Just Fishing

Variety or single species, match or pleasure, it’s just fishing

But that isn’t to say that single species angling is wrong in any way. Good luck to those who set their sights only at carp, or pike, or barbel, or whatever turns them on. It’s just not for me. I’m probably a poorer carp angler for not putting all my efforts into that species, and lagging behind other single species anglers where their species are concerned, but I enjoy the diversity too much to worry about that. Not that I’d worry about that anyway, for how you rate success in fishing is a subject for debate.

What is a big fish?

Big fish. What is a big fish? It’s a specimen of its species you say. No it isn’t, it’s a 1lb roach from my local cut, a 10oz dace from my local river, or a 20lb carp from the pool up the road. Your big fish will be different to my big fish, unless you live in my area.

Graham with an ide (top) and a roach from his local canal

Compare the fight of even the most sluggish of carp, pike, barbel and catfish, to the comparatively feeble flapping of a 6oz dace (which is not a bad sized dace) and there just is no realistic comparison. So how is it I can still enjoy fishing for dace and other small species like roach as much, sometimes more, as those huge – in comparison – carp and pike?

But I do, and just as I have great difficulty sleeping the night before a session for the big, hard-fighting fish, my insomnia is no less the night before a visit to the Dane for a few hours after the dace, or the cut for a session after the roach. To me, fishing is fishing, and I’m as addicted to watching a stick float steal through a smooth glide on a little river, as I am to watching a pike float bob across the heaving waves of a big lake.

A different kind of thrill

Of course, there is a different kind of thrill to seeing the menacing jaws of a big pike slide over the edge of your landing net, to the thrill of slipping the net under the glistening body of a dainty roach or dace. Where pike and carp provide a raw, macho kind of excitement which, let’s face it, is the attraction for most carp and pike anglers, dace, and their ilk, provide a more temperate kind of thrill. The amount of enjoyment derived from each, however, can very well be equal. And anyhow, me being me, I can go for the macho thrill with carp or pike the next time out; I’m not stuck on one species.

How can anyone enjoy catching roach when they’ve had a pike like this?

All of which probably sounds like a load of rubbish to those carp and pike anglers who have never fished for anything else, or rate their success in no other terms but that of hard fights and heavy weights of individual fish.

One can make a fair comparison only if you indulge in all aspects of the sport, from slinging out a boilie on a hefty bolt rig, to side-casting a single caster on a light stick float, otherwise it is extremely difficult to understand what the ‘other half’ sees in their particular poison.

Fishing to suit the mood

I’m lucky, really, in that I can indulge in, and enjoy, the kind of fishing that suits my mood at the time. If I’m feeling lazy, and don’t fancy any great activity, even to the point of not wanting to mix any groundbait, or prepare bait of any description, I can elect to grab a bag of boilies, some PVA string or bags, and fish for carp. I need do no more than take a pair of made-up rods, set up a rod-pod with bite alarms, hang on a couple of stringers of boilies, and I’m fishing. With no more to do than lie back on my bedchair and relax, knowing the bite alarm will rouse me should I begin to doze and forget what I’m supposed to be doing.

I love all kinds of fishing, and this is great in short doses

Take off the boilies and substitute the end rigs for snap tackles baited with deadbaits straight from the freezer, and I’m piking in the same lazy way. Two very handy methods of fishing for those who don’t want anything very demanding, or who want to catch up on some reading. Pick a very difficult water where you are not likely to get many bites to disturb either your sleep or your reading and you can have a really idle time. And, of course, always with a chance of picking up that huge fish from such a difficult water, which you can enter in all the competitions, possibly get showered with cash and tackle, and headlines that describe you as a brilliant angler. You can chuckle all the way to the bank and tackle shed.

While I’ve got my cynic’s hat on: generally speaking, the less I do, and the more time I have to spend at the waterside doing nothing but casting occasionally, and lazing around a hell of a lot, the more chance I have of catching a fish that would attract the kind of attention I’ve just described. It’s a sad fact that the angler who fishes a river with float and light tackle, and makes a good catch as a result of a hell of a lot of skill and hard work, may never receive any recognition all his life.

Right, rant over, off with the cynic’s hat.

But I can only take so much of the lazy approach

So, in a lazy mood I can spend time at the waterside doing little more than occasionally baiting and casting, possibly catching a few fish, getting a nice tan in the right weather, doing a little reading, and probably a lot of resting. I enjoy that as much as anything when I’m in that frame of mind. And I’m quite prepared to put up with the long periods of inactivity when I’m fishing a water that demands that kind of approach and holds fish that make the wait worthwhile. My problem, if that is the right way of describing it, is that I can take only so much of the type of fishing that involves a lot of doing nothing. Perhaps it’s a fault of mine.

I can take only so much of the type of fishing that involves a lot of doing nothing

So when I’ve had enough of the sitting and waiting I may decide to go for a spell of feeder fishing for barbel, which, if you do it properly, involves a lot of casting to keep bait going through the swim, and keeping your hand on, or at least near to, the rod, ready to react to that sudden lunge of the rod tip when a barbel takes off with the bait. Or I can go to carp water that has a good stock, that responds to floater fishing, and have an action-packed day, as I had just last week when I took 17 off the top.

17 off the top on floater

An even more active kind of fishing is one I’ve already mentioned; float fishing on a river, for this involves constantly feeding, casting and retrieving. And even the bit between casting and retrieving demands constant control of the float through mending the line, holding back when necessary, and all the while being ready to react to the smallest bite.

Many times I will choose to fish in a way that is somewhere between the two extremes I’ve described, which depends of course on the water rather than the species. For instance, I may elect to fish for tench or bream, not on a fishery as difficult as a Cheshire mere, but where the fish are reasonably big, though not in the headline making class, and where bites can be logged by the session rather than by the season.

These sessions could involve bite alarms and bedchairs, but demand more activity as far as feeding the swim is concerned, which may be on the little and often principle (relatively speaking) and frequent casting, particularly if swimfeeders are being used.

Pole fishing requires a lot of different skills

Pole fishing too, which I really enjoy, is another type of fishing where rest and relaxation is not key to the proceedings. Pole fishing requires a lot of different skills and is much, much more demanding, physically and mentally, than any type of sitting behind bite alarms or otherwise motionless rods.

Go for a change with the right attitude

So, you can enjoy yourself catching lots of small fish, just as you can catching the odd big fish. The answer lies in how much you put into it. If you approach float fishing for roach and dace, say, with the attitude that you shouldn’t be there, but should be on the banks of a big lake waiting for the alarm to go off, signalling a run from a big carp or pike, then of course you won’t enjoy it. But if you realise – or, rather, accept – that catching a net of roach or dace demands a lot of skill, and needs to be worked at, and put everything you’ve got into catching them, then you will come away from that session with a tremendous feeling of satisfaction if you’re successful. Or a determination to succeed next time out.

Equally, if you normally fish only for nets of smaller fish, you should try to catch big fish with the attitude that it need not be all about sitting and waiting an age for a bite, but can reflect how much effort you put into swim choice, prebaiting (possibly) water craft in general, and good bait presentation.

Don’t take the stance, as so many do, that your type of fishing is the only type of fishing worth doing. At least not until you’ve tried other types. Remember, it’s all good. It’s just fishing.