Too many fish...???

[mikench]

We áe Re: Too many fish...???

We are all different and not automatons. I am probably half way between the two of you save that my mobile Tackle shop( car) has a choice of rods, reels and baits! I will decide the night before whether to float or feeder fish and where but prepared, on the morrow, to change tactics or venue on arrival! The preparation is all part of mindfulness!

A fellow club member who I see regularly will move swim if he fails to catch within an hour and may do so 3 or 4 times . He upsticks and moves everything. His mate never moves and sticks to the same tactics. It's good we are different.

 

[nottskev]

I think I'm with Jim on this one. Too long spent setting up on the bank feels like a waste of time to me. But I'll only make up the more robust types of kit - a barbel rod, for instance - at home, as transporting more fragile gear made-up always feels a bit risky.

I do enjoy the "just being there" waterside experience. But if that's the main idea, I take a walk around or check out some new places and leave the gear at home.

Being a bit impatient to get fishing does have its downside. I often think I'm not fully exploiting the swims I fish because I've only set up one method, and I'm intending to take the time more often to set up a second. Oddly, it used to be standard practice to set up a float rod/pole plus leger/feeder - I must be getting lazier. Ten minutes on this isn't much, when you could be there for 5 or 6 hours - it just feels like it takes ages when you're keen to get started.

 

[stripey]

I don't believe he has lost the plot just like me he's reached the stage where catching fish is just a small part of the day.
There are waters I will never fish again simply because I catch or have caught too many fish from them.

I go fishing to catch fish, Thats why its called fishing, too many fish!!!, what a lot of c**p,

 

[steve2]

I go fishing to catch fish, Thats why its called fishing, too many fish!!!, what a lot of c**p,

Like you I also go fishing to catch fish, but it wont wind me up if I don't catch.

Why don't I fish some places, unlike some I don't play the numbers game.

I don't know or need to know how many years you have been fishing but you may one day reach the stage like myself and others where catching is just a part of the day.

 

[laguna]

Chris your mate isn't daft at all and I retract my remark. If he is happy when "fishing" that is all that matters. I know of so many who are not around anymore to do this.

Yes he's happy doing whatever he does and that's all that matters Mike.

 

[Keith M]

On occasion after a couple of hours catching some nice fish on a summers eve I sometimes just lay my rod down and soak in everything happening around me in or out of the water for a while or go for a wander observing fish behaviour when on one of my local clear streams.

I know that I could catch a few more fish if I carried on fishing but sometimes just two or three Barbel or Chub or Carp are enough to satisfy me and just being able to soak the atmosphere around me for a while is enough for me to enjoy myself.

Keith

 

[sam vimes]

There are multitudes of reasons for going "fishing". For some, not all of them involve catching fish. I've never been one of the just being there crowd. It is great being there, but not without a few fish. I'm not escaping from kids and/or missus. I don't go for any sociable aspect, or to camp/sit on a bank. I certainly don't go to drink or partake of any other kind of substance. Beyond the illegal aspects, I really don't care what other folks go for. As long as they are happy and not impacting on anyone else, good luck to them.

The only time I've ever felt the need to finish up due to too many fish have been red letter days on a river when I've been knackered, on one of my rare commie visits when I just couldn't be bothered with yet another identikit carp, or bit bashing anywhere when nothing of substance shows up. I can only take catching so many little roach/rudd/perch/bleak/dace/gudgeon/minnows etc before it feels like a chore.

However, as a bit of a contradiction, I'm more than happy to spend hours walking a water, chinwagging with anglers and generally observing the water. It's not unheard of for me to do several laps of a lake, taking two or three hours, to only spend an hour actually fishing. I'll do the walk and talk thing and never even bother to fish. The difference is that it's not for the sake of being there, it's an attempt to maximize the results when I do actually put a bait in the water.

 

[nottskev]

However, as a bit of a contradiction, I'm more than happy to spend hours walking a water, chinwagging with anglers and generally observing the water. It's not unheard of for me to do several laps of a lake, taking two or three hours, to only spend an hour actually fishing. I'll do the walk and talk thing and never even bother to fish. The difference is that it's not for the sake of being there, it's an attempt to maximize the results when I do actually put a bait in the water.

I can relate to that. As well as snooping around the water I'm on and chatting to other anglers, I'll do a bit of googling or studying the Pathfinder OS maps (2.5 inches to the mile) and drive out to check out any interesting blue bits.

Some kinds of fishing are conducive to exploring and socialising a bit. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours where a canal joins the Soar with a worm drop shotting set up and a pocketful of gear. I finished up a mile from the car park - that's a walk, by my standards! -and caught a few hand-sized perch. Along the way I noted areas that looked good for bream or chub, had a chat with a baillif (patrolling at 4pm on a Sunday) and found about a few things about winter chub on the river, talked to an Australian on holiday who fished down under, and swapped my worm gear for a while with the lure gear of a bloke from Leicester who obviously knew quite a bit about that type of fishing. Talking to the bailiff also clarified an interesting grey area - how close to the river confluence can a canal angler fish in the close season? The last lock? Or what?

Talking of bailiff's, I've a couple of mates who are, how shall I put it, very happy if they can avoid being detected by a bailiff. I always come out with my hands up and the right change in one of them, and have a chat. Day tickets are not dear in the places I fish, and keeping the right side of owners and bailiffs pays off in fishing terms - I've been given the gate combination on a water closed to the public, get a run-down on what's being caught where on another water, and fish one place where the bailiff comes round and gives me "proper" bait instead of those useless casters I tend to use.

I do sometimes sit on a box and try to catch as many as I can for 4 or 5 hours, but I enjoy other ways to "be there" if they feed into better fishing.

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Funnily enough, despite what I've described above - my own personal need to not waste a second of time getting a bait in on arrival - I do also find that one the itch has been scratched, I can calm down a bit and look to take in a bit more of my surroundings.

Indeed, whilst fishing the wye in particular - providing I've caught a couple of decent fish (usually barbel but maybe also a decent chub or two) then I will feed a swim and leave it for a bit. That might mean moving my kit to another swim but sometimes I will just pop a little bit more bait in to the swim I've just caught in and go then leave the kit and go for a wander. It might be that I want to check out other swims on the stretch... or it might be that I want to go and have a chat with my mate up the bank.

I'll often look on these wanderings as an investment. Certainly in the future (as I might spy a new swim to have a go at). But also in the short term. I find that concentrating on a tip or float for TOO long can fatigue me to a point where I stop caring. However, having caught a couple of fish (and having that monkey off my back and knowing that I can probably expect to catch a few more) I've realised it will do me good to periodically have a little break; also a bit of a walk gets the circulation going a bit and actually wakes me up.

All of which then pays dividends with the concentration once you get back to it!

 

[Philip]

I never really got my head round the idea of someone going fishing to just be there as I cant help but think if that was the case why do they take a rod ? The hope to catch a fish has to play SOME part in it all even if its a tiny aspect.

As for the angler in the original post ...good luck to him I recon..if it makes him happy.

 

[no-one in particular]

I suppose it does seem odd but the fishing makes me sit still and actually take it in without disturbing what I am trying to take in. I find it hard to just sit somewhere for a long period with nothing else to do. And if I dont catch I have still got some pleasure out of it. The walk round a place, the odd nice chat, some animal or bird I had seen, making the day as interesting as possible fish or no fish.
I used to fish with a group of friends whose sole purpose was to catch fish, if they blanked they would moan like hell all the way home in the car, what a useles place, a waste of money etc etc. I used to think such a shame.
I wonder how many anglers have spent lifetimes sitting on river banks doing nothing and cannot identify a lot of the flowers, plants, trees, insects, birds etc within 30ft of them.

 

[steve2]

I suppose it does seem odd but the fishing makes me sit still and actually take it in without disturbing what I am trying to take in. I find it hard to just sit somewhere for a long period with nothing else to do. And if I dont catch I have still got some pleasure out of it. The walk round a place, the odd nice chat, some animal or bird I had seen, making the day as interesting as possible fish or no fish.

This to me sums up what fishing to me is now is all about. The other part of fishing, the must catch part I have been there and done it.

 

[no-one in particular]

This to me sums up what fishing to me is now is all about. The other part of fishing, the must catch part I have been there and done it.

I do go to catch fish and concentrate on that, and love it when I do but also take as much as I can from the day, your there so why not. Its very satisfiying I think to go home and reflect on the whole day and what it brought as well as any fish I caught.

 

[rich66]

For me there can never be too many fish, I do however miss bites etc because something interesting is happening elsewhere. Whether it’s a robin scrounging maggots / a mouse I’m feeding sweetcorn, ducks, swans, interesting looking plants, insects or whatever I’ve always had an eye for life. I’m happy catching and so try to think around the not catching phase.

If nothing else I quite often enjoy the solitude of angling and but I will fish with my brothers or friends.

But as often said it’s each to their own

 

[Philip]

While everyone goes fishing for their own reasons there seems to be this underlying theme amoungst anglers that it’s the right thing to say that its more than about just catching fish. Yet if you think about it the camping out and obsessed with catching brigade who get all the stick are probably closer to the original essence of angling than anyone else.

Its a fair bet that the first person to ever pick up a rod made from a stick or whatever did so with the sole intention of catching fish, not to enjoy nature or just being there.

 

[steve2]

While everyone goes fishing for their own reasons there seems to be this underlying theme amoungst anglers that it’s the right thing to say that its more than about just catching fish. Yet if you think about it the camping out and obsessed with catching brigade who get all the stick are probably closer to the original essence of angling than anyone else.
Its a fair bet that the first person to ever pick up a rod made from a stick or whatever did so with the sole intention of catching fish, not to enjoy nature or just being there.

It's also a fair bet that the first person also fished for the pot and not pleasure.

 

[Philip]

Yes your right but it still means in pleasure fishing terms the catch at all costs guy is closer to the original reasons than the guy just happy to be there as they both put their catch back.

 

[no-one in particular]

sorry, double post

 

[no-one in particular]

I grew up in the grind the soul out of you suburbs and remember my first trips with Dad to the Kennet on some private bit of water he had blagged. Just being in beautiful wooded country and the smell of an old fishing hut covered in green mould and the smell of Dads Old Buno, the twist and turns of that stretch remain in my mempry, I can conjure it up in an instant.
We did catch some good fish which I remember also, of course I do but fishing can be more than just catching. I can cobble quite a few memories where the being there was even more important than the fish I caught or didnt as the case may have been.
I just think fishing, if you want it to be; can be a lot more than the sum of the fish you catch. Its a lifetime of experiences.

 

[mikench]

My binos, little gem books on butterflies, fungi and birds are always in the car! If the fishing requires my full attention it gets it but if it's dead or boring I'd far sooner watch a kingfisher or buzzard! In fact having a PhD in Murphy's Law means that nothing attracts a bite more than being distracted by a rare butterfly or bird!

A fine dinner is not just stuffing your face! There's an anology in there somewhere!