80 yards in the winter, do make sure you get out of your bivvy at around 3.30 am. Shine a not too bright torch into the water’s edge where you will see three or four pike shovelling up the old dead baits you have discarded. The very next night you fish your baits three feet from the edge and you catch……nothing! 4. Speaking of baits, if you are a committed pike angler, it doesn’t matter where you fish, you will not feel comfortable unless you have a mackerel tail out on one rod. You can experiment all you like with all manner of exotic piscine temptations, but not having a ‘Mack’ on will gnaw away at you, especially if you blank. You will have such an attack of the ‘what ifs’ that you will simply just have to go back to that venue and fish with not one but two ‘macks’. Then if you blank again it’s because you now know there are no pike there – simple! 5. If you really want to catch a big pike you need to be ten years old, go fishing with your dad, preferably using an old solid fiberglass pier rod (agate or porcelain lined rings preferred, but not compulsory) and a sprat that has been lying around in the bottom of his fishing box for several days. The sprat needs to be presented upside down, eighteen inches below a ‘Fishing Gazette’ bung that must have had most of its paint chipped off. No, I’m afraid that these days I just fish for bites. I can’t be bothered to spend hours/days on the bank catching nothing. If you are a single species angler who is not caching fish during these marathon sessions, what do you do? Dream up ever more complex rigs and enticing baits? Or are you sure that you are already sitting behind the very best that money can buy to catch your chosen quarry, so it’s just a question of waiting for the (right) fish to come along and ignore everything else as being of little or no consequence? Perhaps it’s just me, but it just seems like these anglers are content to take the easy option, and indeed, the amount of ‘specialist’ magazines and equipment on offer these days are positively encouraging people towards single species fishing. |
