New to Coarse Angling

[Norsefish80]

Hi people,

 

I'm new to Coarse Angling and would really appreciate some advice on fishing for Silvers.

I've Been Sea fishing for years but have lost interest! I've just acquired some gear and I'm looking to get out in the new year.

 

I'm from the Tyne &vWear/ South East Northumberland areas.

 

Cheers.

[Phone]

Norse,

 

WECCOME!

 

Pretty slow time of the year to "play" on the internet. Give the guys a few days. You'll get some help. I will be of NO help what-so-ever. Not only am I from the other side of the penney - - I don't dink fish.

 

Phone

(you'll have to hang around a while to find out what a "dink" is. Sort of an inside joke I use with you Brits).

[robtherake]

You have some great potential right on your doorstep - the River Wear is an aquarium these days - check out the net for details of local angling clubs. who control most of the fishing rights (although there are a few free stretches). Pop round the local tackle shops for a chat - I'm sure they'll point you in the right direction. The dace fishing is as good as anywhere else in the country (the record came from here!) and with the potential to throw up big chub, barbel, roach and pike, you'll be spoilt for choice.

 

I'm a bit loath to recommend commercial stillwater venues - I find them a bit crowded and artificial, though that's just a personal viewpoint - however, Angel of the North lakes has a good reputation as a well run fishery, with the tench fishing reportedly as good as anywhere else in the area. From the catch reports, it fishes through the Winter too, so you'll be able to make a start without waiting for the sun to come out, and it gives you somewhere to play while you're waiting for the flooding to subside on the Wear.

[Barry C]

Welcome norse.

Although as robtherake says commercials ar'nt everyones cup of tea they can be a good place to get used to finer lines and smaller hooks while hopefully getting a few fish.

Theres also usually a few other anglers about. Even if they wont all stop to give you pointers many will and you can at least watch others that are catching. Allways nice to ask others if they mind you watching for a bit, few will say no.

[Norsefish80]

You have some great potential right on your doorstep - the River Wear is an aquarium these days - check out the net for details of local angling clubs. who control most of the fishing rights (although there are a few free stretches). Pop round the local tackle shops for a chat - I'm sure they'll point you in the right direction. The dace fishing is as good as anywhere else in the country (the record came from here!) and with the potential to throw up big chub, barbel, roach and pike, you'll be spoilt for choice.

 

I'm a bit loath to recommend commercial stillwater venues - I find them a bit crowded and artificial, though that's just a personal viewpoint - however, Angel of the North lakes has a good reputation as a well run fishery, with the tench fishing reportedly as good as anywhere else in the area. From the catch reports, it fishes through the Winter too, so you'll be able to make a start without waiting for the sun to come out, and it gives you somewhere to play while you're waiting for the flooding to subside on the Wear.

 

Cheers pal. What side line and hooks would you use for silvers?

[Norsefish80]

Welcome norse.

Although as robtherake says commercials ar'nt everyones cup of tea they can be a good place to get used to finer lines and smaller hooks while hopefully getting a few fish.

Theres also usually a few other anglers about. Even if they wont all stop to give you pointers many will and you can at least watch others that are catching. Allways nice to ask others if they mind you watching for a bit, few will say no.

 

Thanks for the advice mate

[The Flying Tench]

Cheers pal. What side line and hooks would you use for silvers?

I'd suggest buying ready tied hooks to nylon microbarbed, size 18 to about 2lbs breaking strain - though others might say even smaller in winter. That's assuming you're using maggots. For bread flake or punch maybe 12 or 14. Interesting to see what others say.

 

But please understand that winter is the hardest time to get bites, so don't get discouraged. Running water has the advantage that they have to feed a bit to provide the energy to keep their place in the current, but even so they shoal up and some areas will be devoid of fish. And as Rob says, in heavily stocked commercials they still seem to feed in winter. But ordinary still waters are dire.

[robtherake]

I'm just going to expand a bit on what's been said already. Bear in mind that there are no hard and fast rules, and just as with sea fishing, tactics which work at one venue can be less effective elsewhere.

 

When you say "silvers" I'm going to assume that you mean smaller fish - probably roach, rudd, small bream (skimmers), perch and so on, up to maybe a couple of pounds in weight; fish that will give you the experience of catching without being too taxing on your tackle and your developing skills.

In fact, until fishery owners began filling every lake, pond and muddy puddle with carp, carp and more carp, which are fast-growing, hard-fighting and (because of the large amounts stocked) easy to catch, this is how we all learnt to fish - a sort of apprenticeship, if you like.

 

These over-stocked waters don't just contain carp, however, and are often stuffed full of smaller-growing species which are largely overlooked by anglers who prefer to target the carp. They are usually present in such numbers that even at this time of year, when the fishes metabolism has slowed down and they aren't hard on the feed, you can still catch a fair few without too much effort.

 

What you mustn't overlook is that even using tactics designed to catch the smaller species, there's a fair chance that at some point you'll find yourself attached to a proper animal that is likely to make short work of the light line that you've chosen. You have a choice, therefore. You can fish with a main line of six pounds or so, and a lighter hook length of around four pounds - which will give you a fair chance of landing any bigger fish that you encounter - and accept that the stiffer line will give you a slightly poorer presentation and fewer bites overall OR you can use a hooklength as low as two pounds, which will get you more bites for sure, but know that you have a much higher risk of being smashed up. The choice - as they say - is yours.

 

As to hook size, I've never felt the need to go smaller than a size 18 on a commercial, where attracting bites isn't really a problem. If you're only after the silvers, maggots are as good a bait as any. Keep the feed going in on a regular basis - a small pinch of grubs (no more than a half-dozen) around your float every minute or so - and assuming the fish are there and feeding you should soon be catching.

[davedave]

Can't go wrong with 'wag and mag'. A drennan insert waggler is ideal for this. Put 3 or 4lb mainline on your reel, can't go wrong with maxima, daiwa or drennans line. In summer 3lb line straight through (by which I mean your mainline straight to the hook, without a lower breaking strain line trace, or hooklength) is sufficient for 'silvers', but in winter you may want to buy a hooklength with 1lb or 2lb line to a size 18 or 20 hook. I would advise barbless hooks and most day ticket fisheries will insist this anyway, but you may want to buy whisker or micro barbed hooks. I use micro barbed hooks on rivers but only occasionally on still waters, don't ask me why, just a preference.

 

Can't go wrong with the humble maggot, and will probably get you more bites than anything else at this time of the year. As a last resort pinkie is also an option.

 

A basic rig like this will suffice, with the bulk of the shot around the float and smaller dropper shot strung evenly below. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=waggler+r...,r:11,s:0,i:121

 

 

Heres a suggestion of a shopping list for the next time your in the tackle shop:

 

- 3 drennan floats, 2 insert crystal wagglers (unloaded), 1 straight crystal waggler (unloaded)

- 1 tub of dinsmores assorted split shot

- 2 disgorgers, 1 micro, 1 normal

- 1/2 pint of red maggot, 1/2 pint of white

- 1 rod rest

- 1 pack drennan barbless, eyed, size 18 hooks

- 1 pack drennan 'silverfish maggot' size 20 hook to 2lb line hooks to nylon (hooklength)

- 100 metres drennan series 7 3.4lb line

- 1 pack silicone swivel float adaptors

 

If you need a rod I would reccomend the maver abyss match rod, and for a reel the shimano alivio's are affordable but reliable and good quality.

 

Remember there's some good information in anglers mail, improve your coarse fishing and on the internet, and of course anglers net.

 

Good luck

 

 

Dave

[philocalist]

Hi Norsefish, welcome to the forum: always nice to see another 'Northerner' swelling the ranks As well as the aforementioned river Wear, don't overlook the Tyne and Tees.

On the Wear, there is a quite extensive stretch of water with easy access on a day ticket (at Chester le Street). There are barbel (amongst others) in residence in certain swims downstream of the weir (and to a lesser extent above it), and above the weir you'll find what is sustantially a slow-running river: if you land into the right swims there are some quite large shoals of skimmer bream to be found along with a decent enough mix of other silvers - and the occasional large pike! Downstream of the weir (through the park) can get a bit busier, with quite a lot of foot traffic (there is a concrete path along the bankside, but upstream is much quieter - there is maybe a mile of bankside that you will usually have to yourself!

 

There is free access to some stretches on the Tyne, and during the winter months, other stretches are (recently) available on a day ticket: for the rest of the year these comprise some very expensive salmon beats, so the coarse fishing is virtually untouched, and some of the riverside here can be stunning ... there are MASSIVE dace shoals to be found, and some very large chub have recently started putting in an appearance, after many years of everyone being 'advised' that there were no chub in the Tyne!

 

 

 

There is quite a lot of fishing available on the Tees too either completely free or on a day ticket: many anglers will head for Yarm, where large shoals of bream can be found, together with some pretty good pike fishing, perch and some large chub too ... and during the summer there were sightings of some REALLY big carp, basking on the surface, though to the best of my knowledge they have so far remained uncaught.

 

If you are seeking advice on 'your' side of the Tyne, I'd head for ID tackle and ask in there - it's a great shop with very helpful and friendly staff ... some of the other tackle shops are either very heavily geared towards sea fishing (as you'll probably know), or like to put on a front of being well tucked in with the fly-fishing fraternity, and can be a bit sniffy about coarse fishing in general.

 

 

Someone mentioned the Angel of The North lakes: they ARE rammed with fish, but the place is usuanlly very quite with anglers, unless there is a match on, which can be several days of the week. If you go there, you'll decide for yourself, but many people are less than enthusiastic about the amount of traffic noise that has to be endured there; it can be VERY windy, as it's exposed at the brow of a bank, so catches everything that blows across Team Valley ... and the owner is definitely something of an 'acquired taste' ... mention being a sea angler (or a game fisherman) and she'll usually insist on you doing one of her angling courses before allowing access to the place ... and that's just the start

 

That said, good facilities there, including an on-site shop, toilets and a cafe, and very secure (EVERYTHING) is on hi-definition cameras, and parking is virtually behind many of the swims. Like most commercials, stocking levels are very, very high, but results can be very 'peggy' ... look at the match results and you'll see what I mean!

 

Oh! If you want good still-water fishing on a more natural venue, head for Derwent Reservoir, better known as a trout fishery: you can get a coarse day ticket there for several months (including over much of the winter) ... there is some absolutely stonking roach fishing there which has been totally untouched until just a couple of years ago, though other species are notably absent.

Edited December 27, 2012 by philocalist