RODS AND LINES AND GOOD HEALTH
The Problem
I was speaking at length with a colleague a few days ago or, at least, I was listening to his problems about fishing and health. He is an enthusiastic, skilful and thoughtful trout fisherman with whom I have shared many hours at various northern fisheries.
A couple of years ago he was rushed into the E&A Unit at his local hospital with chest pains. He was diagnosed as a heart attack victim although he displayed few of the signs normally associated with this terrible condition. Even his pains were on the right side of the chest, that is, the ‘wrong’ side.
With expert care and nursing he made a very good recovery and was back fishing a few months later. In fact, his first few fishing trips were with me so that I could keep a careful eye on him. At first he tired quickly and we curtailed the hours fished but quite soon he was back to normal.
Or nearly normal. If conditions were good he fished without problems but as the winter approached he noticed that on windy days when he had to work harder his heart reacted – it started to beat erratically, a condition known as Arrhythmia, which is all to do with the electrical impulses and gives an abnormal rhythm or heartbeat. This was quite worrying to say the least but he did take some comfort from the fact that it only occurred in bad weather and when casting became hard work.
In windy conditions he always liked to fish into the wind. He reckoned that by doing this he caught fish when others who fished from more sheltered spots were fishless. He used a big eleven foot Hardy rod and a size WF8 line. His rod was a through-actioned job and he claimed that this, even though it was hard work, was very effective and he caught fish. It looked also as if the effort was having a detrimental effect on his heart.
The solution
The immediate advice from the medics was to stop fishing. Full stop! However, he got into conversation with an angling ‘rep’ at his local tackle shop in Clitheroe and the ‘rep’ freely gave of his advice on the matter. He suggested a tip actioned nine foot rod and size WF6 or 5 line. He urged that my friend, however, should find a qualified casting tutor and have a couple of sessions learning all over again how to cast with this type of rod and line. Do that, and he guaranteed he would be able to fish under the same conditions and cast equally well but with far less physical stress.
It worked, too. My friend had always believed that long casting required a heavy line and a long, powerful rod. He has been astonished to find that on windy days he can cast as far and as accurately with a smaller and lighter outfit. He is so pleased, too, that his arrhymia has now disappeared.
Light tackle fishing
There is lots of advice freely available in magazines and journals about light fishing tackle. My favourite rod is a nine footer that takes a DT or WF 5 floating line. It’s got a good action and usually tolerates my casting technique. It’s also quite good when casting directly into a moderate wind.
I like the feel of the handle and the ‘tippy’ action; it’s a matter of ‘flick-pause-flick’ when casting. It certainly is not a tiring rod to use in the three or four hour sessions which are my usual fishing excursions. It is a very good rod for small to medium river fishing too.
There are circumstances when I prefer a heavy, stronger rod and line. Obviously, this applies on big waters that are quite heavily fished and during the lighter and brighter times of the day. Many of the trout disappear out of harm’s way and you may need a lot of long casting to get after them. The windier and rougher it gets the more I tend to use the heavy artillery.
Light tackle and big fish
I fish one water where the average weight of stocked fish (Rainbows) is two pounds. These can go like rockets when hooked but are controlled by the nine foot rod and five weight line. Another water I fish has an average of fish exceeding four pounds. This poses a lot of problems for the fish are much harder to control otherwise they will break the line. On the other hand, often they are quite exhausted when they do come to the net and require a lengthy rehabilitation in the water before they swim away. Then, do they recover or do they slide down to the bottom of the lake and die, as some experts tell us?
So, while fishing with light tackle can be very invigorating and exercise the angler’s skill, it may not be a good thing if catch and release is practised on a water containing big fish. Please remember, I talk as an ordinary trout fisher with very ordinary fishing skills rather than an angler of the calibre of Charles Jardine or Moc Morgan. Is it fairer to the fish to use strong tackle that will subdue them quickly when hooked and then allow them a better chance of a full recovery when released?
An empathy with the prey
Do you notice in wild life films that whenever the camera shows primitive hunters in remote parts of the world, the hunter pays his respects to the animal he has hunted successfully. He is thankful for food and respectful of the animal’s power and grace, speed and skill. There is an identification, an empathy with the prey. I think this is the same kind of thought that goes through anglers’ minds when they catch their fish and then either quickly apply the priest or carefully release the fish back to the wild.
Tight Lines!
Eddie Caldwell
