AnotherAngle

How to (fish with an angle)

It is worth taking the point of view that you can learn something new from every fisherman you meet. We all of us have our own ways and methods and they're all there for a reason, often after the reason has long departed.

My methods are threaded through this website. If you let me know I'll explain as best as I can. Having said that, there are few alternative ways to say "first, find the feeding fish, then present them a bait without spooking them, from as near to them as you can get".

For those who are puzzled by modern fishing terminology I've thrown in a glossary.

"If people don't occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads,
you're doing something wrong." - John Gierach

• Books
• Angling Glossary
• Snag fishing

• Chasing butterflies
• Float fishing for Carp
• The JAA Rules

Fishing Books

Contrary to popular belief it is possible to learn stuff from books. Those who say 'you can't learn from books' should be consigned to the special Hell and its Demons reserved for them, along with those who say "he didn't mean any harm" and "boys will be boys" after some careless and tragic event. Anyone who thinks you can "make more than 100% effort" can fry alongside the former. I'd also personally consign anyone who says they don't need a degree as they've been to the "University of Life". Yeah. I've been there as well, plus I have a Physics & Electronics degree*. Also down there, on a rolling boil, are those who really actually believe "the exception proves the rule", missing the point that in this case "proves" means "tests"...

Any circle of hell is also too good for anyone who spends 10 minutes (or longer) in a coffee shop queue and when they get to the till start on the "oh er...hm. I wonder what I want" routine. It is indeed fortunate for those with this special sort of selfishness, that when I'm behind them in the same queue, I don't have my cricket bat to hand.

I'm recently reminded to make provision in the fifth circle for those 'well-meaning' folk who insist on asking "How are you - in Yourself?". If I wanted to discuss that you wouldn't need to ask. Bu88er off.

Of late I find myself considering that Eternity with all of Hell's demons, might be too good for people who clump around to where you are quietly and unobtrusively fishing, then stand on the skyline behind you in bright clothes asking you in a loud voice if you've caught any. I'm constantly amazed I'm polite to those such, although I'm hoping that politeness is absent come Judgement day. All those who compound this sin by asking me what bait I am using, discover that I'm using corn and haven't had any luck...

....and one more special torment should be reserved for those who start a patronising monologue with the phrase "If you think about it...". I have thought about it, you're wrong. Face it, if you weren't top of your class, didn't get A's in all you exams and didn't get a double first at a top university, then guess what? You're not the smartest person you know. Not remotely.

(Hint: I called it a monologue because no one else is listening.)

However, if you are one of the readers, you can do very much worse than start off by reading these:

(*I'd just like to point out I have no problem with anyone based on their academic qualifications, education or ability. None at all. Whatsoever. Or age, race and gender for that matter.)

'Still Water Angling' by Richard Walker. Publisher: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7074

'When Still Water Angling was published in 1953 it was hailed as revolutionary and has been regarded as the standard work on this aspect of angling ever since.'  it say on my copy's dust jacket. Mine's a 1978 re-print. Even with so many "puddles" with "pet" carp in them, there is much in this book that is relevant still, and will help you to understand and to catch fish.

It certainly forms the basis of my "keep still, quiet, and dress down" method. I also keep my end tackle as simple as I can.

'Walker's Pitch' by Richard Walker. Stacks of blunt common sense by the man himself.

'Drop me a Line' by Richard Walker and Maurice Ingham.

This is one of the best fishing books I have ever read. There is a wealth of good fishing tips in here and this along with the Carp Catchers Club, will show you that there is little in today's angling scene that wasn't considered and thought through in the '50's. A great profile of the two authors and the social mores of the times. Post war austerity was still a factor in everyone's lives (petrol was scarce) and colours the already fascinating dialogue. Anyone thinking about fly fishing for trout should read this, and there are also the tapers for both the original carp rod made by RW and the "Light Carp", which is not unlike the MKIV. The latter was designed for 6-10 lines and the former, at a rough estimate was around a 2lb t/c for 12lb line and up, and seems altogether a more useful carp rod than the MKIV.

As Viking Sagas do, this book show's you that people haven't changed much - the bit about MI fishing quietly under cover being accosted by a loud, brightly dressed skylining fisherman for information on carp fishing rings as true today, I've had exactly the same happen to me, but with some 50 odd years interval, so we rediscover that some things haven't changed - there are always those who are prepared to experiment, make up their own mind and do the hard work required to affect changes, which is good to know.

I was chuffed to find that MI had a copy of "I Walk by Night" which I got some 2 years before DMAL. It's a little dusty window overlooking a forgotten world.

'The Carp Catcher's Club' by Maurice Ingham et al.

A classic, which will never be repeated, now we depend on email. So many of today's carp tactics were thought up within these pages, culminating with the record carp capture at Redmire. If you aspire to carp fishing you simply have to read this.

Unlike 'Drop me a Line' though this has a formality and a structure and also gaps in the narrative where things happened in the background, which are fun to speculate about over a beer, but are strictly speculation. We now know the BV thought carp fishing was being led in an over commercial direction for example and disagreed with RW on this. Water under the bridge.

It does feel as if the stuffing went out of the group a little when the record carp was captured and also interesting to know that but for a dodgy hook eye, Peter Stone would have beaten that record.

Certainly RW dominated the group, but not least because he was unwilling to take anything at face value, until it was proved to his own satisfaction, but that is one of the normal (but all too occasional) dynamics of human nature.

For all that, this is another interesting record of the start of carping (among many other equally interesting things), with all sorts of useful ideas, some of which are now de-facto methods, some of which never got fully explored at the time and still haven't and some which have since been shown as erroneous. Also fun to note that the match angling fraternity of the time derided them as "not serious" and labelled them as pleasure anglers. Plus ca change.

Confessions of a CarpFisher By "BB".

This book probably did more for the birth of carp fishing than all the others put together. It's variously interesting, realistic, poetic, matter-of-fact and romantic.

Wood Pool by "BB".

An odd little book, being an account of the stocking of a small lake and its emergence into a small carp and tench fishery, with its problems and delights almost equally well described. Worth reading if your dream is to have your own water. Worth reading on a cold winter evening as well.

Be Quiet and Go A-Angling. Michael Traherne ("BB").

This little book has a spread of fishing experiences and in places is mystical and a bit strange, but I think this volume tells you more about "BB" than many of his books. One to sink into.

'The New Compleat Angler' by Stephen Downes and Martin Knowlden. ISBN 0-7481-0088-1

This is really worth reading through as this has the best description of how fish see the world around them (and more importantly above them) I have ever read. An understanding of this is essential for any fisherman. Leading on from that, I believe, that while drab clothing is sensible (full camouflage gear NOT essential in my opinion), stealth, and particularly lack of vibration is a huge factor in keeping fish close to you and unwary. And an unspooked fish is a lot easier to catch...

This is why I am always happier if there is some cover between me and the fish (even screen of reeds is a help), and colour in the water, while it may indicate feeding fish (which is usually good), means they can't see you either. I would add that the deeper the water is by the edge, the happier I am also.

'The Path by the Water' by A.R.B Haldane.

I heartily recommend this. It's what fishing is all about. If my prose was half as good I'd be pretty pleased as well.

Although it's clear that compared with some Mr. Haldane had a privileged upbringing, his descriptions of fishing by worm and later fly in the tiny brooks near his family's home in the Ochill Hills is finely drawn and a childhood many would dream of having. Long days small stream trout-fishing, packed lunches and the slow-motion passage of time, both bewitch and transport. If the book enthrals a little less when the author move onto the Itchen later in life, that's not the fault of the writing, but is rather the reader's regret at leaving the Ochills behind.

These days no longer exist but then neither do the writers and we are poorer for it.

'By Many Waters' by A.R.B Haldane.

I heartily recommend this as well. Bygone times and attitudes, but the waters are gently evoked. It's enough to make you take up fly fishing...

'Fishing Difficult Waters: Winning Tactics' by Ken Whitehead. ISBN 0-7137-2335-1

All of Ken Whitehead's book are worth reading. He solves problems his own way, and all the better for. A really good angler.

'Ken Whitehead's Pike Fishing' ISBN 0-7137-2335-1

As already mentioned, all of Mr. Whitehead's books are worth reading. It is nice to read books that don't instantly recommend the author's range of tackle as well...much of the reviews and advice on the 'net seem to end with a recommendation for the author's product. Hard to take that advice at face value really.

'Falkus and Buller's Freshwater Fishing'. ISBN 0-09-174067-3

Although orginally published in 1975, this has much useful advice and information on all aspects of Freshwater Fishing - tackle may have changed but the fish are much the same...you'll find a lot of things in here that are being used to day and some that are "in fashion" as it were.

A Ladybird Book about Coarse Angling Yep really. This is a classic. I include it here because of the interest it evoked in me as a nine year old (1970), with terrific colour pictures of tackle and fish. Special mention must be made of the picture of a boy fishing a mill stream with a bamboo cane for a rod. And where else can you see folk fishing with a tie on? Wonderful. Oh yes, and it did also have some good basic information for those starting off along the path by the water, with knots and how to set up tackle and advice on your actual fishing.

'Carp and the Carp Angler' by George Sharman.

This is a great book for any thinking angler. This excellent and thoughtful book has never really had the plaudits it's deserved due to it unluckily being in the shadow of a more controversial book released around the same time. Yes, I mean Carp Fever.

George takes us through his early carp fishing and then launches into a well thought out discussion on catching fish in heavy weed and bubblers, especially those feeding in deep silt. Few lakes now have this kind of silt, but as I fish on two such, I can vouch for his reasoning. There is a chapter on knots and their effectiveness, which raises interesting question and solves them with a new knot. The careful examination of hook sharpened with a cutting edge and outward facing barbs (both tested on self modified hooks) is a testament to one who didn't take face value too seriously as well as having you reach for the whetstone. He show that winter fishing for carp is not the dead duck is was then thought to be. There are many gems hidden in here, I recommend it to all those who occasionally think "I know everyone does this, but I wonder if...?"

In the days of carp books, magazines and articles by the score, most of which are recycled sales pitches, this is a breath of fresh air and it's age has not rendered it obsolete. Although age alone renders nothing obsolete.

'The Carp Strikes Back' by Rod Hutchinson and friends.

A terrific tale of carp obsession that dives into the despair and climbs to the elation and along the way teaches you a lot about carp and how to catch them. A great book for any carp angler, or for any angler of any sort really.

'Carp Fever' by Kevin Maddocks. (1989 10th Edition)

This is a fascinating book. It's been said that it's not a good read but I don't agree. That's like saying 'Moby Dick' is good, but a really good textbook on 'Moby Dick' is not good. This is, for me, a textbook on how to catch big carp consistently but of course it doesn't follow that one reads it for the lyrical prose. I approached this book with some negative thoughts and that serves me right for not making up my own mind.

Much of the carp catching mechanics are not surprising or even new for the time of the first edition. There are echoes of Richard Walker and others and it all it really comes down to the same principle as making Jugged Hare. First, catch your hare…

Location of the fish occupies a misleadingly short part of the book and you can skim it and get the wrong impression. KM spent hours, nay days locating fish in various waters, making special trips and, I've no doubt, recording everything noteworthy with times, wind, temperature and so on. From this database he would make decisions of where and when to fish, in the reasonably secure knowledge that his emplacement and the fish would coincide at the right time. To this he added the detailed records of catches, bites baits and weather until he had as complete a picture as one can get. As Richard Walker and the CCC knew, finding the fish is much more than half of the process. It's easy to underestimate the importance of this both in contemporary terms and especially with todays waters where the fish expect to find your ground bait, consider it their natural food and even home in on the sound of it hitting the water.

Added to this KM fished long unblinking sessions, several days at a time, but don't be fooled here. He didn't catch because he fished long sessions. He fished long sessions where and when he had determined his target fish would be feeding. There's a big difference.

KM seldom loose fed in any volume, the fish were already there (he'd checked), so were his baits. He scorned bivvies as they impeded striking. Even on a campbed he was right next to his rods and although having the benefit of being a light sleeper, he plan was to hit every bite right on cue (I'd have liked a section on how and when to hit bites on various rigs).

Although this all sounds simple (it is, in principle…), having made a massive investment in location, some considerable investments in baits and fishing hours, KM would ensure he hit every bite bar none and lost no fish if remotely possible. He certainly never lost a fish the same way twice. The rod was matched to the job and distance, the line checked, every hook tested and sharpened.

How can you not admire that kind of thoroughness? Even if you, as I do, find this intensity too much for enjoyment; even knowing that it works I couldn't fish this way. But to carry it through like this requires extraordinary focus, strength of mind and purpose.

If the book has faults - the bait section feels a bit like filler, the knot section is brief (I just can't believe he didn't test knots a little more scientifically) and there are rafts of info on locating fish that I'd love to have seen - even just one water as an example, with the hours put into divining the likely spots and the resulting catches, an example case. Having said that, having explained what you have to do, I imagine it's left to the reader to make his own location sorties and record his own data!

Not a purist and less than romantic, KM was nevertheless the benchmark for dedicated, consistent and even ruthless carping. It's not KM's fault that so much of what has followed is pale imitation, bivvie encampment armchair fishers, far from their tip action rods and bolt rigs, more loose feed in a session that he probably used some seasons and stew-pond fish that exist only due to the good grace of that copious feed, locating fish and watercraft cast to the winds, camping site pitches near the toilets and café. The slavish following of the two-rod all-night-session approach but without the hard earned where, when and how, like small boys copying their Dad. But these adherents are no worse or better than the CCC groupies who slavishly buy their B. James MKIV (even today)…[the B. James MKIV was created for the mass market it wasn't the same rod that the CCC used and I think the most over rated rod, but I digress…].

I wonder what KM makes of it all?

Read this then and decide if you're 'serious' or not. I'm not a "serious angler" by any standards, but frankly 99% of all carp fisherman I've ever seen or met aren't either. Today's rod-pod and a bucket of boilies, pitched in the first swim that looks comfy, isn't even a tenth of the way serious compared with KM. Not remotely.

Stuff I've read but haven't got around to saying anything about...so I've given them a star rating in the meantime.

• Rod and Line (Arthur Ransome)****
• An Angler's hours (Sheringham)****
• Moby Dick (Herman Neville)*****

  Yes, I know, a whale's not a fish. What on earth has this legendary tale of near psychotic obsession with a water-bound leviathan got to do with fi...oh. I see.

  (I have a confession to make. Three times I've tried to read this book now, and although the early chapters are finely drawn to the point where the smell of fish and pipe tobacco infuses your brain and the cold touches your extremities as you read, once on the Pequod and past the listing of the species of whale, I find myself unable to go on, my interested petering out like the land disappearing aft. Classic it may be, but I'm not at the point where I'll force myself to read on, when it feels like wading knee-deep where one might elsewhere run. Apologies to Herman Melville, but not it appears, my cup of tea, a classic novel or not.)

• The Book of Eels (Tom Fort)***

  A fascinating and timely book on a mysterious and endangered species, who's salvation may yet be that cute fluffy otters love them. In 2010, with returning rod-and-line caught eels now mandatory, perhaps time to revisit the eel and it's remarkable story.

• A Jerk on One end (Robert Hughes)***
• Carp Pitch (Tom O'Reilly)**
• Quest for Carp (Jack Hilton)****
• Quest for the Best (Jack Hilton)***
• Powerlines (Dexter Petley et al)****

  'Fish Running' stays with you (if you've both run and fished as I have), 'The Wilderness Cure' water horse rattles the scallop shell pile in my mind, 'The Last Trout' is masterly and both 'Still Waters' and 'Pond Life''s visceral imagery tells us that those Sepia days of yore might just be figments. Every story in this book is a cracker. You'll read them more than once.

• The Fishing Box (Maurice Genevoix). Translated by Dexter Petley and Laure Claesen ***** Even now I can smell the bleak and in the still watches I fear the frog man.
• A Stream of Life (Bernard Venables)**** Interesting.
• BB Remembered (Tom O'Riley)****

  When I first read this I gave it two stars and was disparaging. I've since re-read it and realise that I was expecting a different book and that as a result didn't judge this on its merits or on what it set out to do. As a portrait or a man who gave little away about his personal life, it is really very good. I also recommend "A Child Alone" [the Memoirs of "BB"] as well.

• The Floatmakers Manual (Bill Watson)**** So, so handy if you're float obsessed ;-)
• Casting at the Sun (Chris Yates)***** Definitive.

  This is a book that allows you to identify with the writer in a quite extraordinary way, due in part to the mystery and excitement of the early fishing trips being so completely evoked that you recall those of your youth with equal clarity alongside the words on the page. It's clear there was something of an obsession with carp at one point (!), but it's easy to overlook this, as in some respects the difference between some avid readers and the author is whether you followed the dream or went all semi-detached early on. In the end, it reads like a fairy tale, one that is better for the truth of it and is one of the definitive works on angling by a great angler.

• The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (Miguel de Cervantes Saaverdra)*****.

  Translated by John Rutherford. The classic tale of a man who didn't get out enough, read way too many books about a long past and chivalrous world that never existed and became obsessed with it to the point of psychosis. See what I did there? Don't be Quixote.

• Four Seasons (Chris Yates)****
• Falling in Again (Chris Yates)****
• The Waterlog Years (Chris Yates)****
• River Diaries (Chris Yates)**** as usual.
• Brendon Chase by "BB". ****, A classic.
• A Child Alone - The memoirs of "BB" ****
• The Rabbit Skin Cap - Edited by Lilias Rider Haggard. **** Amazing recollection of a boy growing up in late Victorian Norfolk. You think you have a hard life?
• Crock Of Gold: Seeking the Crucian Carp by Peter Rolfe. *****

  Possibly the only book ever written that is completely dedicated to the Crucian carp, covering the habitat, fishing for it and preserving a species under threat.

• Going Fishing by Negley Farson *****

  I found this is a second hand book shop and bought it on the strength of a couple of paragraphs and engravings by Tunnecliffe. IT turns out it's one of the best fishing books I've ever read and is also widely regarded as one of the great fishing books. I can't believe I'd never heard of it until this point in September 2010.

***** is outstanding. **** is very good, *** is good. ** usually means I've only read it once, * I never even finished it - in practise this means my three random pages read in the bookshop failed to pursuade me to buy it.





"It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming." - John Steinbeck

Angling Glossary

Words have great power. What you call something can change the perception of it in a quite startling way. For example "wind farm"…you're no doubt thinking of lush grass waving gently in the wind while silent and elegant turbines rotate in the rural background while sheep graze. "Wind power station". Now what are you thinking?

See? Well, fishing has similar examples and frankly some are worse. Some are confusing. Some words have changed their meaning altogether. Some mean different things depending on who you are. I offer up my own explanation for the old and the new and also those words for which the meaning changes according to the user.

Anglers and fishermen often ascribe different meanings to the same word or phrase. Confusing? Not any more.

(I freely admit to using clichés where the cap fits - clichés may sound trite, but that doesn't invalidate the point made by them, although they allow the self deceiving to sneer at the cliché as an alternative to reason.)

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

"A"

• Angler: someone who fishes with an angle, as opposed to a fisherman, which is someone who just catches fish.
• Anti-eject: euphemism for "self-hooking".
• Anti-eject rig: a cunning device which allows fishermen not to have to bother about working out when to strike, or indeed, even needing to be there at the time.
• Artificial Sweetcorn: a cunning method of getting money off one who hasn't considered that a whole tin of real sweetcorn can cost less than one grain of the artificial sort.
• Artificial Bread flake: a cunning method of getting money off one who hasn't considered that a whole loaf of actual bread costs less than a piece of artificial bread. And the loaf makes a handy snack.
• Artificial Maggots: a cunning method of getting money off one who hasn't considered that half a pint of real maggots can cost less than one artificial maggot.

"B"

• Badooshbag: A fisherman who is using a 2-3oz bolt rig, casting only 30 yards with both rods and has to check his bait every 30 minutes. Baa-doooosh! Baa-doooosh! Baa-doooosh! Baa-doooosh! Yeah we know you're there, so does every fish for 300 yards.
• Baggin': like match fishing but with none of the grace or charm.
• Bait boat: forerunner of the spod and these days a useful target for sustained catapult fire.
• Bite Alarm: Noisy ill-named device, which might be renamed "self-hooked fish finning it to the horizon" alarm. When used with the anti-eject rig, enables fishing to be carried out from your mate's swim on the other side of the lake. It's a wonder they haven't fitted GSM modems to them so you can get a text on hook-up and then you can pop home between fish, avoiding all that tedious sitting on the bank.
  (If you think that's extreme a carp can reach 30mph. That's 44 feet per second. If your bait is less than 44 feet from a snag and you're more than 1 second from your rod, you don't deserve the fish and all the 'safe rigs' in the world won't stop the fish getting snagged.)
• Bivvie Peg: A handy device for ensuring that even if you are fishing 70 yards distant, dressed completely in 'real tree', you can make enough noise and vibration to scare those far away fish as well. And as everyone knows, the further you cast the bigger the fish are.
• Bivvie: a tent-like device for containing all the comforts of home for those who fish to get away from it all.
• Bleeper (serious fishing): Electronic bite indicator, used at maximum volume, allowing the user to hear it from variously, 50 yards up the bank where they were having a chat, the next county, the car park or the pub. Also used for waking them and everyone else on the lake from sleep and scaring birds. See Bleeper (angling).
• Bleeper (angling): One who uses an electronic bite alarm. See Bleeper (serious fishing).
• Boilie: a hard round lump of high protein food that can be readily bought in copious quantities and flavours for anti-eject fishing. The consistent way carp are continually and repeatedly caught on baits of the same size and shape, does tend to undermine the assertion that they are really cunning. "As cunning as a fox". Yep, seems OK. "As cunning as a carp". Hm. Needs work. "A Cunning Stunt". Getting there...
• Bolt Rig: Anti eject rig used with a heavy weight so the fish hooks itself with no further interference required by the fisherman. In other words a self hooking rig, removing most, if not all of the skill. Of course no-one does that, because there would be no point to it.

"C"

• Cautious fish: fish living in a pressured water. Avoids mentioning why they are so "cautious". "Perpetually nervous about eating at all" would be more accurate.
• Clooping: A feeding technique carp use to suck all the bread off yer hook in one go, leaving it dangling bare and all Tod Sloane. Ba$tards.
• Cr*p: Anagram of Carp.
• Crucian Carp: Smaller cousin of the Common Carp, this has the good luck to be too small for "serious" carp fishermen and the bad luck to be descended from Goldfish. The casual disregard for fish movement means that many of the pure Crucian carp in the county are now hyridised with goldfish and their various relatives. Another species on a knife-edge. Well done everyone. If you know where there are any Crucians, keep it to yourself.

"D"

• Double (serious fishing): the only carp that count.
• Double (angling): a more generous than usual measure of Glenmorangie or Talisker. I recommend the "Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban". Laphroiag is good, as long as you like alcohol strained through burnt seaweed ash (I do).

"E"

• Eel: an almost eradicated species with one of the most fascinating live-cycle of any fish, which has the bad luck to not look as cute as Pandas, baa-lambs, fluffy-bunnies or otters, although it may outlast the panda, a devolved carnivore that's backed itself so far up the vegetarian alley it can barely find the energy to mate. Way to evolve. Odd though, as the radical vegetarians I've met are rabid sociopaths. Or pathological idealists. So hard to tell them apart isn't it?

  N.B. From 2010 you are required BY LAW to return all rod and line caught eels to the water unharmed.

"F"

• F1 Hybrid: colloquially a cross between a common carp and a Crucian carp retaining the streamlining, stamina and raw power of the Crucian and the impish character and gilt beauty of the common carp. Luckily it can't breed.
• Fisherman: someone who catches fish. Inshore netting, drift netting, trawling, long lining or harpooning. All fishing.

  "G"

• Gudgeon: Gobio gobio. A small bottom dwelling river fish, which is easy to catch, beloved of all young anglers because of this and ounce for ounce has to be one of the hardest fighters in the water. A fish which embodies the spirit of angling. Isaak says. See Gonk, Gobby.
• Gonk: Best slang name for a gudgeon. See Gudgeon.
• Gobby: Second best slang name for a gudgeon. See Gudgeon.
• Grass Carp: A non indigenous fish, allegedly introduced to clear weed. This doesn't really work. Has the ascetics of the ugliest bits of a chub crossed with a mullet and fights like a wet sock. Useless things.

"H"

• Hook (angling): what you put the bait on.
• Hook (serious fishing): what you tie the 'hair' on.
• Hook (tackle industry): device used to persuade serious anglers to part with their cash, in exchange for this year's fashion. Like the not really necessary move from 3/8bsf to 10mm threads, meaning everything has to be changed. Then 2 rods to 3 rods, everyone buys another rod and reel, then going from camo rod pods to stainless steel. Ooh ooh, must have a spod rod. Ooh and a special marker rod. Change tackle again...good game, good game...ker-ching.

"K"

• King Carp: as in, "Have you had any tench?" "No, just another 'king carp."

"L"

• Lefty: nickname for a careless spodder. See Spodding (serious fishing).
• Long-lining: is a commercial fishing technique. It uses a long line, called the main line, with baited hooks attached by means of branch lines called "snoods". A snood is a short length of line which is attached to the main line using a clip or swivel, with the hook at the other end.

"M"

• Match fishing: like angling but with only half of the grace and charm.
• Margin fishing (serious fishing): Fishing one of you pod's rods' bolt rigs in the margin of the water, 50 yards down the same bank as you are. As opposed to the margin 80 yards across the lake.
• Margin fishing (angling): fishing under one's rod tip relying heavily on stealth and quiet to avoid scaring fish which may be only a few feet from you.
• Method feeder: a way of combining a dustbin full of fish-food with an ant-eject rig and bolt rig into one big splash. Baa-doooosh! Yeah. Big. Grrrr...and only 50p a cast.
• Midnight Mass: a quiet libation, usually a double (angling) to celebrate another fabulous dusk by the water.
• Moorhen: an aquatic bird that's so stupid even the swans and carp have noticed.
• Mug Fish: A carp that's so stupid, that even fishermen have noticed.

"N"

• 'Nail the boilie on the carp': A variation of the old party game "Pin the Tail on the Donkey", except you don't need the blindfold, silly hat and there is less guesswork involved. Well the blindfold bit's true.

  "P"

• Pellet: Like a boilie but a different shape. Clever. Might fool the really cunning carp. Luckily a lot of reared stock fish were fed on pellets so they tend to work really well.
• Perch: the small perch is the young angler's first catch, mostly. Despite the elegant theory expounded in "On the Origin of Species" (C. Darwin) and years of natural selection 'by worm and boy', the Perch has not yet evolved sufficiently to recognise that hooks=bad. Just as well. See Stripey, Sergeant.
• Plastic Hemp: Sorry, words fail me on this one.
• Pleasure fisherman: a term of veiled abuse used to describe anyone who isn't "serious" enough about their carping to use 3 matched state-of-the-tart rods and rod pod, a bivvie and various self hooking rigs and remote alarms. On the upside, it suggests the serious fishermen are not having much fun, which is something pleasure anglers can live with.
• Pressured water: a water where all the fish have been caught so many times the only way to catch them easily is with anti-eject rigs. On top of that the "natural" food for the fish is now almost all boilies. So: twitchy fish that are scared of boilies, which are now their staple food. Nice. Well done everyone.
• Pasty (match fishing): A small carp of any sort in the ½-2½lb bracket, handy when trying to bag up.
• Pasty (angling): A handy lunch for the long session angler or indeed the short session. The traditional Cornish pasty is filled with beef, sliced potato, swede and onion and then baked. Very nice.

"R"

• Real tree: An amazingly effective camouflage pattern, which means that when you are fishing at a distance of 70+ yards, you can't find anything you just put down.
• Rod hours: how long it took me to read "The Carp Strikes Back".
• Ron Thompson: A totally ficticious angler used as a brand name for some budget tackle. An excellent example of a hook (tackle industry). Almost as good as "stones".
• Ruffington, Sir Thomas of: the best ever slang name for a ruffe. When catching a Ruffe, the fish is to be shown to your fellow anglers with a flourish while exclaiming "Sir Thomas of Ruffington!". A mock fanfare, while strictly optional, is strongly encouraged.

"S"

• Safe Rig: a bolt rig designed so that if the line breaks, the weight comes off so the fish isn't towing around the big weight. Well that's all OK then, perfectly sporting.
• Sergeant: affectionate name for the Perch. See Stripey.
• Serious fishing: fishing with all the latest gear in decent water with proper laid out swims with none of that undergrowth stuff and annoying weeds, with three matched rods and reels and all the latest gear as well as those new rigs for the most cunning carp. Or possibly the latest 38 meter carbon composite baggin' solution (a bargain at only £1,999) with special 'grunter' elastic for match fishing.
• Silver Fish: term used for all those confusingly similar and unworthy non-carp fish that clog up your hook when you're trying to 'bag up'.
• Spodding (serious fishing): A way of casting huge amounts of bait in a small plastic medium range ballistic missile ("spod") accurately (more or less) to distant parts of a large water. Used in conjunction with special 'spod-rods' (more tackle, kerr-ching) and with fine diameter braid mainlines they can also be used to remove troublesome fingers. Handy.
• Spodding (angling): as in "Spodding hell, here come the serious carp anglers, let's go somewhere quiet."
• Stripey: affectionate name for the Perch. See sergeant.
• 'Stones': a special fish-tricking ledger weight made to look like a stone. In fact one range are, er, stones with a hole drilled in them and a swivel cemented in. I'm pretty sure I can buy a 50lb bag of pebbles for the cost of half a dozen of these and a tube of araldite and swivels plus a small masonry drill for about the same. £1.25 for a pebble. Almost genius. Describing then as environmentally friendly is good as well.
• Swan: a large white, outwardly graceful aquatic bird the basis of countless poems and pieces of elegant music inspired by its apparent beauty. Cobblers though. A more ill tempered, mean, aggressive, stupid and vicious bird has seldom been seen on the water. Talk about judging a book by its cover. Even the childless and jealous Aiefe turned Lêrs' children by Aebh into beautiful swans because she was jealous. Then again, perhaps she was smarter than the legends say.
• Swan shot(1): large split shot, so called, as this was the pellet size originally used by wild-fowlers for shooting large aquatic birds.
• Swan shot(2): a good result, some might say. I wouldn't, obviously.
• Swim (serious fishing): All the water between yer margin rod's line and the two other rods' lines that have baits in the water at various and extreme distances from you, whether you have paid for all the pitches you are taking up or not.
• Swim (angling): the water from you to the midpoint between you and the next person fishing.

  "T"

• Traditional Rig: when the bait is actually on the hook and you pay attention yourself.
• Traditionalist: a convenient label of veiled abuse used by long-liners to denigrate anyone who thinks long-lining is not angling. This avoids considering the possibility that it might not be and further convinces yourself that the rejection of the method is based on it being 'modern', as opposed to it being, for example, 'soul-less trapping'. There are very few actual traditionalists and why not? There are quite a lot of anglers as well.

"V"

• Volume control: redundant knob, usually at the rear of a bite alarm.

"W"

• Watercraft: the almost obsolete art of sizing up a water and the prevailing conditions, factoring in the previous weeks weather, the highest DO, your own experience and working out the best place and method to fish today. Of no use at all in places where the sound of food hitting the water brings the fish scampering over for a bit of a free feed. Or the sound of specially designed splashy floats for that matter.
• Whacker: A slang word derived from the verb whack, colloquially "to masturbate".

Float fishing for carp

Float fishing for carp is much neglected, but it's still possible to catch carp this way and while you can fish any old way with a float and occasionally latch into one, if you want to catch them on purpose, there are methods which work better than average.

Good old fishing on the bottom

As shown…anything from 4-12" over depth, often bites will take 10 minutes to develop and it pays to use a float with some buoyancy and/or a long antennae so line bites are horizontal dithering, rather than the float sinking. A pheasant quill is good, a good big crow quill as well. Put the bulk shot by the float and a BB on the bottom. (My favourite float for this is a pheasant quill, made self-cocking with copper foil which sinks with a 1BB 'tell'tale'.) The float should sink with the 'tell-tale' but otherwise don't over shot the float.

I use braid hook-lengths, tied directly to the mono, and favour baits that small fish can't take on. Carp like flake, paste, worms, meat, all good. I probably spend too much time using cockles and mussels on large hooks over a bed of hemp.

The idea is that the carp fiddles around with the bait until it feels happy that it's OK, then it wanders of with it. That's when you strike.

The subtle method

A pole float, self cocking, fish about 4-6" over depth, no shot on the line. This works well for small baits and one water I fish this is the most effective method of catching carp on the float, with a size 14 (barbel) hook and a single grain of corn (on 7lb 14oz Preston Reflow or 6lb stren right through with a 6lb braid hook length about 4" long). The carp here are old timers and wary of multiple baits and boilies but are used to mopping up low risk single particles. Avoid snags with hooks this size, you've no chance, it's an open water technique. You could scale it up to 10/12lb line, but the line would exceed the hook's strength and the success of this set up is the relatively fine line and small hook.

So a small particle behaving 'naturally'. 6lb Silkworm and 8lb mono is as thick as I've gone and had fish this way.

The fish taking the bait will pull the float under right away and the resistance is so low that often the fish goes off with it. This works especially well when the bottom is steeply sloped towards the bank, as the bait can be laid onto the slope, reducing the chances of the fish hitting the upright line, which is almost right against the sloping bed.

This sketch is not to scale in any respect. The floats are secured with float stops & naturally I'm using cane rods & sweetcorn as bait ;-)

Two variations...

(1) use a small pole float 0.4g (1BB / 0.4g) or less, use a tell-tale shot that will sink the float, then ensure the bait, shot and float are in line by over casting and drawing back. Then the float will bury when the bait is sucked in or 'inspected'. Strike right away the float goes and this I find works best with large baits, 2 mussels, meat in 2cm cubes.

(2) lengthen the tail to 2 feet, and add another shot and pop up a crust or a floating bait. Tricky to cast, but works well, bites are often odd, with the float popping under 4 inches and staying there for an "elephant". I tend to say "one ele-" and then strike hard…bread crust is good, but prone to dismantling by the small fish, so either check it often, use crumpet, which is tough or floating dog-biccies are good as well.

The lift method

This is nothing more or less that the original (Patent Pending the Taylor Brothers) lift method slightly adapted. You can stick with peacock quill if you like, it's white, can be cut to length and is cheap. The idea is to place the bait between 2-6" from the hook. Shot the float to sink (just) and then set the depth so it's only just showing, 1mm or so is fine (you can sink it entirely, but it's good to know where it is). When yer carp sucks up the bait for a preliminary inspection, the float will pop up. Strike pretty much right away, the idea is to catch the fish on this inspection of the bait.

Works best I find with large baits, so big lumps of paste, a size 6 with three cockles or mussels or a big bit of meat. While it can take some adjustment to get the "tail" right, it's good for those waters where fish are wary of all baits and will inspect everything. I've got a couple of floats made with a cork ball and a bamboo skewer for this, with a long tip, orange and the top of the ball white, so I can keep the smallest bit of tip in view and when it pops up it's very positive.

The idea here is fish right in the margins and even stalk the fish, if feeding signs are seen. If fishing in a static way it pays to keep the rod tip back from the water - the plan is to strike when a fish inspects a bait in a normal and relaxed way, which it won't do if it thinks you are there. As soon as the bait is given its first speculative suck the float will pop up. Strike right away.

Clearly you need to check the depth carefully. Also with 'bottom end only' fishing in this way, with care, small adjustments in the line can set the float tip down almost to the millimeter.

Yes, this is what some folks call "sunken float" but really, it's not new.

This sketch is not to scale in any respect. The left hand float is fished top and bottom and the right hand float is secured with float stops & bottom end only. Naturally I'm using cane rods & as I'm after bigger fish this time, maize as hook-bait ;-)

It's worth thinking about the length of the 'tail' in relation to what you are trying to catch here. Assuming the 'tail' is laying straight on the bottom, then the chance of a fishing brushing the vertical main line as it approaches the bait are directly proportional to the size of the fish and the length of the 'tail'...so I suspect (but haven't tested) that anything over 6" overdepth will not work well with this method shorter is better, although I also suspect less than 2" is too short. I'd suggest, 6" if you expect or are trying for really large fish and 2" for less than 10lb or so. But I'm guessing, I've not done any experiments or anything.

Snag fishing or "skullduggery for beginners" (very much a work in progress - so don't take anything as read until this notice is gone)

This started life in "Chasing Butterflies" then I realised it was a topic in it's own right and worth expanding.

I'm going to add a few diagrams here as well, as the whole business of 'position relative to the snag' is not as straightforward without them.

Don't be frightened of snags and weed. Carp are very bold when they think they are safe.

Some folk think snaggy waters and snags=bad, some clubs even denude lakes to the point of dullness on this basis. No, they're just snags. Weed-beds for example are potentially tricky to fish, but they also provide food and shelter for the fish. If you fish in such a way as a fish can cover 10-20 feet (and a fast carp can cover 40 feet per second) before you've even moved towards your rods, then you will get into trouble - that's not the water's fault it's yours. With snag fishing you hold the rod all the time. Or you should. It's far easier to prevent a carp running, than to stop it once it's got up to cruising speed. It goes without saying this is a single rod job.

You CANNOT safely fish snags of any type with more than one rod. It's a mistake to think you can. To those who do - it is not responsible and you ought to be banned.

This applies equally to bottom fishing as surface fishing. It you have a rig against a snag, wherever the other rod is, if you're not hovering over the "snag rod" ready to hit a run before it's gone a foot, then you'll lose fish to incompetence or laziness or both. Then you are at fault, 100%.

The key is to use a strong through action rod in the 1½lb - 2¼lb range coupled with 12lb/14lb/17lb line and don't give an inch, screw the clutch down. It is vital the rod has give, you're going to be absorbing hard lunges at short range and without a quite bendy rod you'll get snapped off and if you don't you'll do a lot of damage. I've heard that a 9wt fly rod is a good tool for this, but I've not tried it myself, but I have a 12 wt salmon rod on the shelf...

The heavy line is as much for it's resistance to abrasion as for the strength itself and it should go without saying that once a fish has been banked, re-tie the hook and check the last 6 feet or so of line very carefully indeed...

The hook size is important. Firstly you'll need wire thickness to take the strain and secondly, a small hook with thinner wire will never hold as well as a thicker wire, hook holds being equal. A thin wire will either straighten enough to twist out or will, being thinner will simply cut its way partly or completely out under the pressure. I suspect, but I don't know for sure, that small hooks on large fish with stiff tip action rods cause more damage that with larger hooks, especially with repeated captures. I think there is a case for tip-and-middle action and lower t/c's than 2½lb on some waters, but that's another discussion. I don't recommend tip action rods for this fishing, all through is better. Tip and middle OK, but this depends on the rod length. A 12 foot rod with 8 feet of tip and middle action has as much flex in the 8 feet as a 10 foot rod all through...

You need the control but you also need some shock absorption. All through actions which are so good at shock absorption, can make it difficult to exert control at short ranges and also when the fish is close to a snag. Tip action rods are generally too stiff to cushion the lunges even on the strongest tackle and if the line can stand it the hook-hold may not.

I use, mostly, the ESP Floater rod, tip/middle 2½lb t/c with 12/14lb line, but that's what I have, my ideal rod for this would be a 9ft or 10ft 2lb t/c with an all through action. If I'm stalking on snaggy fish, I'll use the 8ft solid carbon rod which is around 2¼lb t/c with 14lb/17lb line. This would probably pull a donkey out a field of carrots, even so, get in charge and stay there.

It's worth a quick note on rod length. While a long rod can be handy for some things, the length is essentially limiting the force you can put on a fish. Your 'O' Level mechanics will remind you that the rod is part of a parallelogram of forces and as a through action rod bends it's length in effect shortens and give you greater leverage, while maintaining the shock absorption function.

So for a given length of rod, a through action rod will allow you to apply more force on the fish than a tip action rod, and if the rod is shorter to begin with, you're better off in this respect. Of course you need enough rod to be a shock absorber as well, so I suspect, without any empirical evidence, that about 8ft is probably the shortest through action rod which will give you the best of both worlds.

If you are fishing with a longer rod and find you need a bit more leverage, with the non-reel hand hold the rod on the far side of the butt ring, although you need to ensure you have the reel under control.

I learnt some of this the hard way, fishing against lilies with 14lb line and a tip action rod, I got broken by the hook on the first lunge, but a softer rod, the ESP Floater, gives enough in the top 8-9 feet to prevent that. Both rods are nominally a 2½ t/c. The tip action rod got sold on, I really don't have a use for it.

The other general point here is control. You must be in control of the fish from the first moment you've struck. You must strike and take over at that point. If you even leave the strike too long, the fish may bolt, once it's moving stopping it can be an issue, even if it's not snagged yet. Hit hard, hit it quickly and hold it right there. When you get that right, even the biggest fish can be dealt with in small areas.

Lilies

With lilies you have to hold them!

If you fish on the edge of lilies or a running fish gets a little way in, if you the lilies and the fish are in line, pressure back out the way it went in will usually win. The fish will tend to pull away from the pull on the line, so don't angle the line, the fish will go the other way and if the line get angled around stalks, you're in more trouble than you can probably fix.

The same applies to fishing alongside lilies. If you do this and the fish bolts into the lilies and you are now at an angle to the line of the fish into the pads, then you are stuffed. Once the line is around a few stems at a varying angles, the friction build up will make it impossible to pressure the fish without line damage. This is when you will end up pulling for a break and hoping the fish can't feel it. The way to avoid getting into this position is not to fish so it can happen. This applies especially to bottom fishing when you can take a second to hit a running fish and in that second it can be 20 feet into the bed. You've lost, but worse you've done it by fishing so that was the only likely outcome (I see this several times a season and often having lost one the fisherman will repeat it and loose another the same way, moronic really.

If the rules permit it, you can use a 3-4 feet length of 16lb super braid as a weed cutter, but ensure the main line can take it and the hook length (at least 2 feet long) is considerably weaker that the braid. That includes the knots to join it all up. However this is "as well as" fishing in the right place relative ot the lilies and tackle strong enough to control the fish, not "instead of".

Pondweed (Canadian or otherwise)

This stuff comes in large clumps and tends to accumulate on the line as the fish progresses. It's not strand by strand as tough as lily stems, but nevertheless can be a problem. The rules don't really change though; it's still about being in control of the fish. If you and the fish and the weed are more or less in a straight line, then you can often pull the fish out the way it came with steady and firm pressure. IF the fish gets stuck so that rod pressure does not shift it, get some slack line and handline the fish. By this I mean pull the line directly with your hand. This will allow you to put a little more pressure on the fish and often steady handlining will get the fish moving and it will free itself. You're not trying to drag the fish out by hand here, just get enough direct pressure on it to encourage it to move out by itself. The important thing is that you need to be ready to let go and pick the rod up in an instant.

Trees

In general fishing near or among tree branches is not as bad as it looks. The branches seldom (but not always) go far under the water for a start and if you fish so that the branches are pointing towards you then you can pull the fish out the way it went in with little trouble. However, branches, especially those with a silt coat from changing water levels can be as rough as glass-paper, so thick line! I know flouro can be good for abrasion resistance, but the knot strength is always a mystery so I avoid it.

It can help to get the rod tip down under the water, then you are pulling the fish down under the branches as well, this can help.

It's worth taking the time to check out the lie of the wood. There will be spots where the fish, if hooked is surrounded by branches. This means that you will be stuffed if you hook it; you can't pull a fish over the top of branches, only out from among. If the exits are barred, don't fish there.

The JAA rules

1. If I can't carry it in one go I don't need it
2. All bait must be available in my back garden or in a supermarket
3. Only leave footprints
4. No boilies or pellets
5. No self hooking rigs - I'm aware that "anti-eject rigs" aren't fully self hooking, but the difference between striking once the hook's lodged and the hook being fully home 'on the bolt' is semantic at best.
6. No sitting on the fence

 ^*This is in the same category as 'If someone's hiding something, then they have something to hide'. Yep. That obvious.

 ^† I gather this is known as bait'n'wait which seems to describe it pretty well. In some weird way this is easier than working out where fish are and getting a bait to them quietly. All righty then.

"Scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the unpardonable sin." Huxley