Your angling journey.

[Simon Archer]

How did it start, and how have you ended up where you are ??


Me.

I started fishing when I was about 5-6 years old with my older brother on the large patch of gravel that sat at the confluence of Fairham brook and the Trent at Clifton. Chucking a ledger out, waiting 10 minutes, reeling in and there be a Gudgeon on the end. I progressed to match fishing, which I was moderately successful at. Took a long break when my fishing partner moved away and I wasn't enjoying match fishing any more. Started Barbel fishing around 10 years ago, and I'm still moderately successful.

Now, I can take or leave fishing if I'm honest. It doesn't grab me like it use to do.

 

[Alan Palmer]

Was my 8th birthday and I got a Woolies winfield starter kit. I didn’t take to it initially and it probably sat in the cupboard for a few months with little use, then one day I came home from school to find a big trout on the kitchen table and my dad telling me he borrowed my rod and caught it in the river opposite our house (Ouse)…that basically fired me up and I was out that evening and every other evening trying to catch one too, I got all the books from the library and basically taught myself float fishing, ledgering, spinning etc catching all the usual species including a few pike that were taken home to feed the cats. These were the good old days when you could wander off on your own as a young lad without a care in the world…and your parents were fine with it as long as your back for tea! Eventually some of my mates also got rods and fishing became our prime pastime, and many school lessons were just spent daydreaming about fishing. Never really took to match fishing but did try it, and really enjoyed the fishing club away days when we would all pile into a coach with tackle and be taken to reservoirs like Tring. When I was 16 my dad bought me a carp rod for my birthday and finally admitted the trout was from a fishmongers and he made the whole story up to basically get me out the house doing something I should have realised after begging him to show me how and he always said I had to learn myself - he never picked a fishing rod up in his life!
Personally I’m glad I served my fishing apprenticeship like this because I still have the same enthusiasm and excitement now in just getting a bite regardless of how big the fish is. Other than a few years hiatus due to college/girls/beer I’ve been at it now for 50yrs and still making silly mistakes and learning from it.
Enthusiastic Jack of all techniques and master of none pretty much sums up my style and I’m more than happy with that

 

[Derek Funcks]

Was my 8th birthday and I got a Woolies winfield starter kit. I didn’t take to it initially and it probably sat in the cupboard for a few months with little use, then one day I came home from school to find a big trout on the kitchen table and my dad telling me he borrowed my rod and caught it in the river opposite our house (Ouse)…that basically fired me up and I was out that evening and every other evening trying to catch one too, I got all the books from the library and basically taught myself float fishing, ledgering, spinning etc catching all the usual species including a few pike that were taken home to feed the cats. These were the good old days when you could wander off on your own as a young lad without a care in the world…and your parents were fine with it as long as your back for tea! Eventually some of my mates also got rods and fishing became our prime pastime, and many school lessons were just spent daydreaming about fishing. Never really took to match fishing but did try it, and really enjoyed the fishing club away days when we would all pile into a coach with tackle and be taken to reservoirs like Tring. When I was 16 my dad bought me a carp rod for my birthday and finally admitted the trout was from a fishmongers and he made the whole story up to basically get me out the house doing something I should have realised after begging him to show me how and he always said I had to learn myself - he never picked a fishing rod up in his life!
Personally I’m glad I served my fishing apprenticeship like this because I still have the same enthusiasm and excitement now in just getting a bite regardless of how big the fish is. Other than a few years hiatus due to college/girls/beer I’ve been at it now for 50yrs and still making silly mistakes and learning from it.
Enthusiastic Jack of all techniques and master of none pretty much sums up my style and I’m more than happy with that

Possibly "THE" best post i have ever seen in 14 years on BFW.

 

[Alan Palmer]

Possibly "THE" best post i have ever seen in 14 years on BFW.

Haha…I doubt it but thanks!
I always laugh thinking about how my dad became a fishing legend amongst myself and friends without ever picking up a rod

 

[Terry Harman]

My cousin used to take me from 5 years old probably because he needed a lift to the venue from my dad
First time fishing was at maylins pit henlow….it had a transport cafe and overnight parking for lorrys…later to become withy pool when Kevin maddocks acquired it turning the old cafe into he’s house there was another pit a few hundred yards up the road called the airman and we sometimes went there
Got into carp fishing in the late 70,s until that disappeared up its own arse then onto barbel
I would say that fishing has been the only constant thing in my life and still as enthusiastic now as I was catching roach from maylins pit 56 years ago

 

[Paul Bullinger]

I decided to write about my fishing "life" which then developed into a book "Reeling Back the Years" (ISBN 9781035826223) and its now being sold on Amazon and on order through book shops.
You won't find any technical details in it, just a collection of fishing related adventures from across the UK.
Ideal Xmas present!!

 

[John Care]

I started by sitting behind my dad in his club matches in the late 70's. my granddad was there too, so I'd spend my days walking the banks between the two of them. I caught my first fish in 1978, a 3lb bream from the Warks Avon, and then joined my dad's club in '82. After that I was obsessed, mostly with match fishing, which I still do to this day. These days, I'm still obsessed, summers match fishing catching tame carp, and the rest of the time sat on muddy riverbanks. I enjoy them both equally, Saturdays out with 20 lunatic mates, and barbel fishing in comparative solitude.

If I couldn't go fishing, god only knows what I'd do.,

 

[Graham Elliott]

I started by sitting behind my dad in his club matches in the late 70's. my granddad was there too, so I'd spend my days walking the banks between the two of them. I caught my first fish in 1978, a 3lb bream from the Warks Avon, and then joined my dad's club in '82. After that I was obsessed, mostly with match fishing, which I still do to this day. These days, I'm still obsessed, summers match fishing catching tame carp, and the rest of the time sat on muddy riverbanks. I enjoy them both equally, Saturdays out with 20 lunatic mates, and barbel fishing in comparative solitude.

If I couldn't go fishing, god only knows what I'd do.,

Probably rain dance

 

[Dave Brooksbank]

I started by sitting behind my dad in his club matches in the late 70's. my granddad was there too, so I'd spend my days walking the banks between the two of them. I caught my first fish in 1978, a 3lb bream from the Warks Avon, and then joined my dad's club in '82. After that I was obsessed, mostly with match fishing, which I still do to this day. These days, I'm still obsessed, summers match fishing catching tame carp, and the rest of the time sat on muddy riverbanks. I enjoy them both equally, Saturdays out with 20 lunatic mates, and barbel fishing in comparative solitude.

If I couldn't go fishing, god only knows what I'd do.,

Always enjoyed the youtube vids John.

 

[Barry Garwood]

Istarted out when I was about 6 with net catching sticklebacks in Wimblebon park lake, pesetered dad for a rod and for long enough to wear him down and and got a Goldcrest Cuckoo from Tookes tackle and away I went, caught my first fish on rod and line a gudgeon from Richmond, fished a lot in Battersea park catching Roach gudgeon and perch, then one day I watched two chaps casting out to the island and catching Tench, that was me on a quest to catch one of those mystical beasts! Most of my free time was then spent bankside pestering dad to drop me off at some lake or other, Dartford, Horton Kirby, Sutton at Hone, were the usual ones, then progressed to club/ match fishing first with Woolwich and District then Bloomfield, loved the nationals and two day fetivals like the Rye Super Two, then one day I got taken to Aldermaston mill and caught my first barbel under the bridge that was me hooked! after that I was working in Kens of lewisham for a saurday job and one of the chaps offered to take me to the Royalty fishery, well although I only caught a bream I was mesmerised by the place! for the following 40 years I visited it for at least one week a year, still remember watching a salmon angler hook a big old barbel from the piles and one of his mates saying "its only a barbel" and tightening his multiplier drag right I can still hear the crack his 20lb line made as it broke! I gottaken under the wing of Dickie Deakin an unnoficial bailiff down there and had many happy days on the bank, the demise of this wonderful place and all of the Hampshire Avon saddens me greatly, nowadays I belong to a small syndicate on the Hampshire avon and get down when I can, I also like having a few trips out with my eldest as he goes chasing carp on his club waters and I have a go for the big old bream.

 

[Nigel Whittingham]

I started as most do, being taken by my dad. The night before, making bread paste & tying ‘casts’ which were carefully wrapped around carboard & placed in an empty tobacco tin was sometimes more exciting than the tiny Crucians we caught in the local pond but seeing the float go under had me hooked!

In my early teens i caught a 4lb Bream on the canal and from then on i was fascinated by them. The same year Alistair Nicholson caught a few massive ones from Queenford Lagoon and i became a ‘specimen hunter’ fishing almost exclusively on the local meres for Big Bream. I eventually met & fished with some of my hero’s that i’d read stories of, pioneering on the Cheshire meres and progressed quickly chasing all manner of species and living fishing, doing 3-4 nights a week (at least!)

I was then invited into the ‘3 counties specimen group’ which was a great honour and was so proud of. At the time, i had also written a couple of magazine articles but this is where it all went wrong for me. Rather than enjoy getting what i’d always wanted, i felt immense pressure to catch and although i did catch some nice specimens it became more like a job than a hobby and i simply gave up!

10 years later, after not even thinking about fishing, i found myself driving over Rivers or past reed lined lakes and started getting an itch to have a try. I was surprised to find how things had changed in those few years and all my favourite waters were now carp syndicates.

I now (15 years on) class myself as a pleasure angler and although lean towards targeting bigger fish, just enjoy 1 day out a week doing whatever takes my fancy from feeder fishing for bream to deadbaiting for pike. I do have to hold myself back from becoming totally immersed again but have never enjoyed my fishing as much.
I’ve met some great people and got loads of amazing memories from places you’d never even know about if it wasn’t for fishing but it’s taken me nearly 40+ years to realise it’s just being there that is the pleasure, the catching is a bonus!

 

[Tim Penn]

I started when I was about six years old I think, my dad was a keen angler and took me down to the grand union at tring station for an afternoon as I was being a pain (at least that's what they've told me haha). I caught a perch, a gudgeon and a roach and that was me hooked. I fished with my dad a lot around the canals in tring, on the reservoirs and local lakes for a while, mostly using a whip, then as time progressed I got myself a shakespeare seatbox and a preston lerc pole and dad took me for the odd carp fishing day at claydon so that was added into the mix too. I then stopped for a few years and started going to football (spurs season ticket), and got distracted by the pubs and gigs, before coming back to fishing for carp and pike with dad, got all of the gear for serious carp, lure fishing, dead baiting etc, kept doing that with him for a good few years until just after covid, where I decided to try other stuff again. I got a new seatbox and pole, then a float rod and centre pin, and since lockdown ive been doing a bit of everything. Still not caught (or seen) my first barbel but ive not seriously given them a go just yet, just fleeting trips, I am however much more comfortable on, and prefer, running water. I have caught a lot more fish too instead of just parking myself behind alarms - Plenty of chub, tench, grayling, roach etc, trying different things has made me a much better angler. I'm now trying to decide what to do next, do I focus on one species (ie barbel) or do I keep doing everything but better.

 

[Graham Tremble]

I have fished since the age of 7 when all the local lads fished the local park pond ( 1958 , no computers then ). Basically I have fished all my life and I am now 73. In my twenties I was fishing ‘ club’ matches and even wrote for a magazine for a while. In my thirties I tired of match fishing and gravitated towards only fishing for Barbel.
This would be in the 1980’s, I had discovered the River Teme by now and was, of course, captivated. The river was an anglers heaven with all species common and Barbel not only plentiful but also clearly visible in the crystal clear water.
In the 90’s I fished the Lower Severn and absolutely loved the idea of night fishing, mostly alone and in complete solitude. I was with Keith McDonough , however, that October afternoon in 1992 when he broke the River Severn record ( 14lbs 1oz ) and I had a 12 lb cracker. That was quite a day!
By 2000 I had moved onto the Warwickshire Avon and had some great days on that lovely river ( I wrote about some of this in the Barbel Society magazine as some of you guy’s will know ) .
Unfortunately I have had health ‘issues’ and haven’t fished often for the past 10 years but still manage the odd trip but have to be careful in some swims as my balance is compromised ( I do a very good Bob Mortimer falling over )
I have not given up and won’t.
Enjoy it while you can guy’s , people who don’t fish don’t know what joy’s they are missing.
Tight Lines,
G.T.

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

I decided to write about my fishing "life" which then developed into a book "Reeling Back the Years" (ISBN 9781035826223) and its now being sold on Amazon and on order through book shops.
You won't find any technical details in it, just a collection of fishing related adventures from across the UK.
Ideal Xmas present!!

And a jolly god read it is too !

 

[Alex Warren]

I started out tagging along with my Dad, probably having my first 'go' as a toddler on a family holiday. We stayed at a gîte with a farm pond somewhere in the south of France in summer holidays when I was about 6 and looking back, that was when I properly caught the bug! The pond was stuffed with Roach & Rudd, but also contained a few carp which we managed to get through to using little chunks of some sort of cured meat. In my head these Carp were huge, but I found a few photos in an old family album a few years back and they were about 8oz!

I suppose I'm quite fortunate that my old man was (and still is) a bit of an all rounder and I got to experience quite a broad spectrum of angling in those formative fishing years. I joined Ringwood & District as a junior when I was old enough to be tolerable for a full day's outing - as we lived about 90 mins away from most of the club's waters. We did a bit of everything - waggler rods out for bits, with a swing tip sleeper rod for Tench & Bream on Stillwaters. Trotting for Roach, Chub & Dace on the Hants Avon or a side stream. Livebaiting with minnows for Perch and Winter dead baiting for pike. Even a fair bit of sea fishing closer to home, beachcasting for Bass or Flatties and harbour fishing for Mullet.

A couple of school mates were into fishing too. So once I was old enough, I was off on my bike with them having fishing adventures in the local rifes, ponds and lakes. This progressed into a brief carp fishing period in the mid nineties with the same little crew - all with green dome tents and original Optonics. Then a couple of years fully focused on Winter Piking.

Then came the hiatus years of pubs, clubs and girls. I still used to go fishing with the old man every once in a while and he kept all my gear. Work was then became a bit of barrier to going, although as I got a bit older, I started to enjoy the occasional trips more and more.

I started going on my own again about eight years ago, fishing rivers local to me at the time on a day ticket. That ignited the spark enough for me to take the plunge and rejoin Ringwood & District and my first sessions back on the Hants Avon in twenty-odd years were like coming home. The Barbel obsession followed and continues to the present day. Although I still fish for other species when the mood takes me.

I'm quite a frenetic character outside of angling - a bit of a workaholic and seem to have a never ending to-do list, both in and out of work. But plonk me next to a river and I go all 'Zen'... I think I could sit there all day without a rod out and I'd be content, watching the wildlife and the river flowing by.

Having that line in the water is ultimately just an excuse to be there, but when that rod tip twitches and pulls round...

 

[Mike Hodgkiss]

The first fish I remember catching was a Brown Trout from Ponden Reservoir in the old West Riding of Yorkshire , I was probably 6 or 7 years old My Grandad had a farm in the area and he used to take me on his fishing trips , he wasn't the greatest teacher as he would leave me to my own devices with and old cast off tank aerial rod , a fly reel and a tin of worms whilst he thrashed the water to foam fly fishing , cursed and drank slugs of Whisky from his hip flask . I learn't that Brown Trout are ridiculously easy to catch with a worm and couldn't understand why he insisted on all the palava of fly fishing . Once he saw that I was keen he gave me my own basket to go with the rod and reel and off I went , my fishing journey started . The next big break through was being allowed to go fishing on my own , however I first had to learn to swim . I had to go for lessons with a horrible old bully of a women called Miss Smith , who's basic technique was throw in the pool and scream at you , she was terrifying . Once I had managed a length of the pool it was deemed safe for me to go fishing on my own ! I spent whole summers on Grandads farm , fishing virtually every day on my own usually on the the Leeds Liverpool canal , I didn't catch much , but the canal wasn't far from the farm so I could walk home when I was bored / slash hungry . The really big break was when I got my own push bike then I could go as far as my legs could pedal me . So began the journey that I am still on to this day , thankfully not reliant on pedal power . Perhaps one day I will write a book like Paul , I have kept a fishing diary since childhood and its hilarious reading back through them , me and my fishing pals got in to some right scrapes , its a wonder we survived to adulthood !

 

[Paul Bullinger]

The first fish I remember catching was a Brown Trout from Ponden Reservoir in the old West Riding of Yorkshire , I was probably 6 or 7 years old My Grandad had a farm in the area and he used to take me on his fishing trips , he wasn't the greatest teacher as he would leave me to my own devices with and old cast off tank aerial rod , a fly reel and a tin of worms whilst he thrashed the water to foam fly fishing , cursed and drank slugs of Whisky from his hip flask . I learn't that Brown Trout are ridiculously easy to catch with a worm and couldn't understand why he insisted on all the palava of fly fishing . Once he saw that I was keen he gave me my own basket to go with the rod and reel and off I went , my fishing journey started . The next big break through was being allowed to go fishing on my own , however I first had to learn to swim . I had to go for lessons with a horrible old bully of a women called Miss Smith , who's basic technique was throw in the pool and scream at you , she was terrifying . Once I had managed a length of the pool it was deemed safe for me to go fishing on my own ! I spent whole summers on Grandads farm , fishing virtually every day on my own usually on the the Leeds Liverpool canal , I didn't catch much , but the canal wasn't far from the farm so I could walk home when I was bored / slash hungry . The really big break was when I got my own push bike then I could go as far as my legs could pedal me . So began the journey that I am still on to this day , thankfully not reliant on pedal power . Perhaps one day I will write a book like Paul , I have kept a fishing diary since childhood and its hilarious reading back through them , me and my fishing pals got in to some right scrapes , its a wonder we survived to adulthood !

The thing is Mike, like you I kept a note of my fishing adventures and wanted to "collate them" together. I jotted them down on a Word document over a matter of months and they kind of "developed" into a book!!
The barbel section is particularly dear to me as our "group" of guys have been having an annual week away together, fishing for barbel, for 43 years.
We laugh at the same tired jokes as if we're hearing them for the first time, we are relentless at taking the micky out of each other, no-one gets offended and the evenings always end in a "few" beers! As the saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't mend it"!!

 

[Andrew Jackson]

Started when my Dad took me out in a boat fishing in Portland harbour near Weymouth age 5. By age 8 I was fishing on the local stream catching brownies and later a few Dace and Roach. Like many, done my share of match fishing which gave me a good grounding in simply catching the fish in front of you. I've been through the Carp, Pike, Chub, Barbel, Bass etc. Specimen stages but now just try and find things I've not done before and that interest me. There lies the problem. The local fishing, never very prolific, has deteriorated badly. The rivers I've always fished ( an hour away) are harder than ever and I find I'm short on motivation often to make the journey and the effort involved. I enjoy my trips to the middle Severn for Barbel and go a handful of times per season for 4 or 5 days and have a great time, because it's new I guess. I enjoy trotting and am keen to improve my skills using a centrepin that I've used for years for Barbel fishing but not that much for trotting. Grayling and Chub are my favourite target on the float. I love trotting bread when the rivers are right which isn't often these days! Finding something new that interests me is what it's about for me.

 

[Phil Nixon]

I started when I was about 6 (a long time ago) on the mill lodges around Manchester fishing for goldfish with my mother keeping an eye out for the keeper.

 

[Graham Elliott]

Started when my Dad took me out in a boat fishing in Portland harbour near Weymouth age 5. By age 8 I was fishing on the local stream catching brownies and later a few Dace and Roach. Like many, done my share of match fishing which gave me a good grounding in simply catching the fish in front of you. I've been through the Carp, Pike, Chub, Barbel, Bass etc. Specimen stages but now just try and find things I've not done before and that interest me. There lies the problem. The local fishing, never very prolific, has deteriorated badly. The rivers I've always fished ( an hour away) are harder than ever and I find I'm short on motivation often to make the journey and the effort involved. I enjoy my trips to the middle Severn for Barbel and go a handful of times per season for 4 or 5 days and have a great time, because it's new I guess. I enjoy trotting and am keen to improve my skills using a centrepin that I've used for years for Barbel fishing but not that much for trotting. Grayling and Chub are my favourite target on the float. I love trotting bread when the rivers are right which isn't often these days! Finding something new that interests me is what it's about for me.

Well Andrew, very similar apart from 35 years after barbel
Next step then will be fishing for Zander and pike on the fly!