Joe Winstanley
Senior Member & Supporter
Close. Right era, but it was Gary Player. A maniacal work ethic by all accounts.
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Are we losing our Sixth Sense?
- Thread starter Carl Massey
- Start date
Mike Hodgkiss
Senior Member
you need your chakras re aligning Daniel , once done your catch rate will soar !
Julian Griffiths
Senior Member & Supporter
I'm with Terry here. Sometimes I'm amazed by how much info comes to me whilst just observing. So many telltale signs that you often forget, when you think of the lead up to a fish's capture...
Terry Simner
Senior Member & Supporter
I think one thing that fosters a belief in 'intuition' or us having a 'sixth sense' is bias confirmation, in that .... if we look at a swim and think "There, that's the spot" (and we catch), or we've been fishing for a few hours and we're thinking of packing up and then think "No, just one last cast" (and we catch), or we think "I'll change my bait from X to Y" (and we catch), we can end up thinking that we "Just had a feeling" when really it was down to un/semiconscious thought/reasoning, based on experience. Or luck.
The 'bias confirmation' element/effect comes from us tending to remember those few times that these 'feelings' pay off (when we've caught) but forget about all the last casts etc that resulted in zilch
Just a thought (Hmmmm, or did I intuit that?)
The 'bias confirmation' element/effect comes from us tending to remember those few times that these 'feelings' pay off (when we've caught) but forget about all the last casts etc that resulted in zilch
Just a thought (Hmmmm, or did I intuit that?
)Stephen Goderski
Senior Member
I don't disagree with what you say but what about those occasions where the voices tell you to cast into a swim or a spot that you would never usually look twice at, so you do and you catch pretty much instantly? Isn't that the opposite of confirmation bias?I think one thing that fosters a belief in 'intuition' or us having a 'sixth sense' is bias confirmation, in that .... if we look at a swim and think "There, that's the spot" (and we catch), or we've been fishing for a few hours and we're thinking of packing up and then think "No, just one last cast" (and we catch), or we think "I'll change my bait from X to Y" (and we catch), we can end up thinking that we "Just had a feeling" when really it was down to un/semiconscious thought/reasoning, based on experience. Or luck.
The 'bias confirmation' element/effect comes from us tending to remember those few times that these 'feelings' pay off (when we've caught) but forget about all the last casts etc that resulted in zilch
Just a thought (Hmmmm, or did I intuit that?
Terry Simner
Senior Member & Supporter
No, I'd put that down to pure 'luck'. And I think the only thing you'd learn from that would be ...the only thing we do know, is often we don't know.
Cliff Turner
Senior Member & Supporter
changing baits, changing swims, changing where we cast in swim, long hook length, short hook length... in my mind thats just fishing and exploring what may work on any given day. When one of these changes brings immediate results it sometimes feels like intuition but in reality I think its just fishing.
I try and fish with people who I think are better/more experienced than me - that way I’m constantly testing myself to be better and to learn ‘stuff’.
If I fish with less experienced anglers I find it interesting that they often say ‘why did you do that?’ when I alter something. Yet I’ve made a decision almost sub-consciously and not really registered that I’ve thought it through and come to an informed decision. I guess that is watercraft/experience and it is a learned behaviour……
But (as I mentioned earlier) I’ve still seen first hand fish captures that almost defied logic. As an ex-academic it is hard to explain.
PS another author that touches on some of this ‘instinct’ stuff is Tristran Gooley. ‘How to read water’ is a fascinating book.
If I fish with less experienced anglers I find it interesting that they often say ‘why did you do that?’ when I alter something. Yet I’ve made a decision almost sub-consciously and not really registered that I’ve thought it through and come to an informed decision. I guess that is watercraft/experience and it is a learned behaviour……
But (as I mentioned earlier) I’ve still seen first hand fish captures that almost defied logic. As an ex-academic it is hard to explain.
PS another author that touches on some of this ‘instinct’ stuff is Tristran Gooley. ‘How to read water’ is a fascinating book.
Be careful with those voices in your head mate
you may need to see a professional? 
Daniel Jeffery
Senior Member & Supporter
In his book he describes wandering along the bank (G. Ouse?) with his dowsing rod chanting “4lb perch”. Next season I’ll be walking around Fishers Green chanting “20lb barbel…actually any barbel”. Why not, I’ve tried everything else.
Alex Dalton
Senior Member & Supporter
South westerly wind high tide tide about 0200 often works on the humber and the tidal trent and not forgetting Bettys lucky handmade knitted scarf .
Ian Grant
Senior Member & Supporter
it's been a while since I posted last, but this thread got me going ! .... so hi all I'm still here .
'Our sixth Sense' I think is no more than intuition, something that's learned, and honed over years with the experiences of our successes, and failures, but I think there is something else, I'm not even sure what to call 'it', heightened intuition is the closest I can come up with ! That 'knowing' that feeling you get when maybe looking at a swim, that ordinarily you wouldn't give a second look, you know what I mean ?
Technology is moving on a pace, it's like a snowball rolling down hill, going faster, and getting bigger, and bigger, for 1000's of years man was land bound, about 250 years ago we had the first manned balloons, 122 years ago we had powered flight, 66 years later we had a men on the moon ! Now we're talking about a manned mission to Mars.
The technology in hunting is no different, for 1000's of years it was spears, bows and arrows, and trapping, then came guns, then high powered rifles, then binoculars, then scopes, then night vision aids, who knows what next !
Fishing ? well 1000's of years ago, it was a suitable branch with a hook made from bone, and line made from gut, then threads, and poles, then rods, and reels, and monofilament, and bite alarms etc, etc
Bait boats are just one of those advances that increases our options, but more than that, we've now got sonar equipment, underwater cameras, and yes ! I think it must blunt the need to use our 'intuition' if we allow it to.
I've used in the past ... not for years now ! - I don't know why ! .... a technique that achieves the same end as a bait boat could be far more efficiently used for, that's putting a bait right underneath the overhangs of a tree, but only good for a river really, and the flow has to be dead right, and flowing exactly underneath the tree, maybe on a still water, but you'd need a stiff wind blowing in exactly the right direction, whereas a bait boat would achieve that end in pretty much any circumstances.
But to those anglers who just turn up at a water, and fish the nearest swim possible, without a thought of what they're casting into, or the approach they're taking then all this technology would be of very little use to them, without using our intuition, or sixth sense of you like to call it that.
I suppose in a nutshell I'm saying that, like it or not we'll never stop the rolling ball of technology, but it'll never replace the senses or instincts we use before we even cast a line.... not that is if you want to get the best from your fishing, nothing can replace that !
.'Our sixth Sense' I think is no more than intuition, something that's learned, and honed over years with the experiences of our successes, and failures, but I think there is something else, I'm not even sure what to call 'it', heightened intuition is the closest I can come up with ! That 'knowing' that feeling you get when maybe looking at a swim, that ordinarily you wouldn't give a second look, you know what I mean ?
Technology is moving on a pace, it's like a snowball rolling down hill, going faster, and getting bigger, and bigger, for 1000's of years man was land bound, about 250 years ago we had the first manned balloons, 122 years ago we had powered flight, 66 years later we had a men on the moon ! Now we're talking about a manned mission to Mars.
The technology in hunting is no different, for 1000's of years it was spears, bows and arrows, and trapping, then came guns, then high powered rifles, then binoculars, then scopes, then night vision aids, who knows what next !
Fishing ? well 1000's of years ago, it was a suitable branch with a hook made from bone, and line made from gut, then threads, and poles, then rods, and reels, and monofilament, and bite alarms etc, etc
Bait boats are just one of those advances that increases our options, but more than that, we've now got sonar equipment, underwater cameras, and yes ! I think it must blunt the need to use our 'intuition' if we allow it to.
I've used in the past ... not for years now ! - I don't know why ! .... a technique that achieves the same end as a bait boat could be far more efficiently used for, that's putting a bait right underneath the overhangs of a tree, but only good for a river really, and the flow has to be dead right, and flowing exactly underneath the tree, maybe on a still water, but you'd need a stiff wind blowing in exactly the right direction, whereas a bait boat would achieve that end in pretty much any circumstances.
But to those anglers who just turn up at a water, and fish the nearest swim possible, without a thought of what they're casting into, or the approach they're taking then all this technology would be of very little use to them, without using our intuition, or sixth sense of you like to call it that.
I suppose in a nutshell I'm saying that, like it or not we'll never stop the rolling ball of technology, but it'll never replace the senses or instincts we use before we even cast a line.... not that is if you want to get the best from your fishing, nothing can replace that !