Fishing

[Carl Fimble 10,157]

Anyone know about fishing?

I'm moving somewhere with rivers and lochs, and reckon I could get into fishing. I did a bit when I was younger but that was quite some time ago.

I wouldn't be into fly fishing, at least not at first- those barbed hooks flying about give me the heebie jeebies!

I wouldn't want to spend lots getting set up, but wouldn't want to end up buying stuff that needed upgrading. 

(Almost) any advice gratefully received. 

[TheBlueCat 8,747]

Avoid shellfish and you’ll be fine.

[The Masked Tulip 49,249]

Look for someone selling gear secondhand. Your kit will depend upon what you specifically intend to fish so look to try first before investing serious money. 

[Long time lurking 15,641]

If the lochs are fresh water you need to find out what fish are In them if it's just trout you will really be limited to spinning/ lure fishing or fly fishing whole different ball game if there's coarse fish in them same as if they are sea lochs

[ashestoashes 8,483]

fly fishing is the most skilled, someone wrote a book about it

[Ash4781b 1,234]

I’d find some people fishing and talk to them and see what they are catching and what they using. Gear wise I prefer lighter float fishing for the visual excitement of seeing the float go under on the take and having to ‘play’ they fish . if it’s rivers might need to go ledger fishing which I found more akin to sea fishing setup. For ledger fishing I didn’t enjoy waiting around for the buzzer to go off or looking for a Bent v-shaped stick on the line by reel to move upwards. Then there’s carp fishing and the overnights but they just seemed to drink beer and smoke pot!

Edited October 3 by Ash4781b

[dillinger 449]

Bring a carry out with you.

I used to watch a couple of friends fishing and I found it too boring for words.

[stokiescum 9,655]

1 hour ago, ashestoashes said:

fly fishing is the most skilled, someone wrote a book about it

Was it by a hare or is that pipkins 

[Great Guy 12,045]

1 hour ago, ashestoashes said:

fly fishing is the most skilled, someone wrote a book about it

JR Hartley?

[the gardener 5,854]

36 minutes ago, Great Guy said:

JR Hartley?

No, I think his book was on jam making. 

[Sucralose Ray Leonard 4,610]

2 hours ago, ashestoashes said:

fly fishing is the most skilled, someone wrote a book about it

They simply don't make adverts of that calibre anymore. 

[swiss_democracy_for_all 16,709]

6 hours ago, Carl Fimble said:

Anyone know about fishing?

I'm moving somewhere with rivers and lochs, and reckon I could get into fishing. I did a bit when I was younger but that was quite some time ago.

I wouldn't be into fly fishing, at least not at first- those barbed hooks flying about give me the heebie jeebies!

I wouldn't want to spend lots getting set up, but wouldn't want to end up buying stuff that needed upgrading. 

(Almost) any advice gratefully received. 

It all depends on your prime motivation. Is it to catch fish? Serious question, for many it isn’t. Then there is what you’re going to do with the fish - eat them, or put them back? 

[MrPin 17,076]

You may need to pay for a fishing permit from the Environment Agency. otherwise it could be poaching.

[onlyme 9,899]

In lieu of local contacts / clubs have a look on YT is fishing in those areas, you'll know then what is generally around to be caught and the methods used. 

TA (Totally Awesome) fishing is a great channel  to follow for both sea and fresh water fishing, problem is he knows so much and so good he makes it look too easy. Sure the bloke could find out a way to catch salmon with an old sock as bait.

[Craig 610]

If you're near the sea, mackerel fishing might be a good place to start. Absolute piece of piss, they appear to be pretty stupid. And if you've got some mackerel, you might consider getting on a boat and using chunks of them to catch cod, though this is considerably harder. 

[Nippy 1,573]

4 hours ago, Long time lurking said:

 fly fishing
coarse fish

I've had the impression since I was small that fishing with a fly is posh and for gentlemen, and coarse fishing is for the working class downwards. Fishing can easily lead to divorce by a jealous wife when you find out you prefer to be sitting on a river bank all day Saturday rather than doing jobs around the house.

Edited October 3 by Nippy

[ashestoashes 8,483]

most rivers will have fishing rights and lochs presumably belong to someone so maybe not the opportunity it looks

[Green Devil 3,848]

Try fly or lure fishing first. Much less messy and cheaper than messing with baits. 

[The Masked Tulip 49,249]

2 hours ago, swiss_democracy_for_all said:

It all depends on your prime motivation. Is it to catch fish? Serious question, for many it isn’t. Then there is what you’re going to do with the fish - eat them, or put them back? 

 

Before I eventually gave up fishing I spent the last 18 months or so standing on rocks casting a hookless weight into the sea and spinning with no spinner. Just casting, reeling in, casting again. People would come along and ask me what I was fishing for. I would explain that I was just destressing.

By mention of lochs I assume that @Carl Fimble is talking about Scotland. Doesn't Scotland have a load of privately owned lakes / lochs and rivers making various kinds of fresh-water fishing very expensive in terms of licences alone? Wasn't that a big part - the ownership of the land and fresh water - that drove vast numbers of Scots from the inland areas to the coast to get food?

If you actually want to catch something then you have to go down the route of paying a licence and sitting beside a lake full of fish. Course / carp fishing. There are also lakes like that filled with trout.

 

Rather than buy all the kit - which I still l recommend getting second-hand from someone bored with it or who can no longer do it - is to join a club or go on some organised training course. Somewhere that teaches you the basics and where you can do it for a day. After you have caught your first perch, carp, whatever @Carl Fimble might find that his interest quickly wanes.

Sea fishing is more fun but you can go a long time without catching anything. But it gets you out.

[Panther 5,511]

5 hours ago, dillinger said:

I used to watch a couple of friends fishing and I found it too boring for words.

That sounds like coarse fishing, sat on a canal watching a float. Sea fishing and fly fishing are much more interesting. Fly fishing in Scotland though, that might cost a fair bit for the licence.

[ashestoashes 8,483]

remember sharing a shuttle bus at Heathrow with some nice but dim hooray henry who'd just arrived back from his first fly fishing trip to Scotland and was telling someone how he'd got a new rod hand made by some master maker, but despite him telling the craftsman how to spell his name the name engraved on the rod was misspelled, couldn't help but smirk at this.

[Carl Fimble 10,157]

1 hour ago, Panther said:

That sounds like coarse fishing, sat on a canal watching a float. Sea fishing and fly fishing are much more interesting. Fly fishing in Scotland though, that might cost a fair bit for the licence.

Licence? Really?

FFS!

 

Made me think this :

 

Less than 2 mins long.

Edited October 3 by Carl Fimble
Sp

[Panther 5,511]

7 minutes ago, Carl Fimble said:

Licence? Really?

Fishing rights on a river are owned so you need permission. Sea fishing though, just stand on an old jetty or clamber down rocks on a headland and start fishing.

[Carl Fimble 10,157]

1 minute ago, Panther said:

Fishing rights on a river are owned so you need permission. Sea fishing though, just stand on an old jetty or clamber down rocks on a headland and start fishing.

Shit, I had imagined I'd just wander down to the river and start fishing, didn't expect there'd be paperwork. River is way closer than the sea too.

[GBDamo 4,253]

5 hours ago, Craig said:

If you're near the sea, mackerel fishing might be a good place to start. Absolute piece of piss, they appear to be pretty stupid. And if you've got some mackerel, you might consider getting on a boat and using chunks of them to catch cod, though this is considerably harder. 

I used to enjoy beach casting off Chesil Beach, West Bexinton i think, and as you say its easy, all timing.

If you got there on a high tide with a light off shore breeze at sun set then you could catch them in a carrier bag.

Its a bit counter intuitive as you fish with a string of hooks and lures, a trace, and having one fish on could be quite a fight, having six or seven on and it was easy to reel them in.

My best haul was on a cast using a large reflective spinner as a weight, half a dozen eating Mackrell and a 3lb sea bass on the spinner.

Did a bit of fly fishing on reservoirs, thats an art I never mastered.

I don't see the point of all the expense and effort unless to can eat the fuckers, carp Fishing? Is for getting pissed and sleeping on a river bank spending more time feeding the fish than vice versa.