Your dad

[no-one in particular]

How was it or still is, my Dad taught me and to a large extent I still fish like it, maybe that's why I don't catch much same as I did then. I am still more or less using float only and bread, never got on with feeders and all the paraphernalia, not knocking it just the way I am. Dad was a funny old bloke, very fussy about bait, bread paste especially but he had no technique as such. As long as he had his pipe on the go and a float in the water he was happy. His career was in the bank , later a manager which offered him access to some customers with water, I am sure he bribed some of them, you want a loan, well let me look into it; by the way don't you have a bit of the Kennet!!? That's how it was done in those days! With 5 daughters and Mum I think it was the only peace he got, he would take me every other Sunday as a rule and would tut tut all day as I tried to be flash and cast all over the place. He had this rule, don't put the landing net together until we caught a fish, bad luck it was, how superstitious that generation were. He caught a massive bream once and he said get the landing net, I decided it would take too long to put the net together and tried to lift up with my hands and then dropped it and it got away, "and away". he never forgave me, wouldn't talk about it again, apart from saying I was cut out of the will. Still think of him when I fish, always some little thing reminds of fishing with him.

 

[mikench]

My Dad wasn't a fisherman and we made and flew RC aircraft instead.

 

[S-Kippy]

My dad didn't fish either and never enjoyed good health but he was always interested in where I'd been and what I'd caught.

 

[steve2]

My dad never went fishing but he loved horse racing but never had much time to himself with 4 kids and working shifts to keep a roof over our heads. He taught me the value of money and working hard which is why I now have a good bank balance and a comfortable life style when compared to others. My son is following in our footsteps. So like granddad, like father, like son

 

[sam vimes]

My old man chucked fluff a couple of times before I was born. He freely admits that he hooked nothing but trees, rocks and himself. He did quite enjoy trying flies though. I was still using flies he tied in the early 70's into this century. The last time I checked the fly boxes in his garage, they were a sad collection of slightly rusted hooks and dust. He has never had any interest in going fishing with me. Even since he retired and had time to burn, he's shown not even a flicker of interest. My father/son bonding experiences revolved around shared misery at the football.

 

[markcw]

My dad never fished but he worked with someone who did, he would tag along and have a dabble now and then, even though he caught, he never stuck at it.
My best mate at the time, and he still is , we were about 7 years old and his dad also took us all over the place,
One good place was the tidal River Dee near Chester, when it started to rise it was a scramble up the bank.
Mates dad ran a works fishing club, so myself and my mate were fishing adult matches at a young age.
I still fish matches with that club after all these years, My mate runs it now and all the matches are on commercials. Whereas years ago it was rivers, canals and Jumbles Res near Bolton .

 

[The Runner]

My father/son bonding experiences revolved around shared misery at the football.

Sounds familiar, definitely a North East thing....

My Dad never fished at all, other than a couple of times on holiday when he ended up using my beachcaster while I kept busy catching mackerel and coalies on the spinning rod.

He was always happy to take me fishing though and if he had no need to go back home after dropping me off would happily spend the day just wandering the countryside with a pair of binoculars before going back to collect me.
There's a great song by Martin Simpson- "Never any Good". The character in the song bears no resemblance whatsoever to my Dad in any respect, other than the last verse ...
"You showed me Eyebright in the hedgerow, Speedwell and Traveller's Joy
You taught me how to use my eyes when I was just a boy
You taught me how to love a song, and all you knew of nature's ways.
The greatest gifts I've ever known, and I use them every day"

Says it all.

 

[Keith M]

My dad first took me fishing when I was about 10 years old (1960-ish) and we used to fish on the river Thames, the Great Ouse and the GU Canal.

At first I used one of my dads old Tonkin Cane rods and a tiny wooden starback type reel but he soon bought me a 9ft Abu 403 spinning rod from my mums catalogue and an Intrepid extra reel.
My dad used a split cane float rod which he sometimes used with a swingtip together with a Mitchell reel that had a swing out balearm.

My dad would usually catch slightly bigger Roach than me on his swingtip while I caught lots of tiny bleak with the occasional stunted Roach and Perch using one of his floats.

I still remember fishing the Great Ouse next to a bridge where the A1 crossed the river and my neighbours son and I had a competition that day to see who could catch the most bleak; and I won with just over 100 of them (although I might have cheated a little bit with my counting )

I remember my dad telling me about the huge ‘three’ pound Barbel that he’d caught once on the Thames and I think that that 3lb fish was the largest fish that he’d ever caught.

On sundays we used to get up at around 4am and sneak out early then drop in at the local Bob Freestones bakery on the way for a large bag of breadcrumb plus a large fresh loaf (they used to bake their bread in the middle of the night) and we were down on the river Thames just as the sun was rising.

Once per year my dad fished his works annual match and I remember winning the junior section of the match with a couple of gudgeon and wona small cup (I was the only junior there so I came first and last )

They were magic days.

Keith

 

[Regalis]

I was taught basic float fishing by my dad and uncle the same way they were taught. Waggler float attached with a float rubber, shotted shirt button style, hook on the end.

I now find myself teaching him. He has been on three carp fishing trips with me so far. Its a whole new world to him. I also make up all the sea fishing rigs and drive the boat. ( he makes jokes about not getting chance to drive the boat but has told my mum he is not confident. Must be his age??).

We will be doing out first real pike fishing sessions this year so I guess we will be figuring that one out together!

 

[108831]

My dad never took any interest in anything my sister and I did,all that mattered was getting a skinful,I taught myself in fishing...

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Mine taught me very little in all honesty. We spent very little time in each other's company and it was my older brother who taught me to fish.

In fact the word "Dad" is in itself a term of endearment whereas I refer to mine as the "deceased male parental unit" . . . . .

 

[ian g]

My dad has never really fished , my uncle taught me the basics . I used to pester dad on holiday to go on a sea fishing trip . He always relented and I remember the trips fondly , we'd catch mackerel bait then go out into deeper water and almost always catch dog fish . My dad always moaned that he liked eating mackerel . We mainly bond over football .

 

[The bad one]

My dad never fished but was interested in what I caught and where I’d been on matches in my teenage years. The older he got the more interested he was in my fishing. The sad thing about it looking back, I never offered to take him fishing, which I think he would have probably liked to have come with me.

Sadly, by that time I was so obsessed with chasing and catching big fish I never thought about it.

 

[Ray Roberts]

My dad took me when I was too young to go by myself, but I mainly went with friends and mates from school.

He never fished himself when we went coarse fishing, but he did enjoy a bit of sea angling and took me shark fishing in my teens and wreck fishing particularly for conger eels. My mother also liked conger fishing and caught conger eels to over sixty pounds. As she was about four foot eleven they were mostly bigger than she was.

My dad mainly went to keep me company, it was my always my hobby rather than his. I know some of the guys on here didn’t have good experiences of their own fathers, but I couldn’t have asked for better. He always had my back, even when I sometimes behaved like a prick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[John Aston]

My late dad assumed I'd be exactly like him , and he did everything he could to convince himself that I was . So , I had (or rather, he had ) a huge model railway (filling a room ) before I was 5 , a pony when I was 8 and riding lessons for years. Trouble was , I had zilch interest in trains , even less in horses and all I wanted to do , from almost before I could walk , was fish. Dad was in denial about this for years , but eventually relented and bought me some good secondhand gear when I was 12. But told me I couldn't use it till I was 14 ....

Baggage , Me ? You bet .

 

[108831]

My father did like the idea of me being a reasonably successful individual and team match angler,he understood the effort and dedication it required,but never once actually wanted to see how I did it,he did fish occasionally and was one of those sorts of fathers that didnt want a youngster touching his fishing gear(even though it was rubbish),it was probably that that pushed me into buying my kids something usable for anything they did(not necessarily expensive),just to give them the opportunity to see if they had an interest in these things.

 

[no-one in particular]

I was fairly lucky, I think parents try to give children what they lacked as kids, my mum's dad was very strict and used his belt on her, my dads parents seemed to be very aloof to him. Also they were affected by the war, after it I think they were determined to have a happier life for themselves and their children. So, mum and dad were fairly loving and into their kids. It's a shame they lacked the money to afford it but, that generation did not seem to care about money as much as they do today. Dad liked fishing so I went with him at least once a month, my two brothers were not interested although one got into it later, especially for barble on the Avon and Kennet and we had some really good times. He then went off it but he is going to live in Scotland later this year so I will try and get him going again for salmon; I fancy a bit of that.

 

[rayner]

No, my dad did not fish. The only time he did was on a working man's club on a weekend away. All I can remember of his weekend was I got an upgrade for my reel. He somehow dropped it in the water and was never able to retrieve it. He dropped the reel tackling up before the match even started. That was the end of his fishing experience.

 

[Derek Rutherford]

My dad was a very keen fisherman - a huge Richard Walker fan. He signed me up for the Rodbender's club at a young age and showed me the ropes and then a few years later was happy to let me go out fishing with my mates - usually on the lower Severn on our pushbikes - and find our own way.

He passed away earlier this year and I'm still sorting through his things - he's from that generation that kept everything - but I have found his collection of Richard Walker books (including a letter from Richard Walker) and a Mark IV rod Haven't used it yet - but I will do.

He was a very keen motorcyclist, too. I wrote a song about him a few month after we lost him.

Derek

 

[The bad one]

Love it Derek, what a tribute to your Dad.