• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Wild fishing

Paul Bullinger

Paul Bullinger

Senior Member & Supporter
Having watched Dave Roberts video of him fishing the Lugg and seeing him slithering down banks of vegetation, it got me thinking about this whole concept of "wild fishing".
I'm in my early 70's, still pretty active, I walk a lot and obviously fish a lot. But here's the thing, I tend to put safety first, particularly when fishing fast flowing and/or deep rivers. Am I missing out though? I never bash down bankside vegetation to take a peek at a potential fish holding swim, choosing instead to find an established swim.
Am I being a wuss? Should I embrace the thrill of "discovering" a new swim. Or should I play it safe and just fish from nicely engineered flat swims?! 🤔 Thoughts/experiences please guys.
 
Similar age to me Paul, but living where most of the river banks are steep and a long drop there is not much choice but to go for it. A dog spike and rope is an essential piece of kit and even in the less adventurous pegs is worth employing. Alright getting down but getting back up is a bugger😀
 
Assuming that Dave Roberts will have had at least one other person with him( cameraman) That makes all the difference.
I saw Andrew of Andrews knots wading in some really pacy waist deep water recently on YouTube. Beyond my personal comfort zone on that occasion.
Be safe, my mate fell in yesterday and is fit and a strong swimmer but it will have shook him up and he was on his own
Good job river is low and relatively warm but it will still be cold as a spate river
 
Correction
In the video I previously mention right at the start it looks really sketchy but he does get onto a plateau which is shallower but the pace of the river would still be too much for me
 
Graham Tremble said:
At age 72 it is a sad fact of life that us oldies have to be more careful on the backside. This now includes giving ‘er indoors’ a written diagram of whereabouts I am Fishing as I fish on my own. Just common sense really.
G.T.
Click to expand...
Hi Graham, not sure whether you meant bankside or backside 🤣 but I take your point. I am also 72 years old but my brain keeps trying to tell me I'm 32 (come on Paul you can do this!) Err on the side of caution perhaps? 🤔
 
Hi men ,

We used to seek out the areas that were "testing" to get into . If we was not using a dog spike , or sliding down on our backside then it was a luxury swim where tbh we used to put the kettle on as it would be flatter 😜. In these swims you more often or not could get up close to watch them as well . Really miss this , and will get back to it .


Screenshot_20230813-111353.png


Sue at the bottom of a big drop 😜

Hatter
 
Sadly, I'm at the stage of my life where difficult swims are now a no-no. Through a few too many Rugby injuries, my right knee has had it. I can't stop myself falling over if I trip on something, so choose to fish swims I feel safer in. Having said that, some of the swims I do fish are high off the water, so in the event of me falling in, I doubt very much if I could climb out of them. Same on tidal waters. Ok at high tide, but low tide and lots of rocks is also somewhere I avoid. Standing up to fish with the ground underneath your feet sloping away from you is my most difficult situation, very painful. Walking long distances is something else I try to avoid, so choose to fish swims I can park behind/near.

There used to be a swim on the upper Trent I fished years ago where I slid down the bank onto an old Bread basket that someone had put in the water. It used to be one of those "let yourself go and hope you landed on it" type of swim. Put all your kit to hand and hope for the best. Getting out meant pulling yourself out with the stalks of the vegetation available.

I've slowly been putting together some Carp gear. On the odd occasion I do fish for Carp, at least the venue I choose will have decent swims where I shouldn't have too many problems.

I'm not complaining, because I had a great Rugby career. I just have to be careful nowadays.
 
Mark Anderson said:
Hi men ,

We used to seek out the areas that were "testing" to get into . If we was not using a dog spike , or sliding down on our backside then it was a luxury swim where tbh we used to put the kettle on as it would be flatter 😜. In these swims you more often or not could get up close to watch them as well . Really miss this , and will get back to it .


View attachment 25043

Sue at the bottom of a big drop 😜

Hatter
Click to expand...

Ouch. Just looking at where her feet are makes me wince. I'd be in agony if that was me.
 
Mark Anderson said:
Hi men ,

We used to seek out the areas that were "testing" to get into . If we was not using a dog spike , or sliding down on our backside then it was a luxury swim where tbh we used to put the kettle on as it would be flatter 😜. In these swims you more often or not could get up close to watch them as well . Really miss this , and will get back to it .


View attachment 25043

Sue at the bottom of a big drop 😜
Click to expand...
 
Firstly, no fish is worth losing your life for.

I’m lucky that I’m only 43 and still fit and healthy, but I’ll think twice about getting down steep banks where there’s a chance I could slip in to deep water. It’s all about calculated risk though, if there are trees on the way down that I can land against to stop my momentum, and strong roots that I can pull myself up with then I’ll attempt it more often than not. But I won’t be reckless. There are some fantastic looking stretches of the river Don right near me but to get down to them probably requires abseiling kit, I could maybe get down to the waters edge without my tackle. But could I get back up? And what happens if I fall in, this stretch can be quite deep close in.

I recently fished Ladypitt for the first time, the banks were extremely slippy. I spent half an hour getting my gear in place, a chair, ruckbag, bucket and quiver. Only to decide it was just too dangerous. I literally had to pull myself up grabbing hold of clumps of vegetation, my knees were caked in wet mud. And I still slipped on my backside on the ‘safe’ swim just downstream.

To answer the OP, you’re not being a ‘wuss’ if you’re ensuring you make it home in one piece. But don’t be afraid to explore where it’s safe too, you never know what you might find that others haven’t.
 
Paul Bullinger said:
Having watched Dave Roberts video of him fishing the Lugg and seeing him slithering down banks of vegetation, it got me thinking about this whole concept of "wild fishing".
I'm in my early 70's, still pretty active, I walk a lot and obviously fish a lot. But here's the thing, I tend to put safety first, particularly when fishing fast flowing and/or deep rivers. Am I missing out though? I never bash down bankside vegetation to take a peek at a potential fish holding swim, choosing instead to find an established swim.
Am I being a wuss? Should I embrace the thrill of "discovering" a new swim. Or should I play it safe and just fish from nicely engineered flat swims?! 🤔 Thoughts/experiences please guys.
Click to expand...
As the old saying goes - no fish is worth risking your life for.
 
Before fishing a stretch of river I've never fished before I always walk the beat. What I tend to do is see where others have fished. However, some bankside vegetation is so high (Himalayan Balsaam 😡) that I may begin to chop it down and see what conditions are like further down the bank. I may have walked past accessible swims (or would others have seen the first? 🤔)
 
That is true, but then there's the calculated risk thing, I think all of us take chances we probably shouldn't if there's the prospect of a big fish.....
 
Fishing the Wharfe recently on a stretch I had not visited last year .I walked the banks to check out the swims I knew the layout of,only to find that they had become overgrown and thick with HB. Nobody had so much as set foot in them and other anglers had seemingly just stuck to two easily accessible swims.
I took a machete and dog spike and cleared a couple of swims I was more or less familiar with , there was still the waterside level plateau big enough to fish from on both locations.

I fished both and had a couple of good days with multiple catches up to the low double figures in weight.
My own question was. I am almost 71 and still fairly fit and able , other anglers had ignored everywhere but established swims.
Have they not got the physical fitness, ability or adventurous spirit to do a bit of gardening ?

It is not hard for anybody with an average amount of physical strength and mobility , or is it just laziness and other anglers are taking the easy option.

I noticed on my return a week later that the swims I had cleared had obviously been used by other anglers, in fact somebody had cut steps down to them, left a couple of empty lager tins,an empty Golden Virginia pouch and a clump of birdsnest line in one 🤬🤬🤬.

Makes my blood boil !


David
 
David Craine said:
Fishing the Wharfe recently on a stretch I had not visited last year .I walked the banks to check out the swims I knew the layout of,only to find that they had become overgrown and thick with HB. Nobody had so much as set foot in them and other anglers had seemingly just stuck to two easily accessible swims.
I took a machete and dog spike and cleared a couple of swims I was more or less familiar with , there was still the waterside level plateau big enough to fish from on both locations.

I fished both and had a couple of good days with multiple catches up to the low double figures in weight.
My own question was. I am almost 71 and still fairly fit and able , other anglers had ignored everywhere but established swims.
Have they not got the physical fitness, ability or adventurous spirit to do a bit of gardening ?

It is not hard for anybody with an average amount of physical strength and mobility , or is it just laziness and other anglers are taking the easy option.

I noticed on my return a week later that the swims I had cleared had obviously been used by other anglers, in fact somebody had cut steps down to them, left a couple of empty lager tins,an empty Golden Virginia pouch and a clump of birdsnest line in one 🤬🤬🤬.

Makes my blood boil !


David
Click to expand...
Tossers 🤬
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top