The lost art of watercraft

Watercraft the single most important part of a anglers armoury and in many instances the difference between success and failure ......... from my observations  it seems to be a  dying or very much forgotten craft,  How many anglers today even bother to and use their eyes and look  around the lake , look in the margins or snags, climb a well placed tree or think about the effect that the sun and wind will have on different parts of the lake at different hours of the day....... not many. Then we also have to take into account angling pressure, other anglers bait and lines and taking all these factors into account build up a picture  in our minds of where the carp might be. The next thing is to remember to be QUIET......no hammers please ! in fact why put a tent up at all if it isn't raining hard. The first job after finding the fish surely must be to set a trap for them without being suspected of doing so...isn't it???   It is possible to to do this without the "aid" of a marker float,  it's surprising how often a bite can come within minutes of flicking a bait out ....even without a full bivvy plus winter skin set up.....honest. A big percentage of today's anglers seem to be doing their version of watercraft on the phone , facebook or twitter, I see them all the time arriving on the lake and as soon as they get out their cars, or sometimes even before maybe, their phone is glued to their right ear. The "angler" and I use the term loosely is wanting to know firstly , who's caught what?, secondly ....where? (and then finally the all important)...... when are the most recently successful anglers departing?or where is the closest swim that is available. Their watercraft now done, just two barrow fulls of gear to transport and then 3 hours to set up to a very high standard that makes said "anglers" chest fill with pride and obviously makes him the envy of all his mates .......but alas  his actions have scared every fish for miles. The scary thing is that most of the time I'm sure he's blissfully unaware of this fact and will probably blame his lack of success on the wrong bait, wrong rig or any one of a thousand well practiced lines ..........such is the sorry state I find carp angling to be in these days!!!!!