''The best is yet to come.''

Derek Gibson · Oct 17, 2015

Realistically, some of us on here have seen the ''best'' in terms of years. And whilst we are ''still'' passionate about the sport, know that it's unlikely that we could recapture our glory days due to a number of factors.

But, how about you?

no-one in particular · Oct 17, 2015

To be honest I don't see it like that, its an on going process until I keel over. Next year I might have the best fish of my life time, who knows. I have got lazier for sure, but my enthusiasm does not wane, always something new comes up.
Being a **** angler might be the key, have not had many glory days to recapture, still waiting for them

wanderer · Oct 17, 2015

Derek didn't say he had lost his enthusiasm, he said as I do, that he has to accept the limitations of age and mobility, I would love to do what I used to, hump tons of kit miles around venues and spend vast ammounts of time on the bank, marriage , mortgages , and finally the closing years of life, limit you somewhat. A man never grows up, the child is simply shackled by necessity, it lives in us all, from birth to death, I would love to play football again, but a heart attack would probably be the price, you have to gauge your activities and there limits to your age, unfortunately.

steve2 · Oct 17, 2015

The far side of the lake is now sometimes to far. Walking miles along the river bank I still think I can do, till I try it. But my love of fishing is still there, just now a bit more limited.
My "glory" days of chasing Barbel, Roach, Chub on the Avon and Stour, Pike on the Fens are now relived in my mind.

no-one in particular · Oct 17, 2015

Right , got it, sorry Derek, mis-understood the thread. Oh for the glory days when I understood everything clearly. Wish they could come back,its all a bit of a fog these days.

Physically, can still walk a bit but, I do leap out of bed in the mornings and wonder where my bodies gone, I look round and its still in the bed. It does join me eventually so, I have got used to it.

sam vimes · Oct 17, 2015

Whilst I may, if I'm lucky, have a few more years left to me than many on here, I couldn't honestly say. Far too many imponderables come into the equation. From the mundane issues that affect all, health and wealth, your own and family, to the piscine variables that we can't do a great deal about. My syndicate could continue to develop and yield fish of dreams, or it could go down the pan, for a multitude of reasons. The local rivers and streams could upturn, and produce specimens bigger than they ever have before, or they could end up in a worse state than ever before.

All I can keep doing is plodding on and hone my angling skills along the way. If a multitude of other factors come together, I'll do better than ever before. All I can really do is live in hope. As long as I continue to catch what's actually available to me within the limitations of my means and locality, I'll be quite content.

stu_the_blank · Oct 17, 2015

I'm well past my best in most things but I still enjoy every minute on the bank. This year, my fishing time has been severely curtailed by personal family matters but that seems to be behind me now and planning to get back into it.

It's difficult to define glory days because many species of fish are so much bigger now.

In the 70's, a 10lb Carp, 5lb Tench, 7lb Bream etc were very big fish, now? How do you compare?

I can't sit on the broads or fens in the winter day after day any more but you adjust to accomodate what you can do (without ending up in hospital).

I may be past it, but I'm going to carry on until I can't!

Stu

wanderer · Oct 17, 2015

stu_the_blank said:
I'm well past my best in most things but I still enjoy every minute on the bank. This year, my fishing time has been severely curtailed by personal family matters but that seems to be behind me now and planning to get back into it.

It's difficult to define glory days because many species of fish are so much bigger now.

In the 70's, a 10lb Carp, 5lb Tench, 7lb Bream etc were very big fish, now? How do you compare?

I can't sit on the broads or fens in the winter day after day any more but you adjust to accomodate what you can do (without ending up in hospital).

I may be past it, but I'm going to carry on until I can't!

Stu

What you say about the size of the fish is true, breeding ,, carp puddles, and commercials have made it a different ball game, the fish you mentioned were not necessarally large specimens for there day but they were something special for the average angler who didn't have access to the more elite waters. As it stands today, everyones expectations have been lifted, unfortunately this results in anglers pursuing targets, rather than simply enjoying the pleasure of angling, a lost pleasure, or never realised for most, in the pursuit of those rapidly increasing weights, all very sad.

binka · Oct 17, 2015

In all honesty I really feel as though I've reached my prime right now, I would like to think there is better to come but I'm enjoying my fishing so much and turning in some decent results occasionally.

There will of course come a day when I can't manage what I'm currently doing but if I can sit by a stream and scratch a few gudgeon then that will be a prime of a different kind, namely that of pure pleasure with what will hopefully be a wealth of history, experience and captures under my belt without any need to consider anything else other than that float blipping away before it goes under.

bracket · Oct 17, 2015

I am still able to do all the things I have always done, but at a slower pace with less dexterity and considerably less sustainability. Nowadays, for me it is the doing of it that is important, not so much the level at which I now perform. Being acutely aware that the sand is passing through the hourglass a lot faster than it use to, I try to fish two or three times a week and enjoy every minute of it , win, lose or draw. I have friends who claim they are too busy to fish. My standard reply to that is "When six of your best mate's are carrying you up that long road to Boot Hill you'll wish you had found time to do all the things you never had time for". Me, I will keep going until I peg out. Pete.

dorsetandchub · Oct 17, 2015

Like most aspects of my life, my fishing carries a series of aspirations, some of which I have achieved, some not. None of those aspirations are so entrenched as to be life shattering if not achieved.

I'm enjoying my fishing more and more as time goes on and that, for me, is good enough.

As time has progressed, I've misplaced the love of hauling match kit and heavy boxes over hundreds of pegs. Nowadays, it's about travelling light and exploring and enjoying the river and its environs.

I feel, like John Milton, blessed to have been born an Englishman, free to pay modest fees and fish some wonderful waters and caught some wonderful, beautiful fish.

My fishing changes with me and as I do. I sometimes think of it as the ideal wife and life partner and, God willing, it shall continue to do so for a wee while yet but, should it all stop soonest, I can have no complaints - only wonderful memories.

Best to all.

seth49 · Oct 17, 2015

On the fishery my mate and I joined this year, there's one regular who is ninety years old.
Carrys his own gear to his peg,and does a good eight hour session,his son goes with him and he's older than me, and I'm sixty six.
Be nice to think I had another twenty four years ahead of me, but I doubt it.
At least I'm enjoying my retirement,fishing at least twice a week, and being able to pick my days with the best conditions.
Still fairly fit, and able to do most things,just a bit slower,but there's no rush nowadays,just enjoying life.

smudger172 · Oct 17, 2015

Is this only for the old gits. Every post sounds like its from the geriatric side of fm.. Me. I am still carrying way to much, too far, but i do not get my bus pass until next year.
If the best is yet to come good. If not i am happy with the way it is now..

---------- Post added at 13:14 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------

smudger172 said:
Is this only for the old gits. Every post sounds like its from the geriatric side of fm.. Me. I am still carrying way to much, too far, but i do not get my bus pass until next year.
If the best is yet to come good. If not i am happy with the way it is now..

sorry posted this before reading the sad thread.........

bracket · Oct 17, 2015

smudger172 said:
Is this only for the old gits. Every post sounds like its from the geriatric side of fm.. Me. I am still carrying way to much, too far, but i do not get my bus pass until next year.
If the best is yet to come good. If not i am happy with the way it is now..

---------- Post added at 13:14 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------

sorry posted this before reading the sad thread.........

Smudge. Looks like the first signs of senility to me mate. Get a grip. Pete (a really old git)

smudger172 · Oct 17, 2015

bracket said:
Smudge. Looks like the first signs of senility to me mate. Get a grip. Pete (a really old git)

Not sure how to read this................

Derek Gibson · Oct 18, 2015

smudger172 said:
Is this only for the old gits. Every post sounds like its from the geriatric side of fm.. Me. I am still carrying way to much, too far, but i do not get my bus pass until next year.
If the best is yet to come good. If not i am happy with the way it is now..

---------- Post added at 13:14 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------

sorry posted this before reading the sad thread.........

It's true, none of us can know what's around the corner. Take me for example, into my mid sixties I thought I was immortal and could handle anything fate threw at me. I regularly covered five or six miles of bank during any lure session in any weather and absolutely loved it, and in all humility was highly successful. Now my fishing time is by neccessity very restricted, so really my best is behind me. But I still get out, just less frequently, as do many of the other ''geriatric'' posters on this thread. And I think that says it all.

no-one in particular · Oct 18, 2015

smudger172 said:
Not sure how to read this................

With humorist irony

ciprinus · Oct 18, 2015

sam vimes said:
All I can keep doing is plodding on and hone my angling skills along the way

i had to laugh when i read that quote by sam as i find myself pondering a problem, maybe tweaking a hooklink or sumsuch only to realize that i have sat thru the exact same problem on numerous occasions.
at my age its more like honing my memory skills

to answer the OP, yes my best years (fitness wise) may be behind me but my fishing of today is much more varied, more sedentary and much much more enjoyable to me, so roll on twilight years

dorsetandchub · Oct 18, 2015

smudger172 said:
Not sure how to read this................

From left to right is probably best

I don't think of myself, at 49, to be ancient but I DO acknowledge the changes over 40 years fishing

Bob Hornegold · Oct 18, 2015

I suppose it depends what your Personal Bests are and how you fish ?

In the last 15 years I have broken all my P.Bs except Roach and Rudd.

The rest have improved because a number of factors have come into play, mainly where I live and the explosion of natural food in the shape of Signal Crayfish.

Every Big fish I have caught from the Lea valley area has coughed up Crayfish parts in the Keepnet or Landing net.

That includes Chub, Carp, Perch, Pike and Zander !!

As for my health, it not wonderful, but I try to get out one day or night a week, my rigs have not altered much, the tackle I use has gone backwards.

My determination to catch fish is just as strong, I just choose the venues more carefully.

Bob

''The best is yet to come.''

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