Help? It's like another planet.

[Catnfiddled]

Hi all, and thanks for the replies.

 

I'm really impressed with this forum and the friendly advice from you all. Interestingly that's another thing I'd forgotten about fishing over the years - just how decent the people who fish generally are.

 

I'll wont be changing my rods and reels anytime soon. I will invest in new seats, boxes and terminal tackle though.

 

One thing though, do people generally fish on heavier tackle these days?

 

Carper recommends a 2.5lb tc carp rod and my tackle shop owner said that my float tackle was maybe a bit light. I remember that the skill was bait presentation on light tackle. That to me would seem the reason that poles are now so popular today?

 

My Carp line was never more than 8lb and rods 1.75lb tc. In saying that I never had a fish bigger than 19lb. Didn't ever get snapped though.

 

Are the fish generally bigger these days? Maybe they are super fit from all those high protein pellets/boilies that are now used.

 

Cheers.

[Steve Walker]

my tackle shop owner said that my float tackle was maybe a bit light.

 

I think the popularity of fishing overstocked puddles filled with small to medium sized carp probably explains that. The water is murky and the fish are dependent on anglers' bait. You can see where delicacy goes out of the window.

 

What used to work will still work.

 

(By the way, whereabouts did you fish around Manchester / Cheshire?)

[Catnfiddled]

Hi Steve,

 

I thought so about the tackle. I does appear that everything has got stronger. Although pole fishing for Carp still seems really strange. How do you stop a carp running with a pole??

 

I was a member of Stockport FED and Disley and New Mills AC so my main waters were Poynton Pool, Etherow Park, Disley Dam, Birch Vale Res and Woodbank Park. Also the odd trip to Roman Lakes. I'll be joining both of those again I think. I see the River Goyt is on the FED list know, it says it has 10lb Barbel in? That river was a mess when I fished.

[Newt]

I think the main reason for the heavier gear was to allow casting heavier rigs to distance rather than needing it for larger fish.

 

I normally fish from a boat and can position myself fairly close to where I want to fish. I have never felt a need for a rod over about 1.75lb T/C (I say "about" since US rods are rated differently) and have landed large fish in river current without problems. I do confess to using PowerPro (a braid 'superline') of 30 lb b/s but no larger diameter than 8 lb mono and less stiff.

 

If I needed to chuck 3oz lead, feeder, and hookbait out to 150 yards I'd need a much heavier rod but playing the fish would not be nearly as much fun.

[Steve Walker]

I thought so about the tackle. I does appear that everything has got stronger. Although pole fishing for Carp still seems really strange. How do you stop a carp running with a pole??

 

Elastic more normally seen attached to a bungee jumper, I think!

 

I was a member of Stockport FED and Disley and New Mills AC so my main waters were Poynton Pool, Etherow Park, Disley Dam, Birch Vale Res and Woodbank Park.

 

Ah. I suppose I had a fed card from about 1983 to 1991, from being a member of federated clubs. I used to fish Etherow Park (Compstall) and later the Goyt in the early 90's, but being kids we couldn't always get the best out of the fed card. Compstall was do-able on the bus, though. We mostly fished club waters around Denton (Oldham's Pond, Celmac, Bull's Head), the Peak Forest Canal and the lakes at Stamford Park.

 

Also the odd trip to Roman Lakes.

 

I expect Roman Lakes is now what would be called a "commercial". It always was a bit of a prototype for that kind of fishery, being as it was very heavily stocked.

 

I see the River Goyt is on the FED list know, it says it has 10lb Barbel in? That river was a mess when I fished.

 

We started fishing the Etherow by Compstall and the Goyt at Vernon Park in about 1989. The Etherow was absolutely packed with fish, including some cracking roach, lots of small chub and some good bream in the weirpool. The Goyt at Vernon Park had some good chub to maybe 3-4lb and plenty of gudgeon and roach, but tended to run high, clear and very cold, which sometimes made it hard to fish. I do remember one of my mates having a barbel out of it back then, though, so it's no surprise that it has big ones in it now. I got absolutely smashed by something in the weirpool there, but we never knew whether it was a barbel or a carp.

 

The general state of the rivers in that area is much better now. Even the filthy old Tame has fish in it. It got a big stocking of small chub in about 1997, so assuming it's not suffered any major pollutions since there should be plenty of big ones now.

[Catnfiddled]

I'll think I'll stick with what I know Newt. i agree the fun was always in the light tackle for me, so I'll start with that and time will tell if I'm wrong.

 

Your website looks good and I'd imagine your lifestyle is just lovely in NC. I spent a couple of weeks in SC in May this year - Just lovely.

 

Cheers Steve. So the Goyt has fish! Good ones too by the sounds of it. I'll be having a look at that really soon. maybe I'll need that heavier tackle now? Sounds like we may have crossed paths if you had a card in '83. Going fishing on the bus! oh those memories... try lugging all you gear down to Roman Lakes, even worse, but slightly lighter, back up the monster hill.

 

Roman Lakes was always packed to bursting with small roach in the 70's and 80's so much so that the water boiled with fish like a trout farm when you through a hand full of maggots in. As a group of 7 or 8 lads we'd all get 100+ fish each on a day ticket. It was so popular then that you would have anglers almost every 8ft apart around the whole main lake. It was also run by the most miserable and untidy family you could ever wish to meet. They built a two story cafe in the early 80's and i hear it's still not finished.

 

I did take a walk around it on a sunny day a few years ago. I hear the someone introduced Pike to spite the family and they had a field day with the roach. The owner used to go around with a gun trying to shoot the pike I seem to remember.

 

One great memory of the Lakes though was the Alpine Yodeler! On sunny sundays in the early 80's a man used to walk down from Marple and Yodel all the way down and around the lake to the car park and then walk all the way back, yodeling as he went. He was fantastic at it too. Everyone around the lake used to smile and laugh with the cheery Yodeler back then.

[Anderoo]

Welcome to AN Catnfiddled

 

Fashions have changed since the 80s and some waters have changed with them (notably the number of carp fisheries). Tackle has got cheaper and stronger. People want to catch bigger fish and can do that quite easily on a day ticket.

 

But the fish haven't changed. What worked then will work now. And just because people catch bigger fish now doesn't mean people have got better at fishing

[Catnfiddled]

Thanks Anderoo.

 

It does look like carp fishing is all the rage now. We were very much in the minority back then. I think the generic term was "specimen hunter" used then when anything above 12lb was considered huge.

 

It look like there's no close season now? What happened there then? We had to sit waiting until the glorious 16th every year.

 

The new tackle is still making me smile. Rod Pods, seats better than those in my living room, but my favourite is the little remote control boats to deliver your bait with pin point accuracy! James Bond style fishing - yours for £499!! :lol:

[Newt]

Closed season

- manditory on non-tidal sections of rivers

- optional (up to the controlling club) on lakes

- a mixed bag on canals depending on how closely they resemble a river

 

Note: if the SC visit was one you do on occasion, I'm just outside Charlotte, NC and have a standing invitation to any AN member to join me for a day's fishing. My boat is always gassed up and ready to go and we have no closed seasons on the lakes/rivers.

[Steve Walker]

Let us know how you get on, then. I don't have so much cause to be in the area now that my folks have moved to the coast, but I still have some family there. I keep considering taking a rod, but that would involve dumping the missus with the in-laws, and I think she might object.