A change of life

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA) · Oct 18, 2008

Reading a few comments by Graham the other day, I realised that none of us is getting any younger and must one day face up to the fact that there will be certain things we cannot do any more.

With myself, the biggest problem is the weight one has to carry, especially when going on a coarse fishing trip to a river.

So I have made my decision - coarse fishing with baits, groundbaits, multiple rods and such trammelsis out. That will be hard because I do like my roach fishing.

In comes trout fishing and lure fishing for pike and perch. I have made a firm promise that from now on, I will only carry one rod and reel with me when I go fishing. my fly box and a couple of plastic lures will not take up much room.

But let's have YOUR tips for keeping the weight down. When I see the crap that some anglers carry these days, I have several ministrokes coupled with apoplexy. There has to be an answer.

KAR · Oct 18, 2008

My tip would just be take what you need not what you want. So many anglers take everything and they don't use half of it so this is just unneccesary weight.

Paul (Brummie) Williams · Oct 18, 2008

Ron.....i too love my roach fishing....

I'm geared up for it in the morning, the Severn is clear and i suspect the temp is dropping so i am heading for a lake that holds a fair few big roach.....i used to fish it two rods/ buzzer style and all the weight that it entails.

My roach gear is now down to a float road and a Q tip rod, a tube of wagglers and a tube of sticks.......other bits are light.

I have a rucksack that takes a very light chair....the rods are in tubes in a quiver with net handle rests etc........i use a keepnet for roach fishing ( a good one) that and other bits go in a net bag.

I can walk for miles if need be, with one hand still free.................and my catch rate has hit an all time high.......even tho i don't use fluro /forum/smilies/tongue_out_smiley.gif

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA) · Oct 18, 2008

There are two things I possess that I wouldn't be without.

1: A Chapman shoulder bag that takes my big Richard Wheatley fly box as well as a fly reel and spare spools with floating, sinking and intermediate lines.

2: A Bob Church Vest which takes things like hooks and small bits and bobs.

I also have a stool which I cut down from a mini rucksack. The problem is that even this thing is too heavy at 3 lbs.I wish they would make the metal parts of aircraft grade aluminium or titanium. Come the thinkof it, a lot could be done with carbon fibre.

Derek Gibson · Oct 18, 2008

Hampering oneself with a mountain of gear is really only an option for the young. As one gets older, to face an outing with the bare minimum of gear in some way compensates for the ravages of old father time. Now some of you guys are discovering what I have been doing for years.

Brummie, lure fishing is the way to go in your piking mate, you can trust me on that. Changing swims with the minimum of effort opens up all new horisons.

Paul (Brummie) Williams · Oct 18, 2008

Derek,

My first ever 20 came on a spinner so i guess it's time i had a look at lures again.............i remember all to well those long walks with 3 rods and all the gear and a large bucket to boot lol.

I spend a lot of time on the Wye......and lives are banned in some places so i may well take your advice very soon.

Luckily i'm still a fit 53 so i can still hack a walk.

Paul H · Oct 18, 2008

Clive who posts on here as 'the compact angler' has made travelling light into an art form although I haven't seen him posting recently.

I've had to learn to take substantially less tackle over the last year or so as ****y keeps making me walk further and further to new swims on the Severn. I used to take two rods and tackle to fish for maybe barbel and predators but lugging feeder mix, dead-baits, all the different end tackle, spare spools of mono and braid etc... was leaving me exhausted by the time we reached our pegs.

I not only get there ready to start fishing now but also fish much more effectively for the one species instead of wondering whether to stop zandering and start barbelling all day.

Wolfman Woody · Oct 18, 2008

"I used to take two rods and tackle to fish for maybe barbel and predators"

A saying I came across in a recent magazine "He who has one watch knows the right time. He who has two watches is never sure."

/forum/smilies/thinking_smiley.gif

I suppose that means you can have as much, if not more, fun taking one rod as you can taking two, but which one to take? If you follow Murphy's laws it will always be the wrong one.

Paul (Brummie) Williams · Oct 18, 2008

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Paul Howarth wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>

Clive who posts on here as 'the compact angler' has made travelling light into an art form although I haven't seen him posting recently.

I've had to learn to take substantially less tackle over the last year or so as ****y keeps making me walk further and further to new swims on the Severn. I used to take two rods and tackle to fish for maybe barbel and predators but lugging feeder mix, dead-baits, all the different end tackle, spare spools of mono and braid etc... was leaving me exhausted by the time we reached our pegs.

I not only get there ready to start fishing now but also fish much more effectively for the one species instead of wondering whether to stop zandering and start barbelling all day. </blockquote>

LOL.....it is so easy to fall into the trap you mention Paul, epecially on the Severn, but you are right, you have to make a decision and fish to the best of your abilities for the chosen species.

I usually fish one rod for barbel nowadays when a walk is on the cards.

Paul H · Oct 18, 2008

Whenever I do use two rods the majority of fish always seem to fall to one of them anyhow. I mostly use just one now and bait up a second swim in the margins then cast to that later on if things go quiet further out.

I'll still take two if it's not a long walk or if I'm fishing for a couple of days.

I'm currently trying to find a good telescopic landing net handle, something that collapses to around 4 feet or so in length, the shorter the better really for ease of transport, but extending to 6 foot or more and strong enough for barbel, pike and zander.

slime monster · Oct 18, 2008

The day you throw it out is the day you may need it..

Paul (Brummie) Williams · Oct 18, 2008

Paul..........i have tried em all, i settled on on one in partic and loved it, to cut a long story short i have it no more.

I now use a Drennan specialist, for everthing from roach to Carp, not the best in every situation but certainlly the best at the moment to cover evey situation if you get my drift.

Paul B · Oct 18, 2008

Ron Here's a stool made from aluminium weighs 1lb or 0.5kg in new money. And it's down a fiver in price since I got mine! The top is a material similar to the korum lightweight chair I.E. holey(?) nylon so it doesn't pool water in the rain. May not be as high as your existing chair though.

Steve Holland · Oct 18, 2008

One good investment I made was in an armed forces style assault vest. Plenty oif storage space on it plus even when loaded you dont actually feel the weight once its on your shoulders. Regarding rods etc. when barbelling I use 2 rods, 2 banksticks and have a telescopice Daiwa net pole, these are strapped together with a pair of velcro rod bands. I'll have a collapsible bait bucket with bait in. I can walk miles with that gear. If I'm piking I take even less. 1 pike rod, 1 lure rod, landingnet and bait bag with odd bits and pieces of end tackle, a length of pipe lagging with twin treble rigs attatched and of course the unhooking tools. Light as hell. I dont even bother with a seat if I'm roving.

Chris Bettis · Oct 19, 2008

Paul B.

I have a stool similar to the one you mention. Mine was an Efgeefco folding aluminium chair. The back snapped after 20 odd years of use, so I removed the broken bits leaving a stool. Big advantage here apart from low (very low) weight is that the front legs are adjustable. Not so comfortable, or as versatile as my Korum lightweight chair but so easy to carry and it does let me sit down. At my age sitting on the bank is not an option. I can get down OK but getting up again is rather more of a problem (impossible to be correct!) I use a shoulder bag (the stool goes under the flap) a vest for bits and pieces and 1 rod, 1 bank stick,landing net (28 inch diameter folding type). The heaviest item is my flask of coffeee. Lighter when empty on the return! The rod is either a john Watson Avon or barbel quiver so I have an 11ft Avon, an 11ft quiver.a 13ft float and a 13ft quiver in one rod. The Avon is my favourite. It has landed carp to eighteen pounds,roach on my last trip from 1.5 to just under 2lbs with ease and is a real pleasure to use with its smashing through action. Rod bands are super to secure rods etc (Not made up!). Before a trip I get all my gear out on the garage floor and sort into 2 piles. Needed and not needed. I then go through the needed pile and reduce it again. We never carried all this gear years ago when we went by public transport or by push bike did we.

Bob Roberts · Oct 19, 2008

Ron,

Having spent much of this summer's fishing time making the barbel DVD's, Stu and I have been fishing with one rod between two anglers most of the time and we have caught plenty of fish, so one rod all to yourself shouldn't be too much of a hardship. After all, as a Walker disciple you must be familiar with his comment, "When the fish are feeding two rods is too many. When they're not feeding, one is too many!"

If I were you I'd treat myself to a Pride of Derby, Derby Railwayor Burton Mutual ticket and go stalking chub and barbel on the Dove. Generally the banks are flat, the water is clear, parking not too far from the river and it's nowhere near as busy as you might expect, especially in midweek, providing you keep away from the circus tents. I can drive onto the bank on the lower Plength, it's in a flat field and there must be 20 or more feature swims to go at.

The chub are of an excellent stamp with lots of four pound fish (and bigger). The barbel are pretty prolific, too. I've also had wild brown trout and grayling. The perch are overlooked but run to a fair old size.For chubbing, abag of liquidised bread weighs next to nowt and you don't need to carry a seat.

To be honest, Ron, I think you'll enjoy your fishing more now you've cast off the shackles of dragging all that gear around with you. I know I do.

Graham Whatmore · Oct 19, 2008

Anglers traditionally take far too much gear "just in case" and as anyone who has been fishing with Peter Jacobs will know some even take half a fishing warehouse. Matchmen are the worlds worst for this and even their rod bag would break a donkeys back to say nothing of their container load of bait "just in case."

I have, over the last few years, had to cut down to a bare minimum level and even that is becoming increasingly hard to carry on long slogs along the river. I learned through trial and error exactly what I needed for a day on the river or pool (I take the same gear) and is a laughably small amount compared to what I used to take, my only concession is a different chair for pool and river and rarely take a brolly. All of my tackle bits and pieces plus bait is in a Korum small bag (what a great bit of kit that is) and my rods are made up and readied at home and transported in a very light quiver.

The major problem is the chair. I use a Korum lightweight chair for the pools which doesn't usually entail a lot of walking and I have a Nash Nomad for the river but it is very low and doesn't do my back one bit of good. I am seriously considering just taking a Korum inflatable unhooking mat on the river and seeing if I can manage with that though I suspect itmay bea bit uncomfortable.

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA) · Oct 19, 2008

Ja well Bob there was also another Walker saying that said "one rod to catch the fish, the other rod to experiment with".

Thank's for all the comments chaps, you have given me new hope.

Bob Roberts · Oct 19, 2008

And what about trundling meat? You could chuck in at Crankley point and get most of the way to Holme Marsh without recasting? No gear required whatsoever to speak of.

Nip round the weir and you could walk most of Collingham, too.

Chin up man, your catches will probably improve!

Chris Hammond ( RSPB ACA PAC} · Oct 19, 2008

Ron,

I pride myself on being able to travel incredibly lightly when the occasion calls for it. Without any doubt the key thing is to know the venue you're going to fish intimately. Knowing what a particular water will be doing in any given weather situation means you can pick a tactic and a species that you know will be suited to the day.

Once you've established exactly what you are targetting, and how, you can reduce your kit to minute proportions. If you think about it, for instance,you could get the terminal tackle neccesary to long trot maggots for roach in a single cigar case. In fact I can pocket just about every thing tackle wise for any method and species with a little thought.

If you are set on weighing and photographing fish then there's a little extra to tote, but with the fantastic modern digital camerasit doesn't have to amount to much. A single telescopicbankstick does me for a landing net pole, a camera stand and a peg to tie a sack or tube, or pin the landing net, if wanting to momentarily rest a fish while setting up the camera.

If I want to pike fish with baits at a distant mark I use the carrying bag for one of those fold up garden chairs to house the bankstick and my landing net, hold a single, or pair of made up rods and reels in one handand get camera, scales, bait and flask in a tiny little rucksack. All I need is a couple of spare traces, a pair of spare floats, a little scrap mono,a few beads and runringsand a couple of leads, and I can get all of that in a pocket or two. This way I can walk for literally miles quite comfortably.

A change of life

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