Wintle’s World

THE TREND TOWARDS MORE POWERFUL TACKLE
At the start of June, I finally got around to tying my hooks and spooling up my reels for the new season. It dawned on me that a trend that appeared irreversible fifteen years ago had indeed gone in the opposite direction. Until about that time, match anglers in particular were using ever-finer gear to catch fish. But since then with the rapid growth of commercial carp fishing, the trend had reversed.

This trend is by no means confined to match fishing; it extends to all forms of coarse fishing including fishing for roach, tench, bream, barbel and carp. I’m going to look at the effect of this and attempt to discover whether we have yet reached a new end point or if such dedicated following of fashion is actually starting to curtail results.

Match fishing – Long Obsessed with fine tackle
The match anglers’ obsession with catching relatively small fish, chiefly roach and modest sized bream, has long resulted in the use of fine tackle. Go back to the era of glass rods and these were usually matched with Bayer Perlon 1.7 lbs BS main line and 1.1 lbs hook links.

Those that tackled bigger fish such as chub and barbel would consider using 2.6 lbs BS straight through as heavy fishing, and I can remember barbel fishing on the Avon with tackle of this calibre. Once carbon rods had reached a high standard some resorted to using 1 lb Maxima as main line, with 12oz line hook links. As the new high strength co-polymers emerged, match anglers were able to fish links as fine as 0.06mm yet with a BS of 1lb compared to the old standard thickness of 0.10 mm.

Hook sizes, too, had continued to get smaller. Anglers tackled the heavily fished stretches of the Warwickshire Avon and Trent with fine wire size 24 hooks. This standard size had dropped decade by decade from 18s to 20s to 22s, until some were starting to question where it would end as landing decent sized fish on a size 26 in a river is tricky. Special rods were developed to cope with such small hooks and fine lines – remember the Normark Microlite? Yet, such rods were hardly new. Dick Walker developed a roach rod over forty years ago with J B Walker to fish with 12oz bottoms. It had a test curve of just 5oz.

Specimen Anglers Fished a Lot Finer, Too, But For Smaller Fish
When Dick Walker developed the Mark IV carp rod, it had a test curve of one and a half pounds. Later, a lighter version became the Avon rod with a test curve of 1lb. The carp rod was designed for a line of about ten pounds, and the Avon a line of about six pounds. For many years, tackle of this strength was considered adequate for carp, and chub and barbel respectively. For snag fishing, a stepped up version was produced that had a test curve of 2 _ lbs. Specimen anglers often free-lined, or used relatively small weights, and therefore the need to cast heavy weights long distances was rarely necessary. Fish sizes were generally smaller, too. Typical specimen sizes were: barbel – 10lbs, chub – 5lbs, bream – 8lbs and carp 20lbs.

Heavily Over-Gunned?

Advert from 1974: click for a bigger pic.

But the last ten years have seen a continuous beefing-up of tackle. Match anglers use four and five pound line, barbel anglers are using what was previously considered carp gear, and the carp anglers are moving towards tackle that is twice as powerful as that used a decade ago. This trend shows little sign of slowing down. Even anglers fishing for big still water roach are using six-pound line and Avon rods in some cases. In the most extreme case, I have read of perch anglers using 30lb braid to fish for perch. I believe that although there has been considerable justification in using heavier tackle simply because we are trying to catch much bigger fish; Walker’s Mark IV with its 1 _ lb test curve is inadequate for big carp today, reasoned thinking in our tackle choice is required.

For in many cases, such tackle is heavily over-gunned. Not all waters contain the super-specimens that do justify the heavy tackle yet it is common to see anglers fishing with heavy carp gear in little ponds where the biggest carp might be 12lbs. They winch in the average four pounders with little effort using 2_ lb test curve rods yet such a water could be tackled with tackle suitable for average barbel; an Avon rod and five-pound line.

I do not, and cannot condone using inadequate tackle, especially in snaggy water, yet there is a disturbing trend in going to the opposite extreme. Using such tackle also compensates for a lack of skill in actually playing a fish. We all catch fish from time to time that are “accidental” captures on the wrong gear; the big tench or bream on carp gear, or big roach whilst fishing for barbel, and regret the ease with which it is landed. Using heavier and heavier rods often means that something has to give, usually the hook hold. To compensate, the hook size is increased, but this may make the fish more difficult to tempt. So far from increasing success, this beefing up of tackle may have the opposite effect.

Advert from 2004: Click for a bigger pic.

What is misleading many of the average anglers is that our specimen catching super-stars, who do target the waters containing the monsters, describe the tackle that they use. This is translated into being required everywhere when targeting that species, regardless of circumstance, or the actual size of the fish present.

My principal concern is where is this going to end? As Kevin Perkins highlighted recently, this trend toward ever bigger, more powerful, longer casting rods does nothing to enhance the actual simple pleasure of catching fish. After all, casting 150 yards is one thing but accuracy is close to impossible short of using a bait boat and powerful binoculars. Is the next step, pound and a half test curve rods for roach, 2 _ test curve for barbel and 4lb test curves for carp with lines to match, or are we already nearly there?

Some time ago, Graham wrote disturbingly of a trend to use a standardised bolt-rig regardless of species, with watercraft and skill taking a back seat, and this over-gunning is part of that brainless approach. Furthermore, thicker lines tend to require more weight to achieve casting distance.

That the casting distance being attained is rarely necessary is bad enough but when, as has happened recently, the suburban residents of Ringwood, Hants start finding cracked off 4oz leads three hundreds yards from the lake embedded in their roofs, it is surely time for some serious thought.

Can We Challenge The Trend?
I believe there is willingness by experienced anglers to challenge this trend. Word of mouth, as well as the established routes of the angling press passes on much angling knowledge. Collectively we have got to shout that cod fishing gear is not required for chub; by writing to the angling magazines when articles describe such tactics, and by letting the manufacturers know that such tackle will catch less not more fish, and therefore in the end they will sell less tackle.

Recently, one angler asked for advice on a carp rod on one of the forums, and it was gratifying to see advice that such tackle was not necessary on typical English waters, and that something around 2 – 2lb test curve ought to be more suitable.

How is my approach going to change?
I cannot ignore the size of the fish in the waters I fish. With chub present to over eight pounds (in my dreams as far as landing one but I do fish the stretches containing them), and double-figure barbel, never mind the numerous double figure carp and big tench on the still waters, I would be foolish to fish too fine for much of the time.

The price I pay is losing some of the sport that I get with some of the smaller fish. There are times when I can fish finer and get more fish as a result, and it is down to my own judgement to assess what the chances are of hooking a monster. In my favour, if I do hook a big fish when fishing fine, is tons of experience playing fish on light tackle, though I don’t expect to win all of the time.

Balance and Absorption not brute strength
Where many anglers may be going wrong is in failing to understand that the best tackle for landing big fish is that which absorbs the pull of the fish. The stretch of the line and ability of the rod to soak up the lunges reduce hook pulls and defeat the fish more quickly. This is where the brute sticks fail. It’s all very well when the fish is well out in the lake but when that fish is under the rod top you need all the help your can get. If the line is well matched to the rod with some stretch it’s amazing what you can get away with.

Is this trend going to continue?
The big question is whether we are going to see this trend of ever increasing tackle strength continue, and exactly what are we losing in the process?

What do you think?