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Fishing the swim next to someone

Christian Tyroll said:
Cheers Richard.

When I go back I'll accept that it's busier than I'd ideally like. Between a carp syndicate and the Wye I've probably been spoilt and have avoided the realties of cheap and affordable club fishing. Just not what I expected on a river but as you rightly said, I'm the stranger.
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I removed the stranger comment just before you replied as it didn’t sound correct but I’m glad you know what I mean. I’m quite spoilt myself with private waters and syndicated waters and I know the feeling when someone sits right next to you it’s frustrating.

You did the right thing in my eyes and just made the best of it. Bankside confrontations over a swim your not sitting in are not worth having even if the bloke is a pillock and wants to sit there rather than in any other of the hundreds of choices available.
 
Gents, I keep hearing that the big problem is river venues are not used enough by club members because they are not interested in truly wild and difficult fish. People are are more interested in commercials (or the famous stretches such as Collingham, etc ) and there are few of us left nowadays that do it how it used to be. Lots of clubs abandoned paying high lease rates for rivers that only five to ten percente of club members use and so let the leases go. My current syndicate is a prime example. It was syndicated and is now fantastic where you will not see anither angler all day and yet the slightly higher price pays for the upkeep. There are shit loads of river stretches that sre never fished these days, so just go look, find. You will be surprised what is out there with very few anglers on. If people are a pain then there is a lot to go at these days that never see an angler. Tight lines all.
 
I gave up UK coarse fishing for 10 years because of what I thought was unreasonable ‘attention’ from other anglers - and that was on a well established 70 acre carp syndicate that (generally) was fairly lightly fished. I caught really well the last year I fished it doing days or single nights and the (predictable) response of some of the membership was to either camp in my swim(s) for long periods or fish next door and cast in front of me. I had words with a couple of anglers and the syndicate leader. I haven’t done that kind of fishing since.

Now that I’m fishing again I’m very careful with my venue choice. On the river I now almost never see another specialist angler. I steer well clear of more well known stretches where certain swims get almost rota fished. It probably costs me some big fish but I’m enjoying my fishing again.
 
Not sure how you would cope with a pegged match ...and bear in mind these matches on the Severn return some good weights so not convinced that having a fishing gatecrasher would be much of a problem on the Lower Severn, aside from lack of etiquette.
God knows what the river was like in the last few days Sunday was a grueller on the Lower and I and son were just two of four poor souls who ventured out on a long popular club stretch and blanked.
Fishing to dusk normally produces a bite but no...son texted me and I thought at last...'Otter' he said.😐
Personally feeling a bit frustrated with this 'lovely' weather...for me want Autumn and it's golden misty cool mornings and a pot full of lobworms to tempt a fish or two...as Anglers we just know. 🤔
 
Tim Marks said:
I gave up UK coarse fishing for 10 years because of what I thought was unreasonable ‘attention’ from other anglers - and that was on a well established 70 acre carp syndicate that (generally) was fairly lightly fished. I caught really well the last year I fished it doing days or single nights and the (predictable) response of some of the membership was to either camp in my swim(s) for long periods or fish next door and cast in front of me. I had words with a couple of anglers and the syndicate leader. I haven’t done that kind of fishing since.

Now that I’m fishing again I’m very careful with my venue choice. On the river I now almost never see another specialist angler. I steer well clear of more well known stretches where certain swims get almost rota fished. It probably costs me some big fish but I’m enjoying my fishing again.
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'Unreasonable attention from other anglers'
What were they doing asking for selfies?
 
Personally I’d have gave it an hour then moved , having a word with someone isn’t going to get you anywhere, if there in that mindset in the first place you’ll just make them more stubborn and then you’ll have an atmosphere for the rest of the day .
I’ve had it on day ticket venues , they’ve waded out above me and trotted a stick float right over my feeder !
I told them and they just pretended they couldn’t hear me and carried on .
I just moved ….

I go fishing to get away from people and confrontations
 
For me solitude is everything when fishing. And the ability to be able to apply watercraft e.g. swim selection without having to worry about other anglers. I hate the feeling I might be fishing over somebody else's bait..

I didn't fish the Middle at all last season, I can't see myself getting there at all this season. I enjoy the angling, just not the other anglers and dog walkers. Tbh, I even found the Upper Trent a little too busy a couple of seasons back!

Have a trip to the Havon coming up in Oct, and for now I have my carp fishing head on and I'm really enjoying it. Largely down to fishing a peaceful water shared with other members who share the same values. 2 nights and 3 days on the bank earlier in the week with 25-acres to myself. Bliss. Not sure where where my barbel fishing will take me next, maybe the Upper Severn which seems to get very lightly fished? And it's nice countryside. Or maybe one of the Yorks rivers? By' eck..
 
Kevin Brown said:
Personally I’d have gave it an hour then moved , having a word with someone isn’t going to get you anywhere, if there in that mindset in the first place you’ll just make them more stubborn and then you’ll have an atmosphere for the rest of the day .
I’ve had it on day ticket venues , they’ve waded out above me and trotted a stick float right over my feeder !
I told them and they just pretended they couldn’t hear me and carried on .
I just moved ….

I go fishing to get away from people and confrontations
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Pretty much my stance. I have enough grief, difficult conversations etc at work….fishing is my escape from that. TBH I would rather blank and enjoy the peace and scenery than catch in a position I’m not happy with
 
Last year, I fished a well known stretch around Oxford, it’s about 100-150 meters? There were about 10 anglers, most are fishing with two rods, it was nightmare, people keep saying where did you cast? Oh, you cast next to mine…
 
Huanzhou Zhu said:
Last year, I fished a well known stretch around Oxford, it’s about 100-150 meters? There were about 10 anglers, most are fishing with two rods, it was nightmare, people keep saying where did you cast? Oh, you cast next to mine…
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2 anglers in half a mile is one too many for me ! Unless he is my fishing partner.

On the same river as you…..(I assume).
 
Christian Tyroll said:
Afternoon all

Interested to hear other peoples views on this to work out if I’m unreasonable or not.

I’ve rocked up on a stretch of the lower Severn and am the only one fishing. Before setting up I walked the whole stretch which at a guess is a mile and half top to bottom. In the current conditions I think swim choice is much of a muchness. I settled on one because it had some overhanging bushes on the far bank (along with lots of the swims) and one of the only trees that would give my pasty skin a bit of shade.

Someone else has turned up to fish whilst I’m baiting up and picked the next swim about 20/25m downstream. Given the uniformity of the stretch I feel like I probably wasn’t setting up on fish and was baiting with the hope something would make its way up to me over the session. Now I’m potentially just drawing something up to his swim, or if not the fish will be there first anyway.

On the stretch of the Wye I fish, I just wouldn’t do that to someone and no one’s ever done it to me. I’ve never had anyone do it on the Dove, or the Medway many years ago.

I like my space and also like feeling like I’m not fishing for the same fish as someone next to me.

Appreciate in certain water conditions rivers can be very peggy, but unless I’ve dropped in a hot swim I don’t think I’m talking about that.

On my carp syndicate someone would ask before setting up in the next swim.

What are peoples views on the ethics of this?

Maybe the heats just got me feeling particularly tetchy 😂
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This puts me in a quandry. I'm taking part in Graham's fish in, in a fortnight with a few other BFW members. It could mean fishing near another member. Should I take a 9mm Uzi or will I get away with a glock17?
 
Nick Horton said:
This puts me in a quandry. I'm taking part in Graham's fish in, in a fortnight with a few other BFW members. It could mean fishing near another member. Should I take a 9mm Uzi or will I get away with a glock17?
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You wouldn’t believe it from my post but I sometimes even share a swim with friends and family. Although they’d definitely be getting in the neck for the bite alarms 😂
 
Joe Winstanley said:
For me solitude is everything when fishing. And the ability to be able to apply watercraft e.g. swim selection without having to worry about other anglers. I hate the feeling I might be fishing over somebody else's bait..

I didn't fish the Middle at all last season, I can't see myself getting there at all this season. I enjoy the angling, just not the other anglers and dog walkers. Tbh, I even found the Upper Trent a little too busy a couple of seasons back!

Have a trip to the Havon coming up in Oct, and for now I have my carp fishing head on and I'm really enjoying it. Largely down to fishing a peaceful water shared with other members who share the same values. 2 nights and 3 days on the bank earlier in the week with 25-acres to myself. Bliss. Not sure where where my barbel fishing will take me next, maybe the Upper Severn which seems to get very lightly fished? And it's nice countryside. Or maybe one of the Yorks rivers? By' eck..
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"Hell is other people" (Sartre) ... not long in from a 5hrs morning sesh, without seeing a soul. Bliss!
If you fancy solitude, head for the Teme 😂
 
A couple of things….
Years ago I was at Cotheridge on the middle Teme on a quiet mid week day, it was a lovely summer day and all was right with the world. I had flicked a couple of casters under the far bank trees, perfect. This serene scenario was ruined when two loud Black Country lads arrived shouting and bellowing as they walked towards me. Cursing my luck I then realised they had stopped behind me and bawled’ caught owt’? I informed them I had just arrived and did my best to ignore them but that was difficult as they were standing and skylining behind me. They had a loud conversation and then parted either side of me only to reappear with one in the swim above me and the other in the swim below me! I thought at first that this was some kind of elaborate Black Country wind up but no they meant to fish there. Bloody hell, so much for peace and quiet. I did my best to ignore them which was difficult as they continued a shouting contest from their chosen swims. But it didn’t stop there ,as out of the corner of my eye I noticed a float trundling towards my line…..I lifted my line to allow the idiots float free passage…..this just had to be a wind up…….
No, it carried on, as did the shouting.
I considered my options…did I think these fine fellows would like to debate the intricacies fishing etiquette or should I simply set about them with a handy bankstick.
Well, I moved, I just didn’t want the aggravation.
Still, I’m not bitter ( 30 years later ).😉
Tight Lines,
G.T.
 
And there’s more…..
A few years ago on the middle Warwickshire Avon….
arriving one evening I strode towards my favoured ‘hot swim’, an absolute flyer only to be met by a strange sight….
all along the bank were a series of bait buckets ( 6 I think ), what the bloody hell was going on? Then I noticed a single angler placing another bucket above a swim. Again I considered my options…… The easiest decision was simply to turn around and fish another meadow. You know what…. I thought sod it….such bloody selfishness….I moved the bucket to one side and tackled up and waited for the inevitable confrontation. Five minutes later I heard the bucket being removed and my ‘friend’ disappeared without a word.
One up to the good guys 😇
G.T.
 
Nick Horton said:
This puts me in a quandry. I'm taking part in Graham's fish in, in a fortnight with a few other BFW members. It could mean fishing near another member. Should I take a 9mm Uzi or will I get away with a glock17?
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I,ll be there with my younger bro, you pick where you want to fish, and we will head in the oppopsite direction. 😁
 
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