How hard do you try?

[Kappa]

In years gone by rather than thinking about fishing or my next trip I'd just go fishing. I am quite lucky that there is alot of water where I live so I always thought people who drove all over the country to fish were mad!

 

These days I spend alot of time planning my fishing. For example for this years tench and bream campaign I've analysed every aspect of my approach no matter how minor to try to make it as efficient and successful as possible and will be driving 150 miles each way to fish!

 

So whats changed? Well I'm not 18 anymore and I can't float fish all night and still work the next day anymore! Also now I'm married my wife and daughter seem to want me to be around once in a while, so I can't fish as often as used to. Also as I'm now a trained scientist I guess that affects my approach to fishing.

 

So how much thought and effort do you put into your fishing? I think I may have gone too far, I made a model tench mouth yesterday...

 

How has this changed over the years?

 

Rich

[mike1234]

Unfortunately my approach is the total opposite as i don't really ever get chance to plan ahead, i only know when i am going to be free a day or two before a fishing trip or sometimes the very morning so i need to make most of the planning on the spot

 

depending on what venue i can get too and what baits is available at the time (bait shop is shut on sundays )

[chavender]

i've mostly lived within a 5-10 mile radius (long eaton ,ilkeston) ,with the trent too the east and south of here the derwent and odve too the west and the erewash river and canal running north too south (plus other canals in the area ) and hundreds if not thousends of ponds lakes and gravel pits when i was a kid these all seemed chocker block full of fish. we'd go out early and not come in till late ,fishing anywhare we could walk or ride too .and these places all where different with different species and difficultness .

 

we actually used the waterways as travel routes ,often walk down the canal too the trent, them up (downstream) the trent too beaston & nottingham ,past many great swims just too fish a place we'd only herd about as being good orr holding fish we'd never caught .

 

but in the last twenty years a lot of these waters have gone down hill ,the ponds more than most ,probably through neglect and predation through developers (quite a few great little ponds have disapeared over these years some of which where really special) simply filled in and built over ,or poor management ,some just silted up .

 

i do tend too travel further a field these days (when i can) .as its always been about the whole experiance for me ,a big part of which is the mental preporation ,thinking about what ,when & where i'll be going fishing ,it could be a old haunt or somewhare thats caught my eyes weather in passing (even if only breifly glimpsed in the distance ,if i see any body of water anywhere ,its logged and committed to memory,for possible future visit ) Then then comes the planning ,location ,travel routes & venue info etc.then i'll play it all out in my head ,blow for blow cast for cast. then i may make a quick none fishing trip for a look see ,i'll then put my scheme into practice and go fish it .i might stick too my plan but more often than not ,i'll just fish it any old how.

 

there are certain types i'd travel for (chub ,barbel & grayling ,tench crucians etc ) and special venues i'd like too try .as locally there just isn't the qualityn,plus the grass is always greener...........

[Anderoo]

I do an awful lot of planning. If I know I have a free day/couple of hours coming up, I keep a very close eye on the weather (and water conditions, if possible) and then work backwards from there, choosing a venue that should fish well and a species that can be relied upon to feed. I then need to make sure I have bait and the right tackle ready, and if it's a long session, all the food, groundbait, clothes, maps of swims, etc. that will be needed.

 

I hate being unprepared!

 

I have definitely noticed a correlation between effort and success. That effort can be getting rigs and tactics clear in your head, physical effort like walking miles of river until you find the spot where a chub is feeding or pushing a heavy barrow round to the other side of a big pit in the dark, or just the effort of driving halfway across the country just for the chance of a big fish. Or sitting it out in poor conditions until you finally get a bite, rather than going back to a nice warm house. Even things like spending ages with a marker rod to find that one great spot, and making sure the groundbait is just right. Then checking hooks regularly and retying rigs if they're not perfect.

 

The other side of it, of course, is that if I'm not actually fishing, then planning the next trip is the next best thing

 

Thinking back, I reckon I've had about 7 or 8 really good sessions this season, out of literally hundreds of trips. If I hadn't put that much effort in, that number would be more like 1 or 2 if I was lucky.

 

I don't always go fishing to catch the specimens, but if I am, I'll put everything I've got into it. If I'm just fishing purely for fun, it doesn't matter at all really.

 

I'm not as scientific as Rich in my approach which is why he usually outfishes me!

[Kappa]

which is why he usually outfishes me!

 

Not true!!!!

 

Rich

[Elton]

I was having a conversation on the phone with Si yesterday, saying how I'm putting more effort into my sea fishing now and reaping some rewards. Before, I just went when I was free and to a nice easy-to-fish spot. Now, I try to go when the tides are at their best and hike a fair way off the beaten track.

 

I intend to apply this idea to my carp fishing this year. Instead of planning it ahead, I want to be prepared for when the weather is spot on and then be ready to move if I think I'm in the wrong area of the lake. Whether it will happen or not is a different matter, mind you

 

With regards to other coarse fishing, economics is going to play a part. I've had to realise that (unless someone can tell me otherwise) river fishing in Suffolk isn't worth the effort. If I want quality rivers to fish, I need to travel. Time isn't the most constraining factor for me, as I'm self-employed, but money for petrol is.

[wayne baker]

I rarely plan ahaad these days unless i really get a bee in my bonnet about a particular species or venue. Most of my fishing is done on the spur of the moment. Im quite lucky besause i work continenal shifts and i get a lot of free time in the week to get out when its a bit quieter. My favourite river strech is only five minutes up the road, It actually takes me longer to walk to my favourite swims than it does to get there.

[Peter Waller]

My local river, very definitely in Suffolk, has produced, for me, pike to over thirty pounds, bream to over twelve, carp to eighteen, catfish, also to eighteen, roach just shy of two pounds, perch to over four, chub to four, dace over a pound, rudd to just over two plus I've had minnows, gudgeon, one burbot, lamprey, ruff, flounders, mullet, bass, sea trout and salmon, although of no size, brown trout to over a pound and eels, some quite big too. I have witnessed a catfish of over sixty pounds, a forty three pounds carp and have heard of some very fine roach, numerous twenty pound plus carp and a bream of fourteen. Not bad, for a Suffolk River!!

[gozzer]

I'm not able to fish any where near as often as I used to. This has made me much more relaxed in my approach to a session these days. Where as in the past, conditions, weather, etc were all taken into account when planning a trip, now I just make the most of the opportunities that I get.

A great part of my early days were spent match fishing. I used to have the 'micky' taken out of me because I took so much time preparing my gear, bait, looking at the weather forecast, and generally going through every peg, and working out how the weather would effect the way I would approach it on the day. I always arrived with a plan A and a back up plan B. It usually worked, (but on occasions I got so desperate that plans X Y &Z had to used! ).

Match fishing (in those days) made you get the most out of a swim, by reading it, and changing what didn't work, until you found out what did. It made you find the fish and present a bait in a way that would appeal to them.

All through my life I have enjoyed just watching fish, sometimes feeding them, other times just watching their reactions to their surroundings.

I like to feel that my much of the preparation for my now more relaxed approach, was done over the last 40-50 years.

I've often regretted a missed opportunity, by not going, but never regretted a single day on the bank, (fishing or not). I've always come away with another piece of the jigsaw, no matter how small.

 

A word of warning about preparation.

There is a very fine line between preparing for a session/campaign, and getting obsessed with it.

I have known many anglers through the years that have not seen that line. They leave behind them a trail of lost relationships, jobs, even families. The angling bug can get you that way, so always keep an eye on how it effects those around you, unless you think it's worth it and are prepared to face the consequences.

 

John.

[Steve Walker]

A word of warning about preparation. There is a very fine line between preparing for a session/campaign, and getting obsessed with it.

I have known many anglers through the years that have not seen that line. They leave behind them a trail of lost relationships, jobs, even families. The angling bug can get you that way, so always keep an eye on how it effects those around you, unless you think it's worth it and are prepared to face the consequences.

 

I remember reading about quite a well known angler who took early retirement to spend more time fishing and ended up losing his family, living in a caravan and having a nervous breakdown.

 

I don't have nearly enough time to fish, and I've had to miss the last couple of opportunities due to work or family commitments - I'm going to try to get out much more often this year. I'm toying with the idea of getting a bit more serious about my tench fishing, but I'm not sure that catching more and bigger tench is going to make me happier than float fishing in the margins for them like I usually do.