How far do you travel for your fishing?

[poledark]

Used to think nothing of a 190 mile round trip for a day on the Kennet, sometimes three times a week

 

Now mostly fish either 6mins (3.5 miles) or 8mins (4miles) or if I am feeling really adventurous it is 10 mins (5.5miles)

 

As Kylie would say "Lucky lucky lucky"

 

Den

 

[ 06. January 2004, 08:14 PM: Message edited by: poledark ]

[ayjay]

I'm 5 miles from the Royalty and it's about two more to Throop.

 

Don't actually fish the Royalty but the rest of the river is obviously not very far away.

 

Furthest I'll go on the Avon is up near Salisbury,30-40 minutes drive, or on the Stour I can get up as far as Blandford in about 45 mins.

[Vagabond]

Will fish anywhere, for anything, but at the moment my two favourite fish are roach and marlin. That means I usually fish local waters within a few minutes drive, or else I go intercontinental!

 

Have been known to visit Steve's water though....

[Steve Burke]

kleinboet:

Please define "specimen hunter".

Rather more difficult than it first appears!

 

To me it means someone deliberately trying to catch bigger than average fish, normally of a specific species.

 

I was therefore surprised when the term specimen hunter began to be replaced by specialist angler. :confused: I know a lot of anglers who are specialists in that they go fishing say for tench. However, they couldn't care less about the size, any fish will do as long as it's a tench. In this sense they're therefore specialist anglers, but they're certainly not specimen hunters.

 

I'm a little like you, Kleinboet, but I fish for the most difficult and interesting fish I can find locally. Usually, but not always, this means specimen fish.

 

Ideally, I like to fish local waters that haven't already been cracked as these I find are the most challenging and intriguing. If they're pretty and uncrowded then I'm in heaven!

[Steve Burke]

fenboy:

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.

I'd second both of these points.

 

Look out also for waters that had a reputation some years ago but are now little fished, be it due to pollution, overfishing or whatever. Many recover after a few years of neglect.

 

Jim Gibbinson often writes about what he calls the "sponge effect". The popular waters in an area, say a gravel pit complex, soak up a lot of angling pressure. Nearby ones, sometimes literally next door, often get very little attention but are every bit as good or even better!

[Rob Ward]

I drove about 200 miles to get to Wingham last year for the fish in but that's an exception.

 

The Waters are not great in Merseyside and are mostly controlled by Match Clubs that seem to enjoy nothing more than inventing silly rules that spoil the sport of Specialists.

 

However living in the Northwest I have some good fishing within an hours drive - the River Ribble is about half an hours drive from me and is gaining something of a reputation as a Chub and Barbel River. The Lake District is also an hour away with excellent Pike Waters and Boat Fishing. I can also make Wyreside and Pendle View in about 45 minutes and these are arguably the best Carp venues in the Northwest.

[Dunk Fairley]

I live about 5-10 mins away from the Medway, the Beult, the Len and about 30 mins from the Tiese. I also live about 5-30 mins from some of the best lakes in the Kent. I fish all, depending on my wants. But, I also fish near Oxford regularly and Scotland at least 1 week a year. I can think of no other reason to travel anywhere in the world, unless I could fish when I got there, and that's the truth.

 

For my sins, I proposed to my long suffering 'er indoors (for 15 years) about a week ago, which came as a bit of a shock to both of us. But the shock has been somewhat tempered, by the fact that she has just suggested that our honeymoon could be the already booked 2 weeks in a cottage by the side of a Scottish Loch, in September.

[Bonzo]

Living in Bedfordshire iam quite lucky in that no more than a hour in any direction puts me on lakes,pits,rivers and little fished farm ponds.

Most of my fishing of late (river)has been fairly local, half an hour drive.

Summer evenings are spent on the local canals which are only 8 mile away.

Club books are also good value for money in the areas that i fish.

[Steve Burke]

Dunk Fairley:

For my sins, I proposed to my long suffering 'er indoors (for 15 years) about a week ago, which came as a bit of a shock to both of us. But the shock has been somewhat tempered, by the fact that she has just suggested that our honeymoon could be the already booked 2 weeks in a cottage by the side of a Scottish Loch, in September.

Congratulations, Dunk! Hopefully Peggy and I'll see you both shortly in person.

 

It's strange, but Peggy came fishing with me right up to the time we got married. She even came out with me for the half day fishing I had on our honeymoon.

 

Funny, but she hasn't been since.....

[fenboy]

I think you'll find that "specialist angler" came about in about 1981 or 82 when the former NASG (National Association of Specimen Groups) changed its name to NASA (National Association of Specialist Anglers.

I think this had something to do with the decline in membership of specimen groups (which anglers used to pool their knowledge) in favour of individuals who kept their knowledge to themselves and did their own thing.

It also had a lot to do with the NASG committee at the time fancing a name change to sound a bit more dynamic, I suspect.

I can see why the shift from specimen groups came about, though. All too often the ones who did all the groundwork were rewarded by finding their lazy fellow members in their swim the next week.