Martin Osmond
Senior Member & Supporter
Thought I'd better introduce myself as I forgot when I signed up, considering there's no hiding behind funny usernames I figured you may as well have a bit of background and put a face to the name.
I grew up fishing my local River Blackwater but got seriously into carp fishing when I was about 18. Its more than a hobby, it's a passion, a way of life. It's what I do. All my mates are anglers and if I'm not fishing I'm up the lake. At least I was up until about 5 years ago when I fell out of love with it. It's changed so much in the last 23 years since I've been fishing it's unrecognisable. All the fish I grew up wanting to catch are now dead, all the lakes destroyed and for the 'privelage' of fishing them in today's world you have to spend a small fortune and fight for a swim, if your even lucky enough to get on a waiting list.
Ironically I've actually had some extraordinary carp the last 5 years but it's become something I enjoy less and less so a couple of years ago I went back to my routes and decided I wanted to catch a double figure barbel from the Blackwater, which I did quite quickly. I then went on to fish for Crucians and Perch, wanting to catch particular sized fish of specific species. I had a great time but got the carp fishing bug again and so spent last year targeting them but it just didnt do it for me and remembered thinking to myself that the best fishing I have had over the last 5 plus years, minimum, was the short spell of barbel fishing I did. It sort of felt like carp fishing did back in the day, it was me against the fish, not me against the number of anglers and how much money they can waste on unnecessary amounts of bait. I felt like I was angling again and not just throwing rods out and sitting on my hands waiting for a one of my Neville's to scream off.
It suits me as I'm not a time bandit, I do get lots of time to go fishing just limited to one night a week and it makes catching the sort of fish I want to very difficult. Short, early morning or late afternoon/evening sessions I can do much more regularity and as I'm a train driver I get a lot of time off during the week and don't ever fish weekend. That's family time.
Anyway, I'm sure you get lots of new members on here and some of you, no doubt, think here comes another carp angler but I'm of a particular mindest,. The single most important thing for me is the fish's welfare and scrolling through this forum it's evident that most on here are of a similar mindest so please don't judge me as a pot noodle carp angler but as just an angler that cares more about being outside, just being there and if I'm lucky enough to catch something then it's a bonus. In my 'prime' I fished a lake of 16 acres that held 12 carp, I caught three one year, about 50 nights and it is up there with my best ever seasons.
Anyway, I've always said you can tell a lot about the man the way he holds a fish so......
I grew up fishing my local River Blackwater but got seriously into carp fishing when I was about 18. Its more than a hobby, it's a passion, a way of life. It's what I do. All my mates are anglers and if I'm not fishing I'm up the lake. At least I was up until about 5 years ago when I fell out of love with it. It's changed so much in the last 23 years since I've been fishing it's unrecognisable. All the fish I grew up wanting to catch are now dead, all the lakes destroyed and for the 'privelage' of fishing them in today's world you have to spend a small fortune and fight for a swim, if your even lucky enough to get on a waiting list.
Ironically I've actually had some extraordinary carp the last 5 years but it's become something I enjoy less and less so a couple of years ago I went back to my routes and decided I wanted to catch a double figure barbel from the Blackwater, which I did quite quickly. I then went on to fish for Crucians and Perch, wanting to catch particular sized fish of specific species. I had a great time but got the carp fishing bug again and so spent last year targeting them but it just didnt do it for me and remembered thinking to myself that the best fishing I have had over the last 5 plus years, minimum, was the short spell of barbel fishing I did. It sort of felt like carp fishing did back in the day, it was me against the fish, not me against the number of anglers and how much money they can waste on unnecessary amounts of bait. I felt like I was angling again and not just throwing rods out and sitting on my hands waiting for a one of my Neville's to scream off.
It suits me as I'm not a time bandit, I do get lots of time to go fishing just limited to one night a week and it makes catching the sort of fish I want to very difficult. Short, early morning or late afternoon/evening sessions I can do much more regularity and as I'm a train driver I get a lot of time off during the week and don't ever fish weekend. That's family time.
Anyway, I'm sure you get lots of new members on here and some of you, no doubt, think here comes another carp angler but I'm of a particular mindest,. The single most important thing for me is the fish's welfare and scrolling through this forum it's evident that most on here are of a similar mindest so please don't judge me as a pot noodle carp angler but as just an angler that cares more about being outside, just being there and if I'm lucky enough to catch something then it's a bonus. In my 'prime' I fished a lake of 16 acres that held 12 carp, I caught three one year, about 50 nights and it is up there with my best ever seasons.
Anyway, I've always said you can tell a lot about the man the way he holds a fish so......
