Are newcomers missing out on vital skills?

[mike fox]

Thanks- Now I realise something I hadn't thought about before - didn't know there was a fisheries dept in the EA. Was that the one that cocked up the Royal Military canal work a few years back, and the flooding at Yalding forcing the EA to restock with fish from a farm around the boatyard?

Probably the same as when they cleared foliage from river banks to allow flood water to run out to sea quicker resulting in siltation and destruction of natural spawning grounds and invertebrates. Oh, how things come round to bite us on the bum.

 

[Silverfisher]

""severn, wye, Trent, broads not to mention the coasts angling is still thriving off those systems""

Oh Silver you are a one
You made the statement above and have now followed it up with
"Yeah tbf I don’t have any experience of the lower Severn but on the middle reaches its always seemed fairly busy. "
"My experience of the broads is a bit outdated but certainly 10 years ago it was very busy. "

You don't really know do you,so why say it?

Well when I first commented on it I just referred to barbel alley where I have spent a bit of time so sorry I should have been specific the second time. But tbh you don’t need to be the oracle of angling to know the the middle Severn and the broads are angling hot spots.

 

[matti]

I wouldn't just say its new anglers, there's anglers in my club who are so blinkered, they will only fish one method, even though I know they carry the gear to do others methods, most stick to only the pole, would never think of fishing the feeder, go forbid fishing the waggler, as they see it as old hat, others will only fish the feeder, which even ive been know to in the margins,it can work well, at the expense of other methods,

 

[Cobweb]

I wouldn't just say its new anglers, there's anglers in my club who are so blinkered, they will only fish one method, even though I know they carry the gear to do others methods, most stick to only the pole, would never think of fishing the feeder, go forbid fishing the waggler, as they see it as old hat, others will only fish the feeder, which even ive been know to in the margins,it can work well, at the expense of other methods,

I see the advantages of using a pole particularly in competitions, but I don't fish in matches, and ama rod and line man at heart. I think what put me off the pole was when I was at an Angling Exhibition in Birmingham in the 90s. The Browning lads there were demo'ing 30 m poles at the nearby lake. The cost? Thousands. I was never going to be good enough to warrant that sort of spend/or get sponsorship/or afford one, so I decided to concentrate on my feeders and floats. Never regretted it- had to expand my rod stock to adapt to the demands of commercials -method feeders and pellet waggler rods. I've now got more rods and switch between them and tactics as necessary. Still love it

 

[Silverfisher]

@Cobweb i agree on the price of poles being off putting. Seems even the fairly budget poles cost at least as much as a couple fairly high end rod and reel set ups with those of equivalent quality (or at least equal regard/standing) to such rods and reels costing as much as relatively speaking loads of rod and reel set ups! There's no way I could ever justify spending much more than a couple hundred on an item of fishing tackle let alone over a grand.

 

[Cobweb]

@Cobweb i agree on the price of poles being off putting. Seems even the fairly budget poles cost at least as much as a couple fairly high end rod and reel set ups with those of equivalent quality (or at least equal regard/standing) to such rods and reels costing as much as relatively speaking loads of rod and reel set ups! There's no way I could ever justify spending much more than a couple hundred on an item of fishing tackle let alone over a grand.

Me too. I think the most I've ever spent was on an 11ft Sphere Feeder rod £211. My Preston Distance feeder cost around the same amount

 

[Silverfisher]

Me too. I think the most I've ever spent was on an 11ft Sphere Feeder rod £211. My Preston Distance feeder cost around the same amount

It reminds me of when I used to play cricket and some of my teammates would get professional grade bats costing many hundreds of pounds whereas I just couldn't imagine spending that much on a single item relating to a hobby.

I suppose its not really that different to how I pay out a fair bit for fishing holidays which I guess a lot wouldn't do but you do get a bit more out of that for your money than just fishing.

Maybe one day I'll earn enough that these things won't shock me

 

[Cobweb]

It reminds me of when I used to play cricket and some of my teammates would get professional grade bats costing many hundreds of pounds whereas I just couldn't imagine spending that much on a single item relating to a hobby.

I suppose its not really that different to how I pay out a fair bit for fishing holidays which I guess a lot wouldn't do but you do get a bit more out of that for your money than just fishing.

Maybe one day I'll earn enough that these things won't shock me

I could wield a bat a bit, and used to come in somewhere in the middle order. Generally, I found cricket (a) boring, and (b) fattening. Sitting around in the pavilion waiting to bat, and, because I could throw a ball at the stumps or to the keeper's gloves from the boundary, right next to the scones and tarts. Never paid much for my kit, just kept it well maintained. I earned enough to buy more expensive gear, but as what I had worked fine I didn't see the point. I think, even though I can't afford it now, I still wouldn't get the "best money could buy" as considering my level of skill it would be a waste of money in terms of the difference it would make to the results. The only time I did splash out was on my rifle, when I used to take part in regional and national competitions years ago

 

[Jimpanzee]

I see the advantages of using a pole particularly in competitions, but I don't fish in matches, and ama rod and line man at heart. I think what put me off the pole was when I was at an Angling Exhibition in Birmingham in the 90s. The Browning lads there were demo'ing 30 m poles at the nearby lake. The cost? Thousands. I was never going to be good enough to warrant that sort of spend/or get sponsorship/or afford one, so I decided to concentrate on my feeders and floats. Never regretted it- had to expand my rod stock to adapt to the demands of commercials -method feeders and pellet waggler rods. I've now got more rods and switch between them and tactics as necessary. Still love it

I’m similar with regards to a pole, I can see the advantages in terms of presentation and the accuracy of fishing in the same spot, the things that put me off are
a) the cost
b) they look a faff when landing fish
c) they don’t look as fun to land a fish compared to a rod/reel.
Just my personal opinion of course.

 

[Silverfisher]

I’m similar with regards to a pole, I can see the advantages in terms of presentation and the accuracy of fishing in the same spot, the things that put me off are
a) the cost
b) they look a faff when landing fish
c) they don’t look as fun to land a fish compared to a rod/reel.
Just my personal opinion of course.

Those are exactly the 3 reasons I don’t have one myself. As you say the benefits are obvious but those drawbacks put me off.

 

[Zerkalo]

I would say you don't need to spend a lot on a pole. I did a lot of pole fishing and only ever bought one pole new, that was my first pole and would have been about £400 at the most 20 years ago, then I acquired two poles my dad picked up for less than £50 from a car boot sale. But then again, no one really needs to pole fish, it's just another method.

 

[Silverfisher]

I would say you don't need to spend a lot on a pole. I did a lot of pole fishing and only ever bought one pole new, that was my first pole and would have been about £400 at the most 20 years ago, then I acquired two poles my dad picked up for less than £50 from a car boot sale. But then again, no one really needs to pole fish, it's just another method.

I had a look at poles on bobco the other day and anything longer than a margin pole was over £500 and I assume they are not much cop at the lower end of the market by the logic that budget rods don’t tend to be so probably have to spend over £1000 to get anything decent?

 

[Zerkalo]

I had a look at poles on bobco the other day and anything longer than a margin pole was over £500 and I assume they are not much cop at the lower end of the market by the logic that budget rods don’t tend to be so probably have to spend over £1000 to get anything decent?

To get something decent maybe, but I think budget poles are useable, if you go second hand, I don't think they've improved that much over the space of a few years from what I can tell. But then again I want a new pole myself and looking to spend over a grand, I would have to change the type of fishing I do quite a bit to get my moneys worth out of it though and imagine you'd be the same.

 

[TimFB]

Picking up on Silverfisher’s cricketing analogy, these days people generally and youngsters in particular are not prepared to put in a lot of hard yakka working things out for themselves and developing skills of any kind...why bother, just look it up on YouTube!. I have tried all sorts of Angling over the years and settled in my 50’s to not being competitive in any way and just do what I enjoy in both salt and fresh water. I have not fished a competition of any kind for years as a result...but back to the original post, I am afraid that modern instant-result society has a lot to do with it. Our club has no juniors and our island used to have 5/6 active angling clubs and now only has 3...

 

[Cobweb]

I’m similar with regards to a pole, I can see the advantages in terms of presentation and the accuracy of fishing in the same spot, the things that put me off are
a) the cost
b) they look a faff when landing fish
c) they don’t look as fun to land a fish compared to a rod/reel.
Just my personal opinion of course.

I pretty much feel the same way. If I were ever to enter match competitions then I would have no choice but to get hold of one. I've watched matches (Rob Hughes videos) and landing a fish on a pole, reminds me of the wife's Pilates classes. I can see how the exercise can do you good. I have a local snake lake which is full of F1s bream and Carp. A pole would be ideal, but I'm happier with my Acolyte Ultra - more fun- poles do look like hard work. I just have a few underhand test casts at home into a small bucket or pot first

 

[Anglingman]

I’m similar with regards to a pole, I can see the advantages in terms of presentation and the accuracy of fishing in the same spot, the things that put me off are
a) the cost
b) they look a faff when landing fish
c) they don’t look as fun to land a fish compared to a rod/reel.
Just my personal opinion of course.

a) Cost- depends on your budget but I have 2 high end poles; 40+ top kits, numerous spare sections cost me about £1200 total 2nd hand for £5k of kit.
b) they look a faff.....its is exactly that, they only look a faff, the reality is like any piece of kit they're easy to use, its just a case of learning.
c) they don't look fun -----give it a go, you'll soon be smiling ear to ear...

If you don't have access to one to try maybe a cheap 2nd hand or even a margin pole. £100 could easily put you in the game and if you really didn't get on with it theres always someone like me looking for 2nd hand stuff

 

[Alantherose]

a) Cost- depends on your budget but I have 2 high end poles; 40+ top kits, numerous spare sections cost me about £1200 total 2nd hand for £5k of kit.
b) they look a faff.....its is exactly that, they only look a faff, the reality is like any piece of kit they're easy to use, its just a case of learning.
c) they don't look fun -----give it a go, you'll soon be smiling ear to ear...

If you don't have access to one to try maybe a cheap 2nd hand or even a margin pole. £100 could easily put you in the game and if you really didn't get on with it theres always someone like me looking for 2nd hand stuff

Yep...that happened to me (i.e. gave it a go and loved it).

4m telescopic whip -> 8.5m margin pole (Preston Edge Monster, £118 new!!!!) -> Sensas Nanoflex 4G Power Match (16m package)

It was three months in between the margin pole and the Sensas, and it cost me the sale of a guitar to buy the longer pole, but at £600 it has proved to be worth every penny. Add birthday pennies and various gifts and I've also now got a 12' Daiwa feeder rod and a 15' Garbolino match rod (primarily for trotting on the many river stretches near me) plus a couple of decent reels. Add to that my little boy's 8' Middy feeder and 10' waggler rod and I've got almost every base covered.

Having plunged in with the pole, I would add that I am loving using rod and reel too. I also would baulk at paying upward of £1k for a pole (probably!!!) but I think it's worth having as many tools in the box as can be justified for a non-competitive angler. I'm still just getting a massive kick out of catching fish, any fish

 

[Alantherose]

One thing that has occurred to me on the theme of the OP: I learned quite quickly to tie my own hooklengths. Four to five years ago I fished with a mate who is a match angler, and he had a Matchman hook tyer. Brilliant gadget! I never forgot it, so when I got serious about angling, I bought one and started to learn. I know the idea of kids learning on YouTube is anathema to some, but I'm glad that as an adult it helped me upskill so that I didn't need to spend money I didn't need to on hooks to nylon (hope @Neil ofthe nene sees this ) ...or pre-tied rigs for that matter.

So I guess I'm saying that manufacturers selling pre-tied rigs and hooks to nylon are potentially more prohibitive for new anglers missing out on skills.

Sorry if that's been said by others. There are 12 pages of this thread!!

 

[Jimpanzee]

a) Cost- depends on your budget but I have 2 high end poles; 40+ top kits, numerous spare sections cost me about £1200 total 2nd hand for £5k of kit.
b) they look a faff.....its is exactly that, they only look a faff, the reality is like any piece of kit they're easy to use, its just a case of learning.
c) they don't look fun -----give it a go, you'll soon be smiling ear to ear...

If you don't have access to one to try maybe a cheap 2nd hand or even a margin pole. £100 could easily put you in the game and if you really didn't get on with it theres always someone like me looking for 2nd hand stuff

I feel like I’m a rod/reel guy at heart so would prefer to be able to try before I buy on something like that i.e use a mates, before splashing out potentially hundreds for something I’m not sure I would like/use.

I’d never say never as I’ll never know unless I try it but I’ve never spent more than £60 on a rod so even a hundred notes on a Margin pole is a big outlay for something that will never be more than a hobby for me.

I do plan to pick up a 4m elasticated whip for summer silver fishing, so who knows?

 

[Dave Spence]

I fish competitions, use a pole and have done for 20 years or more. The one thing I can never get comfortable with is having all your gear clipped to your box, I feel totally hemmed in. Whilst it is nice (and essential) to have everything to hand when fishing a match it does make it difficult if you need a pee or have to leave your peg for some reason. The other thing, which I will never get used to, is the height that you sit at on today's boxes. I feel like a lifeguard in a watch tower (especially if @Scribe is fishing)