What fish are you catching ?

[Mark Anderson]

Hi men,

After a exchange of views with someone on another site about catching carp , and his distain of Simmo strain fish , and my view you are tricking nature , overcoming difficulties , and often fishing in a style you like , rather than the most effective on the day !, and to be disappointed with the strain of fish that goes over the net is a bit silly . The person could not see my point that when the rod blasted off , or in our case the rod crashed round , to me that's the biggest part of mine and Sues fishing !.

He could not understand we actually look for waters that suit the style of fishing we like , stalking or sneaking around making swims , often this is on stretches with only small fish , and a couple of seasons ago we had over 90 fish from a stretch with the biggest perhaps 8lb , but this does not worry us , as they did not know they were small , the pleasure of stalking and watching them was the reason we were there !.

Do you pick stretches / clubs / syndicates purely on fish size ?, because of the surroundings ?, because you can night fish ?, because it's close ? , even because you can take a dog ?.


Hatter

 

[Ash Gould]

Surroundings, as much as possible I like to be in the middle of nowhere or for it to feel like that at least. I don’t like fishing where there is the chance of someone setting up next to me or in my line of sight. Funnily enough I know quite a few of such places withn pretty close proximity of my home.

Next, and as a good cover/excuse for persistent blanking, I like somewhere that poses a challenge angling wise and where I feel the chance of a biggie is high when the bite does finally come.

 

[Steve Double]

If we're talking stillwaters, my criteria would be:

1. Pleasant surroundings
2. Not crowded. Happy to have a bit of company, but don't want to be stressing over which swims will be available before I get there.
3. Variety of fish. When (or if) the float dips, it's nice to have an element of uncertainty over what might lay beneath. So not carp puddles.
4. Not too easy, but not too difficult either. I spend enough time watching motionless rod tips on the rivers so I tend to put more emphasis on getting a bend in my rod once in a while at this time of year.
5. A reasonable head of tench.

 

[Darren Hawen]

Really good thread Mark, I've been fishing for Barbel for about 10 years and my criteria for choosing which stretches to fish has certainly changed over that time. When I started out my only goal was just to try and catch, regardless of size, but surroundings were important as well. As I've progressed my thoughts have moved to fishing where there is the chance of something a little bit special and I'm happy(ish) to fish with the probability of less action but larger fish these days, and as Ash states I also enjoy the challenge. But I guess that in time my criteria will change again, but my surroundings will always be up there in terms of making my choices.

Darren

 

[Gavin Hoe-Richardson]

Presently on a rural canal lure fishing for pike and perch. Walked about three miles, seen lots of wildlife, sun is shining, caught a few fish and haven't seen a soul - perfect!

 

[Darren Hawen]

Sounds like heaven

 

[Howard Cooke]

What Steve and Darren said. And especially the bits about surroundings, a bit of peace and tranquility and, of course, Steve's point about uncertainty when the float dips. Because that's what got me hooked on fishing in the first place.

 

[Steve Stratton]

I think the surroundings are becoming more important for me, I spent today Tench fishing and was pleasantly surprised to only have one other angler on the lake. But after hours of no fish the lure of walking the river bank behind me took over and I spent an hour walking the bank feeding Chub and hoping to see a barbel. The banks were all over grown with Himalayan balsam - it was great!

 

[Jeff Collins]

Nothing for me, I'll wait for the opening season. Just my opinion really ans and a tradition in the Collins household.

 

[Iain J McDonald]

well hatter,my favourite fish are tench,so along with my usual club card I paid to fish another clubs waters that hold bigger tench,nice gravel pits ,am glad I parted with the cash too as have had a few 7,s a few 8,s and a tench of over 9 too,,it was big tench that made me join ,but I love lakes in spring,,everything waking up ,lots of activity on the water etc,,, I enjoy most disciplines of fishing,trotting a float is my favourite fishing ,especially for decent roach,but before the river season starts I,ll do more tenching and a bit of carping I expect

 

[Julian Peacock]

I'm hoping to follow through with something different this year. I am having a small fly rod built and hoping to learn more about fishing in places that never see bait or an angler. The fish may not be huge or even prolific but I really don't care. Peace, nature and learning a new art are what keeps it ticking for me.