What is your favourite

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

But Brummie, I would love to fish the Severn again in early March for roach on the Littleton stretch below Bewdley with a delicate quiver tip rod.

And have dear old Des behind me telling me that I am doing everything right.

And to see the quiver tip pull gently forward and the answering strike meet with the thumping resistance of a lovely 1 1/2lb plus roach, glinting silver, green and purple in the current.

But what happened a lot with me is that I hooked a blinkin' whiskers that shot off downstream and bust me delicate roach tackle.

The b******ds should have never put barbel in the Severn!!!

 

[paul williams 2]

Yes Ron.......i heard you like BIG Des behind you whilst you quivered!

 

[goody]

Light legering for Tench on an early summers morning, with a one and quarter test curve rod.

 

[Ric Elwin]

Fly fishing.

Not the dry fly on some poncey southern chalk stream where snobbery is rife.

Not on a stocked reservoir either, where there isn't enough natural food to sustain the Trout, creating an inbalance in favour of the angler.

No. Give me a powerful yet wadeable river, say 10-15 yards wide. A river you can cover without casting ability being the be all and end all. A river full of character with fast riffles, deep pools, long slow runs and overhanging vegetation.

Give me wild Brown Trout and Grayling, they don't have to be huge.

I don't need much more than that in fishing.

 

[stikflote]

for me its a close thing ,between a stick float on a river, or margin fishing ,as close six inches away

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

To be fair Ric, not all fly fishers have access to wild brown trout rivers.

And I totally disagree with your comment on stocked reservoirs. This may be true of the smaller very heavily stocked waters but on my local reservoir, trout are introduced at about 10 inches long and in the short space of a couple of years, often achieve 4 to 5 lbs in weight, feeding on natural food.

There are many reservoirs in this country where this is also the case and I can name Rutland Water, Grafham Water, Hanningfield, Carsington and even my local Thrybergh as examples.

And a fit 4 lb grown-on, overwintered rainbow from Thrybergh reservoir will outfight any wild brown of the same size in any river you name.

I can say that because I have done lots of your preferred sort of fishing too.

And enjoyed it immensely.

 

[Ric Elwin]

You're right Ron, Rainbows do fight much harder than Browns. I hooked a 2 1/2 pounder on the Goyt last year (god knows how it got there), it went like the proverbial clappers.

The Browns tend to be more dogged, try to hold their ground, but run less, in my experience.

I guess I'm lucky to be able to fish the local river. Like you say Ron, many people aren't so lucky.

But there again, there are loads of holes in the ground around here, stocked with stewpond Rainbows.

I went on a casting lesson 2 years ago at a series of such holes in the ground. In the afternoon, a large truck turned up and we watched it spew it's contents of large Rainbows into the various pools, each pool in turn. The regulars walked off rubbing their hands together, they reckoned that the new inhabitants would be easy to catch and not just that; they would "stir up" the existing inhabitants.

I enjoyed the casting aspect of things, and hopefully learned a thing or two. As for put and take Trout fisheries? I need some convincing yet.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

I think this subject is worthy of a new thread on the game fishing section as we have sidetracked the issue somewhat.

 

[Stephen Mc Cormack]

Fly-fishing for me too, somewhat like Ric, no need for monster fish just some brown trout that give a good bend in the rod and a variety of different lies to tempt them out of, I love the anticipation in dry-fly fishing for trout though, i don't think i blink till i'm re-casting !

 

[yoggy]

To be honest I havn`t a favourite method.But I have methods that I prefere for catching certain species.For Roach and Tench it has to be the float.For Chub,quivertip without a doubt,and for Pike even though my bigger Pike are caught deadbaiting,just recently I much prefere my lure fishing.

 

[blankety blank]

Thinking about it, the most fun I have had is in fishing for fish that I can see.

Watching a carp circle and sniff at a piece of floating crust...

Casting a lobworm at a bubbling tench

Flicking a slug at a chub

Casting a surface lure at a pike


This is when I get the real hunting thrill, and most of my brightest and best memories, going back to boyhood, are of trying to catch a fish that I can see (without him seeing me first..)

 

[master BAITS]

My favourite method is pole fishing but when i do use the rod and line in matches be-it feeder, bomb waggler or even the stick... I have to say that it brings a missed satisfactory smile to my face whilst playing a fish.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

9,000 ft up in the Seirra Nevada in California, fishing the gin clear waters of Tioga lake. I've got a tiny wand of a fly rod and I'm flicking a weighted bug to a huge brownie. Let it sink then give it a twitch as the fish passes. Its one of those days and I can't induce a take, but what an experience.

Up to my waist in the Wharfe on a cold Winter's day. Flicking a heavily weighted bug upstream and lifting my rod to take up the slack as it drifts back towrds me. I start to lower the rod as the fly passes me and heads downstream. Then the sudden heaviness as a good Grayling takes and I lift into the fish.

Sorry guys, its got to be fly fishing. Nothing else comes close.

 

[Cider Bob71~PAC~]

Tench fishing on a early summers morning.
Peacock quill laid on,Tiny bubbles fizzing over a bed of corn,lillies all around.

Heaven.

 

[Frank "Chubber" Curtis]

Ron, ever fly-fished for bonefish? I haven't done it myself but watched George, our Keys guide do it. It's the most difficult kind of fly-fishing I've ever seen because as you're fishing in such shallow, clear water you daren't false cast for fear of spooking the fish. It's one type of fishing where the Spey Cast comes into it's own.

 

[Lark]

Beecy nailed it in one. I love to trot a stick and fish the waggler for roach and dace. But when I appproach avenue, it's not because of the method, it's because of the potential. The ability to adapt is so important. I would give up before I specialised in one type of fishing.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

I've caught a varity of Bonefish off the Northern Coast of Natal and Mozambique but not with a fly rod.

However I have caught Garrick and Springers on the flyrod in various estuaries in Transkei and Eastern Cape. They go like hell.

Quite right Sean, nothing comes close to fly fishing in my book.

You are not setting traps, you are hunting the fish. Lure fishing for American Bass would come a close second.

 

[Peter Bishop]

Given I dont get to fish rivers that much, my angling fantasies centre around being on a beautiful private estate lake at dawn on a summers morning as shafts of sunlight penetrate the mist. Weeping willows bowing to kiss the waters edge.You get the picture?
Just me, at one with nature,relishing the total solitude, with my avon rod and centre pin, casting my red tipped float as close as I can to a big bed of lilies where a cloudburst of effervescent bubbles have just broken the surface.
Then catching several handsome tench and plump crucians-absolute heaven. Florida Keys , you can keep it!

 

[trickytrev]

i agree with blankety blank

you cant beat the old methods you against the fish no fancy groundbaits or baits.


brilliant