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Are we losing our Sixth Sense?

Carl Massey

Carl Massey

Member
With the advent of all the technology in the fishing world is this now dulling our intuition or some might say our Sixth Sense? I mention this as I was watching a video of Chris Yates (Passion For Tea And Footie) referencing the infamous Brown Teapot of Dick Walker fame. In that era we had no fish finders, sonars, bait boats etc and it was very much a feeling one had of where the fish might be. I know if we're talking Barbel on rivers then people still need that intuition of where best to drop their baited hook, but it does seems that technology is now there here and people will sit it out and wait for the fish to come to them.
I was always the person who couldn't stay in one place for too long and was a constant pain to my late fishing buddy Barry whose now gracing the fishing waters somewhere else I hope. He used to call me Fidget Pants as I'd be up and down the river chasing the fish.
Moving on then so are we really losing our Sixth Sense in the fishing world?
 
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My apologies on the Thread title before anyone points out. I know it should have read 'Are we losing our Sixth Sense?'.
 
Some folks appear to have a happy knack of catching when others don't. However, all may not be as it seems. We generally don't know whether that angler has fished the swim hundreds of times, watched someone else fish it a week ago, pre-baited for a week or was provided lots of information by a friend.

Some anglers learn over time, some never do. Some like to learn the long, hard way. Some learn very quickly, some don't. Some will take every shortcut possible. The shortcuts may be technological or may be nothing more than absorbing every scrap of knowledge they can from others.

I don't believe in a mystical angling sixth sense, though some (for whatever reason) seem to like to think there is.

It does puzzle me when the spirit of Dick Walker is invoked when people seem to be anti-technology in angling. He did pretty much everything he could to increase his chances of catching by using technology. I have my doubts that the man that invented the electronic bite alarm would have much of an issue using bait boats, sonar etc.
 
You should read Leighton McDonnell’s books. He advocates ‘divining’ for fish on low stock stretches.

I’ve caught a few big fish (and witnessed a few others) that were caught as a direct result of intuition/sixth sense. One notable one was my first really big pike (28.05) caught on a foul day at Abberton and caught from an odd place. Something told me to go and fish there…..logic said otherwise.

I find that I ‘click’ with some waters and not with others. On the ones where I start to think I have an idea what is going on; I then get ‘feelings’ as to what to do/where to go that clash with my normal ‘methodical’ data based mindset. It seems to pay to follow those ‘feelings’. I find barbel fishing relatively difficult - I don’t get those intuitive ‘feelings’ and therefore have to work hard for my fish. In contrast my fishing partner seems to have a knack of being in the right place at the right time when barbel fishing….
 
‘Sixth sense’ is just good watercraft & confidence i think? I feel i was better at it 30 years ago but dont put it down to old age or technological advances. Back then i had literally 100’s of venues to go at in my local area and spent the old closed season trying to decide what the years targets were and where to go to achieve them. We were spoilt for choice, Big Bream, Roach, Tench, Rudd, Pike & Eels were everywhere & i filled my boots. Confidence abounded & i knew i would catch.
These days, almost every venue i loved is now a carp water! I wouldn’t know where to go (locally) for a big Rudd or Roach! There are a couple of Big Bream and Tench waters which are syndicates but far & few between. The few fish that remain in the carp waters behave in a different way i think and you cant fish for them in the same way (light lines etc) in case you hook the inevitable mud pig so whilst you can adapt your water craft to suit the water, very often it just isn’t worth it. Think thats why in recent years i’ve gone back to the rivers and am loving it. I only fish mid week and hardly see anyone but if i do they are usually proper old school, no nonsense anglers that you can swap ideas with and learn from….bit like this forum really 👍
 
From my experience ' success ' in angling is down six factors , not in any order of importance :

1- Confidence
2-Persistence
3-the ability to learn from others and from ones own mistakes
4-luck
5-following ones instincts
6-proficiency in angling techniques / basic watercraft .e.g ' first find your fish , second don't scare them away '

Over my lifetime I have fished with some anglers that seem to have an instinct for fishing , a sort of intuition that means they are often successful , they sort of have an innate natural gift , almost fish whisperers it just comes easily and naturally . Others approach angling from a very technical perspective laying heavy emphasis on having the very best gear , employing the latest methods , baits and technological innovations , these anglers are successful too, but see there successes as largely down to a logical , thought through approach to catching fish , not following ones instincts . When the instinctual angler fails to catch they just shrug it off , not really concerned or seeking an explanation as to why they failed to catch . The technical anglers tend to think that failure is down to wrong or poorly executed methodology , poor conditions , wrong bait or a combination of the three , in short they will have an explanation or , of you are cynical an excuse for failing to catch . I do think that these days many anglers over complicate fishing becoming obsessed with complex rigs , high nutrient baits , fancy tackle and ignoring the basics of the sport , i.e. first find fish , don't scare em away , after all , if the fish arent there in the first place you are never going to catch them . As for the scaring away bit , these days I increasingly see anglers approaching a water with little or no stealth , exhibiting virtually zero common sense/watercraft , they have all the gear , how can they fail , and yet fail they do ...
 
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I think there is something in our ability to ‘feel’ a sixth sense/intuition/gut feeling whatever you want to call it. As a species Homo sapiens have survived over 300,000 yrs by basically being good at 3 things: finding food, keeping out of danger and reproducing. I think ancient humans did rely on these instincts to survive but modern man has lost that ability by being too reliant on technology…although maybe some are still able to tap into these instincts. Many animals still rely on instinctual feelings, it is often reported that animals will flee an area before an earthquake/tsunami etc and long before modern sensitive equipment registers anything. The human genome holds a lot of redundant or so called junk DNA…much of it was required in our development but also a lot is still unexplained, basically as a species we use a smaller percentage of our DNA compared to many other species, which is unusual because biology likes to be efficient. The study of ancient genomics is a growing research area that might answer these questions. Who knows maybe one day we’ll rely on these ‘intuitions’ again to survive and old Bert who relies on his gut feelings of where to find fish/food will out survive us who rely on our sonar gadgets!
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
From my experience ' success ' in angling is down six factors , not in any order of importance :

1- Confidence
2-Persistence
3-the ability to learn from others and from ones own mistakes
4-luck
5-following ones instincts
6-proficiency in angling techniques / basic watercraft .e.g ' first find your fish , second don't scare them away '

Over my lifetime I have fished with some anglers that seem to have an instinct for fishing , a sort of intuition that means they are often successful , they sort of have an innate natural gift , almost fish whisperers it just comes easily and naturally . Others approach angling from a very technical perspective laying heavy emphasis on having the very best gear , employing the latest methods , baits and technological innovations , these anglers are successful too, but see there successes as largely down to a logical , thought through approach to catching fish , not following ones instincts . When the instinctual angler fails to catch they just shrug it off , not really concerned or seeking an explanation as to why they failed to catch . The technical anglers tend to think that failure is down to wrong or poorly executed methodology , poor conditions , wrong bait or a combination of the three , in short they will have an explanation or , of you are cynical an excuse for failing to catch . I do think that these days many anglers over complicate fishing becoming obsessed with complex rigs , high nutrient baits , fancy tackle and ignoring the basics of the sport , i.e. first find fish , don't scare em away , after all , if the fish arent there in the first place you are never going to catch them . As for the scaring away bit , these days I increasingly see anglers approaching a water with little or no stealth , exhibiting virtually zero common sense/watercraft , they have all the gear , how can they fail , and yet fail they do ...
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Number 6 on this list all the way, eg find them and don’t scare them! Is most important in my opinion, You simply can’t catch what isn’t there.
 
Great to hear the feedback and on so many levels it's all true. Fishing is an art, one that requires patience, persistence, but it's something which is acquired and not bought. No amount of fancy tackle will get you a fish if you go trampling thru the undergrowth like an elephant. I raised this item mainly because the other day I was at a fishing tackle shop and a young lad of say 14 - 16 years was buying some gear with his mum. The good thing is they went to the tackle shop, the 'bad' thing maybe was he wanted some carping gear and it became clear listening that he'd never fished before. When asked by the helpful tackle store person the lad had a list as long as your arm. Luckily for the lad (and mum) the owner was about and after some careful words encouraged the lad to join the local club and put them in touch with the bailiff. He did buy some basic rod/reel and gear at a much more affordable price but this more aimed at general fishing.
I recount this tale really because I wonder what the state of newcomers into fishing is now and what lies in the future. Are people now just interested in specialist fishing as most of the TV programmes seem focused on those 'big lumps' on very high cost syndicate or day ticket waters?

My fishing journey started 50 years ago with my dad taking me down the local pond and float fishing for anything seemed very special. It didn't matter if it was silver, gold or green. It didn't matter how big it was. It was just magical and the thought of that float dipping under and what may result is something I'm sure you all may remember. The same applied on the river with trotting a float as it could be anything; those fast dace, a roach, or maybe even a lively browny that could even jump clear out of the water and make your heart skip a beat. Those were and still are my memories of my early life fishing. We then live and learn experiencing a lot of ups and downs. Watercraft as some have mentioned becomes something we attain and use in whatever fishing we then go on to do. If then the next fishing generation only hope for big fish, the number of 'likes' they get on social media, then I think fishing is poorer for that.

Give me a time machine please and take me back to that pond I fished as a young boy. We can only wish!
 
This is the most interesting thread I've read for ages. Some really interesting comments.

I suspect that intuition is, in the main, simply the result of the angler subconsciously applying sound principles of watercraft to their angling.

The subconscious part of our brain instinctively logs and stores information in the grey matter which accrues over time. Factors like weather conditions, light levels, seasons, location, cues from the surrounding wildlife and so on. When these factors come to together the experienced 'subconsciously thoughtful angler' (for want of a better description..) pulls these things together a way that it feels intuitive.

And the 'subconciously thoughtful' angler that fishes a lot will have collected a bigger bank of information for the subconscious part of their brain to mine.

And sometimes experience, 'intuition' and technicals skills get overridden by outrageously good fortune and we get just plain lucky. Which for me is one of the many joys of angling.
 
Carl Massey said:
Great to hear the feedback and on so many levels it's all true. Fishing is an art, one that requires patience, persistence, but it's something which is acquired and not bought. No amount of fancy tackle will get you a fish if you go trampling thru the undergrowth like an elephant. I raised this item mainly because the other day I was at a fishing tackle shop and a young lad of say 14 - 16 years was buying some gear with his mum. The good thing is they went to the tackle shop, the 'bad' thing maybe was he wanted some carping gear and it became clear listening that he'd never fished before. When asked by the helpful tackle store person the lad had a list as long as your arm. Luckily for the lad (and mum) the owner was about and after some careful words encouraged the lad to join the local club and put them in touch with the bailiff. He did buy some basic rod/reel and gear at a much more affordable price but this more aimed at general fishing.
I recount this tale really because I wonder what the state of newcomers into fishing is now and what lies in the future. Are people now just interested in specialist fishing as most of the TV programmes seem focused on those 'big lumps' on very high cost syndicate or day ticket waters?

My fishing journey started 50 years ago with my dad taking me down the local pond and float fishing for anything seemed very special. It didn't matter if it was silver, gold or green. It didn't matter how big it was. It was just magical and the thought of that float dipping under and what may result is something I'm sure you all may remember. The same applied on the river with trotting a float as it could be anything; those fast dace, a roach, or maybe even a lively browny that could even jump clear out of the water and make your heart skip a beat. Those were and still are my memories of my early life fishing. We then live and learn experiencing a lot of ups and downs. Watercraft as some have mentioned becomes something we attain and use in whatever fishing we then go on to do. If then the next fishing generation only hope for big fish, the number of 'likes' they get on social media, then I think fishing is poorer for that.

Give me a time machine please and take me back to that pond I fished as a young boy. We can only wish!
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Excellent post.
 
Chris Jones said:
Some folks appear to have a happy knack of catching when others don't. However, all may not be as it seems. We generally don't know whether that angler has fished the swim hundreds of times, watched someone else fish it a week ago, pre-baited for a week or was provided lots of information by a friend.

Some anglers learn over time, some never do. Some like to learn the long, hard way. Some learn very quickly, some don't. Some will take every shortcut possible. The shortcuts may be technological or may be nothing more than absorbing every scrap of knowledge they can from others.

I don't believe in a mystical angling sixth sense, though some (for whatever reason) seem to like to think there is.

It does puzzle me when the spirit of Dick Walker is invoked when people seem to be anti-technology in angling. He did pretty much everything he could to increase his chances of catching by using technology. I have my doubts that the man that invented the electronic bite alarm would have much of an issue using bait boats, sonar etc.
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I disagree about your comment regarding the existence of a sixth sense. I have experienced personally a strong feeling that I should recast to another area of a swim and so strong was that feeling that it could not be ignored. And it has been repaid. I suppose it depends on your definition of a sixth sense but to me that qualifies. I'm sure many have similar experiences. It's instinctive behaviour if nothing else and good anglers have it. It cannot be bought or compensated for with technology.
 
Daniel Jeffery said:
I’ve got a copy of his book Pulling Against Fish and whilst it has some very interesting insights into bait, flavours etc, I put it down when I got to the mention of dowsing & sacral chakras.
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I just skipped that bit 😉 it’s a good book 📖 doesn’t hurt to think outside of the box 📦 but divining is taking it a bit too far! 😁 and as others have said previously “ find em, don’t scare em” and use a sharp hook! Preferably with bait on! I used to hunt rabbits etc, and have never shot one when it’s been down it’s hole 🕳️ 😉
 
Andrew Jackson said:
I disagree about your comment regarding the existence of a sixth sense. I have experienced personally a strong feeling that I should recast to another area of a swim and so strong was that feeling that it could not be ignored. And it has been repaid. I suppose it depends on your definition of a sixth sense but to me that qualifies. I'm sure many have similar experiences. It's instinctive behaviour if nothing else and good anglers have it. It cannot be bought or compensated for with technology.
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I clearly remember casting to a new spot in a swim and being rewarded with a good roach. At the time I was fishing a slack for roach and not getting any. Mr Crabtree taught me to fish slacks in winter, he always did well. However what he did not say was fish don’t have problems with streamy water in winter. They don’t stay in slack water for long. during floods as the water clears of silt the fish move to where the food is brought to them. In the winter I often try slacks but then move to the faster water.
I had cast to a new spot because I was not catching, not sixth sense. Because of the capture my understanding of fish behaviour, my watercraft, improved. It’s just watercraft not sixth sense.
I don’t know who said “the more I practice the luckier I get”
 
Ralph Harris said:
I clearly remember casting to a new spot in a swim and being rewarded with a good roach. At the time I was fishing a slack for roach and not getting any. Mr Crabtree taught me to fish slacks in winter, he always did well. However what he did not say was fish don’t have problems with streamy water in winter. They don’t stay in slack water for long. during floods as the water clears of silt the fish move to where the food is brought to them. In the winter I often try slacks but then move to the faster water.
I had cast to a new spot because I was not catching, not sixth sense. Because of the capture my understanding of fish behaviour, my watercraft, improved. It’s just watercraft not sixth sense.
I don’t know who said “the more I practice the luckier I get”
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I think it was Arnold Palmer.

But he wasn’t trying to catch something alive, with a mind of it own that is driven by natural forces.
 
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