What would your advice be to new Anglers

[jimmy crackedcorn]

lots of great advice there. Reading , observation and paying your dues , completely agree - If I do something I like to try and do it properly, but its that mysterious watercraft that I'm now stumbling over.
I have had some individual success - some nice perch , a few very nice wild tench but I really have a feeling I have been lucky rather than being able to keep a swim going by correct feeding, I can usually catch quite well at commercials , but its always the same method - 5 sections out find the shelf , band a pellet and feed little and often with a toss pot. The other way I fish is shallow with a whip and throw casters over the top - guarranteed roach and rudd.

So I basically have these 2 methods but if you put me in front of a large pool I would be clueless.

I think to take the next step I either need to learn to cast and feed more accurately or by a much longer pole - currently I have an 11.5 m Daiwa SR1.

Any advice for a less than new angler ?

Nothing wrong with fishing the same method and even same venue for period of time. You'll find things familiar and pick up on your local waters mood, and you' ll be able to transfer that knowledge to other venues. You will also be perfecting the basics of fish care, plumbing up etc without even thinking about because you aren't trying to crack a new venue at the same time.

That's my point I suppose, don't try and fish a new venue a week, stick to one or two for year, in all conditions.

 

[Fin the Fish]

Some cracking advice from everyone in here. Definitely agree with the last post, and to add to what Jimmy said; dont always fish the same swim! If youre getting to know a water (which you should always be doing regardless of how long youve fished it, things change!) you should try new places and things to get a real feel for the place. You might have favourite swims because you did well there once or they look nice but you wont know if theyre the best areas or when theyre the best areas unless you investigate and try everywhere. Location can be mega important, especially in natural lakes with lower fish population levels. Feeding is a powerful tool but if there arent fish where youre fishing youll not attract any no matter how much feed or what bait you put out!

Also what is, in my opinion, the most important advice you can ever give to a beginner; Go fishing! Theres no substitute for experience

 

[greeny1321]

Dont go getting ur mrs pregnant, as you wont have any time to go fishing! lol

On a more serious note, dont fall into the trap of believing that the latest bit of super expensive kit is gonna improve your catches, you get out what you put in. Anglers who seem to always get lucky do so for a reason, they put in the leg work and find the fish, figure out when the fish will be in certain places and put themselves in the right place to be "lucky"

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Sound advice. Also probably best not to start on barbel. Just enjoy yourself then specialise later if you want to. Try stillwaters and rivers and find what you enjoy best. Unfortunately these days many anglers go into carp, barbel fishing etc. without learning the basics. They miss out on a lot. If you start on smaller fish and learn the basics then gradually build up to bigger fish you will soon become proficient and able to fish all styles for all species.

Dave,

Its great to see you back my friend, its been a while.

Been on the river much?

 

[Dave Slater]

Hi Peter,

Did not do a lot of river fishing last season, but managed a few reasonable chub. Currently into crucians, not caught any this year yet but had a nice 8lb tench on Friday.

 

[Sean Meeghan]

My mantra:

Read everything, believe nothing, embrace change for nothing has permenance or substance.

 

[bennygesserit]

I think my problem is that sometimes I'm a little lazy , and certainly some fisheries you can just pick a spot feed accurately and pretty much catch a fish every couple of minutes, thats a massive contrast from say a winter canal that can be extremely difficult.

 

[theartist]

Nowt wrong with getting a little lazy when you get older.

My one bit of advice would be to take time to watch/talk to other anglers especially if they are catching

 

[Specihunter]

For the Absolute beginner make sure your landing net fits the fish you are after, no good going after carp with a small landing net and the same when silver fishing no need for a carp net.

 

[rookie_fly_guy]

As a returnee/beginner the best advice I got was pick a species and target it for a while, for me it was tench and I learnt loads about looking for the right spots to fish, what kinds of bait to use, how to set the depth of a float properly and so on rather than trying to go after loads of different types of fish.

Also practise tying knots with some twine and a keyring its a lot easier to memorise a knot when its not too hard to tie, compared to constantly swearing at a fiddly little hook and piece of mono

For the absolute beginner, learn to use a disgorger asap and go after small perch - really easy to catch, gives you the fishing buzz of actually hooking something, big mouthes that are easy to get hooks out of and they're too stupid to let go of the bait

 

[dezza]

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