Beginners Lake in Sussex?

[peakoverload]

My nephew (whose 15) has mentioned that he would like to go fishing a few times because this was something his dad did but sadly he died a few years ago and so my nephew never got the chance to go with him. I think he wants to go fishing as it's his way of feeling linked again to his dad.

The trouble is my nephew has Aspergers and one of the ways that this affects him is in doing fine/detailed things which can make him frustrated and then he wants to give up. Because fishing for him is about him feeling close to his dad again I really want to introduce him slowly so that he can take things at his pace and not get frustrated or feel he can't do it. So I'm trying to find a nice and easy lake to take him to introduce him to fishing but so many lakes seem to be commercials and I really think he needs to start out catching small Roach, Bream etc before a Carp comes along and yanks the rod out of his hands, smashes his line and him having to set up again and again, especially as I really don't know how he will fare tying knots.

Can anyone recommend a day ticket water in Sussex, ideally around the Worthing or Horsham areas that might be suitable, something with a lot of Silvers but few Carp ideally?

The other problem I have is that I think he will have more success in terms of being able to set-up and cast out if he was ledgering but float fishing is so much more engaging but I fear he may just get into lots of tangles and get frustrated. Any ideas as to how to make ledgering more 'interesting'?

[captain chaos]

I'd dearly love to help, but unfortunately only fish sea and have absolutely no knowledge of fresh water fishing, i feel useless.
Watch this space someone will point you in the right direction.

[asp383]

there are a quite a few fisheries in west sussex, including some near you. try typing 'places to fish in sussex' into google or other search engine & it'll bring up some lists. if you don't mind the drive up to crawley, there are a couple of smaller ponds that have plenty of silvers, plus they're council run, so no need to go to the expense of joining any clubs

[peakoverload]

Cheers for that. We've picked a day ticket lake called Passies Pond which it turns out is not far from my house and are going there tomorrow!

[Rob M]

Originally Posted by peakoverload

Cheers for that. We've picked a day ticket lake called Passies Pond which it turns out is not far from my house and are going there tomorrow!

I was going to suggest Passies but see you're almost on your way! Pulborough AS has a great reputation and caters well for younger anglers mate.

[peakoverload]

Well I think we can call that a success.

We arrived at Passies around 9am and I started to explain to my nephew where we were going to fish (next to some lily pads) and why and then proceeded to explain to him that we were going to primarily target Roach and were going to fish on the drop using a loaded waggler.

I could tell that a lot of this wasn't really sinking in and all he wanted to do was to catch a fish, any fish but bits were because he kept referring to things I had mentioned throughout the day.

Anyway, after plumbing the depth and getting his float correctly shotted I then taught him how to cast. He was pretty much a natural! A couple of predictable mistakes to begin with which everyone makes in the beginning, like letting go too early but apart from that he was doing very well. So on went a couple of maggots onto a size 18 hook and it was time for the first cast. Out went a couple of balls of groundbait followed by a sprinkling of maggots and then it was all down to my nephew.

First cast wasn't great and completely missed the baited area, but that didn't really matter as it was obvious that there were fish everywhere. Sure enough the float disappeared but the strike was too soft and the bite was missed. I then had to explain to my nephew that he needed to strike better rather than just reel in or lift the rod horizontally. Next cast was better and immediately the float bobbed under, a better strike, and in came a little Roach.

Full of excitement of having caught a fish he wanted to get straight back out there again and the very next cast produced another Roach, then another, and another and so on throughout the day.

In the end he had the grand total of 25 fish mostly Roach with a couple of Bream, a Perch, a Rudd and a few Bleak. The biggest was probably only just about 1oz but neither of us cared a jot. He was just delighted and proud to have caught so many.

Looks like we can add one more to the ranks of anglers in the UK!

[asp383]

great to hear you & your nephew had a great time.

[BoldBear]

Likewise.
Glad to hear he caught loads and had a great time.