Compared to most keen anglers (apart from old timer Ron Clay who’s more or less the same age as me) I’ve been around, and fishing, for a fair old spell, and in that time I’ve seen a great many changes. No, this article isn’t going to be about the ‘good old days’, but it is going to discuss how three basic things have changed that clearly demonstrate that when it comes to understanding fish we know next to nothing. Either that, or we’re experts at kidding ourselves that we do know something, and then think that we can ‘prove’ it by catching fish, which may or may not have anything to do with it. Of course, there are many more things that have changed in fishing, but the three I’m going to write about illustrate my point exceptionally well.

Resistance in Rigs

Take a simple leger rig, for instance, and go back a number of years, to the days when we used bite indicators as simple as a fold of bread flake on a loop of line between butt ring and reel, and the days when you freelined (fishing with no weight at all), and thought it was the ultimate presentation. Otherwise it was a time when you used a lead that was just, and only just, heavy enough to reach the swim.


Graham returns a 33lb mirror he caught on a dark brown boilie on a bolt rig – would a bright red boilie on a running leger been just as successful? No one will ever know.
Everyone always struggled for maximum sensitivity, to the point where it was against your instincts and frustrating having to fish with a heavier lead in order to cast to a distant swim in windy conditions, and the butt indicator (of whatever type) was constantly crawling to the butt ring as a result of undertow. So reluctant were we to increase the weight of the lead or the indicator we drove ourselves mad trying to decide what was a bite and what was a pull from wind or water. We were completely convinced that the lightest and most sensitive presentation was always best.

Then it swung the other way, with most anglers, particularly specialist anglers, using a form of heavy resistance rig for most of their fishing, including the smaller and weaker species like roach and bream. It was the birth of the bolt-rig. Swinging took on a new meaning as we swung from resistance-free rigs to resistance creating rigs.

And now there is a trend to running rigs in carp fishing rather than bolt rigs, slack lines instead of tight lines, and the heavy indicators are giving way to light ones. Exponents of the running rig and light indicator are swearing that their method is best.


First there was a compulsive need for sensitivity, now we go out of our way to offer resistance. Both will catch on the same water at the same time.
A long time ago, long before the days of bolt-rigs, I remember experimenting with heavier indicators – stiff rubber connectors on swingtips, etc – when it began to dawn on us that resistance rather than sensitivity was often the best option. Many times such realisations come about almost entirely by accident. Bream anglers who night fished and fell asleep, with the result that they were late getting to the rod to strike at a bite, so late the reel handle was revolving backwards by the time they got to it, realised that they were hooking a far greater percentage of bites than when they were quick off the mark. This was in the days before Baitrunner reels. It eventually became standard practice to wait for the reel to backwind before striking, with the angler sitting on his hands to help him resist striking too soon! What we didn’t know at the time was that experienced big bream anglers up and down the country were all discovering this at around the same time.

Bait Colours

Just what colours can a fish actually see? Well, without getting too deep into that particular topic, if you accept scientific findings, fish do see colours, but not in the same way that we do. Nevertheless, whatever you believe, anglers have always experimented with bait colours, some swearing by one colour and others in different ones.


Bright colours, dull colours – which one today? Or will any do?
Not too many years ago we had a preponderance of bright red, yellow and orange boilies. Sweetcorn caught (and still catches) a lot of fish, which we know is bright yellow. Red and bronze maggots were the only ones worth buying, etc, etc. Then the next thing I heard was that someone had decided that the reason he wasn’t catching as many fish (barbel in this instance) was due to the bright yellow corn he’d been using had blown and the barbel were spooking away from it. So he’d dyed some black and that had revived his catches. Black corn and bright red corn is now commercially available.

Carp anglers reverted to dull brown and, in some cases, black boilies for the same reasons. Bright colours were spooking the carp and it was better to use boilies that matched the colour of the bottom, so we were told. Now what do I hear, that some of the best known carp anglers are using fluorescent boilies; day-glo bright pink, yellow, red, orange and even white.

Bait Flavours

Some very successful carp anglers tell us that most of us over-flavour baits, to the point where we’re making them a deterrent rather than an attraction. That we should at least stick to the recommended dosage when making boilies.


Flavours, just a hint, or slap it in? Depends who you listen to, and when, because baits and flavours, like opinions, can change like the seasons.
Other, equally successful anglers, actually recommend over-flavouring baits, especially single hookbaits, to make them more attractive. Some say the hookbait is better soaked in a dip so that the flavour is even stronger. Recently high flavoured, high leakage boilies have appeared on the market.

So Who Is Right?

I could quote many more instances where one school of successful anglers actually contradicts another school of successful anglers. Each of them are quite rigid in their opinions, swearing that what they believe is responsible for their success.

So who is right about all this?

  • Is it better to offer resistance in a rig, or better to avoid it?
  • Are fish spooked or attracted by bright colours?
  • Are strong flavours or weak flavours best?

Now don’t tell me the answer is according to the water, the conditions and what the fish are used to – this diverse approach to fishing happens on the same lake at the same time, with fish being caught all around the lake!

It must be absolutely mind-boggling to anyone who is just beginning in this great sport of ours, keenly reading such contradictory opinion from equally successful anglers. Especially if they get hold of some of the stuff written years ago by anglers who were successful in their own era (and perhaps successful even today if they’re still fishing). Some of the old stuff is so at odds with modern views it makes you wonder how they ever caught anything.

But doesn’t it all come down to the fact that when it comes to fish we know nowt! We think we do, and we go out and catch fish and say to the world, “look, this is how you do it. I use this rig, and that bait, and this colour, and that flavour, and I bag up regularly by doing this or doing that.” And then someone else goes fishing and does just the opposite, in every department, and catches just as well.

Who really knows best? Us? Or the fish?

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