Best Times Of Our Lives

I’m not sure if this is a whinge, a moan, or simply in awe of what used to be.

I was watching an angling programme all about Carp fishing on the canals, they were using floating crust. Oh yes I thought, this is something I can relate to, as I have done a lot of it on my local canal not too many years ago. Only about 12 – 15 years ago in fact.

The angler in question set about showing us the set up and tackle he was using. You must have one of these he said, it gives you the added weight that you “need” to chuck your floating crust across to the other side. It was a controller float. The width of the canal the Grand Union was 14 mtrs wide. Then he had his bivvie set up, or a day shelter with all the parafinalia that goes with it. Rods were on bank sticks “almost” parallel to the bank. I say “rods” because he was Carp fishing, and as we all know, Carp anglers MUST use two rods no matter where they are, and that is what the Carp angler of today have had drummed into them. Oh and two large white buckets to warn cyclists that you were there. Just in case they couldn’t see you inside your bivvie.<u>Continued.......</u>

i think ive seen that one.

Kev Green isnt it.........he goes crazy when he's in hahahaha.......its like its his first fish every time /forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif

is that the one where he uses a pole to puthis rig near the boat/sunken decking or something/forum/smilies/eye_rolling_smiley.gif

Baz are you looking back to less complicated fishing with a man and rod v fish scenario? i can relate to that ..you dont need a sledge hammer to crack a nut as they say.

That's the one clive. Also spot on Slime mate.

For some reason I couldn't post the rest of the thread. So you'll have to make it up yourselves. (-:

I've typed it out again.

<u>Here's how I did it.</u>

A two minuet walk from my house would put me on the canal bank. my single rod was a 1.75 Harrison test curve, 11 foot long. No weights on the line, just a bare hook with a piece of crust on it. The crust would be dunked into the canal for extra casting weight, which was plenty for 12 - 14 mtrs. A sideways flick would see the crust smack against the wall on the opposite bank.

My single rod would be lay down on the grass verge paralell to the canal with the bail arm open (no banksticks) why would I need them? I would always be stood no more than 4 feet from my rod in case of a take, or to watch for passing cyclists. It really wasn't a problem. And why would I need a bivvy? I could catch as many Carp as I wanted to in a few hours short session. Long sessions or overnighters had hardly ever been heard of.

Another bonus point was that if the following evening I decided to target Bream, I could do so. The next evening might be Roach and so on. whatever the target fish, I knew where and how to fish for them with minimum tackle. I might even decide to have a go before going to work, things were that simple and easy.

Why is it that I am now lumbered down with gear that I will never probably use on the day? Is it because the mags are telling me I must have this, that, and the other? I am really gratefull that I was on the canals at a time before the mags began to educate me. I am also gratefull for knowing somebody as good as myself.

I was talking to one of the lads on another lake yesterday. He told me how he had been pre-baiting a spot for two weeks. And how a "friend" of his had spent the previous day thrashing his swim to a white foam with a marker float trying to find where his clear spot was that he had been baiting up. Then he said, I think I'll find a spot where nobody else fishes and bait that up instead. You are living in a dream world or reading too many comics says I. Spots like that don't exist anymore.

What the heck has gone wrong?

No don't tell me, I already know the answer.............. PROGRESS!

That should have been an article Baz.

I know what you mean mate, I'm constantly trying to reduce the amount of gear I take, but yes we all still fall into the trap.

I remember a few years back when meand you were regularly fishing the dane, I emptied the pockets of my waistcoat.I had 20 odd leads, 4 spare shimano spools, umpteen feeders, various hooklengths, about 12 packs of hooksetc etc etc. All this to catch a few chub. Laughable.

Hi Ed.

Yes, that stretch of the Dane has been ruined by progress as well mate. Progress spelt B.a.r.b.e.l. I had another couple of months on it, but then decided that enough was enough. We must get together, and you can show me that other stretch that we talked about.

Great stuff Baz ,sincé i packed up match fishing i only carry the basics for my needs even when pole fishing i tie up rigs on the bank ,why do i need three trays of winders and god knows how many feeders i used to haul around,the same with reels i bought a haversack and all the pockets were stuffed with rééls and then i would use one or pole fish ...its different now i dont care if a man judges me by the amount or make of tackle i use i know i can fish a bit and thats all that matters.

All I want is somewhere to go and fish without any hassle. And somewhere that I can write an article about, and tell lies about what I am not catching. (-;

Baz,

Remember when I did some winter piking on your local canal. I used a pair of 10ft Steelhead spinning rods & Mitchell 410's for deadbaiting. Had tackle in a Plano tool bag and zip up rod quiver. Plenty for a few hours piking.

I remember it well Bob. That was a great spot where you fished. Always was a winter hotspot for Carp or Pike. Sadly no more. Carbelling hmmmm, That's what did the damage on the rivers Marie.

I thought that somebody might have come on this thread and said, if that's the way you feel, why don't you get rid of some of your gear and go back to how you once fished? The plain and simple answer to that is that I am thick, and I have gone over to specimen angling. So maybe it's me that should diversify a bit more? If my memory was any good, I could tell you how many specimen fish that I caught on one hand throughout all of last season. So why do I/we do it?

But I still can't get my head around why are we sat on each others shoulders all the time? The one thing my club is not short of is the choice of waters or species to go for, so I can't blame them can I? Have we all become single species specimen anglers? Are there no plain ordinary anglers out there anymore?

Strange isn't it how I never regarded fishing for the Carp on floating crust 12 years ago as Specimen angling? It was just fishing, no more and no less.

I've deffinately been brainwashed by the angling press.

Plain ordinary angler ..thats me Bazand a few others on here i love fishing i love catching fish and talking to other anglers whatever handle they use......me the world is my oyster i fish to suit my mood which might be serious tench fishing for big fish or catching shed loads of skimmers wandering a river for chub or a sit down session for roach whatever it is i enjoy it and i only get a day at it per week so no matter what i am doing it gets my full attention its all relative ,even as a match angler i went what is now termed pleasure fishing something that my match mates could not understand.

Youv'e got it right mate. I once also dabbled in matchfishing, but only the friendlys.

Was it Dr. Gordon who wrote that there are five stages in n angler's life?

1. Catch a fish

2. Catch lots of fish

3. Catch a big fish

4. Catch lots of big fish

5. Not care about catching anything, just go fishing.

He reckoned he had got to stage 5, where he would not go fishing if he couldn't go in his slippers, and as he was primarily a fluff flinger he only ever had one fly, and that was on the end if his line. He would use until he lost it, whereupon he would replace it with another.

Sometimes it's difficultto go back and sometimes it's nice to go back a couple of stages.

Strange isn't it that our concept of a specimen angler is the need to have loads of rods, loads of reels, loads of bait and a blooming great bag, or two even, yet when we (in this case it should be you) catch a specimen it is with one rod and one reel with one bait? /forum/smilies/i_dont_know_smiley.gif

I like to think I have got the best out of my very long angling life, I enjoyed match fishing for about 30 years and tried, sometimes succeeded, in winning but was never a fanatical win at all costs matchman, 'match' fishing was mixed in with pleasure fishing and since the middle 90's it has been all pleasure fishing, back to my beginning I suppose. I have caught decent fish, I have caught more mediocre fish, even more small fish but I have enjoyed each and every one of them and still do, even the blank sessions have been enjoyable if only for the fact that I was there fishing, sometimes amongst wonderful scenery or even the plain canal bank. I cannot imagine my life without fishing and though I had other interests (I was once a decent dart player up to county standard) the urge to fish was always the strongest.

I consider myself very fortunate to have been blessed with the desire to fish.

I am now (probably unfortunately) a dedicated speciment angler. 90% of the time I will use more than one rod, for a very simple reason. Whatever the species, the higher the weight of specimen, the less there will be of them, so the better chance you get using more than one rod.

Sometimes, this is impractical - plugging for pike, for instance, using two rods at once can be a very interesting experience!

About once a year, Ijoin my merry band of in laws for a day fishing a commercial carp pool. Although I enjoy the day, I get very bored, very quickly, and I can't honestly say I enjoy the fishing.

I have never classed myself as a specimen angler. In fact I don't class myself as any kind of angler. I just go fishing and enjoy every moment of it.

I just think it's a con, when so called top notch anglers tell us we must have this, that, or the other.