All round fishing

[kenj]

Hope you all enjoyed a good Christmas. In my view, many new anglers these days, start their fishing careers on easy commercials and after a while get cheesed off catching scruffy lipless carp, then realize there is a whole world of angling out there, or give up all together. I am fortunate to live in an area, where I can walk to a couple of small lakes full of single figure carp and crucians, ideal for the occasional summer evening's sport, while having access to a couple of trout rivers to fly fish, one free fishing. Ten miles away is the mighty Thames at Windsor, which has fished well for roach this year, often slotting in among the barbel fishermen, to watch a float go under. I've been a member of Old Windsor angling club for thirty years and following a decline in members in recent years, have seen a healthy increase, often from these disenchanted carp men, who have never fished running water and want to know what it's all about.

 

Having moved to my current house a few years ago, I found an overgrown little brook, that held shoals of roach and chub and was happily catching nice roach and the occasional chub with a stick float on bread below a road bridge, when a car pulled up and disgorged a pair of anglers, who'd given up trying on on an ice covered local commercial fishery. Seeing me netting some good fish, they asked if it was OK to fish above the bridge. They failed to get a bite, having filled it in with pellets. Going back to see how they were getting on, I couldn't believe the tackle they were using, hoping to catch roach on a freezing day from a 12 foot wide brook. Among their vast tackle boxes, the lightest line they had was 6lb, with floats to match. Plenty of gear with no idea comes to mind. They gave it an hour, packed away their kit and watched me for the last half hour of light, when the roach got bigger and a two pound chub took the flake. I wasn't Merlin fishing with a magic wand, just someone with all round experience, who has never stopped learning.

Edited December 27, 2013 by kenj