Open skills – watercraft

[Mick209]

Got a psychology presentation to do soon and thought I’d pick watercraft in match fishing as a skill.
So far we have, water colour, level, speed and temp. Weather & air pressure. Tides, underwater features as well as bankside features. Anything really that you have to read carefully, even before pulling a rod out of the bag that will decide how the peg is fished properly.
Its likely I’ve missed some and any help greatly appreciated

[TF_Paddy]

Species, health ermmmmmmmmmmmm……….

[TF_pr@ngler]

Would have thought that the key thing was a change in weather and water. Ie on top of the things you have listed, changes in them. Another point for extra marks would be the interactions between these things, so that cold air temperatures will affect a shallow lake differently than a deep one etc.

Species is important in this too as they will also respond differently to different conditions

[TF_pr@ngler]

Let me know what mark I get for this.

[Mick209]

‘I’ theres no I in team, will let you know anyway. Plan on educating the boffins at Uni at how diverse and technical angling can be sometimes.

[TF_pr@ngler]

OK, let me know what mark we get for this!

And be careful what you say about people who work at universities

[Mick209]

I say only good things about them, all the time 😉

[TF_One Out of the Frame]

Mick: If you are doing a presentation on psychology then I would have thought that you would do why you do certain things.

Also there is the prediction of likely winning weights and also the point of no return where you might have to look for a lump as a ‘get out of jail’ fish.

Even the way you set up and what gear you take.

Casting, feeding and accuracy are all dependant on mind set too.

Good luck!

[TF_Gary]

Peter, I heard that all academics were overpaid, work-shy layabouts, bleeding the country dry. Nearly as bad as match angling journalists, apparently! Us investment bankers on the other hand….

Mick, if you want to make it realistic for your fellow students, you could add “how much you have had to drink the night before”! Surely people always go for a far less complex approach if they have got a sore head?! LOL

On a more serious note, I would say the wind (direction and strength) is another key factor in determining your approach, both in tems of fish following the wind and in terms of the affect of wind on presentation and feeding.

[Mick209]

Predicting winning/target weights is a good one.
The presentation has to be on a chosen ‘open skill’ and I think the watercraft one is a great example, if I use it to show how much goes on before we begin getting the gear out, it should get a few people thinking for themselves what happens after. I could ask the question as part of the presentation.
Will have to see how much time this initial stage takes in the presentation before going into the ‘during’ stage of the match, if I do. If I go into too much detail its likely to confuse the non-angler teacher & group and I just want to give them an introduction.
Tell them everything and they will most likely say ‘well thats obvious’, yet getting them to think about the consequences with a few prompts, should get their grey matter working and if they come up with solutions, feel good (fingers crossed)
Keep the suggestions coming, thanks all for the help so far

[TF_allyParticipant]

How about the type of match. Team, individual, knock up with mates or fisho final I would probably have a different mind set for all of these.

[TF_One Out of the Frame]

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong!

I remember fishing a Winter League match on a crap section at Pendeford on the Staff-Worcs Canal. If was a hell of a walk and the section had been ‘dry’ on the previous round.

I hooked a gudgeon on chopped worm at about 9m then had a ‘net it or swing it’ dilemma and it fell off!

[TF_NW Cut Angler]

The changing nature across a year of different baits dominating. Early summer to Spring to Winter.

The different approach to an individual competition compared to a team event and how that reflects tactics / communication.

Psychology – Confidence from preparation / recent success. The impact you or your competitors can have on each other if yoyu draw next to them? A Marquee name / an elite angler can intimidate the ordinary angler next peg / make him/her panic/make bad decisions. THe impact of women I.E drawing next to one. Not the night before 😉 The draw? where do you draw to get the best possible chance of a flyer, in the bag do you always take the firast ‘peg’ that you touch/hold? the draw grapevine impacting on your mood post draw?

[TF_JohnH]

What preparation is required? Tactics likely to come into play? Baits needed, bloodworm for example needs to be ordered.
Hook lenghts need to be tied, pole rigs set up etc etc. Most of my prep is done weeks before a match and fine tuned on the day for environmental factors like weather and likely winning weight.

[TF_caster robParticipant]

Light level/cloud cover and water clarity are the most important factors to determine how the fishing will go, on my rivers anyway.

[Mick209]

Do you take into consideration the weather and water levels running upto the day, especially on rivers?

[TF_caster robParticipant]

Yes mate, I keep an eye on this:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/120506.aspx?RegionId=2

for a few days before I go.

The cloud cover etc comes into play on the day itself.

Although this also helps:

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/topkarten/fsavneur.html

[Mick209]

Yes, use the EA one myself, good for getting a better day on the Trent for barbel.

I guess the link below only helps people who understand German, the translator failed terribly lol

What does this page do?

[TF_caster robParticipant]

Sorry.

That’s the data output for GFS.

It’s what metcheck and the rest base their forecasts on but that site gives the actual raw data.

Just numbers with Highs and Lows (T) really.

Oops – forgot to add that you need to click the time intervals, 00, 06, etc, to see how the pressure patterns play out.

[TF_Baz the BeastParticipant]

Allso Moon Phase,
As it can make a quite a differance.

[TF_swingtipbry]

what will the fish want will they be spawning or sunbathing doorment of feeding
every day and every hour are not the same with constant weather changes
fish signs are they rolling topping feeding on top or no signs at all
is there plants as a food source is there insects to feed on
can animals give signs the fish are there eg ducks looking below or getting spooked
is there foot traffic
can you get the weather to help you eg will the fish want to be where a cold wind is hitting the water our in calm water away from this wind or will they follow the wind will they be sat high by the bank with the sun would the cold rain push them up or down
the list can be endless for watercraft

[ajbParticipant]

Not quite watercraft, and sort of like the “how many beers the night before” argument, but general confidence counts for quite a bit, in my own experience. This includes confidence at the particular venue, at the methods needed, baits etc. Sometimes you’re just on a roll, and just do things that work, without really knowing why you’re doing it at the time.

[TF_NW Cut Angler]

When you are truly in the zone so to speak you make the right decisions far more quickly and are literally in tune with what is happening beneath the water and how the fish are reacting without having to think too long.

[Mick209]

Hit a wall!!! Currently have problems with the presentation, it needs to use past research and so far, none has been found by our methods in class. Am I missing something? Its a vast topic yet linking it with skill research needs to happen for this thing to work. Seems a little out of order as I might have to change the topic, it was suggested ‘casting a rod’. While this does have its own motor skill division its not what I wish to go for.
Some more good points though being brought up, thanks people!

[TF_NW Cut Angler]

Is there no research on confidence or sporting performance Mick?

[Anonymous]

As its a psychology presentation. I think you need to be showing the thought processes used by anglers on arriving at a peg and attempting to read the peg though using that anglers water craft to get the best from the peg once fishing. The emotional impact confidence plays on individual anglers and the pressures good or bad pegs have on individuals(Some anglers are beat at the draw). Other anglers fall apart when they see who is sat next to them or attempting to take the scalp of a top star in our sport. Even consider issues like drawing first or last(i always draw last if possible and have known other anglers who hide so they get the last peg in the bag, lol. There must be loads on the formation of plans within sport that anglers use when working out a plan of attack and the thought processes anglers use which are based on past experiences and the responses the angler gets once he/she starts fishing. The responses to events such as catching or not catching. The back up plan and feeding other swims for the last hour. For example, catching a few lumps in the margins in the last hour. Lots of anglers forget to top up margins. They are not focused on the plan once other influences such as the angler next to them catching effects the way they respond.

[Mick209]

Narrow and wide attention, a subject we’ve just covered, thanks TrueBlue. An angler might see the finish line and ignore the margins as you said. This is described as narrow attention/focus, whereas an angler that is more aware of whats going on has wide attention/focus. Its the link I’ve been after!
Does not necassarily mean the angler is better but more in tune on the day. Better anglers do it more often and this comes with practice and experience. I’m sure we can find some research on this and definately in sport, golf would see similar issues with wind factors etc.
Happy days!

[TF_wightangler]

air pressure and temp.
but one thing i’ve noticed along with others on a local club circuit of around 28 regulars is the incidence of the better anglers drawing good pegs(though a couple can win off or frame off the bad pegs) and the proximity of better anglers drawing against each other and simuarly all the way down where anglers of simular abillity draw in same areaand adjacent pegs. Strange but true. Confidence thing maybe, but i do think that abillity adds confidence and a bad run sees you companion to the lesser lights. I’ve noticed this on local commies in the summer as well though it’s not a finite study?

[Anonymous]

Have a good look at sports psychology references in particular but there are many theories you could use to explain specific situations within match angling. It should be straight forward to link specific sports psychology theories to angling situations in the way your after. You should be able to pick up references to angling situations in angling mags where match anglers in particular explain there match plans. It should them just be a case of twisting and mixing and matching to create the argument in the way your after.

[TF_pr@ngler]

When are we handing this in?

[Author]

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