Float fishing.... is it a dying art?

[Dan G]

I went fishing the other day... saw a young lad with all the gear - alarms etc, and wondered... is this how youngsters learn to fish? I'm hardly an golden oldie (24!) but i do feel a tad sorry for the kids these days who didn't start with perch - and carp - with a float. It teaches you a lot about reading the water, locating the fish etc... I saw the lad just unpack and plonk himself at the swim closest to his dads car. I proceeded to stalk a few nice fish - got a nice tench and a carp on the lift method - but this poor lad didn't seem to be getting a sniff.... what do you all reckon?

[jeepster]

most kids these days have no idea how to float fish, they can set up a couple of bolt rigs and alarms, but anymore than that i dont think they can be bothered with.

[bushwacker]

Quote by jeepster "most kids these days have no idea how to float fish, they can set up a couple of bolt rigs and alarms, but anymore than that i dont think they can be bothered with."

 

You are in my opinion 100% right there. They can,as can any one else, (if they have the money) go to the tackle shop or go on the net and buy all the gear. As Dan says they learn very little watercraft from doing this but their mates do the same sort of thing so they have to join in with it in the same way, or be the odd one out.

As you say Dan it is sad, I took my son fishing with me when he was young and he learnt the art of fishing with a float, he says that he is glad that he did it this way. I taught him to cast at home before he whent on to the water to do it for real so that he had the knowledge to do it for himself without me having to do it all for him. He is by the way a very keen carp angler now and has been for many years, but doesn't turn his back on the float, in fact about 50% of his fishing is with the float for other species of fish.

 

It is oh so easy to become an instant "carp angler" these days,with all the top named gear thats available but all the gear doesn't make you a carp angler as they will find to their dissapointment. How many have we over the years seen come on to the carp fishing scene only to be diss-illusioned when they don't catch the amount or the size of fish that they were certain that they were going to?. Most of them seem to think that "if you ain't had a twenty" then you are not a real carper. If only some of these youngsters and indeed the older ones had only realised that the fish they see in the angling press every week or month are the result of thousands of anglers going out and attempting to do just that, and the few that are there in the press are just a very small percentage of the total amount of anglers out there. We all see a great many newcomers that give it their all for a time then they fade away, never to be seen again. What a great shame, they are losing out on the pleasure that we who do, and in fact have stuck it out and are still here on the scene. I don't know how long others on here have been Carping, but I started when I was 18, and I'm (god I feel old now) 52 now.

 

I also do quite a lot of float fishing for the silver fish aswell , I find that I can learn a great deal about a water from this as long as it is within my float casting range, and I get great deal of pleasure from it. I get abit of respite from the blanking with the carp, and gives me a bit of confidence back, and a reminder of what a fish looks like to boot.

 

But coming back to some of the comments that we have made, a couple of little comments that always stick in my mind when I think about this are "All the gear, no idea", or the other one by I think Rod Hutchinson, "Don't forget to smell the roses along the way"

 

[ 01. June 2004, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: bushwacker ]

[awaaar]

ey-up, don't get on this forum too much, but this thread interested me. I went fishing on one of the local commercials yesterday, and with it being a bank holiday, it was packed with kids who were all fishing on the float. Before tackling up myself, I always take a walk round the lake and see how everyone is getting on.

 

All these lads were strugglin' and looking at their set-ups, no wonder. I re-rigged up four lads, had to show them how to sink line, shot down their floats, plumb the depth of their swim (which cost me three plumbets so they would be ok next time they went)..also gave them smaller hooks (they were hooking single maggots on size 8, or 10's)...

 

I asked them who taught them to fish "my dad took me a couple of times and showed me, but he doesn't come anymore"...

 

All they do is drop them off at the crack of dawn, and pick them up at teatime.

 

I know, if it weren't for my Dad sitting and teaching me how to fish the float, I would have got very frustrated, very quickly, and probably would not be fishing today

 

It was nice to see them start catching tough, after I had set them up - they were well impressed

 

tight lines - Andy

[Dan G]

Andy,

 

Think that you are right, and i applaud your efforts - as i say, i am only 24 myself, but I have fond memories of catching perch at 2yrs old(!) with my dad... and getting prickled!

 

If the youngsters aren't taught to read the water and fish a float (or ledger for that matter), they will a) not catch alot and not extract maximum enjoyment from their fishing.

 

In addition, many dads(!)are now growing up fishing bolt rigs and 3lb test curve tactics (every method has its day, is my feelings - i'm not against it)and passing this method to their kids.

 

I've seen kids on the water i talked about casting into the middle and playing the waiting game, when there are bubbles and fish rolling virtually at their feet!

 

I just think its a shame... thats all... long live Dick Walkers lift method is what i say!

[awaaar]

aaah yes - the lift method....mmm classic angling

 

I'm with you 100% there Dan

[jedi_knight_298]

providing you have the equipment i think that bite alarm style fishing is probably the easiest way to fish, its a shame that someone with 10 years experience has no advantage over someone with 1 years experience. i do fish for carp using alarms but i most enjoy using a float or surface controller. you cant beat the thrill of seeing your float go and striking not knowing whether its a rudd or something bigger. and catching large fish on small tackle is always the most fun. this is where experience and skill come in helpfull. the best fishing experience ive had is catching a 20lbs 4oz mirror on the float with a size ten hook and 5lbs line.

[jeepster]

not sure about the advantage thing jedi, its not just chuck it out and hope for the best you know!

[Steve Burke]

jedi_knight_298:

 its a shame that someone with 10 years experience has no advantage over someone with 1 years experience.  

I know what you mean, but I simply can't agree with such a sweeping statement. Even on easy overstocked commercial waters I'd bet on an experienced angler outfishing a novice nine times out of ten. On a gravel pit with a proper stocking level - no contest!

 

Having said that, overstocked waters are a great place to learn before tackling the harder, more natural waters. Many though I suspect are better tackled with a matchman's approach such as spraying maggots etc. Conversely, on lightly stocked gravel pits the specimen hunter's approach is likely to be more effective, and here the accent is on watercraft and location.

 

What I do find disappointing is the increasingly common attitude that only carp are worth catching. Many youngsters in particular have never fished for anything else, or without bite alarms and self-hooking rigs! There's nothing wrong about this of course - indeed I fish this way myself when appropriate. But, boy, are they missing out!

[Pangolin]

Do you count pole-fishing as float-fishing? I don't know why, but, in this part of the country, pole-fishing for carp seems to be very much in fashion. Having never fished with a pole, I can't comment on the skill required. I'm envious of the accuracy, and of their having to tie just one knot at the waterside, to attach a pre-shotted rig (yes, I know I could do that too, but I don't)In some ways it seems simpler, even, than legering with an alarm (which I often do). I'm constantly swapping baits, re-filling feeders, jumping up at line-bites: it's quite a busy way of fishing. I do a lot of float-fishing too, mind you. There's nothing like that feeling when, after a successful day with the float, everything you look at seems to dive below some imaginary water surface!