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Selfish?

I think pre-baiting is very selfish and consider that it is between the dates of June 16th and March 15th when we pit our wits against our quarry, not outside of those 'to get an edge'.
If you ask me it comes down to greed - for most it's just nice to be out again, for others it's not enough and the thought of possibly ruining others' enjoyment doesn't even figure.



Damian
 
Bring back the big matches of old on the middle Severn. In the "good old days" you could pop down after a big match, whilst they had all retired to the pub and chuck a chunk of meat over the groundbait, caster and maggot and catch away like a good 'en. A couple of tins of meat would be all the bait an opportunist required.;)
You also got yourself loads of size 22 hooks by removing them from the Barbel.:(
 
Well so much for the gentle art of Angling, RIP
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Maybe someone more knowledgeable in old literature can tell us the title of the old book I once read that advised baiting the Thames with THOUSANDS of lobworms before fishing for barbel.

Thats a gentle art eh!
 
Cards on the table time for me, I know Jes and Tony so I am not going to pass judgement or take sides with either of them.

I know the stretch Jes is on and once you get away from the car park areas it's pretty lightly fished. The shoal of fish he is after are also fairly well known and nomadic, they are also targeted by at least two groups of fairly secretive carp anglers fishing the opposite bank to Jes who are also pre-baiting.
The fish in question used to have a Koi swimming with them which could sometimes be spotted with a pair of bins from the road overlooking the top of the stretch but they have at least three holding areas where they can be spotted at different times of the year and different water levels.
If I was thinking of targeting them I would start by getting a unique bait rolled for me and put it in all along the stretch to start with, I would then slowly start putting less at the ends of my chosen area and building towards my preferred area. This would hopefully get them used to finding a free meal in a certain area which had never had a hook in it. When it came to fishing I would use a different but similar bait so as not to 'blow' my attractor bait. These are well established methods and millions of words have been written about it. There is also a very good article on here about it called the baiting pyramid.
So, to summarise. In this instance I don't think these two have done any harm as to go in with a scatter-gun approach of pellet and particle is imo a bit of a waste of time and money. Come the weeks leading up to opening day everyone and his brother will be doing the same thing meaning you will achieve nothing.
The best thing Jes could have done in this instance is keep his gob shut and bought a decent unique bait.

What I do find selfish however and where I agree with Tony 100% is when a group of sponsored anglers attempt to stitch up a heavily fished length of a well known smaller river which holds a couple of well publicised big fish.
By all means lads fish as a team but please don't pile it in as you leave, that's just not cricket.
 
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as some of you know, i know jez well (i know the chap he was with too... although not so well) & fish with him often. i also know the 'swims' he (prepaired) he is far from selfish, just trawl through some of the threads on here. he is a very competant angler & puts hours & hours into his fishing. he (they) spent weeks cutting those swims & prebaiting. 'good luck to them' i say. at least they got off their bums & done somethng during the close season.
within a week all that bait will soon be a very long way down river.
he rang me soon after he got home to tell me how his first session went & soon enough youll get to know (via this site) how it went... so you can make youre own minds up then about it.
just a quick thought though, i know he will go away with the thought that.. 'as least someone else has a got a freshly cut & repaired swim to fish in future' because i know he'll only visit it a couple of more times again.
 
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Er, he already said he blanked Neil.

Did he not? whats all that about then?

If the bait will be a long way down the river within a week whats the point?
 
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I have to admit to having done it in the past, considering that I would be the only one fishing there, but aside from the fact that you'll always try to convince yourself of such, when I found on opening weekend several people in attendance, I felt quite guilty.
 
tony, yes mate he did say he blanked, that was a just a thought provoker for people who dont read the whole thread.

as for the bait downstream, i was refereing to the rains that we are due to have pushing the river harder.
 
I knew they blanked long before he put it on here Neil.

So all that bait goes uneaten then? is that good for the river?
 
More selfish?

Having followed this thread from the start, I'll ignore what I perceive the true reason for this thread: Tony's disdain of a certain single species group and his obvious strong dislike of the angler he named in his opening post, both of which are connected.

What I wish to know, now we have a few more facts, facts that Tony failed to inform us of, for whatever reason.

Which of these scenarios is the most selfish and why:

1, Rolling meat on a busy stretch of river, in doing so, fishing and disturbing upwards of 15 swims in an afternoon. In doing so directly reducing the chances others have of catching from those swims.

2, Roving around a moderately busy stretch of river, baiting up a dozen swims, each with a small amount of pellets or boilies and then fishing them in rotation. As a result perhaps preoccupying the fish on another's bait choice. Plus putting most conscientious anglers off of fishing a number of swims.

3, An angler fishes a swim early in the morning and via a swimfeeder puts out about 1kg of bait which is notorious for preoccupying fish, like hemp.

4, An angler(s) over a 6 week period pre-baits on a stretch of a large river that has a high biomass of fish. Adding to that, the stretch of river is on the whole, one that recieves low levels of angling activity.
Another consideration, the swims being pre-baited are swim opened up and made 'fish safe' by the angler(s) doing the pre-baiting and the nearest swim is about 200 yards away, not that it sounds overly busy.
To put the bait quantity in context: 100-130kg of low grade 'bulk' food source spread over 2 swims and a time period of 42 days = an average of 1.5kg of bait per day.


So really, which option is the most selfish and why?
 
Tony Rocca said:
So all that bait goes uneaten then? is that good for the river?
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I very much doubt that much bait remains uneaten, whether it gets chomped by a chub, eel, minnow or a mallard.... the list of possibles is endless.

And on the basis that chub and barbel were or are about to spawn during the pre-baiting period, it should in fairness help flush more eggs out of the fish, though a high grade food source would be better for 'flushing'.
 
Colin,
Mallard are dabblers not divers.

And, I dont dislike the angler you are on about at all, only met him the once, I just think he is a misguided fool which is not quite the same.

Its dangerous to jump to conclusions Colin, your remark about the "certain single species group" is also a bit of the mark. So dont state what I do or dont think about stuff because you dont know.

I couldnt be bothered to read the rest of your post in detail, lost interest Im afraid.
 
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not onlythe river flow itself, the head of carp, chub, barbel are more than enough to rid that of bait soon enough. then when it gets to the shallows further down the swans will have a birthday with it.
 
Tony Rocca said:
Colin,
Mallard are dabblers not divers.

And, I dont dislike the angler you are on about at all, only met him the once, I just think he is a misguided fool which is not quite the same.

Its dangerous to jump to conclusions Colin, your remark about the "certain single species group" is also a bit of the mark. So dont state what I do or dont think about stuff because you dont know.

I couldnt be bothered to read the rest of your post in detail, lost interest Im afraid.
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Like you, I'm bored of your self serving thread. Rest assured though, I ain't the only one who is "jumping to conclusions", rightly or wrongly.

Oh and are dabbling ducks exclusively surface feeders, I think not.:p
 
i actually leaned against a fence directly above a few mallards the other morning watching them dive & feed on some small pellets & sweetcorn i was dropping in to watch a shoal of dace & minnows.

tony remember you stared this bulls**t thread in the first place.
 
Mallards are very good divers, trust me the little beggars give me grief in several feet of water. Not as good as coots or Tufties though.
 
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