Angling Apprentiseships

[wunwetfoot]

During recent years I have fished a few stillwaters during the close season and wondered about other anglers background/history?

Did they do any sort of progression through the various types of angling or just leave school, buy a couple of "broomsticks", a cheap bivvy and refer to themselves as "Carpers or Barbel Specimen Hunters".

I don't make any apologies if my view upsets some but I get fed up trying to floatfish for Roach/Rudd/Crucians etc. only to have a whopping great lump of lead or bait crashing into the "swim" from the other side of the lake! Distance casting is all very well on the huge pits but... on an estate lake only 50 metres wide is it really neccessary? Perhaps if you didn't dump your barrow loads of kit onto the bank or hammer your pegs etc. into the ground you wouldn't need to fish the far bank? (I've caught many beautiful Carp and BIG tench under my own bank over the years).

Even on the river (since some idiot in very recent years, illegally introduced Barbel) I now frequently find myself unable to pursue my favourite method (long trotting) due to the two rod, at "ten and two o'clock" invasion of so called "specialists" that clog the banks of my local free stretch of chalkstream. There are innumerous good Specimen Specialists out there, I've seen them, they're not all totally bloody minded and unconsiderate.(Rant done!)

 

I was introduced to fishing at the age of just 7 (now 57...oh dear!). Okay, so I'm an old git!

I started on a very small pond containing a real assortment of species. Up until the age of eleven all fishing was done with the"Old Man's" gear (after which I was then given my own!) and accompanied by him. Having learnt to swim, thanks to the compulsory school lessons, I was then allowed to venture forth onto the local rivers, canals pits and lakes.

From that point on I fished on every given opportunity. With money from my paper rounds and milk round on weekends I then started to buy the best tackle I could afford from Judds of Hillingdon. I was very lucky having already known dear old Jack Harrigan,(who remembers him? Much missed) the proprietor and his sons for some years. I was always given good sound advice, as well as a very good discount.

I didn't concentrate on any one species in the early days but as soon as I was able, I joined a decent Club. I was watched over and guided by some absolute Masters! I soon became interested in the Match scene and did very well, even though I may say so myself. It didn't come easy, as with all things.....practise, practise, practise.

After a number of successful years of Club Match fishing, I then started to focus upon certain species. One by one, over the years.......Roach, Chub, Barbel, Carp, Tench and finally back to our sadly shrinking rivers after big Dace and Roach. I have always had a preference for running waters! I have had my fair share of big fish but now fish for the true pleasure and enjoyment these days.(Long live the Close season!! )

How many others learnt their craft and feel the same way?

[Anthony78]

I, like you, have progressed through fishing from a very young age. After my old man left my mum and us kids the highlight of my week would be Sunday mornings when he would pick me up and we would go along to the club water were I would join in on the odd club match. My dad used to stick £3 in the kitty for me to fish knowing that he wouldn't get a return on his money and would spend most of the time sorting my tangles out or unhooking that perch which had swallowed the hook down to his arse.

This went on for many years and all the time I was growing in conidence. My pocket money would go on fishing magazines and tackle to feed my obsession. Eventually I left school when I was 15 and started working full time, also for my old man. All my wages were spent on updating my kit and with the knowledge I'd learnt from fishing magazines/video's and my dad I was starting to win a few matches.

All this time I was living only a few hundred yards from the river teme, a shallow and fast flowing river containing loads of barbel and chub so most evenings after school/work I'd be honing my skills stalking barbel and chub in the shallows or mastering the art of trotting a float down the flow next to overhanging trees and down fast shallow runs.

Eventually I wanted more, I started walking further than most could be bothered along my local stretch of river and started looking for new challenges. On these many walks I found large roach which I caught to 2lb and a MASSIVE shoal of bream which I don't think anyone even knew existed.

With every session I was growing in confidence, knowledge and skill and pretty much every week I was winning the club matches on our waters. I'd got my name on every trophy and walked away with most of the cash. Unfortunately it started to create 'bad blood' amongst the regulars and I no longer felt welcome. I had no interest in going to the big competitions so decided to concentrate on river fishing for a couple of years until I got my driving license.

 

Now I travel all over the country for my fishing and enjoy fishing a 3 rod set up for carp/tench and bream as much as I enjoy trotting a float down a chalk stream for grayling. I love fishing, where it's taken me and the people I have met through it.

 

I know there are people out there that will go out and buy the full carp set up including shiny rod pod and alarms with the volume set to full and I actually feel sorry for these people because they've missed out on the experience that I have but we have to remember that we all go fishing to enjoy ourselves whether we have decades of experience under our belt or whether we've just been to the latest show and bought a cheap rod and reel to go to the local carp puddle.

 

I just wish that those people with their alarms turned to full or casting a lead to the horizon regardless of who's swim it lands in or lines it crosses realised that they are spoiling the day for us. Unfortunately these type of anglers are on the increase so, unless I am after the specimens, I look for those nice quiet lakes where I can enjoy a nice peaceful days fishing. If they ever find these lakes then I'll just have to move back to the rivers but hopefully that won't be any time soon cos I do love my tench fishing

 

Ant

Edited April 21, 2012 by Anthony78

[Vagabond]

I was introduced to fishing at the age of just 7

 

Yes, many anglers started that way.

 

I was luckier than most, nobody in my family fished (in fact my parents were against it)

 

So, seventy-one years ago, at the the age of seven, I started fishing entirely off my own bat - spotted some small fish (Millers' Thumbs) in a brook, caught them by hand, then by handline, and finally by tackle of my own making. Progressed through stone loach, roach and crucians to many other species

 

No apprenticeship - just learnt the hard way by trial and error. As a result, fishing became an intensely personal experience of discovery. That discovery process is still going on - I'm off to Brazil later this year to try to add to my world species list of 432.

 

I can empathise with your experience of wallies chucking bolt rigs into your swim. It started early for me, whilst still seven years old. A snotty-nosed (non-angling) kid decided it would be funny to throw stones into my swim. After due warning from me, he repeated the offence, so I chucked him in. Different times, different values - so much as I would like to repeat the exercise these days, I prefer to find a quiet spot several miles from the nearest bolt-heads. ....and yes, many of my biggest fish have come from the margins at my feet.

[wunwetfoot]

Nice one Ant! A kindred spirit!

I too, encountered the resentment of some older club members in my days.

 

I was fishing a club match on the River Wey in Surrey when I caught a glimpse of something drifting in and out from under an overhanging bush just below me. Due to the amount of bramble that festooned the lower branches, for fear of snagging I stripped my float and shot from the line. The rod was an ABU All England Mk 6 Ferulite coupled with an Abu Cardinal 44X reel (both of which I still have).

 

As I had been feeding with maggots, I continued to feed and the fish, whatever it was, carried on feeding. I free-lined two maggots on a 16 hook, 1.5lb hooklength and 3lb mainline, down to the bush. After a couple of attempts a fish shot from under the bush, took the maggots and turned.

The rod was wrenched over and the clutch screamed. Whatever it was, it didn't like the feel of the hook! I was lucky and able to keep the line clear of obstructions. After a while the fish started to see my side of the argument and started to come upstream.

I got my first look at the fish..... it was a bloody great Pike hooked right in the scissors! Eventually it tired and after a good 25 minutes I netted it.

It was quickly weighed,(just over 14lb from memory!) witnessed and returned by our Club Secretary. At the "weigh in" it's weight was added to my net of Chub, Roach and Dace. I was way ahead of the others, and once again took the "Pool money", had the total weight and points added to the records. This was when the "fun" started.

 

It was suggested by the resident "Club Grouch" (he really didn't like me!) that the method I had used was a form of spinning which wasn't allowed in club matches. I countered that if the fish had been a Roach, Dace or Chub, it would have been acceptable. The argument dragged on for several weeks until I decided that the Weights and Points records be ammended by subtracting the Pike weight because I really didn't need it and vowed that I would "take" both Weights and Points trophys anyway!

 

I fished my socks off and took 7 of the Club's 9 trophys that year (the other 2 were won by my fishing partner!).

I continued to be a thorn in the side of the "Old Grouch" for a further season (still taking their Pool money!) before moving on.

[Ken L]

I started off by being tied to a tree (to keep me from wandering in into the water) at about the age of four and being given a rod to keep me entertained.

One of my very earliest memories is of being taught the right way to wind a reel and getting it wrong.

I was soon fishing independently and was placing in club matches by 11.

The big turning point in my fishing came in the early 90's when I lived on Tyneside for three years. When I came back, I knocked the match approach on the head and have fished with minimal tackle ever since. Most often that's a lure rod but I'll still take out a feeder rod or a trotting outfit. That return from Tyneside also marked the start of my travelling with rods and I've done a lot of budget fishing abroad since - Barramundi and Mahseer are very different to roach and bream on the local park pool.....

[Dave H]

Fell of my dads boat on the norfolk broads and remember being dragged out by a fisherman. My mum took me to a tackle shop and bought me a rod kit. First fish was a bootlace eel on a maggot and that was that!

[Phone]

All,

 

I'm amused that those of us who've fish for decades have a hard time not being critical of lads doing the same. Let's see - - - - exactly how large was you unhookingmat in those days? Don't tell me you held your fish by the lip when showing it off - gasp!

Shall I go on?

 

It's "better" I guess, in the 21st century to have a mentor - times change. But still lessons learned on your own are lessons kept for llife.

 

Phone

[Ken L]

Don't tell me you held your fish by the lip when showing it off - gasp!

 

Sorry Phone, that one's uniquely American.

[Emma two]

I can't remember a time when fishing wasn't part of life, although there have been times over the years when it was less of an important feature than others.

 

We lived next to the river, father was a passionate sea trout angler, we kids spent our summers (this was the 1960s) with nets catching and looking at all the things we found under stones, two crucial books were the Observers book of freshwater fish and 'The Observers book of pond life ' (although the latter said 'pond' lots of the invertibrates in it were also found the river).

 

We started off fishing worms for trout and eels with old tackle, by first rod was a solid class spinning one with brass ferrules. we learned how to cast a fly, and fish a downstream cast of spider patterns, the boy next door showed me how to dress simple trout patterns before I started to attend secondary school.

 

Summer sundays sometimes saw the whole family afloat in a couple of boats on the lake float fishing for perch and spinning for pike. I dind't see another species of coarse fish until my teens and I moved away from the area, the first ever roach I encountered was one wriggling on my make shift float set up using the stiffest of my sea trout rods in a midlands pond.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Emma two

[davedave]

With my dad being in the Navy I have basically had to teach myself most of my fishing. When I showed interest in it a friends dad took me along with my friend to a day ticket water. Having been to the tackle shop previously for a whip and a few maggots off we went. After a great day catching small roach and perch I had to go again.

 

Being only 10 I was never allowed to go fishing on my own at that age, and when my friends dad stopped taking me I had to wait 6 months for my dad to come home on leave, to take me and sit there with me for the day, which he did and didn't seem to mind coming along and reading a book and watching the heron, however he never really showed any interest in fishing. It was good of him to take me all those times though even though it didn't appeal to him.

 

My next step in fishing was when a neighbour of ours told me about a pond about 5 minutes away by car. A deep estate lake that had been dug for irrigation, with shallow reedy margins and rumours of very large perch. It was my first club ticket, and as a child it cost me just £6. This was to be my new place of fishing for a long time. When I was about 13 mum begrudgingly allowed me to fish on my own. I don't think she was happy as I was never a strong swimmer, but I was chuffed as I no longer had to wait months for my dad to come home.

 

By this time fishing was my passion. I would sit in class and think of the weekend. Which peg to fish, which bait etc. I used to mow lawns on a saturday and I had a bit of pocket money and a lot of this would go on tackle. For christmas I would always ask for a magazine suscription, a reel or an item of tackle.

 

I was lucky in many ways. I did have many influences that helped me learn to fish, I wasn't just on my own. Anglers net helped a lot, although i'm sure I annoyed some people in my first few months on here with my many questions! My uncle had used to fish, but had stopped for 25 years, but what he could remember he would pass on to me and once or twice came down to see me fish. Angling magazines were also useful, but I still think no matter how much you read something it always goes in better if you see it done first hand.

 

Gradually I was learning how to fish, and I used to love speaking to other anglers on the bank, of which i'm sure I annoyed a few of them too. Their tit bits of information were very valuable too.

 

I eventually got off the whip and saw an advert in tescos for a john wilson avon tip and float rod for sale. Getting my sister to give me a lift to the adress the old lady said she would give me the rod, the rod tube and the reel for £15 as it was 'nice to see kids fishing and not out on the streets'. I still use that rod now!

 

Realising I needed to fish different waters to get more experience I began fishing the other waters on the club ticket. The old canal was a lovely place to fish, with roach, perch and skimmers. I had very little luck on the river and it put me off for many years sadly.

 

I had never caught a carp and so my next challenge was to catch a big fish, something to put a bend in the rod. I went back to the day ticket water where I had first fished, armed with a lidl bite alarm, homemade bobbin and a tin of sweetcorn. Casting a double corn bait to an island I had left the rod on the bite alarm and fished my other rod for roach. I dont think I really expected to catch anything but after a few hours my bite alarm screamed off and I was into my first carp. After a long scrap I netted an 11lb common carp which I had had on 5lb line, quite an achievement when I only knew how to play fish from reading it in a book. For a long time that was my PB carp.

 

My experience came with time. Fishing different places. Speaking to different people. Reading different things.

 

About a year ago my mate asked if I wanted to go pike fishing with him and his dad which I had wanted to do for a long time but had never had anyone experienced to go with. After several attempts on the local rivers and drains we did catch a few jack pike and it rekindled my interest in fishing which had been going for a little while from fishing the same places I think.

 

 

 

Now I still have a lot to learn. I am yet to catch a chub, barbel, zander, crucian or catfish. Which I am sure will come later on.

 

Sorry for boring you I got a bit carried away reminicising

Edited April 23, 2012 by davedave