How to Start Fishing for free!

[Guest MikeConnor]

„I would like to go fishing. What do I need?, where can I get it, and how much will I have to pay for it?“.

 

Questions like these pop up all the time on newsgroups, bulletin boards, and even in my e-mail!

 

Usually, I am bound to answer that it is well nigh impossible to compose a sensible reply to such a question, as there are no specifics whatsoever contained in it, which one might sensibly address. What sort of fishing? Where? For what species? Etc etc etc.

 

Often, I am rather surprised to discover that the questioners seriously expect a detailed and helpful answer!

 

Practically the only information one gains from such a question, is the admittedly distressing fact that the person doing the asking has no idea at all of what he would like to do, and is also at a loss as to how to find out .

 

Invariably, when somebody asks me a question of any nature at all, I am bound to recall my own knowledge and experience in an attempt to answer it. This of course colours my replies to the questions , sometimes considerably.

 

All that having been said, I decided, just for fun, to try and answer such a question.

 

My most basic answer is, you dont need much at all to go fishing. In fact you don´t need anything at all!

 

If you want to catch a few fish, then you need a few basic things of course, but these are very basic indeed, and quite cheap.

 

Requirement number one is a hook. Although even this may be dispensed with on occasion. As a small boy, I often caught minnows on a piece of worm tied to a length of cotton. They were so greedy, that they gorged the worm, and could be lifted out before they managed to spit it out!

 

Nevertheless, in most instances, a hook is the first basic requirement.

 

Requirement number two, is a line of some sort, which will allow you to maintain contact with the hook, and of course haul the fish in. Here it is best to make a small investment, and buy a spool of nylon line.

 

Requirement number three, is some sort of bait or lure.

 

Basically, that is all one really needs in order to catch a fish.

 

One may supplement this of course. Rods are very useful things. They allow one to cast more easily and accurately, they help in subduing a fish, at the same time preventing the line from breaking too easily, the spring of the rod cushions the struggles and runs a fish might engage in, and they do make the experience somewhat more enjoyable usually.

 

Such a rod may be got for nothing. Any fairly long straight branch, like Hazel or similar, may be used as a rod.

If you want to get fancy, you can make such a branch perfectly staright by applying heat to it, ( a hair dryer suffices), and straightening it in your fingers.

 

But you want a better longer rod? Get a thicker piece of blackthorn, or similar wood. Splice your hazel to this. Or even use a thin tapering bamboo cane in the first place. These may be obtained from garden centres for pennies. Get another one sligthly thicker, and splice these together. Tie a piece of line slightly longer than the rod to the tip, tie a hook to the other end, and there you go. You can catch practically any fish that swims with this rig.

 

A reel? You want a reel? Oh alright, not strictly essential, in fact almost cheating, but if you wish, you can take the plastic spool from the nylon line you invested in, ( five pound breaking strain nylon is a good general line for freshwater fishing), mount this on a short coach-bolt, fixed to a piece of bent metal. A handle may be made from another small bolt attached to the rim.

 

Wont work? Oh indeed it will, and very well too. Cheap and nasty? Well what do you expect for practically nothing!

 

So, you have your basic rig. You now need some bait, and a place to fish. Bait is easy, worms, bread, luncheon meat, cheese, sweet corn, potatoes, etc etc etc. In fact it would be hard to find anything at all edible which a fish will not take at some time or other!

 

You can of course save yourself a lot of trouble here, especially for some fish like trout, grayling, roach, etc.

 

Get a bit of orange sewing thread, and tie a few fibres of any mottled feather to the hook using this.

 

It really does not matter how you tie them on, just try to make sure that a few fibres stand out at angles to the hook shank.

 

Dabbling this in practically any trout stream or to a shoal of roach or similar fish, will result in you hooking a fish.

 

Not satisfied? You want something "proper"? Well, various people used gear like this very succesfully for centuries, and quite a number of them still do, I doubt they bothered worrying much as to whether it was „proper“ or not, they simply wanted to catch fish.

 

You would like to impress your friends as well? Believe me, if you fish with the above equipment, and catch a few fish, you will very definitely impress quite a few people. I know this from personal experience.

 

Don´t believe me? Have a look here;

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/authors/mike01.htm

 

Ahah! So you looked, and you discovered that I am basically a hypocrite, because I use a great deal of very expensive equipment with a whole host of bells and whistles!

 

Very well, send me a cheque for a thousand pounds, and I will set you up with any set of gear for any occasion, more or less by return of post.

 

Or go into a tackle shop, say „I want go fishing“, and after answering untold numbers of questions, and watching the owner rubbing his hands together in a rather gleeful fashion, you will doubtless be provided with the gear they think you need, probably for less than this sum.

 

OK, so you got all the gear, or you decided to try the equipment originally described. Now you want to catch a lot of large fish?

 

The best, in fact the only way to do so, is to go out and do it! You will enjoy yourself, and you will learn a great deal, now matter what equipment you use, you will get a lot of fresh air, and you will appreciate nature much more than you would just by watching David Attenborough films on the telly!

 

After a very short while, you will be able to determine some of the advantages and shortcomings of the equipment you are using, and be in a better position to decide what to change or improve.

 

Depending on where you fish, and what for, you will also learn a lot about fish, the water, the best places to try, and a whole host of other things. These things are more or less completely independent of the gear you use, and you can not purchase them.

 

Of course you can not use the gear described for catching Black Marlin, at least not as far as I know, and you might even have some difficulty catching large carp on it in the local pond, although this can be done.

 

But you will most definitely be fishing, and that practically for free.

 

Make sure you buy a licence to fish before you try. Strange as it may seem, water bailiffs, and various other officials do not share the apparently widely held although obviously errant belief, that „primitive“ gear will not catch fish!

 

TL

MC

[Guest Ferret1959]

Well said.

 

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Dave

[Guest Leigh R]

Thanks,

 

You reminded me of many childhood memories using similar home made kit on the Boston forty foot drain. A gang of us caught tons of perch and i Cant help but think that them summers where the best.

 

Would be qiute fun to try again. Maybe a fish in, where all equipment had to be made on the day, all bait found around and about?

 

Then again maybe not.

 

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Leigh

[Guest Salar]

Originally posted by Leigh R:

Thanks,

 

You reminded me of many childhood memories

The best fishing then by necessity and now by choice is to use only what you can carry. We are far too burdened with gadgets, high tech rods, reels, lines etc when all that really matters is finding a place with feeding fish and presenting them with something credible on the last few inches of line! When I see what some of the guys turn up with at the put-and-take lakes compared with what my Irish chums use on the lochs I have to have a quiet laugh. Some of my happiest fishing days were spent with some VERY basic kit. We may not have caught as much, but every fish was treasured, and that is what really matters. Why lose the magic?