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What constitutes a "blank"

8K views 95 replies 38 participants last post by  87969 
#1 ·
I nearly blanked on the river tonight, something I never do, and have an aversion to!

But what is a blank? For example, if you have fish on, and they get off, is that a blank... I wud have thought it isn't, because you fooled the fish... He just got off, and good luck to him.

Or is it just that if you don't bring the fish to hand, or touch the leader, then that's a blank?

My take is that a blank means you totally flunk, and don't even hook a fish.

Thoughts?
 
#2 ·
I nearly blanked on the river tonight, something I never do, and have an aversion to!

But what is a blank? For example, if you have fish on, and they get off, is that a blank... I wud have thought it isn't, because you fooled the fish... He just got off, and good luck to him.

Or is it just that if you don't bring the fish to hand, or touch the leader, then that's a blank?

My take is that a blank means you totally flunk, and don't even hook a fish.

Thoughts?
For me if I don't land a fish regardless of how many I've hooked then I have blanked, as in the ones that got away don't count.
 
#12 ·
Interesting, by this definition I blank most of the time as I very rarely land or handle the fish, but unhook them in the water without touching them. With barbless hooks it is dead easy. The only time I net them is if the fly isn't accessible.
 
#4 ·
A blank is not a real blank unless it us prefixed by 'Blankety'.

Regards

CLaG
In some countries they fish the fly with the hook removed at the bend - so purposefully just want to fool the fish and never play it or land it, this is quite common in Scandinavian countries now, to my mind it's only a blank if you don't receive an offer. We return 99.99% of fish these days anyway.
 
#6 ·
Back in the day when I did a lot of competitions we had a saying. "Lost fish don't count." You could lose 10 fish in a comp and you were still blank.

Once I gave up comps and went totally c & r I decided that if I got a fish to the net and it got off at the last second I would count it caught. It was going back anyway so is it really necessary to actually lift it out of the water? In my view it is not.

Anything that "refuses" to let go and ends up in the net is given as much recovery time as they need before being released.
 
#15 ·
A catch in cricket is a great analogy. "I nearly caught the ball, but dropped it at the last second, so I think the batsman should be out anyway." Aye, right! ?

No fish landed = a blank for me. Club competitions: only fish netted count.

But if folk want to make up their own private rules, that's fine...

However, if I have had offers and lost a couple, then I have had some 'sport'. At the end of the day, we are looking for sport.

Col
 
#9 ·
You've got to have it in the net or on the bank or otherwise incapable of escaping to claim you've caught it.

But really, who cares? If you're not in a competition or feeding the family; make up your own rules.

I'm happy when they fall off near the net so long as they're not personal bests - everybody likes the occasional photo.
 
#14 ·
The fish has to be in the net to count.

When we start talking about grey areas ie, Got the fish to the rim of the net - Deceived the fish as it rose to my fly - Hooked the fish but it detached itself, were does the definition of catching begin and end?

This is all 'thin edge of the wedge' stuff. What next, 'the fish stirred as my nymph went passed' (so I didn't blank)

Every angler to their own - whatever makes you happy!



Douglas
 
#16 · (Edited)
Are we referring to blanks fishing or what gets reported on the club end of season catch report to the secretary?

As someone who has at times collated these for a club for many members you need to take a view .

Reported catch 1 BT , Actual catch Blank
Reported catch 2 BT , Actual catch 2 rose but missed
Reported catch 3 BT including a 2lbr , Actual catch 2 BT including one about 1 1/4
Reported catch 3 BT and 1 Grayling of 2lb Actual catch 2 BT and a grayling of about a pound , maybe one and a quarter maximum.

Sorry but you get my drift .

As for me a blank is exactly that no fish in the net. nearlys or not quites dont count.

O M W
 
#49 ·
So you play a fish, tire it and bring it in towards you with mouth just out of the water. You grab hold of the fly in the lip, quick twist and the fish swims off. Or you net it, lift it out of the water, often with it thrashing around, grab hold of it hopefully with wet hands, remove the hook, maybe take a photo of it then spend a while holding the fish in the water with head facing upstream until it recovers. Which one is a blank and which one is better for the fish? Just asking.
 
#17 ·
I fished for sea trout on Monday night.
First fish I hooked was a decent one about 2lb, which took the fly near the far bank. It jumped twice and I thought it was going to land in the grass! I got it to midstream and it kept jumping. As I tried to get it close in the hook pulled.
I hooked another which came off after a few seconds, and later on I had 2 good pulls which came off after a few head shakes.

I put a 'nil' in my fishing log but it didn't feel like a 'blank'. I beach quite a few fish....not onto the gravel, keeping them in the water....I'd count a fish which escaped after I'd touched it with my hand.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Spider it's a blank. No fish landed is a blank!

But reckon you need a new word for the definition of your situation. Ie fish hooked numerous times they get off etc or 5 takes on the dry none landed.

How about a "nearly" or" nearly days" Your nearly landed a fish lol.

My best ever "nearly" was 13 bloody good day out too. So I know where you coming from.

A few bites or fish on temporarily in the couse of the days fishing means you had some interest from the fish verus day fishing with no bites proper blank.
 
#22 ·
A blank is clearly where fish weren't hooked and released by the angler, wether that's netting, on the bank, in the water using a hand or a release tool etc.

What next? We will be giving out medals for artistic talent, eg 'Dave didn't land a fish from his 15 hook ups, but we will give him three points coz he did a lovely snake roll (tarrif 3.6) under the tree, and his hat is rather natty, so he beats Pete who thrashed the water to a foam in landing his 4" minnow, yet he fished downstream with a quite vulgar fly'.

Anyone thinking otherwise should go off and take up competitive horse dancing (dressage i think they call it), and they can get involved in all the subjective intrepretaion they like.
 
#23 ·
Anyone thinking otherwise should go off and take up competitive horse dancing (dressage i think they call it), and they can get involved in all the subjective intrepretaion they like.
Fair play though - I watched a bit of yer Charlotte Dujardin woman at the Olympics, and it is blummin' impressive what they manage to teach a horse to do. It also looks like the rider is just sitting on its back doing nothing while the horse does all the work without instructions.
 
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#24 ·
Just to clarify, I did catch last night! :)

But... Because I consider the deception to be more skillful than the landing, I don't consider it a blank if I have fooled fish but lose him. If I fool a fish with a well cast olive, in an olives hatch, and he takes my drag free imitation, that's the art and sport encapsulated for me.

Just my opinion anyway.
 
#26 ·
I know a very Old NZ guide on the matuara . In his own fly box he snaps the hooks off . He says . I love stalking them and fooling them to take, but I really don’t enjoy fighting them any more and I ve no intention of killing them. I’m sure he wouldn’t care either way what constitutes a blank.

I’ve had one blank this year I was put off by someone on the bank wanting to chat during a sedge hatch that felt rubbish and another blank where I lost a fish too big for my net after fumbling to get it in. I’d risen it under a bank side blackberry bush while flicking the back cast In a cute little gap between a Hawthorn and Elder then steered it clear of willows and weed beds. . I then caught the biggest Daces I’ve seen . Had a barn owl fly a few feet over my head oblivious to me and then came face to face with an Otter about 10 feet away . That evening I went home with a grin on my face .. it didn’t feel like a blank it felt like an evening I’d remember for ever.
Really who cares and whose counting it’s the quality of the experience gained that counts.
 
#28 ·
I know a very Old NZ guide on the matuara . In his own fly box he snaps the hooks off . He says . I love stalking them and fooling them to take, but I really don't enjoy fighting them any more and I ve no intention of killing them. I'm sure he wouldn't care either way what constitutes a blank.

I've had one blank this year I was put off by someone on the bank wanting to chat during a sedge hatch that felt rubbish and another blank where I lost a fish too big for my net after fumbling to get it in. I'd risen it under a bank side blackberry bush while flicking the back cast In a cute little gap between a Hawthorn and Elder then steered it clear of willows and weed beds. . I then caught the biggest Daces I've seen . Had a barn owl fly a few feet over my head oblivious to me and then came face to face with an Otter about 10 feet away . That evening I went home with a grin on my face .. it didn't feel like a blank it felt like an evening I'd remember for ever.
Really who cares and whose counting it's the quality of the experience gained that counts.
For sure - anyone who loves their fishing and communing with nature can relate to that.

The problem I have with yer NZ man is that fooling the fish into the first half of the take is less than half the contest. We all know that it is one thing to get a fish to show at a fly and a completely different matter to hook it. I have had days where I am hooking almost everything and I have had days where I am missing or jagging almost everything. In the latter case, I am doing something not quite right, or the fish are just 'on point' or something. Something is letting them abort in the nick of time, or do just enough not to be hooked. It's my job to rectify it. It might even be a fault in the tackle set-up... using a non-stretch line instead of a stretchy line. Who knows? Whatever it is, there is something that is making a difference, and something to make you ponder and think again. In my case the scores are me 1, fish 0 in the first case and me 0, fish 1 in the second case. Yer man in NZ would be scoring 1-0 to himself in both cases, but kidding himself that he had won in the second case, I reckon.

Just my way of looking at it.

Plus, I challenge anyone not to get a bit excited when the Menteith fish strip 50 yards of fly line and backing off you on their first run, after taking your dry mayfly. ?

And I still like to look my quarry in the eye at the end... ?

 
#30 ·
Not sure what IMO is but sure. I guess what your saying is that by subjugating the fish to an extent that you have total and ultimate control over whether it lives or dies. Then that constitutes a successful outcomes, and unless you get it too that ultimate stage then it doesn't count as success! Easy I can understand and except that !
For some of us stalking, finding and inducing the trout to take our imitation and the challenge involved in doing that is really what counts most. If that makes us a bunch of Blanker's I can live with that !
 
#34 ·
We'll be counting shots on target as goals next... :rolleyes: Might avoid penalties at the next Euro's.

For me in the net or to hand count. Fish deliberately allowed to spit the hook don't... but then if I did that I wouldn't be bothered by blanking as that would be by choice. If you choose that tactic, why not just say you were fishing for takes?
 
#39 ·
Tend to agree re competition etc. Ive never fished a competition and only fish rivers. A fish will often get off a hook due to no fault of the angler. For me, blanking means not being able to get a fish to take due to bad casting, poor presentation, wrong size of fly etc . That said, I've only ever blanked ( by the definitions above) once in the last 10 years or so ( ie not had fish in hand or released in the water by taking the hook out by hand when the fish is in the water ) , and that was due to a fast rising river which killed any rise and was getting a bit dangerous. I hate blanks! :)
 
#41 ·
. A fish will often get off a hook due to no fault of the angler
Your putting you're head on the block with that statement! but I get it completely, We banned barbed hooks on the stream and a few times a year the line goes slack and I look to the water and mutter… "you wouldn't have got away with that a few years back! "
But it feels no failure, the nature of the brook means it was probably a tricky take in the first place and the fish is going back anyway.
 
#43 ·
I would be dismayed If we are bringing how you enjoyed the day into the same discussion as blanking , Surely its quite different? if ever I get to the point in life where just having a blank means a bad day then I think it would be time to hang up the rods for good. Now I must confess that " the big fish moment marks a day as special " . but also I remember last year I shared a stretch of river with an otter . I cant remember what I caught but the otter made the evening . I suppose the difference to me is that all my fishing is on rivers virtually all unstocked and all attractive natural places to be, The pleasure is in the place rather than the catch.

O M W
 
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