Fishing

First brownie of the season on dry fly last Saturday, using my favourite £30 Chinese carbon 3 weight.

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...and a nice brace of carp 30 mins ago.

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Lovely fish. Did you get the carp on the fly too?

Nope, good old boilies. They just kept getting bigger, with four over 20lbs topped by this one at 25.

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You look like a very content man.

It would take a lot of days fishing THAT good to annoy me! One of the best things about self employment is being able to sneak off and fish (or even ride a bicycle). Have another gratuitous carp pic...

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Big old fish! Where was this?
Managed to get my first brownies of the season over the bank holiday on the culm, but normally fish the tidal beats of exe for whatever’s in there when it’s warm enough to wade in shorts and trainers. Head out at 4am in summer before it gets too light and then head to work

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That is a gorgeous wild brownie! I will be failing to catch what is in on the far side of Exmoor, the East Lyn, next month. The carp fishing day of the century was sponsored by a bloody great 50 acre plus gravel pit in Rye.

Yep they’re lovely down here but not big! Lyn should be lovely, lots of small pools though so prob tricky fishing. Cycling around there is excellent too, descent into Lynton off exmoor along the river is fantastic but contisbury hill coming up the seaside cliff is a right fucker despite the fantastic view. Tight lines.

Cycling excellent? I am 72 kilo at absolute race weight, which I won't be seeing again... Countisbury is horrible, but the top hairpin of Porlock is pure distilled evil. I have been not catching fish in the Lyn for 35 bloody years, with the very occasional salmon and a 3 pound cannibal brownie last year. The pubs, however, are excellent!

Great to see this thread already exists. After thinking I'd like fishing for about 10 years I finally bought a rod which was delivered today. Rovex John Wilson Avon Quiver (travel) rod, looks really smart and very excited. I'll be course fishing mainly but had 2 questions if anyone is able to help?

• Is there a 'Power Link' equivalent for fishing lines? Every time you set up/pack down the rod do you have to cut the line?

• For course fishing do you use a float, a weight or both?

Sorry in advance for the basic questions, but expect there may be more. I have a local shop so likely will pay them a visit tomorrow, but prefer the idea of embarrassing myself online as opposed to in person :)

Your main line is tied to a swivel - which does just that and stops the line twisting.
A lot of people use a swivel with a 'caribiner' quick release on the lower section which connect to your 'trace' which is the business end to which hooks are tied n'that.

Floats, weights, hook sizes etc. depend on what you're fishing for - I'm sure experienced coarse anglers will be along to help - I usually fish in the sea.

That's good to know, also much appreciated for the simplified explanation. Really excited at the possibility of riding to nice spots then being able to fish.

Went to the fishing shop this morning and they were very friendly although don't think I've bought the right stuff.

Bought 100m of line but doesn't get anywhere near filling up the reel. Also my 4lb line doesn't seem thick enough for my No.4 shot to grip. Thinking I'll need more weights than those little shots. Clueless is the word!

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The numbered scale around the spool tells you how much line the spool will hold in differing weights.

Normal practice is to get a spool of larger diameter line say 15lb and wind that on to fill up the spool, then add the 100m of lighter line, not likely you will have a fish run and strip 100m of 4lb line in a river or pond/lake :)

As to quick links... as already noted you can either tie on a small gemini clip hook or a small swivel, for the fly fishing i use a fine quick hook tied to the leader so i can just clip on/off flies over cutting off and retying.

If your in London visit Farlows at 9 Pall Mall and grab a catalogue (free) and up the road on the way to the tube station is the Orvis flagstore, grab a catalogue from there too, both are more Game and Fly fishing but worth a wander into :)

Thanks very much... Totally didn't realise you have to use pliers to get the shot to stay on the line, don't laugh. It took 14 No.4 shots to get my float to the right height in water which feels like too many so might just buy a selection of weights for future.

Also studied the reel numbers you mentioned and have now added two lines (15 & 4lbs) which seems a lot better than pictured above.

Any rule of thumb for the (leader?) weights nearest the hook for float fishing?

General rule of thumb is to match your tackle to the size fish, and your floats/weight to your bait. So if you’re fishing maggots; small hooks, weight and floats, dead/live bait; bigger etc. Then stronger rods/nylon for bigger fish, opposite for smaller etc.

To be fair though you don’t need much. I caught my first roach using a twig as a float, so anything can work. Lighter floats and weights give you better take detection though.

Several weekly/monthly paper mags in WHSmiths on coarse fishing or Fly and sea fishing or just punch in your question to Youtube for a video answer.

Fly fishing is as i am finding out a very complex pastime with subtle variables depending on what month it is that could all be solved by lobbing a grenade into the water but that's unsporting and too cost effective. :)

After 20 years of thinking I'd like fishing and 2 weeks of reading bits online, I went today.

I've learnt a lot quickly trying to cast in the garden and has been frustrating at times. Just simple things like not knowing about lowering the bail arm when casting and that shots can be slid up/down the line to get the correct float height. All obvious stuff when you know etc.

Anyway... I fished a local (Stanborough) Lake and river, both times it took ages to get set-up but did plumb the depth okay with the float on both so really satisfying. Oh and I caught a fish :D Any idea what this is anyone?

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Also on both lake and river my float after casting was at the correct height then 30 seconds later would very gradually sink down, any idea what's happening? It was really windy if that has anything to do with it?

Not really a coarse float fisher and sounds like your using very light gear.
Could be...
Too many split leads on line.
Weight of line or current pulling line and float under.
Hollow float ? taking on water and gently sinking.
Bored fish taking the piss :)

Try fly fishing :)

About 50lb braid with a profiled synthetic outer layer, the line is the casting weight, the weight is built into the forward portion of the 30m length. I get to play with...
Floating (simples)
Intermeditate or Hover (sub surface floaters)
Sinking (simples)
Sinking but graded to inchs of sink per second of time (ballache)
But using freshwater line in saltwater alters things.

I got 4 spools loaded up with used line but unsure what they are :) the floaters easy, but what i think is a sinker sort of acts like intermediate in salt water.

Didn't say above but had such a great time, 3.5hrs went like 30 mins, will definitely go back. Wasn't too many shots on the line (5?) but my float is hollow so maybe that's it. Fly fishing sounds very hard!

Had a few fish steal my sweetcorn without me reeling them in, even that was great.

Doing better than me, haven't caught anything yet, only had a few pulls.

Must try Dungeness again maybe the Thresher Sharks have gone now :)

Floats are a minefield too, from ultra light quill floats to heavy duty sea floats and all inbetween, mine are polystyrene cigar type that use 13 grams of weight.

Doing better than me, haven't caught anything yet, only had a few pulls.

To be fair where I went today it's purposely stocked with fish, for fishing, so don't be too harsh on yourself! Just want to skip work tomorrow and go again.