Ever taken a proper break?

[Rusty]

Just reading through OldManGaz’s post about returning to angling and it got me wondering about why people take a break from the past time and what prompts the return.

 

As a teenager I had one fishing buddy who got into custom cars when he became old enough to drive, he sold all of his fishing gear and has never got back into it but he’s the only person I know who’s consciously given it up altogether.

 

I’ve swapped hobbies a bit too in the past and on occasions angling has taken a back seat but my gear has always been in the loft and I would never dream of getting rid of it.

 

Have you ever had a prolonged break from angling, enforced or otherwise?

[Anderoo]

Yes, I had several years off while at university and the few years that followed. I was in London and had no car, and was sidetracked with other stuff. I didn't really miss it, it was a time in my life when other things were more important. Once that was over and I settled into a job, the urge returned. I was still in London but got a cheap second-hand car, a FAS permit and picked up all my tackle, and got straight back into it.

 

(For those who know me, yes, that car!)

 

Since then there have been no other long breaks, but I do lose interest pretty regularly for a few months at a time, usually in the summers. I like to package my fishing up into little 'campaigns' (for want of a better word), and still haven't really found anything that grabs me in the summer.

[Sportsman]

I coarse fished from the age of around 6 until I was about 18 and work, beer and girls distracted me, not in any particular order.

I started beach fishing when I was around 25 and stopped that when I first started working abroad, still have the first rod I built though, a 13' Conolon glass beachcaster with a 4' duralamin butt section.

Moved to Scotland when I was 40 and got back into fishing a year or two later. Coarse fishing was pretty much non existent where I lived so it was fly fishing for trout and then Salmon.

In the late 90s I was invited by the friend of a friend to try deadbaiting for Pike on a local loch so borrowed some tackle and had my first experience of fishing behind bite alarms

Pretty soon my new friend and I were travelling all over Scotland pike fishing every weekend.

Reduced mobility meant that I was finding it increasingly difficult to wade salmon rivers or hike up into the hills to pursue wild trout and the idea of sitting in one place and bringing the fish to me instead started to appeal so around 2005 I drove 80 miles south to my first commercial coarse fishery. I found myself back where I started all those years earlier, sitting on the bank of a pond float fishing for small carp.

I am still doing it now, but the fish have got a bit bigger.

[garylee]

Fishing is like sex I once gave up sex: it was the worst day of my life.

[Steve Walker]

I coarse fished from being about 7 to going to university. I was at Aberystwyth with no car, so at that point I took up sea fishing from the shore. Then I was in Cumbria for three years - coarse fishing with the odd bit of shore fishing. It's been mostly coarse fishing since then, though I took up the fly rod in about 2006-ish and that has been playing a larger and larger part over the years since. I don't get out half as much as I would like to.

[wotnobivvy]

Enforced break when I got married then worked in the Middle East for a few years. Came back via the Netherlands where I dabbled in the canals for a bit. Then in England joined the local club and fished a fair bit. Got remarried and had kids so money was tight and fishing was a casualty. Moved house then I woke up on my birthday and the kids gave me an EA licence and membership of the local club and haven't stopped since.

[Chris Plumb]

One short hiatus in 77/78 - I was 16 and had discovered GIRLS! Went 8 months without wetting a line - longest period sans fishing since I was 10!

 

 

C.

[Phone]

All,

 

I still experience a somewhat "strange" phenomena from time to time. The wonderful environment of a fishing bank and the people who frequent them are my passion.

 

I have periods where catching fish really annoys me.

 

Phone

[Steve Walker]

I was 16 and had discovered GIRLS! Went 8 months without wetting a line

And the fishing?

[Rusty]

Interesting respones, I think it's a very difficult past time to give up completely. Life gets in the way sometimes but seldom to the extent that you completely lose the desire to fish in some form or another. It's unusual that I know somebody who did just that.