Would you hate to start angling today ?

This is a spin off from another thread were someone suggested they would hate to be a beginner starting angling today.

It got me thinking..I am a life long angler and I am quite sure I will end my days as one too ... but would I have been one if I started angling today ?

On one hand access to knowledge and good tackle is a heck of allot easier but on the other is there now a false impression as to what constitutes "success" leading to
Disillusionment? ...Or alternativly is "success" to easy to get now ? ..Watch a video, land a couple of whackers on ready tied rigs, get bored and give it up...

Taking everything into account I guess I am happy I started when I did and I would not want to be someone starting out as an angler today ..but I am not entirly sure why !!!

What do you think ?

Yes.
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A few years back I took the lad of a family friend fishing - he'd wanted to learn but noone to show him

I took him a few times, lending him my gear and this mother asked my to buy a rod and reel for him for Christmas with money she gave me

Over the next 6 months I took him fishing about once evry 2 weeks but the problems was I always caught more than him and better fish (I'd been fishing for much longer) and after seeign me catch a carp of about 6lb he became fixed on catch a similar fish.

The problem was his hooked decent carp on floating bait but lacked the skill and patience to land one - everytime the line would break - this dispite my telling him to take a gentler slower approach.

It about 6 year on now and his fishing gear is in the garage untouched.

Maybe it was just not for him but I feel sure if he's started off cacthing small fish and gradually progressed he'd have had the skills to land the bigger fish but he when straight from small perch and roach to tryign to catch carp - no learning curve

As long as we can keep wild places to fish some younguns will want to fish.

Take away the mystery and you take away the possibilities.

Who wants to be Kit Carson in Dudley zoo?

I came back to fishing a couple of years ago after a 40+ year break.

It's been brilliant, every thing has changed and yet nothing has changed

I started fishing at a commercial for the carp to 8lb (carp for mere mortals was unheard of when I were a lad) and learnt to tie hair rigs and fish paste and pellets, but found the most devastating feed and bait was hemp, maggots and bread (no change there then).

I progressed to fishing for all species (tench being my favourite, same as when I were a lad).

This morning I am going to fish for roach and perch using maggots, sweetcorn and livebait.

So I think the magic of fishing is still there to be captured by beginners, and M'luds example probably wouldn't have stuck at it 50 years ago either, it's just the rod he got just by asking would've been a cane out of the garden (we lived in cardboard box, got up before we went to bed, licked road on way 't work and paid for the priveledge, tha knows lad )

its in the blood, you either are a fisherman or not.

It must be hard though for newcomers, as we live in such an instant world, paitience and an appreciation for fish and wildlife is not something you can teach. You can have the best gear in the world but if you lack the desire you never will stick at this pastime.

Im so fortunate that i was brought up fishing for a variety of fish. I think if i had become an instant carp/bigfish angler i too would have become disolusioned. Its better to build up to fishing for these fish. Nowadays i fish mainly for "big" fish but when the going gets tough i still like nothing more than catching a nice bag of silvers on the waggler. I cant see an instant big fish angler with all the latest gear wanting to do that.

I agree with Danny, its in the blood. I have met people who are looking for a hobby and when they suggest fishing I am more than enthusiastic to introduce anyone. In my experience, its too cold, too early or what do you do whilst your waiting for a fish?

Fisherman are drawn to water and I feel fishing just finds the angler. I take my son fishing and started taking him catching mini-fish,. He is 11 and has caught a 12lb carp (on a float fished lob worm) and with coaching landed it himself.

Because we were chucking a few maggots into the margins because it attracted plagues of small perch, he insisted he wanted to catch some of the perch next (probably because they were easier and took less patience for the float to dip). I was just rather relieved because I didn't want his head turned or fishing reality destroyed.....

I can't go near water without my heart being tugged - Bridges, rivers, lakes, beaches, water crashing against rocks.......... Non-fisherman walk past a river and just see water, a fisherman see's and dreams about what takes place beneath the surface.................

actually what does annoy me is the perception that you need to have good quality gear to catch fish - Some of my students will seek me out at school - some are fisherman (some very good!!) Christmas's or a Birthday produces all gear needed to take the Carp fishing obsessive onto the nearest lake to become a carp angler. 'What sort of fisherman are you sir?' 'well i reply, anything with fins - picture of Bass, roach, chub and carp adorn my walls in the classroom so I can drift off and dream..... 'what sort of fishing do you do John?' - 'I'm a carp angler! had a PB at the weekend, only small- 18lb. want a thirty. whats your PB sir'. they are dissapointed when I say my PB is a 6lb chub from the river, my favourite captures were 3 bass from the beach to 5lb etc.... I see them in the coridoor a year later and ask 'how's your fishing going?' - ' I don't go any more, I'm selling my stuff,. I'm saving up for a motor cross bike'....................... 3lb rods, 15lb line, bolt rigs and buzzers takes you away from the essence of fishing and is not the place for a new angler to start - but for many, this is their only introduction and it is not sustainable for many. It is harder for anglers to get into fishing these days - because there is a perception this is the only way to start fishing......

Windy said:

Yes.
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That's very impressive for a barrister! The visits to the therapist must be working.

But seriously. I do wonder if I was born 40 years later whether I would have taken up fishing. I started fishing in Ireland on the Moy, but my passion was ignited on the gravel pits and streams of rural Leicestershire and the mucky canals and flashes of industrial Lancashire. My parents had no interest in fishing, but they didn't discourage me and I was allowed to spend (almost) as much time as I liked on my growing obsession.

Would I be allowed to do that in today's more dangerous world? Would catching pasties from the local puddle have fired my imagination in the same way? Is angling literature of the same quality and accessiblity available today.

I somehow doubt it.

I wouldn't "hate to start angling" if I was a tiny, fish- and fishing-struck four-and-a-half-year-old once more today, but am certain that I would find the starting and the going as far as I wanted to take things not only far more difficult but also, in many fields of Angling as they are now, downright impossible unless absolutely loaded or impeccably connected.

Firstly may I say what a wonder post that was from Chav Professor!

And for me YES! I would hate to start today! I started back in 1970, the world was a different place back then, I remember the 5 mile bike ride to my favorite pond to catch suicidal Rudd and Perch on flour paste! No books, mags or internet back then, but you found your own way forward, which was most of the fun!
I stopped fishing for a few years (girls beer and more girls) as most do, but I was still an angler, any puddle was looked into just wishing for a glimpse of Leviathan!
Met a new Guy at work who was also an angler, and he asked me to join him for the day, it was fantastic and a few hours latter we had a good mixed bag of Roach, Skimmers and Perch, and I have not looked back since!
I then in the last week of the old season caught my first ever Tench, followed 10 mins latter by another! Both 4lbs and stunning looking beasts, which fought with furry! Swing tip rod, 3lbs BS and a maggot feeder did the job!
Onto the next season, I was a "Tench" angler! And fished for them all the time, until on fateful day a guy came into my swim and said " I have just caught a Carp, want to see it?" At that time I had never seen a Carp before, let alone fished for them, as they were at the top of the tree back then, I went back to his swim, and in his landing net was the most awesome and colossal fish I had ever seen, this Mirror Carp was a stunning monster with huge scales and so many wonderful colours. The said monster weighed 12lbs!
And a Carp angler was born from that day to this! A 12lbs Carp today may not even warrant a pic! A mere "pasty"!
I have fished for and caught many different species, be that fresh, Sea of game, but nothing hits the spot for me as Carp, I love the whole experience that they give, from the take, the fight, the joy of landing them, watching them waddle away back to the depths, the bivvy, the bed, the cooking of a Curry in the middle of winter, the awesome dawn with a coffee in hand, and the Bleep! The droplets of dew as the line tightens......................................
No, for me it has to be back then, the whole circus of today's fishing would not bode well with me, a muddy hole in the ground, or a wild windswept gravel pit, I know which on I would choose! :w

Sean Meeghan said:

The visits to the therapist must be working.

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The therapist has entered a Trappist monastery.... something about needing the peace and quiet :wh

Some really good posts...I like what Chav prof said about not being able to pass a bit of water without thinking about fishing..yep..I bet I am not the only one who drives people mad by driving really slowly over any bridges ! ...its true as well how as Danny says its in the blood. When I started, like Salagot, the idea of catching a Carp was basically as remote as walking on the moon. If someone on the lake hooked one everyone would crowd round to watch it being landed...now people can go to a commercial and catch a double on their first trip. Its also interesting how the majority of people who have been anglers for a long time talk of the importance of variety and how they went through different periods after different fish...Like Sean & No knot however I am not sure I like everything about the modern scene & I have doubts wheter i would take it up today..

The thing is I think its getting too easy to catch. You dont have to struggle anymore, yet surely its the doubts and the anticipation that is the key ingredient for angling ? ...if catching becomes guaranteed and you take away the anticipation is the sport dead ?

What a good & thought provoking thread. Christian,Danny & Sean have just about summed it up for me and its too difficult a question to really answer if you have something to compare.Angling has changed so much in every possible way for those of us with a few miles under our belts. Someone starting now has none of that baggage.

As a kid of 11 I would have LOVED access to the sort of commercial waters available nowadays...but on balance I'm glad I served my apprenticeship when catching was not virtually guaranteed.

Yes. But I think you are doing a massive diservice really to new anglers. Ifished as a kid for about a year - 2 tops- stopped for about 15 years and started again in 2005. Never have I thought about just sat behind a set of buzzers and thinking that was it. I'll fish for carp, mainly off the surface, but like the ever silent majority, I'll catch owt.

Best bit, even only 5 or 6 years on, would be buying tackle with a clean slate. We've all bought howlers (me and anther "returner" made it up via magazine and guesswork as far as modern tackle and techinques were concerned) and I'd love to amble in to tackle shop and know how I want to fish and what I need and not fill the tackle-larder with all sorts of stuff I've never used.

I'd love to go back to when I started in 1967 knowing what I know now......never mind the gear.

S-Kippy said:

I'd love to go back to when I started in 1967 knowing what I know now......never mind the gear.

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..agree with that...imagine being the first one on the famous waters before the crowds arrived..

smee05 = 37yrs, first post.

erm, where to start?
i started fishing late last summer, call it fishing if you want but i borrowed a rod off a relative when bored on a camping holiday and caught a few fish.

enjoyed the trip, and said relative has spent a wedge of money on tackle for me for christmas, have since bought a couple of rods.

daunting?
absolutely, but loving reading all the various forums and videos on youtube.

just applied for my 2011 license by DD the other day, joining a local club with a few waters very soon.

other than that, not sure what else to say.

yours,
A n00b.

Welcome aboard Smee. Just get out and enjoy it and make sure you give the rivers a go.

Yep welcome to the forum and to angling mate.

Sounds to me like you a prime example of someone being bitten by the angling bug. What sort of fishing are you doing ...it is general float fishing with maggots and stuff or are you putting a rod out for Carp ?

Philip said:

..agree with that...imagine being the first one on the famous waters before the crowds arrived..

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I keep thinking of a couple of waters I used to fish as a lad which contained a good head of "uncatchable" carp .Cheesepaste was the "secret" bait that those in the know caught the odd fish on....sweetcorn and [say] meat just were not used. I reckon you'd have emptied the place on either and I dread to think what you might have done with a hair/bolt rig or a feeder.You float fished or you ledgered...that was about it and it was white maggot,bread or worm on the hook pretty well wherever you were or whatever you were fishing for.

Seems positively prehistoric now.I wonder how we caught anything at all !