Is float fishing for kids and old men?

[Dick Dastardly]

...I really was starting to think it was just me and I was becoming paranoid!

Are you trying to tell me that you have no bedchair? no banks of matching rods? not clothed from head to toe in Realtree? no bivvy telly (er sorry Tel!) or camo frying pan? then it must just be you you noddy/muppet/bit basher Oh welcome to AN by the way!

[Elton]

I sat 2 pegs down from a bivvy botherer last Saturday. He had all the equipment and three lines in the water, all on alarms and thrown in the middle while I was fishing the margins. I didnt see much of him all day as he was in his bivvy.

 

I dare say he didn't see you all night, either. Any idea what he caught that night? Or where his baits were when it was dark?

 

I do all sorts of fishing. During the day, on most waters, I'd probably be more likely to throw baits in the middle of a lake. Too many 'proper' anglers stomping round for my liking, spooking fish. At night, the baits are often in the margins.

 

Live and let live

 

Oh, and one more thing - he probably wasn't fishing for the same fish as you. I can't say that stillwater dace would really float my boat, and probably quite a few others. Still, I won't knock you for catching them, eh...

[mjbarnes12]

Float fishing is the most exciting bite detection there is, when you get a sale away and you strike into a good fish I never get a better feeling when fishing, also it always seems that little more exciting on the rod and line than on the pole, however you don't have a chance fishing rod and line in matches, the pole has to take over. I also love fishing surface baits and nailing a 20lber on a hot july day when some carp head has got all his baits hard on the bottom and doing a dom jolly impression on his phone!!

[Codger]

To echo all the other replies...just do what YOU want!!!

I am a newbie/returnee...all I do is float and ledger/feeder fish..and I love it!!

and if I don't catch "specimen" fish...so what! I've usually had a great day in lovely surroundings, I'm out of the house, away from work...Bliss !!!!!!

Happy days & tight lines!!!!

[medwaygreen]

You were lucky - had he been outside he would perhaps have seen you - you would then have received the traditional greeting "Oi mush, yer can't fish there - I've got a bait in there"

 

I have had that shouted at me on several occasions once by a guy fishing three swims away, you will have to guess my reply.

[Rich Habbershaw]

I was taught float fishing by my father-in-law on the 'Broads' a little over 4 years ago .... since then I've got the bug and learned new methods myself, which I now pass onto him Quite funny watching his face when he comes out with "That won't catch anything......"

 

I try to teach myself one new method or rig each season.

 

Dependant on the weather, or how bored I am at the lack of carp bites from the middle of the lake, I can float or carp ...often at the same time.

 

If your happy float fishing ...go with it ... it's often more interesting than waiting for the buzzers to go off.

[rarepleasures]

Yes there is an invisible divide, the one trick ponies snoring away in their bivvies don't know what they are missing out on

 

or know the difference bwetween fishing and catching.

 

I love the fact the next fish out could be a bream, a roach, a perch, a tench, a rudd, a carp or even gudeon.

[bluerinse]

To float fish is no disgrace; Fishing is about what interests you, not what other people think. I avoid fisheries with bives and the like, its not that carp anglers are rude or any the less interested in angling than me, it’s just that it’s not my type of fun.

 

I enjoy stalking, or ambushing fish, I like to target a species, sit at home working out my game plan and putting it into action.

 

Currently I am on the trail of some very large perch (5lb+) That I have heard about, Now my PB is nothing like that and it might just be bad information (from a none angler) but I am Very excited about the hunt. I am still formulating my plan of attack, I can tell you it will defiantly be with the float. If I end up with a 2lb fish I will be over the moon.

 

Its all relative to what you enjoy, Fish the rivers in season, plenty of float fishing to be had and not too many other anglers sat behind bite alarms.

 

I do fish commercial lakes but not the type that have mainly carpers. I like mixed fisheries, and yes you can still find them, harder than 20 years ago but they do still exists.

 

Good luck and Keep up the float fishing

[chesters1]

i'v tried every techniche there is including dapping and float fishing is my favourite ,some people though makes things hard for themselves by not using light enough end tackle .

weve had anglers who i advise everytime they come that 5lb line straight through to a size 12 with 6" of float sticking out the water will be the reason they are only catching little perch ,time and time they still complain the pond/weather/fish are crap because they blank

in gin clear water the finest you can get away with is best! fish are certainly not stupid!

 

i can sit by the pond making the slightest plop as my float hits the water casted underhand whilst all around are swishes as the stupid try to lob a huge float on nasty carbon rods with almost sea fishing strenght line half the distance if ofcourse it doesent get caught in a tree 90 degrees to where they are aiming ,they then start tugging and swearing and accusing the club of having trees in the way ,the head bailiff and i are forever removing line and make sure theres adequate clearence in every swim from nasty branches.

i blame cheap tackle availability anyone can fish ,fishing to me is about relaxation not wearing yourself out trying to get a float 6" further out than the last cast ,usuually the fish arnt sitting in the middle of the pond anyway

Edited March 19, 2008 by chesters1

[goosequill]

I can totally relate to the way you felt! I didn't fish, or have any interest in fishing matters, for a decade and missed the entire boilie & bolt rig 'revolution'. On returning, I felt a right turnip float fishing with breadflake and sweetcorn whilst all around me had rod pods, bite alarms etc etc. I very nearly fell into the same mode of fishing, deluding myself that the latest tackle, methods and baits were the ONLY way to catch carp. I then had a simple 'break point moment' to the effect of recalling the fact that I could catch fish under my feet, on a float ,years before 'the revolution' so why not now?? Someone mentioned fashion - they are spot on - if you keep reading something enough times you can convince your mind that its true. I have yet to fish a UK stillwater where you cannot catch good fish within four - five feet of the bank providing you haven't scared the hell out of them!!!

 

Ignore every one of the sheep.....do what you enjoy doing. (Nowadays I just try to find much, much quieter waters as I do get fed up when the guy in the swim next to me comes bounding up to ask 'any luck mate' only to see huge vortexes and boils as the group of carp I had feeding in front of me scarper because of his heavy footfalls and 'sky-lining' - I wish they'd point out in some of the modern 'instructional press' that some of us may actually be fishing close in and don't appreciate such disturbance!)

 

Unfortunately, due to such easy access to fish-filled waters today, most of the kids won't go through the same long angling apprenticeship that a lot of us so lovingly endured.

 

Float fishing for kids and old men? Yep maybe, as we get older and wiser we revert to our childhood ways, but I'd prefer to think of myself as an 'Old Kid with a wiser head'!

 

Chris