What prompted this was the talk on another topic of "the circus", those anglers fishing the going venue of the moment, wherever in the country it is. I wondered therefore how far most members, specimen hunters or not, travelled for their fishing?

For once I'll start by answering my own question.

Someone once accused me of not being a "real" specimen hunter, as the vast majority of my fishing is done within 30 minutes of my home. Perhaps I'm not, but I certainly couldn't care one litle bit!

There are several reasons for fishing locally for difficult (and therefore mostly specimen) fish. Firstly, I can spend more time with my family, which always come first. Secondly, I prefer to have more time to enjoy exploring, baiting-up and fishing rather than driving. After all, you can't catch much on a motorway!

I did travel a bit in years gone by, although this was largely to Chub Study Group or Perchfishers Get-Togethers and thus mainly to social events. I don't fish these nowadays simply because I'm no longer a member of these groups.

The one exception was good boat fishing for pike or perch, which is a bit thin on the ground in east Kent to say the least. This is one of the problems of being in the far south east of the country and being surrounded on 3 sides by the sea!

This has been solved by getting my own gravel pits, that many of you have had a taster of on the annual Forum Fish-In at Wingham. In fact I can see my fishing on other stillwaters becoming less and less as the fish at Wingham mature and grow. One of the few things that might drag me a way would be pioneering a big stillwater for a big roach. I might then travel a bit more, but only an hour or so!

What I do miss however is the quality river fishing I used to have on my doorstep before I moved. However, the Kentish Stour is fast improving after a series of pollutions, and the recently stocked chub and barbel are getting to an interesting size.

As I posted elsewhere I much prefer to fish unpressured waters for unpressured fish, and luckilly we've a lot of such stillwaters in this area. I suspect the same goes for the vast majority of members, although I accept that such waters do take a bit of effort to find.

It may cut into your fishing time, but boy, oh boy, is it worth it!

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Me? I just waddle to the end of my garden! Will it be sea fishing, pike on the Broad, or bream from the river. Hop in my boat & off I go. Too many choices!! Life is so hard!!

And for 50% of my fishing that just about sums it up. But I do enjoy going off the beaten track with minimal gear, not even a camera to record the monsters. This way I cover miles of water, never another angler in sight.

In doing so I have discovered two gems. Some years ago a duck decoy burst its banks and most of its stock of carp and pike were washed into the nearby drainage dykes. Its bliss! The other is a small farm lake on a country estate. Never seen other anglers on either

My maximum for normal fishing is about an hour. Where I live that translates into 60 miles or less. There are 6 lakes and a river in that distance with the smallest lake at 3,000 surface acres and 40 miles of shoreline. The others range from twice that size to quite a bit larger. Basically, plenty of water to keep me busy.

Special circumstances and I'll happily go further. For instance, this next Sunday I will be going around 140 miles to fish a warm water discharge stream for some great winter carping. The stream is an old creek channel off a large lake and water is drawn in to provide cooling for a power plant so in winter, the water stays at 70-75º F. Warm enough there is a thriving population of talipia in it.

Social events like fish-ins and I'll happily make 300 mile drives to the venue but that's as much social as anything.

Really special trips like the UK one I will be trying for in 2005 and 3000+ miles for some fishing, lots of socializing, and a little sight seeing but I don't think I'd want to do this on a routine basis.

Most of my fishing is fairly local - I live in Southend, Essex and have wealth of good still waters on my doorstep. So I'd be reluctant to drive more than 30mins or so unless the venue or company was very special

However river fishing is a different matter, I've traveled as far as the Middle Severn, Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon at various times in the past, and do travel to the Kennet at least once each winter for a spot of grayling fishing.

Mat

[ 06. January 2004, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: Mat Hillman ]

Most of my fishing is done within an hour of where I live. Please define "specimen hunter".
What I fish for is the top weights in my particular water, not the heaviest fish for a PB,
just one of the heaviest weights in my local waters.

I'm happy with that. :cool: :cool:

The furthest I've travelled specifically for fishing is to Ireland, although I have been known to take a rod on my travels to other countries (just for a bit of fun).
But generally I stay close to home. Like Peter I am fortunate enough to have a good water literally on my doorstep. And a boat.
Anglers less fortunate will obviously travel. But don't neglect the venues on your doorstep, particularly those not fished by others. I wish I could summon the courage to swallow my pride and fish one of the many overstocked carp puddles - for big perch, of course. But I fear the presence of the other paying customers would send me mad within an hour or two.
But here's the best tip of all if you're a pike angler. If there's a water in your area with a good stock of other species, but no reputation at all for pike, get down there and fish it as quick as you can. If somebody tells you pike aren't present, that's even better. You could be on your way to a huge, uncaught pike. Trust me.

Two-three times per week its a 50 mile round trip
Two-three times per month its a 270 mile round trip.

Luckily I live in the Kennet valley with some cracking fishing on my doorstep but will travel to the Avon/Itchen/Test in search of the odd grayling


Chris

Being motorless severely restricts my choice of venues. How bad is that! I've been on commercial fisheries upto 40 miles away from where I live and see more Wakefield folk than I do in Wakefield. Ask any of these people how the local waters are fishing and they haven't a clue.
I tell them I have and more often than not give them a right battering on lessons I learnt on my own doorstep .
The main problem I have is my reluctance to fish the same hours as you ought to for tench and good perch. Until I address that problem, I'm sure I'm missing out a little.

i always take a rod with me when i go away working, so i've fished some pretty unusual spots. but my local river (the derwent) is about half a mile away, and my local lake is about 5 miles, but i'll travel further if theres a good enough reason, today i went to the trent near newark (40 miless away)to fish with a couple of friends i dont see often enough. its always worth the early start to have a good day fishing somewhere you dont go to every week