I predict that Homer will be using these shortly. "Out of the box" thinking and all that.
Morning guys! What are your thoughts on fishing with blobs?
Interesting article regarding blobs in the UK retrieveable from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2058617/Fishermen-let-fly-over-the-'yobs-with-blobs'--Anglers-complain-new-lures-give-unfair-advantage-over-traditional-flies-such-as-nymphs-or-daddy-longlegs.html
Fishermen let fly over the 'yobs with blobs'
The world of fly-fishing has been rattled by the use of a controversial lure which is being blamed for spawning "yobbish" behaviour in the sport.
Traditionalists claim that the brightly coloured "blob" trout lure is unsporting and should be banned. They accuse its users of adopting aggressive tactics, with the new breed of fishermen described as "yobs with blobs".
The highly effective, ball-shaped blobs, made from various fibres, promote an aggressive, chasing reaction from trout when pulled quickly through the water. Unlike traditional flies, such as "nymphs" or "daddy-longlegs", they do not resemble a living insect.
Purists argue that blobs, which are permitted in major contests, give an unfair advantage over conventional methods and make trout fishing too easy. England fly-fishing champion Chris Ogborne was so opposed to them that he left the England team, and says he has received hundreds of letters of support.
Mr Ogborne, from Wadebridge, Cornwall, says the blob technique is tantamount to cheating and should be banned. He claims to have seen blob fishermen heckling opponents using traditional flies in competitions. He argues that the blob undermines the very essence of fly-fishing, in which anglers imitate a trout's prey with a hand-tied fly made from natural fur or feathers.
Blobs are used only on stillwaters, not rivers. Some blobs look like the pellets fed to stock fish before they are released into lakes and reservoirs. The technique involves ripping the lure swiftly through the water, as opposed to twitching gently an artificial midge or mayfly.
Mr Ogborne said: "Fly-fishing is about imitating things that fish eat. Blobs are fundamentally bad for the sport. It's a very easy way of catching a lot of fish and takes the skill away. Any idiot can use them."
Russell Hill, editor of Trout Fisherman magazine, said: "The blob craze has made trout fishing very easy. They are absolutely caning fish and winning every match. Gone are the days when you hear of a man winning a match with a dry fly or a nymph, because the younger anglers are going to these reservoirs and ripping blobs back at breakneck speed and catching their eight-fish limit in half an hour. There's a massive debate going on."
England fly-fisherman Jeremy Lucas said while the use of the blob and the booby – a brightly coloured lure with polystyrene "eyes" – could encourage novices, it was "repulsive" to see them used by experienced fishermen. He said: "Most of us would wash our hands of it. It reflects fly-fishing in a very bad light."
But Howard Croston, game product manager for Britain's best-known fly-fishing retailer, Hardy, and a member of the England world fly-fishing team, said blobs still required skill. "The method has come from people trying to catch as many fish as possible as quickly as possible to win competitions," he said. "Younger people getting into competitions are not getting the chance, or not needing to fish the more skilful methods as often as pulling a blob."
Blobs are banned at Brook Farm trout fishery at Cranham, in the Cotswolds. Peter Turnham, the fishery's owner, said: "If you are that desperate you might as well use a net. Everyone now wants everything quicker and easier, rather than using a technique that is the most aesthetically pleasing."
"We all fish for our own enjoyment - me for mine and you for yours, nobody can say what is right and what is wrong." - Jim Leisenring
I predict that Homer will be using these shortly. "Out of the box" thinking and all that.
There is this follow up story as well with a video of the blob in action. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/mai...17/efly117.xml
With a hi-tech fly and high-fashion accessories attracting newcomers, Tom Fort angles for tradition
Watch: we put the 'blob', a controversial new fishing fly, through its paces
The normally tranquil world of fly-fishing is facing a two-pronged assault: from the forces of technology and, even worse, high fashion.
Calm disturbed: traditional fishing is under attack
First came the outcry over the "yobs with blobs" - anglers replacing the fly with a hairy, fluorescent ball of artificial fibres that attracts indecent numbers of rainbow trout in double-quick time.
Then came the news that Karl Lagerfeld will be complementing Chanel's Sport range, which includes boomerangs, bicycles and tennis rackets, with a fishing kit. Costing £9,170, this designer rod and set of customised flies, each bearing the famous "double C" logo, threatens to swamp the sport with fashionistas in designer waders.
In the case of the blobs, no one doubts their efficacy. But the trouble is that they make all anglers equal. It's as if any pitch-and-putt joker was empowered to shoot a 65 at Gleneagles, or every tennis player deliver 140mph aces at will. It destroys the hierarchy and banishes the mystery.
It is my private shame that I have - albeit unwittingly - used a blob, or something so similar as to share in its iniquity. Resembling a small, luminous pink marble, the lure was given to me by a guide in Slovenia. Its effect on the rainbow trout of those rivers was galvanic. Fish that had disdained my floating fly and ignored my carefully drifted nymph gobbled the blob. After a couple of encounters, I put it away, thinking that fishing wasn't meant to be so easy.
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On the trout streams that I mainly fish - in Hampshire and Wiltshire - rules have evolved over the ages to protect what is seen as the integrity of the sport. You may only cast upstream (curiously enough the Americans, just as sporting as us, usually cast downstream). At various times in the trout season you can only use a floating fly, known as a dry fly. At others you may use one that sinks, as long as it isn't weighted to sink too fast. And so on.
Some of these rules - such as not being allowed to sever tree branches that interfere with casting - are perfectly sensible. But others have very little to do with so-called sporting behaviour, let alone the feeding habits of trout. And many of the most powerful are unwritten: in particular, the dress code.
Even though Coco Chanel was an angler, especially during her affair with the Duke of Westminster in the Twenties, her company's current creations would not be well-received among the fraternity.
The watchword for us is old clothes and stained waders: anything that's not at least a little shabby is considered very bad form indeed. My hat, for example, is a Chinese-made straw number in an advanced state of decrepitude. A friend has said repeatedly that it is the kind of thing Vita Sackville-West would have worn when showing people round the garden at Sissinghurst.
If my reflection on the limpid waters of the Test and Itchen were to sport freshly bought clothes, I would be regarded with the deepest possible suspicion.
And so we return to the fibrous blob: to use it would probably mean a life ban from one's club, not to mention the contempt of all respectable anglers.
It would be like turning up at Buckingham Palace garden party dressed in a jockstrap and a Viking helmet - or, indeed, going fishing with gear made by Chanel.
'Downstream: Across England in a Punt' by Tom Fort (Century, £14.99) is available from Telegraph Books for £12.99 + £1.25 p&p. To order, call 0870 428 4112 or see books.telegraph.co.uk
I think no innocent species of wit or pleasantry should be suppressed; and that a good pun may be admitted among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.
James Boswell.
[T]his planet is covered with sordid men who demand that he who spends time fishing shall show returns in fish. ~Leonidas Hubbard, Jr.
if i am the weekend angler and i have spent good money for the lodge in dullstroom. bring me the blobs i intend to catch fish and i don't care how pretty it might be.
here's a thought though. english fishing is stillwater and predominatly boat based. try using a di7 line standing on the damm wall and see how long you last with all the casting and retrieving.then you still need to find the stockies and then blob bash them.
floating line and huge DDD with a nymph below sounds far better way more restfull.
Have a look at this YouTube Video
See the result....
[YOUTUBE]Pmsm9GxzASE[/YOUTUBE]
Last year I went fishing with Salvador Dali. He was using a dotted line. He caught every other fish.
Have a look at this YouTube Video
What will a Yellow do with a Blob ???
[YOUTUBE]Pmsm9GxzASE[/YOUTUBE]
Last year I went fishing with Salvador Dali. He was using a dotted line. He caught every other fish.
Posted it twice ......(old age)
Last year I went fishing with Salvador Dali. He was using a dotted line. He caught every other fish.
You predict wrong boet! This is exactly the kind of fishing that I am apposed to. If I do happen to fish something resembling a blob, I would still like to think I am fishing something very specific. Why do you think I am giving so much thought to the bloodworm thing? You couldnt be more off the mark when it comes to summing up what kind of fly fisherman I am. You will find few guys who think more about what I am fishing and how i am fishing it than me. This thinking doesnt necessarily put me into more fish that Joe Blob either, and probably never will, but it is the way that I enjoy fishing and that is what matters to me.
Liam's Blob fishing post also highlights the thing that I most dislike about competitive angling. If competitive anglers had to limit the use of flies to naturals only, i.e. flies that specifically represent any natural food form known to trout, then I would be all for it. Just like it is unfair to put a fly fisherman up against a bait fisherman, I think it is unfair to put the guy who goes out of his way to study what trout feed on and ties flies to match specific food forms, against someone who only fishes attractor patterns, with no further thought. This kind of angler may as well resort to spinners for that matter, and that's fine aswell, but he is not a true flyfisherman in my book. Perhaps we should start off by defining what a true fly fisherman is again. The clue is in the name! FLY fisherman!!
"Innocence is a wild trout. But we humans, being complicated, have to pursue innocence in complex ways" - Datus Proper
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