Angling Stalemate

Personally I think that fishing in general is going nowhere at the moment.

I'll re-phrase that. I think that fishing in general is on the verge of going back to how it used to be.
I feel that the day of the glory hunter or the big fish movement is over.
Be honest. Don't you think that things on the fishing scene are a bit on the dull side?
How exciting is it reading about Jack the lad catching the biggest barbel anymore. In the angling press all you get is the usual photo, weight, and brief description of where the Big fish was caught.

On F.M. we get storrys of the stick float more often than we used to do. Blokes haveing a mouch about in the undergrowth looking out for shoals of roach, dace, or chub.
I am seeing more of it every week now near enough. Even the pleasure side of angling seems to be getting more and more competative. Time to take a backward step don't you think?

More often than not. When I go fishing nowadays. The things on my mind are, the walk across the meadow, what wildlife is there about? Trying to imagine the sound of the river running over the rocks. Did my mate fall in or was he pushed? (o

Running for the best peg is a mugs game.

We're all getting old Baz. That's what it is.

You've been after tench too long Baz!

What's that noise?

That trickle that turns into a torrent of white water?

It's a river!

Each to their own. And it must be an age thing!

I've been a mad keen match angler, stalked big barbel and chub for weeks on end, rushed to get "that swim", but nowadays I can honestly say I get the biggest kick out just going fishing.

I had a small net of good quality roach last week from my local river. Nothing over 12oz, but all pristine and caught on the stick/centrepin/flake combination. Only fished for a couple hours till dusk but loved every minute of it.

For me, that's what it's all about now. Maybe I have taken a backward step to the good old days!!

Mind you, the lake next to the river had about a dozen bivvies on it, probably all looking for the one 40lb+ that occassionally agrees to make someones day.

I tend to agree with you Baz, all we seem to read about now , is the biggest of everything even the fish that anglers go abroad to catch like 80lb carp now. Ok they go for them and they catch them ,best of luck to them. Super 300lb nets of carp from commercials. Just read the results of matches in the times even now that the rivers are open.It's carp weight this carp weight that,An awful lot in the 100lb plus bracket to win. I'm not going at the carp anglers it just happens to be the most sought after species at the moment. But nobody really can dispute that a good days fishing is the best, that sound of the river running .
And maybe over the day having a nice assortment of fish in your net ,chub,dace,roach,perch plus the pesky minnows and the gudgeon.The fish you might expect to catch from a run of the mill river. Just floating it 'til it's pulled under and not knowing what it is.
I was out of fishing for a few years due to ill health maybe 3-4years and when i came back the amount of emphasis on carp fishing predominately due to the commercials was stagggering.I spoke to the owner of a big tackle shop near myself and asked him where all the wagglers and stickfloats were. Sure he had them but nothing like they use to stock number wise. And he simply said that 95% of his business now on angling was for the carp. That is shocking really when you think of the number of species we have in our lakes and rivers. I mean most of us in our forties and upwards grew up on the rivers to start and a lot of anglers especially the matchmen understandably turned to commercials because the guarantee was virtually in stone that you will catch.

part 2:-
Whereas the rivers as we all know couldn't give you that guarantee.So nowadays if and when some young lad starts his fishing he reads or sees that nearly everyone is fishing commercials or club waters dominated by carp.Nothing wrong with carp, but it's the overstocking of the fisheries .Would it be to easy for a youngster to soon get bored of fishing if everytime he went fishing at his club he was catching 30-50lb of fish, you bet your life he will.And he will simply stop fishing , No challenge. I would soon get peed off if everytime i went somewhere i bagged up. Where is the lad going to learn his watercraft? or is he going to bother to even think about such a thing. Can you honestly say that watercraft comes into it on some of the heavily stocked commercials for a beginner. Matchmen yes they do need to show that extra bit of knowledge to win matches especially if they can do it consistently. But to just catch ,i reckon any novice could go on some of these waters and get a half decent net.
So its either going to be a case of there's going to be some horrible disease hit the commercials one day and practically wipe them out.
Or the anglers that fish the matches are going to start to think , "Hang-on a minute why aren't i enjoying this anymore" and start to wonder to himself "I'm sitting here week after week with the same blokes catching the same fish,and we're all using the same bait in virtually the same type of swims" . "Wheres the thrill gone that i use to have of winkling a big chub out from under that tree in a match knowing that that could help me frame"
Everything seems to go by size nowadays biggest is best attitude. Why cant people just take their kit and wander down the river enjoy the scenery catch a few fish of whatever species turns up and go home pleased that the day was relaxing ,they were out in the fresh air and everything is fine. Instead of fishing and feeding every 30 seconds .Where's the enjoyment in that i just cant see it. Sure a match is a match but people do this when pleasure fishing for gawds sake. I just reckon angling in general has got too commercial we must have this or that , and he's got that super sonar amplifying fish finding machine that gives you the weight of the fish swimming by. I want one a camouflaged one if possible in-case the fish climbs up on his mates back and spots it. The whole thing is going to come crashing down in the nest 4-5 years how i don't know but as quick as it built up it will fall down.Then the rivers will get back into the popularity they once had , and the lads coming into it can learn their watercraft. Because i would of said that nowadays commercials of one sort or another have the majority of anglers.I suppose the rivers have had a rest though.
O.K.thats my two pennyworth. Perhaps i'm just getting old as well.

Whatever you do, wherever you go and whatever you fish for, you always come back to fishing rivers in the end.

I've noticed a change in my fishing or should say the ammount of tackle I don't take anymore. I've gone back to rivers the past three years and only take a small rucksac, no mountains of bait or loads of extra feeders.

Don't get me wrong. There is lots of watercraft needed in any aspect of our sport. But the media just don't put it across that way. Especially with the big fish catches. Maybe they haven't got the space? So why not cut down on the number of big name anglers every week, and give them a chance to think for a change?

If you want to read about fishing then come to a website like this one. If you want to read who caught the big one from Lake Fiddlemore. Then read the angling press but that is all you will get. Who caught it and what on. I'm afraid the angling papers don't do anything for angling or me anymore. In my opinion that is.

When Chris Yates did his series of articles in the A.T. that was brilliant. And that is what we need more of. That is the kind of thing that will entice people into fishing. I don't want to read that the Traveller or Big Belly has been out again for the second time this month caught on a secret bait by Kelvin Smash. What is so flaming interesting or captivating about that? Month after month. Bluddie hell it's warm.

Ah Ah - you are all getting old.

The way to stop boredom in my opinion is variety.

For example this year alone I have caught some nice roach, a double figure pike, a fair few tench and bream, six snigs, a few chub, 115 rainbow trout, three brown trout, one carp, some nice rudd, although not the big ones I was after, and 6 barbel to just short of double figures. I would have had a zander too, only it got off.

And in catching these fish I have used about 10 different styles of angling.

If you go about your fishing like that, you never get bored. Become an all-round angler is what I say!

Oh and I forgot about the perch - 1lb 10oz!! )

i have only started fishing again this year after about 2 years away doin other things, i have been fishing the douglas near wigan and it is like being born again, little chub, roach,perch and little brownies. it has been fantastic.no-one around the wigan area fishes douglas at all,its all 'commercials'. what a waste, i'm having the time of my life trotting bread and worm while the kingfishers race by.who prefers to sit around surrounded by 30 other pegs dragging old battered fat carp in? looking like arnie schwarzenegger in predator?

by the way ron and baz ive very much enjoyed some of your comments on other threads especially about perch,the prince of fishes.....keep it up ,its inspirational!

And talking of Chris Yates, the older I get, the more I tend to value his writings.

I now want to build up a collection of his books. I have only the one - "Falling In Again".

But I'm not going to get a load of ancient tackle and a moth-eaten Norfolk jacket!!

I'm actually older than Chris did you know.

)

do you remember passion for angling? the only fishing programme my girlfriend would watch!

Read Deepening Pool and Casting at the Sun asap Ron!

The Deepeninig Pool is my favourite book of all time, always makes me want to go fishing immediatly.

Back to the question, when i got back into coarse fishing again i fished a local commercial near brighton for carp ( i used to fish for carp on't canal at tinsley in sheffield years ago). Back then, if i caught 3 carp in a day, i was having a very good day (i was'nt very good back then....), however at the commercial it was 3 carp in half an hour most days. It was great fun at first, until i started to notice the split fins, scars, ripped lips, missing eyes etc....not my cup of yorkshire tea ( for hard water) i'm afraid.

So, after talking to a few people, started fishing the local(ish) rivers (mole, adur, ouse),blimey, i you cant keep me away now!!

And its not only the fish is it? Dawn on a tiny river mile from the nearest person is where its at for me, watching the world awaken. pure bliss!!!

I think this sums it up.A freind asked me if i have a bad day if i blank, to which i replied, how can you have a bad day when you see all these incredle creatures and plants, smells and sounds, and as for the lack of fish, i'm already planning how to do it differently next time!!!

regards

Marcus

I cannot believe the price that some of the Chris Yates books are fetching!! "Casting at the Sun" at up to ?250.

I have "Falling In Again", a pristine first edition I picked up for ?10 a few weeks ago in now on sale for ?100.00.

You're falling behind, Ron. Chris Yates has a new book out - "How to Fish", all about fishing Commercials on the pole, haulin', baggin, brewin', and all that.

Going back to Baz's original thoughts, it is hard to see a trend back to the stick float days for the majority of young anglers. I can see that those who grew up on the active river fishing scene (myself included) will want to re-sample those pleasures after deciding that passively sitting besides motioness buzzers is dull, but the youngsters mostly know nothing else.

Is fishing stagnating? Perhaps, but the news that some match clubs are tiring of carp, carp and more carp will result in more varied fishing, and some of the younger ones will get to try their hand on running water in a way that isn't carbelling. But isn't it always the perogative of youth to follow the latest fashion, in this case instant carp fishing? As teenagers 30 years ago, we were all trying to emulate the top match anglers with the latest gear, and cocking a snook at the oldies with their porcupine quills whilst ordering the latest Ivan Marks floats by mail order. today starting kit is baiting needles and three matched rods and reels.

Fishing will move on; quite how I don't know. I think the carp bubble will burst, whether caused by limits on stocking levels or the introduction of carp viruses.