The Pleasure Angle – Thinking Outside The Box

Mark Hodson

An angler since he can remember, Mark Hodson almost literally lives, eats and breathes fishing. A match angler in his youth, fishing for the junior Starlets, he turned to the dark side and joined the ‘floppy hat’ brigade in his college years. He worked in the tackle trade for ten years, on a part time or full time basis at Chaplains, one of Birmingham’s busiest tackle shops and managed the specialist department there for two years.

He now fishes just for fun, although the ‘floppy specialist hat’ still dominates his angling, his writing concentrates on getting the maximum enjoyment from your angling and trying something different from the norm.

Thinking Outside the Box

Value for money?

I always start my angling year on 1st April, just like the financial year. The coming of spring and the rebirth of all that surrounds us on the bank seems a much more suitable time to start one’s fishing year, rather than the 1st January which is always colder than an estranged partner and has an outlook that is just as bleak, and it is also more suitable than the magical 16th, which has its own special esteem, just like Christmas day and shouldn’t be used for administrative or statistical purposes such as the start of your fishing year. To do so would amount to a blasphemous act against the gods and ghosts of angling past who guard over coarse angling’s holiest of days. So the first of April it is, the start of the angling year, not forgetting that the 1st of April is when your new licence must be purchased and last year’s filed under ‘Not a bad year but could have been better’.

Excessive membership cards? You can only fish one venue at a time

It is about this time that many of our permits, syndicates, club memberships and cards expire and need to be renewed. Now I’ve been guilty of some of the most amazing excesses in this respect in years gone by. I have often renewed memberships ‘just in case’ I fancy fishing there, knowing full well in the back of my mind that in fact I would be lucky to fish that particular venue more than a couple of times in the year given my other plans and commitments, and so in effect was purchasing one of the most expensive day tickets money can buy. Then there’s the tickets I’ve renewed just so I didn’t lose my place on a water, having sat on the waiting list for what seemed an eternity but again could count on one hand the amount of times I actually fished there once I actually got access. Maybe a case of the reality not living up to the dream or legend that motivated the wait.

No, the realisation that the reasons for renewing were mostly selfish and pointless, combined with the added financial pressures of above inflation rises to the other commodities that one requires to exist, mean that such excesses cannot be tolerated any longer.

Wiping the slate clean

Ever wondered what it would be like to go fishing for the first time again, to lose your memory and be reintroduced to the magic for a second time? Impossible I know, but what if you tried the next best thing, what if you threw away your angling history and started again?

Imagine consigning your personal best list to the attic, along with the accompanying photo’s and starting again. It would be a bit like when we converse about long forgotten teenage years and say, “If only I knew then what I know now”.

I realise that in the back of your mind you would always compare to years gone by, but with a little mental discipline I would imagine drawing up a wall in your mind would be possible and a fresh start would be there for the taking. Imagine arriving at the river on opening day and feeling the anticipation and excitement of knowing the first chub or barbel you landed would be the first new personal best of your new found angling era? Or arriving at that mist shrouded estate lake with the first bream, tench or carp likewise being the start of a new angling dawn? Of course with the coming of each angling year the slate would have to be wiped to keep the magic there but wouldn’t it be a refreshing psychological angle from which to approach your angling. Instead of comparing fish you could perhaps compare years.

Jumping out the box and starting the experiment

Deciding what memberships to have for the coming year has been easy. Experiments should be kept simple and repeatable to ensure the result if successful was no fluke. I have chosen a group of gravel pits close to home that will ensure that short, last minute sessions, as well the usual longer days, will not be tempered by traffic problems or long journey times. For a running water option I have chosen a local river, the stretches I will fish are free and receive little angling pressure. The venues give me the opportunity to catch all the common species apart from zander and catfish. Total cost for my fishing for the year including licence is under £ 150, less than £ 3 a week. Now that’s good value.

I have made my ticket choices and the angling records have been filed, photo’s have been backed up to disk and taken off the PC, my angling history has been erased as effectively as it can be, and I stand at the gates of a new angling adventure. I will only fish my chosen group of pits and the one chosen river for the next twelve months. Through this column I with take you with me and you can see the experiment unfold. What will my new personal best list be in twelve months time? By fishing a limited number of venues for once I will truly be able to get to know them, become one with them by being there week in and week out and discover all the secrets they have to offer up.Happy New Fishing Year to one and all. If you are feeling daring join in the experiment, wipe clean your slate, choose two or three venues for the year and see how you end up. You never know, you might just enjoy it.