Stealth and Deception

The importance of remaining unnoticed when carp fishing can not be over estimated. Carp are creatures of habit and will bolt the second they feel something is not right, they sometimes even bolt when there is nothing wrong at all; such is their basic instinct for survival. As such, the art of stealth and deception becomes of prime importance if we want to outwit specimens. In this piece, Julian Grattidge explains how to go about your business beneath the radar.

From my early introductions to fishing I was always taught the importance of being quiet. At first I thought it was more to do with not disturbing anybody else’s sport (especially my dad’s!) but as I grew older I discovered how much easier it was to target specimens if they did not know you were there. Believe me, there’s nothing quite like seeing a huge carp drift by, just inches away from you, completely oblivious to your presence. People often talk about being so close to carp that they could have touched them, well I actually have! A few years ago I was observing three 20lb fish at extremely close quarters. All were sitting quite contentedly under a few blobs of algal scum about 12-inches away from the bank just in front of some sedges and beneath a low canopy of overhanging willow. I lay watching them for several minutes and, realising how secure they must have felt and how completely wrapped up in their own little world they were, wondered if I could actually touch one without spooking it. I ever so slowly moved by arm through the sedges inch by inch, with frequent pauses when one turned to face me, then as soon as it began nudging the surface scum again I would continue. The upshot, is that by remaining quiet and using all the cover afforded to me by my immediate surroundings, I was able to touch not just one, but all three of the carp over a period of about six or seven minutes! They remained content throughout, thinking that they were nuzzled up to a bit of surface scum which was actually my middle finger. I could have continued for longer were it not for the fact that my arm was ready to drop off after remaining in an awkward fixed position for so long.

The point I’m making is that the only thing which will stop you getting close to fish is you! Remain quiet and go about your business on the bank with minimum disturbance, and the fish will often appear right in front of you - make noise or give your location away and they will spook out of the area.

Remain quiet and unobtrusive: Approximately 60-seconds after I took this self-portrait, a nice 20lb common picked up my hookbait, completely unaware of my presence.

The key is not just in keeping quiet, staying concealed or in making slow movements; it’s about doing all of these things together all of the time. When I’m on a swim, if I go about my business correctly, neither the angler in the next peg nor the fish in the lake will know I’m there. My goal is to give the impression that the swim is completely risk free, which in turn will give the fish greater confidence to move around and feed within the area. How far you take things is entirely up to you, and some might say I go to extremes, especially when stalking. However, what I would say is that time spent in quiet contemplation of ones quarry is rarely wasted!

It’s a case of being in tune with your environment and using everything around you as cover. There is always an amount of natural noise, be it from birds in trees, nearby livestock, or even a nearby road, so the carp will be used to a certain about of bankside vibration and noise, it’s a case of working with that and not doing anything alarmingly different from the norm. If you suddenly start hammering bivvy pegs in or shouting to your mate in the next swim; the fish will spook. In the same vein I try to deceive visually. I will often move my bivvy right to one edge of a swim so that any view the carp is used to seeing of the skyline will not be disturbed. I’ve read various studies about how and what carp are able to see, and there is still much debate about the specifics, so I tend to go from experience, which has taught me that they pick up movement very well when near to the edge - so my view is always better safe than sorry.

The important point is to blend in with the background. This does not necessarily mean that you have to go and deck yourself (and your bivvy!) head to foot in Realtree, as blending into ones environment is as much to do with movement and noise as it is to do with camouflage. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with a full Realtree outfit, rather that by simply decking yourself head to foot in the stuff; you are not then wholly undetectable by the carp. If you continue to make noise or disturbance of any kind, they will spook just as easily. For my own part I tend to stick to neutral colours; greens, browns and blacks, and yes, the odd camo garment that I pick up of eBay for the price of a postage stamp.

Being quiet on the bank is not just a case of keeping your mouth shut, and even then there’s nothing wrong with talking, just do it in hushed tones. It’s more about your actions when walking around the lake or when in your swim. Time and time again I see anglers in and out of their bivvies every five minutes attending to one pointless task or another, most of which involve no small amount of noise! Planning ahead is the key. When you’ve set up your bivvy and you know there are pots and pans in the bottom of the bag that you are going to need later - take them out quietly whilst setting up and leave them under your bedchair or something, don’t leave it until the bag is tucked away under a load of other gear and then make a load of noise rooting around because you can’t find them! Worse still are those who feel the need to pace up and down their swim every other minute wondering why they’ve not had a run - the irony! Have a look by all means - but use some stealth. Set the bivvy to the side or the back of the swim wherever possible, and when having a look at what’s going on, use whatever cover is available to your advantage, and if you want to watch the water, fine, but keep the noise down and wherever possible stay below the skyline. In effect; don’t stand out like a sore thumb!

A stealthy approach: After spotting this Capesthorne lump in the margins, I concealed myself in the undergrowth and lowered a free-lined bait into it’s path, two minutes later it was on the bank.

Care should also be taken when moving around the lake; it’s a case of watching your footfall. Quite often when I’m fishing I will be aware of other anglers making their way around the lake long before they get to my swim, and in most cases I can track their progress simply by the amount of noise they make; twigs and branches being snapped, conversations as they move around, heavy footfall, and also by seeing them in full view as they stand right out on the waters edge on free swims, chatting away and pointing at various points of interest. To be blunt, there’s no need for it. It’s sheer laziness, and contempt for any others who may be fishing, all of which will only go towards increasing the chances of spooking fish - not just for you, but for everyone else on the lake! Is it so hard to watch where you are walking or to keep your voice down? In most cases I actually have to make an audible noise when entering another angler’s swim, as I have a bit of a reputation for scaring the hell out of people - simply by the fact that I move around with stealth and care and they have no idea I’m there! And if it works with them, you can be dam sure it works with the fish!

Stalking: A firm grounding in the principles of stealth and deception. Fooling the fish is what it’s all about.

For me, it’s like stalking even when you’re not! I always go about my business with great care not to alert anyone, or anything, to my presence or whereabouts. The reason for this is simple; it will put you a great many more fish on the bank. What greater incentive could there be?

Tight Lines…

Julian Grattidge
February 2006

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Stealth and Deception

Rick Birch