Fishing - Solitary Or Social?

Nice article Graham. I tend to move between the 'two states'.
I enjoy fishing and having a laugh with pals, its a good way of unwinding.
I also enjoy the odd match as the banter here is great too.
Like wise I enjoy the solitude wandering along the river picking my swim and fishing as long or short in each peg as i feel I need to.
Sometimes it's just nice to get away for a couple of hours just to get some peace from the daily grind.....
However, I think one of my favourites is to fish a river in winter after chub, with a mate or two, and fish each peg down the river for 20 mins or so and have a chat on the way past each other, stop off for a cuppa etc.
You can cover a lot of water with a variety of baits and methods and share everything along the way.
In fact, I'm gonna spend some time now checking the 'family diary' to sort out the next few weekends.

I flip between the various states aswell.
Although I started fishing on my own and still do so, to a greater extent, I'm finding the pal/group sessions to be ever more enjoyable.
Obviously the company one keeps has a large bearing on how enjoyable these sessions are.

Great article, I'm definitely one of the social ones. I feel cheated if I get a good fish and can't admire it with someone. After all a picture never does justice to a special fish !

I have no choice...very solitary....as there are only a few coarse anglers in my area I very rarely see someone else when fishing..and even then, its normally a case of two of us sharing 400 acres of water..lol Its a real bugger when i get a good fish and the only person around to get a good picture is a mile away on the other side of the loch.

I find it difficult when i fish down south as if an angler is in the next swim, i feel crowded..lol

I agree a great article. If I had a choice I prefer to fish with mates, passes the time away, put the world to rights and so on. Plus I can nick there grub and drinks and cadge what ever I have forgotton to bring.

as I said, the company depends on the level of enjoyment..........

Yes it was a good read, something different. Personally I use fishing as a complete escape mechanism and have only fished about 5 times with people. Like Barney says, its nice to have someone admire a catch (I wish), but even when I go with a mate, we tend to spend the time in solitude. Just preference really.

Basically I fish alone and although occasionally I bump into other guys on the rive bank and exchange the odd word as to who’s catching what, 95% of the time I’m on my own. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy fishing with others it’s just the way it seems to have worked out. No one else in the village coarse fishes, they’re all into fly-fishing in well-stocked fisheries, and no one at work fishes. If I want to catch the big bream in the river Lune then I have to fish at night and that again is 95% of the time on my own. The strange thing about fishing at night on my own is, the more isolated the swim the safer I feel. Birds, bugs, animals and things that go bump in the night haven’t yet bothered me, but drunks and idiots I can do without. I do enjoy the idea of fishing expeditions and projects involving a mate but I don’t think I’m into the regular fishing trips with mates, even if I had the opportunity. As a lad when I lived in Accrington and I did have the opportunity to fish with other lads, most of the time I remember fishing on my own. Unlike Graham I think I’m going the opposite way, more towards being a loner but it’s not a conscious decision.

If im out roving my local river i prefer to be alone,some of the jungle i have to fight or crawl through leads to swimms so tight,or right on top of the fish.
Also early morning sessions on a lake or static on a river will normaly be me on my own,thats if i dont over sleep.
I do like the company of some of my angling mates,one or two of them turn up like pack horses and sound like the invasion of poland others like the SAS.I wouldnt know they were there,some chit chat,share a brew or cigi have a joke or take the p*** .I dont like loud,roudy drunken louts or radios on the bank.

Depends on my mood. Sometimes I like having a sneak around somewhere all on my own, other times company helps you keep things focussed, laugh off the blanks and lost fish and gives you a sounding board for ideas.

I think as you get older your values change and you look for different things from your fishing.